[devtrev]

b

I bought an old computer at a garage sale and I'm trying to restore Windows ME with the reboot cd's - there are 2.
Norton Ghost comes on and I get the message "Critical Error - 0x0b read fault". - help please

[MorphiusFaydal]

Damaged disks, most likely. If it's not that, then either the optical drive itself is worn out, the laser head is dirty, or the IDE cable isn't properly attached.

In the first two cases, you're SOL. You're either going to need to get new disks, or a new drive.

If the read head is dirty, you'll need to Google for directions on how to disassemble the drive to clean the head.

And finally, for the fourth case, it's the easiest to fix. Open the computer, unplug the big flat grey cable connected the the drive, and then plug it back in, making sure that it's properly attached. To the same thing on the other end of the cable, the end that connects to the motherboard.

[DeCompile]

It actually sounds like the image that the restore CD's are attempting to read from are either missing, not complete or are damaged.

Your best option would be to find another copy of Windows ME and install from scratch.

[ccrasherdeb]

If the CD's are damaged, just find someone that can loan you any install CD's and use the key number that you should have from the sticker on the old computer you have. Otherwise you can try a free program called CDCheck and try to repair the data on the CD's and burn some new disks. If you cant borrow or repair the CD's or you don't have a legit key for the install then your SOL and just get winXP and install it, i've installed it on many old system with as little as 128 mbs of ram and after turning off all the un needed services and startups it will run much better than winME.

[josiahb]

I'd skip the repair steps and go straight for the WinXP disks to be honest, Me was busted on release in every way possible.

[born2c0de]

I'd say the same.