How Can I Make My WinME Crash?

[Absane]

I crashed Windows 95 by making a C program that loaded up all the ram then filled up the HD with a text document.

I guess you could try to write to parts of RAM that are being used by windows... that may do it. You might be able to do it in debug mode from DOS.

 

[draqon]

easy way to crash winme is to delete a random dll file in a system folder.

 

[RubiksMaster]

Oh, that's a good one. I remember writing data to random memory locations back when I did QBasic, using the 'poke' command.

 

[przyk]

Thanks to the generosity of RubiksMaster, this old computer now has 128MB, four times the memory it had last night. Now that it has a less pathetic RAM, putting a Linux on the thing seems like a more feasible plan. I don't believe much out there requires more than 128MB, if not 64MB.

You'll get slow performance if you try to use resource consuming desktop environments, like GNOME or KDE.

How fast is the CPU?

I guess you could try to write to parts of RAM that are being used by windows... that may do it. You might be able to do it in debug mode from DOS.

Try messing around with uninitialized pointers. I played around with them, and got a program to freeze Windows 95 spectacularly - no slowing down, half-rendered screens, no half hour spent responding to CTRL-ALT-DEL, and no BSOD; everything just instantly froze. Even the mouse pointer wouldn't move. Usually, you just get a segfault though.

 

[Athelwulf]

easy way to crash winme is to delete a random dll file in a system folder.

I forgot about that. I bet that'd work wonders – it would even permanently cripple WinME.

How fast is the CPU?

Tell me how to find out and I'll tell you how fast my CPU is.

 

[przyk]

Tell me how to find out and I'll tell you how fast my CPU is.

I was just curious about the CPU model and clock frequency. It's probably a Pentium or Pentium II.

You might be able to get some system information by right clicking on "My Computer" and selecting "Properties". Also try "Start" --> "Programs" --> "Accessories" --> "System Tools" --> "System Information".

 

[Athelwulf]

I was just curious about the CPU model and clock frequency. It's probably a Pentium or Pentium II.

Oh, so that's the CPU. Heh... And you were right, it's Pentium II.

I forgot about putting the specs in the first post. Gotta go do that now, I suppose.

 

[przyk]

Not that its really important, but how many megahertz?

 

[Athelwulf]

Not that its really important, but how many megahertz?

On which component? The CPU? I have no idea...

 

[Athelwulf]

Question.

My plan I've formulated is as follows:
1: Make a boot floppy with WinME.
2: Either get a shitload of nightmarish viruses on the computer or randomly delete .dll files until the computer fucks up royally.
3: Boot from the floppy.
4: Use DOS (or whatever's on the floppy) to make the computer reformat the harddrive.

My question is: Is there anything I'm missing or getting wrong in that plan?

 

[domesticated om]

Windows ME is extremely easy to crash WITHOUT intentionally sabotaging it LOL.

BTW- keep in mind that old computers are not totally useless. There are a jillion things you could do with that machine that would make it useful.
One thing I used to do with the dusty old Pentium 2 machines I had laying around my house was to use them as a file archive.
You could take your ME machine, strip down the current windows installation (get rid of any programs you have installed, and get rid of all non-essential windows components like solitaire, calculator, briefcase, sound schemes, screen savers, etc) and enable file sharing-- VOILLA- you now have almost 4 gigs of extra storage space sitting on your network.
Another thing I used to do is use the machine as ground zero for filesharing applications. Programs like kazaa (if it's still around-- haven't checked lately) usually include a small payload of spyware along with it. I used to use old crappy computers as dedicated kazaa terminals-- they could get as infected as possible, but I could download all the goodies through the shared folder from my real computer without a problem.

 

[Athelwulf]

Windows ME is extremely easy to crash WITHOUT intentionally sabotaging it LOL.

Thanks for the self-esteem boost.

BTW- keep in mind that old computers are not totally useless. There are a jillion things you could do with that machine that would make it useful.

I figured as much from the beginning.

One thing I used to do with the dusty old Pentium 2 machines I had laying around my house was to use them as a file archive.
You could take your ME machine, strip down the current windows installation (get rid of any programs you have installed, and get rid of all non-essential windows components like solitaire, calculator, briefcase, sound schemes, screen savers, etc) and enable file sharing-- VOILLA- you now have almost 4 gigs of extra storage space sitting on your network.

Sounds neat, but I don't plan on networking at all. And I might just convert the harddrive inside into an external USB harddrive.

Another thing I used to do is use the machine as ground zero for filesharing applications. Programs like kazaa (if it's still around-- haven't checked lately) usually include a small payload of spyware along with it. I used to use old crappy computers as dedicated kazaa terminals-- they could get as infected as possible, but I could download all the goodies through the shared folder from my real computer without a problem.

I don't do file-sharing much, but it's good to keep in mind all the same.

 

[leopold]

Question.

My plan I've formulated is as follows:
1: Make a boot floppy with WinME.
2: Either get a shitload of nightmarish viruses on the computer or randomly delete .dll files until the computer fucks up royally.
3: Boot from the floppy.
4: Use DOS (or whatever's on the floppy) to make the computer reformat the harddrive.

My question is: Is there anything I'm missing or getting wrong in that plan?

yes.
you will need a copy of the os on cd with the product key

also will you have access to the net in case you need help getting the computer to work again?

also make certain that the boot disk works and that it boots the computer to dos. with winme it will boot to a text menu giving you 3 or 4 options
1. help
2. boot with cd rom support
3. boot without cd support
4. minimal boot
to format the drive choose 4 and at the prompt type:
format c: (then press enter)
it will ask you if you know what you are doing, type y
when it is done formatting the drive it will ask you for a volume label. this is the name of the disk. i labeled mine as BIGDOS. yours of course can be different.

to setup your os reboot with the floppy still in the drive and at the menu type 2
it will tell you the cd roms drive letter
put the os disk in the cd drive then type the drive letter followed by a colon then press enter.
at the next prompt type setup and follow the directions

 

[Athelwulf]

yes.
you will need a copy of the os on cd with the product key

to setup your os reboot with the floppy still in the drive and at the menu type 2
it will tell you the cd roms drive letter
put the os disk in the cd drive then type the drive letter followed by a colon then press enter.
at the next prompt type setup and follow the directions

I was planning on leaving it as it is after the reformatting, just as a blank drive. But if I were to put an OS back on it, would it have to be Windows ME? The thing is, I have no idea where to find the Win95 intall CD or the WinME upgrade, if I even have them anymore. If I were to put an OS back on the drive, it would almost surely be Linux.

 

[domesticated om]

Sounds neat, but I don't plan on networking at all. And I might just convert the harddrive inside into an external USB harddrive.

Oh Ok- although you could do alot of neat stuff with it if it was part of your LAN.

Hmmm-- how about this. buy yourself a cheap webcam, and use the PC as a homebrew security camera server--- all you would need was windows media encoder................of course, you would probably need it to be part of your network, and accessable to the internet so you could check it remotely.

 

[leopold]

But if I were to put an OS back on it, would it have to be Windows ME?

no. although newer machines that ship with winxp installed will not run winme or earlier. i am sure your machine will run linux but you need to get a second opinion from someone with linux experience.

 

[Athelwulf]

no. although newer machines that ship with winxp installed will not run winme or earlier. i am sure your machine will run linux but you need to get a second opinion from someone with linux experience.

Newer machines? This machine is as old as dirt. :bugeye:

 

[RubiksMaster]

Not as old as a computer I still have. I dubbed it "the pool computer" because the only thing it was good for was this "3D" billiards game that it had on it. Though I finally tweaked it enough to run Commander Keen (in all of it's graphical splendor!)

Hey, that's what you could do with it! Load the hard drive with all the hundreds of old fun games that don't really work on new machines, even with the use of DosBox and other such utils.

 

[Athelwulf]

Not as old as a computer I still have. I dubbed it "the pool computer" because the only thing it was good for was this "3D" billiards game that it had on it. Though I finally tweaked it enough to run Commander Keen (in all of it's graphical splendor!)

Hey, that's what you could do with it! Load the hard drive with all the hundreds of old fun games that don't really work on new machines, even with the use of DosBox and other such utils.

I don't know. I'm not really a gamer.

So far, the idea you mentioned of getting a casing and converting the harddrive into an external USB harddrive is the most appealing option. I could use it as a back-up volume. The data I kept from before I set up my dual-boot system added up to a little under two gigs, not including the music. It has plenty of capacity without going overboard.

 

[przyk]

Hey, that's what you could do with it! Load the hard drive with all the hundreds of old fun games that don't really work on new machines, even with the use of DosBox and other such utils.

He said it's a Pentium 2, not an 80386...