Got very limited experience with ME, but provided that it loads the splash screen the same way as W98:

- Check if the line Logo=0 is present in c:\msdos.sys, remove it if it is.
- Check that c:\windows\logo.sys is present. It's just a renamed 320x400@256 colors .bmp, open it with mspaint to make sure it's not corrupted or anything.

Also note the odd properties of the bitmap. Displaying it uses a somewhat exotic VGA mode. I don't hold it for impossible that there might be compatibility issues with newer graphics cards.

320x400 should be compatible with double-scanned 320x200, can't see why it'd have an issue. It's not any technically different than the Win95 splash screen.

This is a WinME install disk for Dell PCs... REMOVED

It may contain the logo, or it may just be the same as any WinME CD.

What's the other loading screen? Maybe thats the customised screen that's replaced the default one?
as others have said, it should act the same as any other version of Win9x.

BIOS screen.
MS splash screen
Drop to dos screen if loading anything in autoexec.bat/config.sys
Windows desktop or password box

ME seems to easily suppress the logo screen, dependent on drivers etc.
I basically never see it on my hardware either...

Maybe monitor is too slow to display it? My Athlon XP 2400+ displays the splash screen for 1 second, then switches back to text mode before launching into desktop. Most LCD monitors I have are too slow to switch modes and therefore miss the splash screen. Only with a CRT screen I can see the ME splash screen (because the CRT doesn't change modes from POST screen to splash screen then back to text mode).

I seem to remember if I set it up as any locale other than US, it doesn't show the screen. I wondered if it was doing the 98 thing of setting an MS-DOS code page during boot, but not showing it, and not returning to the splash.

astonsmith wrote on 2025-03-12, 10:24:

I seem to remember if I set it up as any locale other than US, it doesn't show the screen. I wondered if it was doing the 98 thing of setting an MS-DOS code page during boot, but not showing it, and not returning to the splash.

This is what I think is happening as well.
If OP temporally removes autoexec.bat and config.sys files the splash screen should remain longer.
Then you can work out if you need anything loaded from those 2 files

65C02 wrote on 2025-03-12, 01:37:

Maybe monitor is too slow to display it? My Athlon XP 2400+ displays the splash screen for 1 second, then switches back to text mode before launching into desktop. Most LCD monitors I have are too slow to switch modes and therefore miss the splash screen. Only with a CRT screen I can see the ME splash screen (because the CRT doesn't change modes from POST screen to splash screen then back to text mode).

The oddball video mode choice for the splash screen is specifically to stop an early 90s multisync CRT from switching modes as the screen alternates between splash and the text-based config.sys/autoexec.bat output during boot.
I wonder why LCDs can't stay in the same mode? because it's stretched to fit the native resolution a bit differently I guess?

When I install with the US locale the splash screen is there...

What do you have inside your c:\autoexec.bat and c:\config.sys files?

I suspect at the very least config.sys has country code settings. I think this was more for backwards compatibility and can be safely removed
Windows GUI will still respect your country settings set in control panel. I think so does a command prompt windows within windows.

Any other lines in either of the files will still remove the splash screen. Ideally you want to be able to delete autoexec.bat and config.sys entirely

Is it possible to move this thread to the software board as it seems not to be a hardware related issue after all.