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winME won't boot. Error message

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9 replies

by jon_w31

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Computer with windows millenium installed.
As computer boots up the following appears on screen: WINDOWS COULD NOT UPGRADE FILE %1 to %2. %1:%2
This just continues to repeat itself down the screen.
I have tried safe mode....same
I have tried reg restore.....same
It's not my system. There may have been a software update applied but I don't know. It appears to be triing to update files on the system but cant.
I have scan disked and that's ok
Is there some way i can get windows to bypassthe file updates or stop any update attempt being made at startup?
I need to be able to get the system functional again. there is some serious value of software and work with no backup available!!!
Thanks
Jon

9 replies

by hberkhoff

Look into the Microsoft Knowledgebase for this problem. You probably need to boot from a floppy disk to execute the steps descriped in the solution. Good luck.

Answer for this can be found at :

http://tinyurl.com/3y6c

(Redirect to MS knowledgebase)

by jon_w31

thanks. I cannot find the wininit.INI file only the wininit.EXE. I assume this is the one to rename as RCOM stated in his replt below. Your help much appreciated.

by fred07

Use ME startup disk to find a system restore date to restore to. Also this can be a virus, trojan or worm.

by stan

Try booting your pc with a antivirus boot disk and seeing if it detects a virus. If that does not work and you have tried system restore you may have to reinstall Windows ME.

by rcom

I'm currently getting ready to work on this problem for the second time from the same person's computer. This time he said he tried running one of the windows updates and this is what happened. The first time I renamed the wininit.exe file becuase the creation date was recent and it worked. Just read the article that another poster provided the link to and that's what it said. The problem is that I can't find out what causes this. The wininit.exe file is located in the Windows folder. You'll need to boot to DOS, so you'll need to get a Win ME boot disk or win98 will work. From the command prompt type the following line followed by hitting the enter key;

c:
cd windows
ren wininit.exe wininit.bad

Reboot and a new file will be created. If something goes wrong you can restore the original file by naming it back.

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