System Crashed-Disaster!

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win95.general.discussion (More info?)

To begin with, this is my first computer at age 67. Altho I bot it from Dell
7/98, I'm still a novice.
It's an XPS400, Pentium ll
128MB-SDRAM,
14.4GB EIDE Ultra ATA Hard Drive - all factory installed.
Windows 95-4.00.950b
I have upgraded Explorer to IE5.50

In the middle of looking up info in the Internet my computer suddenly froze.
I can't remember all the details because it happened a few months ago except
I had a black screen and nothing worked. I called Dell and they weren't
very helpful. I inserted the Windows 95 disc that they had sent me but it
wouldn't run. To make a very long story short, I finally got The Windows 95
disk to run on "Safe Mode" which it's on now. I have no sound, no working
printer, only a few programs that work and altho hooked to the cable, a
computer that takes forever to do anything and I'm constantly rebooting it.
Before I'm forced to buy another computer (I'm on a fixed income), I thought
I'd finally try "you" as you've all been a tremendous help for past
problems.
What can I do next?
Thanks, David

 

[Jerry]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win95.general.discussion (More info?)

Could you give a brief description of the disk or disks that Dell gave you?
Just what it says on the face of the disk would be fine.

--
Jerry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win95.general.discussion (More info?)

Since you don't know what caused the problem in the first place, you should
start with a comprehensive hardware diagnostic to confirm that all the parts
of the system are operating properly. Your DELL disk should include
utilities to test and exercise the hardware. You should then repair or
replace anything that is damaged.

Once you know the machine is fine, start over from scratch with a new
installation. If the DELL disk is a restore disk, then it should do the
whole job for you. Otherwise, there's a general guide available here:
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w95_restore.html
W95 RESTORE DISK AND INSTALLATION PROCEDURES.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"David Doucet" <ddoucet@socal.rr.com> wrote in message
news:OI%23tLlSTFHA.3264@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> To begin with, this is my first computer at age 67. Altho I bot it from
> Dell
> 7/98, I'm still a novice.
> It's an XPS400, Pentium ll
> 128MB-SDRAM,
> 14.4GB EIDE Ultra ATA Hard Drive - all factory installed.
> Windows 95-4.00.950b
> I have upgraded Explorer to IE5.50
>
> In the middle of looking up info in the Internet my computer suddenly
> froze.
> I can't remember all the details because it happened a few months ago
> except
> I had a black screen and nothing worked. I called Dell and they weren't
> very helpful. I inserted the Windows 95 disc that they had sent me but it
> wouldn't run. To make a very long story short, I finally got The Windows
> 95
> disk to run on "Safe Mode" which it's on now. I have no sound, no working
> printer, only a few programs that work and altho hooked to the cable, a
> computer that takes forever to do anything and I'm constantly rebooting
> it.
> Before I'm forced to buy another computer (I'm on a fixed income), I
> thought
> I'd finally try "you" as you've all been a tremendous help for past
> problems.
> What can I do next?
> Thanks, David
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win95.general.discussion (More info?)

Jeff,
Thanks. I'll give it a try. Even tho I'm a novice, at least you've
given me a place to start. Hopefully, I can figure out what the disks will
tell me!!
"Jeff Richards" <JRichards@msn.com.au> wrote in message
news:uT10bJTTFHA.3392@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Since you don't know what caused the problem in the first place, you
should
> start with a comprehensive hardware diagnostic to confirm that all the
parts
> of the system are operating properly. Your DELL disk should include
> utilities to test and exercise the hardware. You should then repair or
> replace anything that is damaged.
>
> Once you know the machine is fine, start over from scratch with a new
> installation. If the DELL disk is a restore disk, then it should do the
> whole job for you. Otherwise, there's a general guide available here:
> http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w95_restore.html
> W95 RESTORE DISK AND INSTALLATION PROCEDURES.
> --
> Jeff Richards
> MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
> "David Doucet" <ddoucet@socal.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:OI%23tLlSTFHA.3264@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> > To begin with, this is my first computer at age 67. Altho I bot it from
> > Dell
> > 7/98, I'm still a novice.
> > It's an XPS400, Pentium ll
> > 128MB-SDRAM,
> > 14.4GB EIDE Ultra ATA Hard Drive - all factory installed.
> > Windows 95-4.00.950b
> > I have upgraded Explorer to IE5.50
> >
> > In the middle of looking up info in the Internet my computer suddenly
> > froze.
> > I can't remember all the details because it happened a few months ago
> > except
> > I had a black screen and nothing worked. I called Dell and they weren't
> > very helpful. I inserted the Windows 95 disc that they had sent me but
it
> > wouldn't run. To make a very long story short, I finally got The
Windows
> > 95
> > disk to run on "Safe Mode" which it's on now. I have no sound, no
working
> > printer, only a few programs that work and altho hooked to the cable, a
> > computer that takes forever to do anything and I'm constantly rebooting
> > it.
> > Before I'm forced to buy another computer (I'm on a fixed income), I
> > thought
> > I'd finally try "you" as you've all been a tremendous help for past
> > problems.
> > What can I do next?
> > Thanks, David
> >
>
>

 

[tanya]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win95.general.discussion (More info?)

David Doucet wrote:

> To begin with, this is my first computer at age 67. Altho I bot it from Dell
> 7/98, I'm still a novice.
> It's an XPS400, Pentium ll
> 128MB-SDRAM,
> 14.4GB EIDE Ultra ATA Hard Drive - all factory installed.
> Windows 95-4.00.950b
> I have upgraded Explorer to IE5.50
>
> In the middle of looking up info in the Internet my computer suddenly froze.
> I can't remember all the details because it happened a few months ago except
> I had a black screen and nothing worked. I called Dell and they weren't
> very helpful. I inserted the Windows 95 disc that they had sent me but it
> wouldn't run. To make a very long story short, I finally got The Windows 95
> disk to run on "Safe Mode" which it's on now. I have no sound, no working
> printer, only a few programs that work and altho hooked to the cable, a
> computer that takes forever to do anything and I'm constantly rebooting it.
> Before I'm forced to buy another computer (I'm on a fixed income), I thought
> I'd finally try "you" as you've all been a tremendous help for past
> problems.
> What can I do next?
> Thanks, David

hi David,
a few more things:
1. follow the advice of the experts in this group
2. from personal experience, dells do not always come with diagnostics made for
the particular pc (and if they are not the correct diagnostics they will not run
or if they do will not be at all accurate re: what they find.)
you should downLoad the appropriate diagnostics for your system (or have a
friend do it) from the dell Web site.
3. in safe mode, when you right click my computer, and select the "device
manager" tab (on top) are there any yellow splats (!) and if so where are they?
4. (btw, i tried safe mode and the modem does not work; the network adapter is
not there (has a red circle through it) and my printer nor anything else
(scanner) do not function.
5. why do you have to reboot? what happens to make you have to reboot? (or does
it reBoot on its own?)
6. this it what i would do: i would start the pc and assuming it beeps (does it?
how many times?) i would hit f8 and there should be the 1st option that states
normal -- see what happens (however, i'd suggest ruling out any major hardware
problems first.)
7. i would remove devices that are extra -- for example: your printer (i'd
remove it from the port) your cable disconnect it; and if you have a scanner or
camera, i'd remove these (i would also suggest uninstalling them (if you have
the drivers that they came with) using add/remove programs (start-> settings ->
control panel-> add/remove)
8. again from experience with dell, you might need to reinstall your video
drivers --
hth -- at least some of it