# Gateway Computer Problem, please help



## tay69lor33 (Jul 11, 2004)

I have a Gateway Select 1000 PC that I purchased in 2000. Here are some specs;
AMD Athlon 1000MHz
Windows ME
128MB Memory Module
40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive

Lately I've been having problems. The computer always freezes. It seems whenever I attempt a somewhat complicated task such as viewing flash websites, watching a movie, or even watching music the computer will freeze. Occasionally the computer will just reboot itself without warning. I have formatted my computer so many times I could do it in my sleep. This led me to think that it couldn't be a virus or spyware because i delete stuff on my computer. I've tried updating Windows and everything. I thought maybe my hard drive is bad, but if i bought a new hard drive should this solve the problem? Please help!


----------



## Praetor (Jul 11, 2004)

> Occasionally the computer will just reboot itself without warning


Heat problems? Failing memory?



> I thought maybe my hard drive is bad, but if I bought a new hard drive should this solve the problem?


If the drive has errors, a CHKDSK/SCANDISK should be able to find the major ones. 



> Windows ME


There's your problem. WindowsME is a universally accepted, ineffecient, buggy and outright horrible OS (even my Windows fans).



> The computer always freezes. It seems whenever I attempt a somewhat complicated task such as viewing flash websites, watching a movie, or even watching music the computer will freeze


When you reformat, does it exhibit these problems right away or after you've started installing stuff (and the registry is a mess)


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 11, 2004)

I doubt it has heat problems, i've had this computer for 3 and a half years and i've never had that problem. Scandisk doesn't pick up any problems. Even if Windows ME is really buggy, I didn't have this problem until recently. Yeah when i reformat if i try listening to music for awhile it will freeze.


----------



## Praetor (Jul 11, 2004)

> I doubt it has heat problems, i've had this computer for 3 and a half years and i've never had that problem.


I figured as much but it was worth mentioning



> I didn't have this problem until recently.


Virus potential? What are the processes running in the background? 



> Yeah when I reformat if I try listening to music for awhile it will freeze.


Although I'm reluctant to "blame" the harddrive (seems to easy), that might be a possibilitiy.


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 12, 2004)

Yeah i thought it would be viruses too, but nothing is running in the background, and plus i've reformatted a number of times which would mean no viruses. Is it worth taking it into a computer shop, or what should i do?


----------



## Praetor (Jul 12, 2004)

> Yeah I thought it would be viruses too, but nothing is running in the background, and plus i've reformatted a number of times which would mean no viruses.


1. Formats do not mean no-viruses
2. Viruscheck from a bootdisk gives the greatest chance of finding viruses. Second best is to run the virusscan during a seesion


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 13, 2004)

Praetor said:
			
		

> 1. Formats do not mean no-viruses
> 2. Viruscheck from a bootdisk gives the greatest chance of finding viruses. Second best is to run the virusscan during a seesion



How would i do that?


----------



## Praetor (Jul 13, 2004)

If you've got the antivirus cd, pop it in the drive and boot off the cd... most major antivirus cds are bootable and can do a viruscan during boottime to avoid the problem of boottime viruses


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 14, 2004)

i did that and it didn't pick any up. However i made a new discovery, whenever my computer freezes it runs Scandisk, but the normal mode is selected not thorough. No problems are found. But recently i went into system tools and ran a thorough scan disk check and it found a few file errors that were fixed, but Scandisk quits responding when it gets stuck on a certain sector. Is this more evidence that i have a bad hard drive?


----------



## Praetor (Jul 14, 2004)

That could be. Run CHKDSK? PartitionMagic's DiskChecker, Norton's DiskDoctor etc


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 14, 2004)

CHKDSK didn't work, it said
CHKDSK has NOT checked this drive for errors.
You must use SCANDISK to detect and fix errors on this drive.

So i downloaded Disk Checker 2.1 and it didn't find any errors.

By the way thanks for the quick reply.


----------



## Praetor (Jul 14, 2004)

Goto command prompt and type *chkdsk C: /F* replacing C: with the appropriate drive as needed... does that work?


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 14, 2004)

nope, i went to run and type chkdsk C: /F and the same thing happened


----------



## Praetor (Jul 14, 2004)

Hmmmm wow.... is CHKDSK called something else in WindowsME?


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 15, 2004)

good question, i have no clue.


----------



## Praetor (Jul 15, 2004)

You up for a reformat? That might eliminate the possibility of a software problem


----------



## darkd3vil (Jul 15, 2004)

hey thats the same thing my computer does i just kinda ignore it anymore and i just use it for messenging lol stupid hp


----------



## Praetor (Jul 15, 2004)

> hey thats the same thing my computer does i just kinda ignore it anymore and i just use it for messenging lol stupid hp


Might be worth looking into still


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 16, 2004)

that's what i have been doing lately, but i dont have another computer and parents don't think anything is wrong with this one. I think some computer guy is going to look at it. It use to be a great computer i could play games and stuff, now i can barely go to a website.


----------



## Praetor (Jul 16, 2004)

Try reformatting (if you're comfortable with it) before taking it into the shop


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 16, 2004)

lol i've reformatted so many times, usually more than once a week. I'm using the System Restore CD's, i assume this is the right way to do it? But yeah i'll do it one more time and then take it in.


----------



## Praetor (Jul 16, 2004)

> I'm using the System Restore CD's


Not what I had in mind (and the last OEM i bought was so long ago they didnt have restore cds). I mean actually redoing the system by booting off the OS cd and doing it proper-like


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 16, 2004)

sorry to ask, but how would i do that? i have a general idea, but could you tell me how to do it so i dont mess anything up? sorry for the dumb question


----------



## Praetor (Jul 16, 2004)

1. Get the actual Windows cd (im assuminmg you'll want windows but its the same deal with Linux) ... doesnt have to be a legit copy but what i meant was a Windows Installation Cd rather than a System Restore CD

2. Set the computer to boot from the CD

3. Put the CD in the drive

4. Restart the machine

5. Install


----------



## tay69lor33 (Jul 16, 2004)

It didn't come with a Windows Installation CD, all it came with is 3 System Restoration Discs. Disc 1 has hardware drivers, backup of apps, and NT 4.0 Driver Locator Utility. Disc 2 Version ME rev 1.1 and this is the CD i put in my drive and restart and then it says go to windows or install windows and i pick install to reformat. Disc 3 has Bakcup of all applications.


----------



## Praetor (Jul 16, 2004)

I'm not sure how "useful" the restore discs are as I've never personally encountered them but I dont think the Disc2 is what i had in mind when i said "Windows Installation Disc" ... what happens when you boot off it? Do you see something like this? http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp


----------

