WUSB54GC access violation

Question

First of all, I apologize if a similar question has been asked and answered in this forum. I tried a search but couldn't figure out how to limit it to this forum and did not have the heart to go through so many pages of results about gaming! Anyway...

Some months ago my son's computer was infected with a pretty nasty bit of malware. Once that was eradicated (without reformatting the disk or reinstalling the operating system), I started to notice some hiccups with the network connection. The machine is running Windows XP Media Center edition SP3 with all available updates, and it is connected to our wireless network using the WUSB54GC adapter. The router is a WRT45G, with the firmware updated in January or so.

The machine now seems to be slow to find and connect to the Internet, although once it does connect, there are no further issues. Occasionally when I restart the machine, I get the message "Access violation at address 00000000", which seems to be coming from the Linksys Router Monitor. When I do get that message, then another message "PCARMDrv.exe failed to initialize" appears when I shut down the machine.

So, what if anything should I do? There are other machines on the network and they are having no problems, so I’m reluctant to mess around too much with this. (I didn’t set up my network and know almost nothing about it.) Any advice would be appreciated.

PS--If the answer is going to be "uninstall and reinstall the adapter driver," I'm going to need some hand-holding. :emotion-1:

PudgyOne · Answer

leh0201,

I would suggest you restart the computer and press F2 when you see the Dell screen. This will take you into the Bios. Use the arrows and go across until you see boot sequence. Make it so the computer will boot from CD/DVD rom first, then the HDD or Hard drive. Have it boot from the USB next then network. Save changes and exit. This should stop the message from appearing.

I think the computer is trying to boot from the USB Adapter. My son had this issue when he had his ipod connected and the computer was trying to boot from the ipod.

Rick

leh0201 · Answer

Hi Rick, This is not the answer I was expecting, so before I try it, let me expand on what I originally wrote. I had thought this machine had two separate problems that I would solve separately, but now I'm thinking maybe they are related. So here is the other problem:

I had originally posted my Linksys problem on a different forum. The person who was helping me suggested that I run msconfig and check the system startup, then look for PCARMDrv.exe and uncheck it. So I ran msconfig, but PCARMDrv.exe was not listed. While running msconfig, I also looked at the Services tab and clicked "Hide Microsoft services", examined the list, then de-selected "Hide Microsoft services" and hit OK.

Even though I made no changes, somehow this put it into Diagnostic or Selective Startup mode (I forget what it was called). I got a message about access denied and needing administrator privileges, even though I was logged in as a user with admin privileges, so I restarted the machine and set it back to Normal mode. However, now every time I restart the machine, I am prompted to choose which operating system I want to start, and the list contains two identical entries: Windows XP Media Center Edition.

I did the "check boot paths" thing, and it said the second entry was invalid. My memory is a little fuzzy here, but I believe it offered me the option of fixing/removing that path, so I said OK. But when I restarted the machine, I got the same message about needing admin privileges and I set it back to Normal mode. As a result, I am still being prompted to choose one on startup. This is mostly just an inconvenience, but maybe it's related to the adapter issue?

PudgyOne · Answer

leh0201,   What do you see when you click start, computer?   How many hard drives and what do they say.     Rick

leh0201 · Answer

It says this (I hope this is what you were asking): Hard Disk Drives Local Disk (C:)          Local Disk Devices with Removable Storage DVD/CD-RW Drive (D:)       CD Drive

RockSt☆r-Rick · Answer

leh0201,   You only have one Local Disk, correct?     Rick

leh0201 · Answer

Yes. One internal hard drive, not partitioned. No external hard drive. Only one entry shows up as 'Local  DIsk'

PudgyOne · Answer

leh0201,

I could sit here and try different thing. They can take hours. Here is a simple soultion.

Put the Operating system disk in the computer and restart your computer.

Press any key to boot from CD.

Choose install.

Do the agreement.

Now choose repair. Leave the disk in until you see the Welcome Screen. Takes about 35 minutes. Now for the painful part, you'll have to get all your Windows Updates, again.

This will put the system back to like it was when you first got it. Doing it this way, you will not lose any files and folders on a Dell Computer.

Rick

I always preach, ALWAYS make copies of files and folders that you cannot afford to lose.

leh0201 · Answer

Rick, That sounds like a scary solution for problems that are just annoyances. My son will be getting a laptop in 6-9 months as he gets ready to head off to college, so maybe we'll just continue to live with these. When he has transferred anything he cares about to his laptop, maybe then I'll reformat and start over (or give the machine away :emotion-1: ). Thanks for your help though!

leh0201 · Answer

Last thought: when I look at the boot.ini file, there are two lines, which I assume is where the second boot entry is coming from. When I did 'check boot paths', it was the second entry that was reported as invalid. If I delete that line from boot.ini, will my problem be fixed? Or will I have created new headaches for myself?

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

WUSB54GC access violation

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