BleepingComputer.com: Windows ME can't boot up at all.

Hi! I'm running Windows ME on an HP Pavillion XG 833 Desktop. I let my roomate use it, and I have NO IDEA what he did to it, but now I can't get it to boot up at all, not even in safe mode. The Windows ME flashes for a split second, then I get a black screen (command prompt?) with the error message "The file vmm32.vxd is missing or corrupted. Type the name of the windows loader (eg., c:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd)" But no matter what command I give, from that point on, the same message keeps coming up over and over.
I have been endlessly searching for a solution, mainly because I (stupidly) have never backed up any of my files, so every one of my daughter's baby pictures are on the harddrive. I don't have any of the Recovery Discs or Start Up or Installation disks it may have came with. I downloaded a Boot Disc for it, but on the site I downloaded it from, it said all you have to do is just put it in, and your computer should automatically boot up?! I put it in and it doesn't start normally, though I'm happy to say, it at least starts in command prompt, and will accept basic commands. But my knowledge pretty much runs out here.
I don't know what to do now? IS there a command I can give to somehow save my pictures? And what would I save them to? Do you think I can save them to a flashdrive? (This system doesn't have a burner.) I don't have a secondary harddrive. And if I am able to save those pictures, after that what do I do? Is there anyway to repair the system from the boot disk? (I tried running scanreg /fix, scanreg /restore. I thought it was sucessful too, as it said it sucessfully restored the MBR, and ran a full surface check for errors that took about 3 hours to complete, but when it auto restarted upon completion, the same error message happened again.
I would really appreciate any ideas or advice. And please if you are giving me instructions for someting to try, don't forget my computer knowledge is limited, and don't hesitate to really spell it out for me what you want me to do. Thanks in advance! ~Lora.

When you ran scanreg /restore were you given more
than one restore point?
If yes...did you try a different restore point?
When scanreg completed did it bring you back to the C:\ prompt?
Did you type windows at the prompt or reboot?

Read this if you have a UMax or Genius scanner:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/191874

Read this for the scary bad news:
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/techfiles/vmm32.html
Cross your fingers we don't need go that far.
I have one more idea, but i will need to dig my ME box out
and hook it up to verify the fix. I won't be able to do that until
tomorrow evening so please be patient.

FasrFifty, on Jan 22 2009, 06:12 AM, said:

I found a site that tells how to repair this file...but I don't know if it's beyond your computer knowledge. If in doubt, don't do it--no sense risking damage to the baby pictures!
http://www.easydesksoftware.com/news/news10.htm

FasrFifty, on Jan 22 2009, 06:12 AM, said:

Ouch! What I would do, BEFORE you start tinkering with Windows, is to rescue those pics. I think it could get difficult, trying to use DOS commands to save the pictures, unless you're working with a floppy disk drive....

The easier way would be to try out a "live CD" of an operating system called Linux. The easiest of these is Puppy Linux (it even has a cuddly, reassuring name!). It's made for people accustomed to Windows. Best of all, it's totally free! All you'd have to do is run Puppy, then save the pictures to a flash drive (since your computer doesn't have a CD burner). Rest assured, Puppy won't affect ANY of your Windows settings because it's a totally different operating system. It works a lot like Windows, only the "Start" button is called "Menu"...but it'd look very familiar to you.

Apparently, you have an internet connection on another computer, or you couldn't post this question, LOL. Are you on dial-up, or do you have DSL or high-speed cable internet? If you're not on dial-up, you can download Puppy yourself, at this site:
http://www.puppylinux.org/downloads (I'd suggest Puppy 4.1, in the lower left corner.)

When you download Puppy, it will be an .iso file (a so-called "image file"). If your working computer can burn stuff to CD's, you'll need to check the CD burning software to make sure you're burning an "image file". NOTE: If all this is way over your head, or if you're on dial-up, just PM me and I'll just mail you a CD that's ready to go, OK?

Also, if you decide to go this route, PM me and I'll walk you through the steps of backing up those pictures. The one big difference between Windows and Linux is that you have to "mount" your hard drive and flash drive before you can use them...but Puppy makes it easy, and I can tell you how to do it in just a couple of mouse clicks.

Once you get the photos off the hard drive, then you can try to make Windows operable again. But I personally would rescue the pictures FIRST, to be 100% sure they don't get deleted, if something goes wrong with your attempts at repairing Windows Me.

I hope this info helps!