Such a machine should be able to run a KNOPPIX. http://tips.oncomputers.info/archives2004/0401/2004-Jan-11.htm is a writeup about that.
If it can't run that, then it's likely to be a hardware problem. If it runs that, then an OS install may be in the cards.
Bob
I am trying to troubleshoot a system and have had very little luck. I have a system that has windows ME and what happens is I load into windows and try to load IE and it starts to load then hangs. Sometimes at that point I can hit Start and try something else and other times the system is locked. I think the motherboard brand is CSE? i'm no tsure but the model is K7S5A and I recently updated the BIOS to the most recent. I swapped memory and had no effect. I have changed the hard drive and tried to re-install windows ME on that, it worked until the system rebooted and tried to detect plug and play devices. the first time the hard drive powered down and the system locked up. The second time I tried it started to detect drives again then I received the blue screen with some error, can't recall what, but when I got teh screen back it was the setup screen with some odd colored lines on it and teh system was locked. The CPU is an AMD Athlon XP 1700+ and I was wondering if the CPU or Motherboard could be going.. One last thing when I opened teh case to repair this system the household it is for are a bunch of smokers, I had so much nicotine buildup in the CPU heatsink that no air was blowing through and it was heating up a bit. Any help is appreciated...

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