explorer/kernel32.dll error

[kodiak]

First try at building - put it all together (w Athlon 1.4 t-bird) on 9/15/01. After initial glitches and a couple reinstalls and bios upgrades (thanks to alot of online forum study!), it has run stable as a rock since 3/02. First try at burning cd's (ezcd creator 4.5) last week and had a hard lock (cont-alt-del was no help). Turned power off and problem began when I tried to rt-click My Comp to check free system resources (usually 92%). In fact if I right click any desktop icon, try to copy files, in win explorer I get this same message:

(red dot with white x) EXPLORER
This Prog has performed illegal operation and will be shut down

Details:
Explorer caused an exception c0000006H in module kernel32.dll at 0167:bff86eac. plus a stack dump list.

I have uninstalled NAV 2002 and EZ CD Creator, but no help. If possible, would like to fix without doing a format and reinstall as I can't backup by copying data, settings etc, to the second hard drive. Detailed instructions welcome. Thanks!

[Cricket]

Hi kodiak,

Can you get into Safe Mode? If you can, try some programs. If you can't, do you get a message from Himem? Bad RAM.

Did you install anything new prior to the problem? Software or hardware?

If you think the problem is related to the installation of some software, you might be able to recover the system by booting to DOS and typing scanreg/ restore at the prompt. Choose a date from before the problem.

:) Cricket

[kodiak]

Thanks Cricket!

only new install was ezcreator4.5 (updated at roxio) before the hard lock. will try booting to both safemode to try some programs and to dos to try restoring the registry

[kodiak]

Argh! Tryed several times to get machine to boot in safemode. If I hold down cont while booting, the select boot mode list comes up but if I enter a number (3 for safe mode) or use arrow key to scroll, I cannot select anything. If I hit Cont+F5 or F8, I get c prompt with blinking cursor. At that point I can't type a dos command: DIR shows up as ^d ^R. Only way I could get into safe mode was cont-alt-del while windows was loading. Right clicking any icon on safemode desktop gets same error as in my original post. Some programs launch, some lunch.

Restarted in dos and restored the registry. Now I get messages that say: sys.ini or registry want to load but can't find c:\program~1\symantec\symevnt.386 and c:\program~1\norton\navap.vxd--press any key to continue which i do and windows comes up. It's not fatal, because I can still get email and get online to report my (halting) progress. This is a sick machine right now, though. Any more help out there?

[GaryRouth]

Can you run ScanDisk from Safe Mode? or System File Checker?

. . .Gary

(p.s. those error messages about not loading Norton (the symantec/norton messages) are Ok...it's just telling you the truth: it can't find them because they've been uninstalled, and the registry you restored was prior to the uninstall)

[Cricket]

Hi kodiak,

The Registry is looking for the Norton Antivirus (which you uninstalled). You'll have to remove the Registry key that is looking for NAV.

You can remove the key manually or you can use something like Regcleaner (http://www.jv16.org/) to do it for you.

:) Cricket

[kodiak]

Thanks Gary! I turned pwr off while booting and forced it to boot to safe mode. Ran scandisk and maually fixed all (seceral dozen) errors. Then ran System File Checker and updated verification on 2 files which I could not get from win 98 cd because neither dvd or cdrom drives were recognized. Just booted and checked resources: 94% free and no more explorer errors. I guess my next move is to backup all I can to second hdrive , then reformat reinstall? or, am i now good to go after I rearrange the icons on desktop?

Cricket-just downloaded regcleaner; will give it a go and report back

You folks are awesome: thanks!!

[GaryRouth]

Hi kodiak, Hi Cricket

I think reinstalling/reformatting is up to you. If you are running Ok now, it might not be necessary. Sorry I forgot the cd drive isn't available in Safe Mode. You can re-run it on a normal boot and check those two files, if you selected "ignore" when it first found them (it'll find them again). If you selected "update", but remembered to write the file names down, you can restore them manually (step-by-step for that using System File Checker is in the Help file, I think: pretty straightforward, on one of the menus you select "restore file from disk")

I think your overall problems with roxio might be resolved by trying a different version. Might as well start with the latest one, since they include a few more bug fixes each time.

Maybe I'll try RegCleaner, too . . . that's one I haven't used yet: I figure if Cricket recommends it, I'm gonna try it.

. . . Gary