[psfuhr]

I cannot get Windows to start. The first message I run into says "can't find CDRom drive" and asks for the setup path for Direct X 5.0. I have had no luck browsing for a path that works. Then when I click cancel, I get the following:

explorer caused invalid page fault in module EXPLORER.EXE at 0177:00401f31

Can anyone help? Thank you.

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http://support.micro...B;EN-US;q175930

[pip22]

http://support.micro...B;EN-US;q175930

[svogelsa]

Did you ever get this resolved? I'm using a 98SE machine and today after running Spybot Search and Destroy to rid my machine of spyware I received the same problem as the original post.

I tried to restore explorer.exe from my installation CDs per the Microsoft support web site and also tried to restore a previous registry but was unsuccessful.

The recommended solution in the second post doesn't seem to cover the topic of the original post.

Any help would be appreciated.

[gerryf]

can you boot into safe mode?

[svogelsa]

BTW - I attempted the solution in http://support.micro...B;EN-US;q175930 and it didn't work.

[svogelsa]

Sorry didn't see the earlier reply, no cannot boot into safe-mode.

When attempting to go to safe mode I do not get the window looking for the Directx 5.0 installation path, just get the explorer.exe error "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shutdown."

I then used my windows startup disk to boot to a command prompt with CD-ROM support and used the ext utility to extract explorer.exe from my 98SE installation CD as per Microsoft support web site instructed for the error above.

Still not able to bootup.

I've tried to find where the au30setp gets kicked off because this is where it is appearing to hang up and ask for the directx 5.0 setup path.

No luck so far and I've searched for hours for this same problem and only found this post and one on w98banter.com

TIA

[gerryf]

I then used my windows startup disk to boot to a command prompt with CD-ROM support and used the ext utility to extract explorer.exe from my 98SE installation CD as per Microsoft support web site instructed for the error above.

Good strategy, shows you're thinking.

Hmm, got two ideas, but I don't know which to try first.Want to work on the bootup issue first, so I guess we'll try this...

boot with floppy. at a:> prompt, type

edit

you'll get the old dos edit.com up. This is a bit tricky navigating since you don't get a mouse, but by using the TAB key and your ARROW keys, you can navigate around in here, changing directories, selecting files.

First, hit the ALT key, which will give you your drop down menu, choose OPEN. We want to open the following file

system.ini

in c:\windows

Look for the SHELL= line
under the [BOOT] section

what does it say?

[svogelsa]

Thanks for the help so far.

Unless someone has some ideas fast I think that I'm going to reinstall 98SE (until I can buy an upgrade to XP.)



I've now gone into dos command mode and used the text editor (sure wish it was vi as I'm a Unix guy at work) to edit system.ini. In here I changed shell=explorer.exe for progman.exe.

I also uninstalled my sound card drivers as they were causing the box to prompt for directx 5.0 setup files to pop up. so now only I get the explorer caused an invalid page fault.

I luckily found through a lot of surfing a microsoft support help page for the explorer caused an invalid page fault in module explorer.exe. it actually was titled for causing the fault in browseui.dll but in the text also referred to being in explorer.exe also.

It had me run "control appwiz.ctl" from the program manager which brings up the add/remove programs utility. it was supposed to allow me to get to IE6 and repair it but nothing showed up in the utility window to add/remove. So I then found on the Microsoft web site information on manually running the IE repair tool. It said that IE couldn't be repaired.

So now I'm pretty much out of options. I've changed the system.ini file around 20 times between progman and explorer checking changes to see if I can get explorer going.

I also ran msconfig from the progman run line and it did have a strange "command" selected to startup, y32prxc6q which I never rememebered installing anything like that (it refers to dllmrt16.exe) so i unchecked it so it wouldn't sun at startup - nothing "good" happened.

so if i try to reinstall windows 98se from my installation disks how bad off will i be? I'm guessing pretty hosed since i've installed every service pack and hotfix for the last 4 1/2 years since I first installed it and have gone through 3 printers, a bunch of cameras, a usb hub, scanner and god knows how much software. The real concern is the software that I've purchased online and paid for keys so there's no hardcopy.

Any idea if a fresh win98se install will mess with any files besides the ones in the c:windows directory?



TIA

[gerryf]

No, you will be fine if you reinstall windows on top of itself...all settings and programs will be retained as long as you install to the same directory.

This:
"y32prxc6q which I never rememebered installing anything like that (it refers to dllmrt16.exe)"
concerns me

The above state repair installation will replace all bad windows files, but it retains settings and bad non-windows files--which may still point to these bad files.

can you run hijack this from progman (btw, another good idea--impressive bit of troubleshooting). Would like to see what else is going on before you do a repair install.

[gerryf]

another thought...do a search for another explorer.exe...

You may have the IE files on your drive

Check C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer
or
C:\Windows\Windows Update Files

if there is an iesetup.exe...run it

[svogelsa]

Well, I found ie6setup.exe in both directories you mention above. Both have the same file properties date/time/size.

But when I try to run either of them from the run command or in an MS-DOS shell window nothing happens. I've got a feeling that I need to be farther along in the windows environment for this to run properly.

good idea. More surfing to see how to run ie6setup from a command prompt.

[gerryf]

they are windows programs...will not run in dos.

But you should be able to run them this way...change to SHELL=winfile.exe (from above)

If not, can you run hijackthis? Would like to see if there;s anything hiding in a startup setting that could kibosh a windows repair.

If we cannot, then I say go ahead and reinstall windows over windows.

[svogelsa]

I should have been more explicit. I first tried the run box from progman and when that didn't work I opened a command tool. Then I changed the shell to winfile and used it's run command and still no luck. So unfortunately already tried to run IE6setup that way.

This morning downloaded hijackThis to my work machine and transferred it via floppy and used winfile.exe as shell to try to run it using run command and it wouldn't run just like ie6setup.

But using winfile was able to backup a bunch of files easier AND when I was going to re-edit system.ini to change the shell I saw a folder labeled "KB891711"in the windows/system directory. This seemed strange and had a date of 3/13/05 (which was the day I left on my 2 week business trip). I also remember downloading MS critical updates that day (trying to ensure my machine was up to date and not vulnerable before I left). So I searched the web for kb891711 and found tons of posts. They ALL had the same problems that prompted my original problems of not being able to use IE or outlook.

So it appears that MS screwed up my machine and I then complicated it by running spybot S&D which nailed something. If I had remembered or found KB891711 all I would have had to do was remove the checkbox next to it in the startup tab of msconfig and then made some registry changes. Right now there's no kb891711 in the startup tab and I can't find the registry entries that the posts call out.

Looks like I got myself into this by trusting MS (never had problems with updates before) and then went down the spyware path to correct it and now it apears that I can't recover my machine without reloading windows. I think that this calls for at least a call to MS support jst to vent.

My last thing to do is to see if the windows update directory has a cab file that contains an updated version of explorer.exe???

Who knows.

Thanks again

[gerryf]

Knowing that, makes it easier to procede. Yes, that update is causing all kinds of grief.

Get your windows cd, and reun setup from it, reinstalling windows 98 on top of the previous version. You should be OK.

My concern was that there was a setting pointing to a file that might interfere with windows setup. That should not be the case given that information.

If your computer boots to CD, place the windows disk in the cd and reboot, and follow along with the prompts.

[svogelsa]

Well, looks like I'm completely screwed. I re-installed windows 98Se. Things seemed a little strange when it prompted me for my MS license key so i figured it was starting from scratch.

Installation went through with no errors. Machine boots and comes up (old wall paper and all old icons). Gave me error boxes about my networked printer and having to reinstall MSOffice. figured i'd do a windows update first to get back to where i am with critical updates before installing word and the rest.

Can't open IE - gave me explorer caused invalid page fault in module unknown an IE died. Tried to open Netscape 7.1 and it wouldn't even open and then tried opening firefox and it also gave me firefox caused an unknown page fault in module unknown. so i can't get out to the net right now. I did use winipcfg and verified that I have a good ip address assigned and the rest of the computers in my home (kids) still can see the net through my wireless hub. i also opened a command tool and was able to ping places on the net outside my home network but I just can't get a web browser so i can get to the ms update page.

also add/remove programs is blank so it appears I lost all my registry information for everything loaded on my machine. I've tried to open numerous application but most give errors or say can't find license key string so right now what I have is a PC with 2 hard drives that I may be able to access from another machine and not much more. Oh i think that i can run Snood on the machine, yipee.

I then went to the windows/windows update directory and ran IE6setup but it needed to access the web and couldn't. I then ran a custom install and only tried to install IE6. it went through and then told me it hadn't installed and to reboot. on reboot it asked to complete the install but then threw errors and died and I can't get the intall tool to work anymore.

I'm at the end of my wts unless I can find a scaled down web broweser that will fit on a floppy and will somehow run on my machine and i can get to the windows support page and possibly update some files.