XRS

Guys,

I have double checked the message, and it does not mention a module. After the number ref. it just says the current application will be terminated. Yuk!

Still wading through Google (KB didn't like my search criteria).

XRS

Help please, peeps. I turned on my home PC at 4 o'clock this morning (but that's a different story) and it would not boot into windows. It gave me the BSOD reporting a fatal exception OE at 0028:C2A2DB60 (although the last 4 digits changed each time it failed.

So I have access to safe mode and need to find out what is causing the problem. How can I identify device 0028 from safe mode? I have tried eliminating items (e.g. zone alarm files) from the start-up via msconfig to no avail, and have put the display into standard VGA mode (I installed new drivers a couple of days ago).

I run W98SE

Any ideas please?

ChrisB

Does it say what module the error occured in?

Chris.

chiark

Have you tried doing a search on Google or the MS knowledge base for the error code?

I had BSOD on Win2K, and found the culprit to be a faulty driver for a HP CD-Writer, supplied by adaptec...

XRS

Chris,

Was that the 0028:C2A2DB60 reference, or should there be another one? If so, what would it normally look like?

Chiark,

Thanks, I'll have a look in Knowledgebase - I've been there before, so I may be away for some time!

Cheers

GranTurismo

Hello,

The starting point should be what you did when you last used the PC.

If during the last boot you diddnt install any software (or uninstall it) or change any configuration then you are likley to have a hardwaare problem, unless you diddnt shutdown properly.

If you did install stuff then it is likley to be that.

If you think its hardware then have you moved the PC or something? IF you are OK to take of the lid (ie no warrenty issues) then gently push in all the cards/sims after taking correct anti-static precautions.

XRS

Thanks, GT

In fact my son was the last person to use the PC for printing from his machine last night. He did have a problem starting it but it eventually worked, and he noticed a display corruption but it printed OK for him. It then shut down without a problem.

I'm OK to play around inside - I built both machines. I guess I've just been putting off taking it apart.

Come to think of it, I did update the video drivers last weekend, so perhaps they are playing up - I'll go back to the previous
version.

Cheers

Ga22ar

Can't remember if you can do it in win9x, but try booting in log mode so you get a bootlog.txt, the log should stop at the driver/device giving you the problems

fast bloke

You can do this in 95. Delete the old bootlg first, as Windoze renames them adding confusion. You will get a list of devices the PC is loading. The last one is generally the one causing the problem

XRS

Thanks guys, the problem is that it doesn't seem able to create the bootlog file. I have booted it many times into safe mode and am currently in the middle of playing around with msconfig settings.
From this it appears that the problem is in either system.ini or win.ini, so I'll be investigating that tonight.

Ga22ar

You sure ? perchance you mean the registry, win.ini/system.ini is for legacy support from Win31x days.. I didn't think it was still used !!

XRS

Ga22ar, at the moment I'm running through the tests suggested the a Microsoft knowledge base article. Basically, I have disabled different parts of the bootup process and it suggests as a result that there is a problem in either system.ini or win.ini. The PC does work without these being loaded, but I have not tried to see if everything is working on it. If they are not necessary, I'll leave it as it is.

XRS

This is getting more and more wierd..
I find I can get into the system by removing some of the system devices in Device Manager. The system then re-loads them and allows me to get into wondows. Unfortunately I'm in 640x480x16 on a 21" monitor, so it all looks a bit odd.
So, if the system is busy loading new device drivers on bootup it overlooks whatever problem is stopping the normal boot process.
I guess if all else fails I can get myself another hard drive (I could do with the space) and probably som eof that cheap memory.

Wierd or what???

Ga22ar

So if you remove the display drivers and use generic VGA the system boots up and all is dandy??

Does the system then prompt to install new display drivers, if so does the machine hang after the new drivers are installed..

Sounds like your display drivers were sha99ed.
If you've got the drivers on disk, or even better d/l the latest versions from the vendor install these as a driver update and see what happens... It should work as your be install new files to the system and writing new entries into to the registry for the new drivers, in doing so this should flush out the old driver and values..

Good luck,

XRS

Panic over.

It turns out the network card had taken a dislike to its PCI slot. After eliminating all the other components, I relocated the card, reinstalled its drivers and Bob's your uncle.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Teenage son can start sending music files over to my machine so that he can burn his "music" to CD again.

I guess my parents might have found Hendrix, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin a bit noisey, so I should try to be understanding when his bedroom wall starts to vibrate!