Change of Mind

Q: I have a computer that runs a Windows ME that is an upgrade from Windows 95. It was recently used during a storm and it took a power surge. Since then it has not worked properly. It can only start in safe mode, and that is after a long process of running a regscan. After that, the computer becomes hung and freezes. The computer has a second hard drive on it. I was able to move the important files from the first hard drive to the second hard drive that has a few partitions on it. I need this computer. What can I do to fix this?
A: It sounds as though the power surge from the storm may have damaged your hard drive that your operating system is on and possibly even your motherboard. You can do three things. The first is to reinstall your operating system. You have two options. The first is to format the hard drive that the operating system is on and reinstall Windows. If the hard drive has been damaged to the point where you cannot install an operating system, you may receive a hard error. In which case, you go to option two.
Option two is to install the operating system on the second hard drive. This is option two because this drive contains that information that you want to save, and you do not have a backup copy. When preparing to install the operating system on to the second hard drive, I would somehow make a copy of the information before I began. Software from freeware sites or Bookman’s can do this for you. You will need access to another computer so that the hard drive can be installed and a copy of it can be made. This is where that friend that is good with computers comes into play. If you don’t know such a person, there is a plethora of computer repair shops waiting to serve you. Next, one of the partitions on the hard drive that the operating system will be installing must be formatted for an operating system. There are two types of formats that are performed. The first is a primary, which prepares a drive for an operating system and the other is a logical format, which prepares a space on the disk to hold information. There is a program called Partition Magic that can walk you through this process. There are also freeware or low cost shareware versions of partitioning software available online.
Since you have an upgrade version of Windows ME, you will need to install a full version of Windows 95 or 98 before you can use the upgrade version of ME. Also, remember to set the jumpers on the back of the hard drive as Master. There should be instruction on the hard drive to show you how. The final two things that you can do are practical. Invest in a surge protector and do not use your computer during a storm.