windows ME dll errors

[Raskolnikov]

Hi,
I am working on a dell dimension l866r windows ME. And getting desperate..

rundll32 has caused an error in mmsystem.dll rundll32 will now close
kernel32 has caused an error in mmsystem.dll rundll32 will now close
unknown caused an error in unknown ( lol this one is funny )

these are the error mesages i get when i start up. System came here with no video drivers.I tought the owner deleted it. Well he didn't.. Couldn't defragment first. After many scans cleanings and so on in safe mod i could complete the defragmenting it. restarted. and no video drivers... I reinstalled it. getting these dll error messages at all times. I was getting ready to clone this sytem and do a low level format but now i am thinking that it might be a loss of time. This system is now virus-malware-spyware free that i know.
It has an old norton in the system somewhere.
They used to have kazaa on this system also.
Thats all i know about the background of this computer.

Any ideas? Any help is apricieted in advance. Thank you.

[Raskolnikov]

I got rid of the error messages. I added a line (which was missing) to the system.ini but there is still something fishy... I shut the comp of from the power button and there ! no video and no mouse driver whats happening ?

[GaryRouth]

Hi Raskolnikov

If the customer has good backups, the cleanest solution is to erase the drive & use the Recovery Disks (does he/she have them?). Make sure, of course, to scan the backups before restoring them to the fresh installation - and all the Security Updates will need to be reinstalled = have a firewall and antivirus in place before it hooks up to any networks, especially the Internet.

If the customer does not have good backups = you can choose to back up the data he identifies as most important for him, then run a Recovery.

If the customer has no Recovery set of any kind, and is not interested in purchasing a set (usually about $20), you can try an over-the-top reinstallation of WinMe to help ensure that most of the system files are present and in the right places -- this method also requires a trip to Windows Update right after, to grab the Security Patches. If you're interested in the over-the-top details, there's a brief guide in our Tips & Tricks forum http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=70846

Reinstalling both the video and sound drivers should have sorted the earlier error you were seeing. . . .

I'm not sure what you meant when you said you "shut the comp of from the power button and there ! no video and no mouse driver"? Did you have to shut off the power because the computer wouldn't shut down normally? And then on reboot, the video had returned to Standard VGA [640x480 with 16 colors]? And the mouse no longer works?

If yes to those last three questions, to fix just the video problem and the mouse, you can try removing all video cards and all mice listed in Device Manager in Safe Mode, and finding exact-match video drivers & installing them on reboot. If the mouse is a standard PS/2 or USB mouse, the unit shouldn't need any special drivers for that - let the mouse drivers built into Windows take care of that.

Kazaa is no picnic - if you haven't already, you could try using Hijack This to be extra sure no malware is still lingering.

Best of luck
. . . Gary


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