CMOS Problem?

[Linus]

I am running an eight year old Pentium 4 and multi booting Windows ME and two
local language versions of Windows XP.

Recently, every time I boot ME I see a message that says “Preparing to start
your new computer, this will a few minutes.†Then the system spends 15
minutes loading data, then boots up and works fine.

I suspected the CMOS battery but I was puzzled because both language
versions of XP boot up just fine. I checked the 3volt battery and it only
registered less than one volt, so I replaced it but that didn’t have any
effect on my problem with ME.

Now I suspect that I need to reset the CMOS, but don’t understand how all
three operating systems share it and don’t know what will happen to my XP
systems, or how to reset it just for ME.

Any guidance you can give me will be appreciated.

 

[T Shadow]

I am running an eight year old Pentium 4 and multi booting Windows ME and
two
local language versions of Windows XP.

Recently, every time I boot ME I see a message that says "Preparing to
start
your new computer, this will a few minutes." Then the system spends 15
minutes loading data, then boots up and works fine.

I suspected the CMOS battery but I was puzzled because both language
versions of XP boot up just fine. I checked the 3volt battery and it only
registered less than one volt, so I replaced it but that didn't have any
effect on my problem with ME.

Now I suspect that I need to reset the CMOS, but don't understand how all
three operating systems share it and don't know what will happen to my XP
systems, or how to reset it just for ME.

Any guidance you can give me will be appreciated.

At one volt the battery has probably been dead a long time. The system only
uses it when power isn't received from the power supply. The loss of power
from the supply may have something to do with it but more likely a
coincedence that clouds the situation.

Elmo's scandisk recommendation would be the place to start but after I'd try
to find info on fixing ME. As if it has nothing to do with multi-booting.
Could be that it doesn't start correctly because it(ME) doesn't shut down
correctly. Win9x/ME really have stabiliy issues and are very prone to
problems.