Kernel panic attempted to kill init! Error

[sodaman420]

My friend is running Windows ME and I am attempting to help her out. Upon boot up, she gets the message
Kernel panic attempted to kill init!
I tried running ERD Commander to maybe help system restore, but derr, stupid me, windows ME doesn't make restore points, lol.
So since she lives in my old town I can't really get there easily, and ideas on what this error could be, and maybe how to fix it?

Her system is the Dell dimension 4100:
Intel Pentium III 800 MHz128 MB SDRAM, 20GB Hard Disk, 56K Modem, 32MBNvidia GeForce2 Video Card, 48X CD ROM, Windows Me

 

[uber_g]

Reformat

:roll:

 

[ZOldDude]

My friend is running Windows ME and I am attempting to help her out. Upon boot up, she gets the message
Kernel panic attempted to kill init!
I tried running ERD Commander to maybe help system restore, but derr, stupid me, windows ME doesn't make restore points, lol.
So since she lives in my old town I can't really get there easily, and ideas on what this error could be, and maybe how to fix it?

Her system is the Dell dimension 4100:
Intel Pentium III 800 MHz128 MB SDRAM, 20GB Hard Disk, 56K Modem, 32MBNvidia GeForce2 Video Card, 48X CD ROM, Windows Me

Best thing you can do for her is copy all her programs/files and dump the Win ME...install any other Win OS.

 

[sodaman420]

Yeah, I see what you're saying that she is mostly screwed lol.
But using ERD commander to get in there, save the stuff, and then just reformat? that's the best idea?
and what does this error actually mean, anyway? Thanks for the answers so far

 

[edman007]

you sure that windows ME, sound like some variant of linux (has this person been trying linux), init is the parent process, the kernel is the OS, the kernel will panic (stop) when init is killed (that is the first process, if it goes you can't run its basically the program that gets things going)

 

[bigsby]

And if it isn't linux, and it IS ME, then for your and hers well being, get rid of ME and install basically any other operating system out there, other than 3.1. Windows ME is basically the remnants and mistakes from all the other operating systems out there, and somewhere on microsofts website, if you go into support for ME, a lot of the problems they basically say "format your hard drive and install any other operating system", that's how bad it was/is.

 

[sodaman420]

Haha, wow, okay fair enough.
Thanks for your help guys! (and gals? )
-Tony