[alliwant45]

Sometimes, Win 98 will start just fine. Other times, after Autoexec.bat is run and the PATH is set, either the POST will begin again or OS loading will stop and <ctrl-alt-delete> will show that an exception has been logged. Every time I have been able to see the exception, the text includes:

"Exception 0E at 0028:C00144A7 in VxD--- called from 0028:C0126DD0 in VxD ---. It may be possible to proceed normally..."

but usually, it isn't and I have to restart the boot process. This problem started about the time I updated the java runtime environment to v 1.5.0. I put JRE 1.4.2 on as part of an install that I had to scrap (jedit).

As far as unwanted guests on my system, I have AVG and Ad-Aware SE Plus, both scrupulously updated. Therefore, my suspicions are more towards corruption than infection.

alliwant45

update-I found out about 3 wks after posting that the floppy drive in the affected machine had failed, after a few intermittent malfunctions. I replaced the floppy drive and had no more problems. I also repartitioned and reformatted, and installed win2k with no further problems. My best guess is that the ailing floppy drive might have been the culprit. This is all something of a relief, as my Web connection was through the affected machine. Now my communications are via a machine that run smoothly, enhancing my peace of mind.

Edited by alliwant45, 10 June 2005 - 08:30 PM.