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[PokeyJoe]

Time to get a new computer and donate your old one to your local school.

[steve50]

The K2 is a fairly old system. I am having some similiar problems and was told it might be the motherboards cmos battery, which of course I can't find anywhere. Good luck

[Cultural Jihad]

Have you run scandisk to check the health of the hard drive? Barring that or a newer machine, you ought to consider reformating the thing and reloading all your software afresh.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Problems running ScanDisk and Defrag

Many people have problems running ScanDisk and/or Defrag, with the program running 10% or 30% and then stalling. Often with a message that Windows is trying to write to the drive. To run ScanDisk/Defrag successfully:

 

1. Go to Start > Run and type msconfig in the Open: box
2. On the General tab, uncheck all items listed under Selective startup (make sure that Selective startup is selected)
3. Hit apply and OK and restart Windows
4. This starts Windows with only the basics running; Insures nothing will interfere with ScanDisk and Defrag
5. Run ScanDisk and Defrag, when ready go into msconfig and select Normal startup and restart Windows

(If you use Windows 95, restart your system, when you see the Starting Windows 95... text on your screen, quickly press the F8 key. From the menu that follows, choose Safe mode, and run ScanDisk & Defrag. When ready, reboot.)

PS: My daughters computer had the same problem and the above solution worked. You may also consider installing an additional hard drive if you have an available drive bay. 30g drives are pretty cheap these days and access speeds for HDs have improved over the past few years. I'm not sure how old your system is, but you may find that a new HD improves the overall performance of the system and increases your available storage space at the same time. All it takes is a screwdriver, a few dollars, and an afternoon. Good luck!

[jeffc]

I would suggest doing a START/RUN/MSCONFIG, go to the Startup tab and uncheck anything that you don't want to run on startup (you can always run it later) or looks suspicious. All I have is Systray, Norton anti-virus and ZoneAlarm on my Startup.

I would suspect something runs on startup and chews alot of CPU cycles and disk I/O.

[steplock]

Click on this link for Trend Micro On-Line virus scan/clean
CLICK HERE

Follow the directions, it will download a short scan program, it will not hurt any antivirus you have on your hard drive.

[steplock]

Links to a Secure Computer here on FreeRepublic.

Follow the link to instructions on cleaning and securing your computer from viruses!

[LandOfTheFreeHomeOfTheBrave]

Run an anti-virus program. You can download trial versions if you don't have one already installed. If you have an anti-virus program, make sure the signatures are up to date. One of the symtoms of having a virus is that your hard disk fills up quickly because the virus is creating files on your hard drive.

Also, some systems will not defrag if you have a screensaver. Disable any screensavers before starting to defrag.

Try Diskkeeper Lite from Executive Software (http://www.execsoft.com/diskeeper/diskeeper.asp). It is freeware and I have found that it works better and more reliably than the defrag utility included in Win98.

[rintense]

Diagnosis: Dump WIN 98. Icky poo.

[Vince Ferrer]

It will NOT defrag...the defrag program will stay on for hours and never go beyond 0%...

I have a win98, and I went for a couple of years without defragging my drive. When I finally did it, it took at least a day and a half, and the first day it stayed at 0%.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Sounds like you may have Klez virus on your machine, if the hard drive filled for no reason. Go HERE and click on the logo on the lower right side that says "Check for security risks". on the next page, click on "Scan For Viruses" (but first, disable any other virus scan or firewall protection you have running) Then go to HERE and download the 14 day trial on the upper right and run it, too. Let me know if you find anything, I'm interested.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Also it takes forever if you have antivirus running while defragging because as it defrag runs, the antivirus keeps reading it, and its a cycle that keeps going (same with a screen saver). Click Ctrl Alt Del and End Task any virus programs you have running before you do defrag. In fact the only two programs you need running are Explorer and Systray. So you can end Taks ALL the others except explorer and systray, then run defrag. Then reboot and you're good to go.

[DeFault User]

If all else fails, make a list of hardware drivers needed, make sure you have installation disks/programs, backup any data you want to keep,reformat the HD and load a fresh version of the OS.

This is drastic but cures a lot of problems.

[Not_Who_U_Think]

Windows ME boots a lot faster that Win98.

As others have suggested, programs running in the background or screensavers may be be preventing defrag from running - normally you'll get a message like "Defrag has restarted 10 times..." if that is the case. If it consistantly stalls at the same point and you get a message "unable to write to sector..." then you have a bad spot on the HD. This is many times cured by a reformat, but will not if it is truely bad. Then it's a good idea to go HD shopping.

In general, I suggest copying off your docs, favorites (using the export feature in explorer) and any other critical info, and doing a reformat / reinstall of 98. You will be surprised at the increase in performance just by doing this. Of course, there is always the hassle of tracking down the drivers, but again this is much easier with Windows ME than 95/98. Alternately, buy a new HD and copy over your critical stuff after a new install - you can make the old HD the second HD by moving it to the other connector on the the HD cable and changing the jumper setting.

In general, every system would benefit from a wipe and reinstall after about 12 -18 months. Windows was designed to be as bullet-proof as possible and in most cases saves old system files after an upgrade - AOL is notorious for this, it's not unusual to find 4 or 5 versions of AOL on a HD since every upgrade adds a new folder and files rather than overwriting the old one. Not bad in the beginning but it consumes disk space and adds more and more to the registry.

It's painful and time-consuming, but starting from scratch will fix these problems every time. It's a good idea to make a 2nd partition on the drive (which becomes "D" drive)and then save copies of your important programs and docs there - when you want to reinstall you just blow off "C", reinstall and copy back over your important stuff.

[davisfh]

I'm assuming you want to keep your older computer system
for a while. There is a utility called "QuickClean" that I
have on my computer. It automatically deletes temporarily
files periodically. That might provide a little help for you.
Problem is, I can't remember where I got it. You might
just try doing a search for "QuickClean" on the net. You'll
probably come up with it that way.

[Cicero]

Defrag won't run if you have any programs or processes running in the background or if drivers it doesn't like are loaded. It sees a file change and keeps starting over again. One possibility is to locate the program that's causing the problem and shut it down with a three-fingered salute. Another is to reboot and run defrag in Safe Mode, which will take forever but at least will do the job.

You should certainly clean out your temporary internet files before running defrag and also make a search for *.tmp files. On occasion the temporary internet files refuse to get cleaned out in the usual way, under Internet Options/General tab, in which case you need to get to the DOS prompt, type in "CD Windows", and once in the windows directory type in "deltree /y tempor~1." That will delete the temporary intenet folder and its subfolders with their contents. Then do the three-fingered salute and Windows should reconstruct your temporary internet file folders when it restarts.

[Cicero]

I should add that the Registry tends to grow like a cancer and eventually just gets too logy to work properly. In that case you may want to do a Fresh Install.

I won't even attempt to advise you on this, but the two critical points are:

a) make sure you have saved all your personal files and settings. Programs will have to be reinstalled.

b) make sure you have a floppy boot disk that works and that will allow you to find your CD drive, so you can reinstall Windows. In other words, you need to be able to install the CD drive driver properly from the floppy.

c) if you have a Windows upgrade installation CD, make sure you have another, earlier Windows CD you can show it so it will agree to install the upgrade.

d) pray.