Problem with Windows XP at startup

[quartet-man]

Hi, the secretary here at church installed some programs a good while back on a computer she brought from home and donated to the church. I am not sure what program brought this on, but whenever she boots up she gets the following message in two windows:

"Can't run 16 bit windows program insufficient memory to run this application." "Quit one or more windows applications and then try again." I think she probably installed old programs that weren't XP ready. The computer she had before that I think they were on had Windows 95.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of them? She has to click ok to do so, but then sees no other problems on her computer.

Thanks, Terry

[rjfvillarosa]

Have you tried running the programs via the XP compatibility wizard?

[GaryRouth]

Hi quartet-man

There are usually three quick things you can check first with this sort of error. Rjfvillarosa has already given you one:
1) trying Compatibility Mode. To run the faulting program this mode, you first have to know what program is receiving the error. In the error message that you're getting at startup, it might mention the program.

It might not be that easy to tell - so you might have to look at all the programs that are set to run as Windows starts on that computer. Go to the Start/Run box, and type "msconfig" without the quotes. This will start the System Configuration Utility. Take a look at the list of programs listed in the "Startup" tab. Removing a checkmark from the box in front of each item will stop that program from starting the next time the computer is started. You can disable/re-enable one at a time until you figure out which one is causing the error.

Once you know the likely program, if it is a legitimate program (and not an unwanted source of harm: such as a virus, spyware, worm, or trojan), then you use Windows Explorer to find the ".exe" file (use "Search" & type in the program's name). Right-click on the executable (the ".exe" file), select "Properties", then select "Compatibility", and choose the closest version of Windows to what you think it was originally meant for (if unsure, try Windows 98). See if that does it. If not, there's

2) Scan for malware (harmful unwanted programs). Use as thorough settings as possible for the scans - and try a few different scanning programs. Start with the installed antivirus, and follow up with an online scanner (such as Eiwido, Panda, HouseCall, Symantec, etc.)... Then try some spyware scans. It's not so uncommon for this error to be caused by infections.

3) A somewhat low-probability fix involves replacing the Autoexec.nt or Config.nt are damaged or missing. http://windowsxp.mvps.org/16bit.htm --- But truthfully, I doubt that this is going to apply to your situation.

Your quickest route to the highest probability fix might be to try the antivirus/antispyware scans first.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[quartet-man]

Thanks guys. I had asked her and she first said she had installed other programs, but we apparently got wires crossed. Now she says that it didn't do it at home, but when she brought it there it did. She has dealt with it for quite a while, so she doesn't remember a lot about how it started. I couldn't imagine it just starting out of the blue. She does have all in one there, but she said it was just like the one she had at home.

She hasn't used internet access at the church (although we will soon as we are getting dsl after I did some serious prodding ), but I am sure she had at home before that. Gary, what else were you going to say right before #2?

If it does the message twice, does that mean there are two programs causing the problem? (Presuming that is the cause.)


I'll try these things and post the results here. As far as a virus etc. I suppose she could have gotten one at home before she brought it in, or that she used a disc from somewhere else, but don't think she does that much, if at all, either. Either way, I am going to harp some more that now especially before we got online, that she update her AV. She only kept the original on there, and I think it is a few years old.

[rjfvillarosa]

I am going suggest that you run highjackthis (HJT) and then post a log back here, normally you should read the sticky thread in the security board, follow the instructions and then run HJT, but obviously you do not have internet access on that machine so that is going to make downloading all the cleaners and updating them a small problem. Try downloading HJT on another machine and burning a copy to CD and then running it on that troublesome machine.
Have a read of the HJT sticky in the security board, do as much as you can before you run HJT and then maybe you can start a new thread over there and post the results of your HJT log for us to have a look at, this may not be a spyware or virus issue but at least we will be able to see what is starting up with Windows and possibly causing the problem.

Try PMing one of the mods and see if under the circumstances you can post your HJT log here just to keep continuity with this thread.

Here is a link to the latest version of HJT http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

[Looks like my fancy typing was a little misleading - sorry about that. It does rather look like I was going to say more just before starting the section "2)" - but when I typed "If not, there's" and left the rest blank, I intended that as a transition. OOps - style error - I'll try to be clearer.]

If it does the message twice, it does seem possible that there are a couple of programs involved. See if you can find any mention of a module or program name in the error message (if there's a "Details" button on the error message to try, see if more info is available). And might as well check the msconfig Startup tab, too. Such errors cover a lot of ground, so you might have luck simply by trying the programs in Compatibility mode (if you're lucky enough that it's a harmless app like an old Webster's dictionary trying to load at startup).

HiJack This is very thorough & will give us a detailed look at startup & background processes - but it is difficult for average users - you'll be listening for advice here (or at TomCoyote's site) before making changes with that program. However, any antivirus or antispyware tool can be used right away, and might do the trick. AVG is still free-for-personal-use, and runs well on machines of modest power (it still runs on vintage Windows 98 machines). AdAware and SpyBot have free versions, too - and are well-recommended spyware removers.

Hope it's one of the easier annoyances!
. . . Gary

[... and Hi There, RJFVillarosa! ]

[quartet-man]

Thanks, I am going to try some of this, but not sure how far I will get tonight. I have a rehearsal in a bit. I have a lot of experience with msconfig and selective startup with my personal WIN98SE machine, but didn't want to do much with XP until I see what is needed.
There is enough in common I think I can figure out what certain ones are hopefully. I am not sure if she has phone lines connected in there where I could log in on the dial up version of my personal DSL (as I am doing on my work computer) or not. Our phone system has rollover and such to where it is harder than a nornal set up. I do have experience with adaware and spybot on my own machine again, so I can do that.

I will get back on here when I have something else to report. Thanks again, Terry

[quartet-man]

Oh, and Gary don't give it a second thought about the formatting. I skimmed through this morning when I was about half awake and didn't have much time, but wanted to see if anything else was there. I then glanced back and saw it. Had I read it clear through, I may have gotten that.

Also, I don't remember if I mentioned it on this thread, but we will be getting dsl soon. We have a couple of members who are figuring out wiring for networking. If nothing else, if I have to do hijack this or what have you, I will just have to wait until then .

[quartet-man]

When she told me about this before I had started to mess with msconfig before, but wasn't sure what was needed on XP etc. and didn't want to mess it up.) But after that being recommended here and being more comfortable with it since my work computer has had it, I I did mess with it. It turned out to be two instances of powerchute running. It was software that apparently came with her APC battery back up. I thought she had said berfore she got that with her computer from Gateway, but would have to ask her. Anyhow, I tried using the compatibility wizard and took it back to 95, but it would still have the messages until I unchecked them. So I left them unchecked. Thanks, Terry

[rjfvillarosa]

Are you using the battery backup? can you uninstall this software?





Hi Gary... how you doing?

[GaryRouth]

[. . . and if you are still using the APC battery backup, Powerchute Personal Edition 2.0 is compatibile with XP -- you could call the vendor & see if the software is a free-of-charge upgrade for owners of the APC units . . . http://www.apcc.com/resource/include...e_sku=SFPCPE20 ]

I'm hoping for the no-charge upgrade as a tidy solution
. . . Gary


[RJFVillarosa - been as busy as ever - had a Dell in this week that had so much spyware to remove, I must have scanned for two days solid (client had no backups - had six or seven user accounts on the pc, several with thoroughly infested private files - and no time or disks to reinstall anything either) --- working well now . . . take care]

[glc]

Even if you do still have the APC, you do not need the software. Uninstall it.

[quartet-man]

I had disabled it from the startup menu, but hadn't reinstalled it yet. She does have the apc. I don't know that she would even miss the program. Unless she were at lunch, her computer is off if she is not in the building and could shut down herself. If nothing else, at worse she would not lose files, just that her computer would go off without shutting down.

[glc]

The software is gonna shut it down anyway without saving or closing anything.