system halted

You need to post the complete contents of the error message you're getting, in order for anyone to be of much help, but perhaps you could offer some insight as to what events led up to this failure.  Had you recently updated any software/drivers, added hardware, run Windows Update, etc?  Let any third party cleanup utility alter/remove any files?  Any recent power outages/brownouts, or thunderstorm activity?

Sorry about the abbreviation.

Screen error messages are as follows:

An exception 00 occurred at 0028:C0053507 in VxD---. This was called from 0028:C14764F3 in VxD ---. It may be possible to continue normally.

* Press any key to attempt to continue. *Press CRTL+ALT+DEL to restart your computer

Press any key to continue.

----------------------------------

At this point I press a key and get the following:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Windows protection error. You need to restart yoour computer. system halted.

----------------------------------------------------

this is as far as the system gets. as i said it does this in Safe mode or Normal Startup.  Have tried McAfee emergency rescue disk and Microsoft KB #221512 procedure. Neither helped.

I don't have personal knowledge of anything abnormal happening prior to problem.

Ron

 

 

Are there characters after the VXD portion?   If not, just use a period to indicate that this is the complete message.  If there are characters where you have --- following VXD, we need to know what they are, as nothing is coming back in a search for the other portions of the error message text you've provided.

Regarding your reply about "anything abnormal," I didn't say "abnormal." I asked if you'd added/updated any new software or hardware, or updated anything at Windows Update, etc.  There's a difference.  Updates through recognized sources aren't supposed to cause problems like this, but they occasionally do, and if the current problem immediately followed the installation of new software or hardware, knowing this will go a long way toward figuring out how to fix it.

In the mean time, you might want to look at these articles, which are as close as I can come to finding pertinent information based on the details thus far presented:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/support/windows/topics/errormsg/kbwpe.asp

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q149962

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;273738

 

 

Is the error 0D, zero followed by the letter d, or is it 00, i.e., zero zero?

In ME, the most common error is a 0E (zero e), which is a fatal exception error. If the error says 0D, zero letter d, then it's a general protection fault.

Go here for more details:

http://aumha.org/win4/kbefe.php

This is the main reason why it's important to write down the error letter-perfect. Otherwise, these errors are very difficult to search.

Message Edited by osprey4 on 05-30-2004 08:17 PM

Error is as written

00 zero, zero

no characters after VxD just 3 dashes (---) as written

thanks for your time and help.

Ron

Take a look at this:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=260284

One thing to try is unload all of you startup items, except for explorer and systray, and add them back one a at a time. You may need to boot into Safe Mode and run MSCONFIG to do this.

Two things:

1: I can't get into even Safe Mode therefore any fix has to come from DOS prompt. 

2: New information: First error message was correct as written when trying to start in Safe Mode. But it changes slightly when trying to start in other modes to the following.

An exception 00 has occurred at 0028:C0059B97 in VxD VXDMON(01)+0000037. This was called from 0028:C1594933 in VxD CDR4VSD(01)+0002C583. 

the rest of the error message stays the same as before.

thanks again for everyone's help

Ron

 

 nages

romation  

Have you recently installed any CD software, or made any changes to the hardware configuration relating to CD drives?  Part of that error message you're getting (VxD CDR4VSD) is related to virtual device drivers for a CD drive, and could be as a result of a problem in either the drive itself, or some software you have installed related to it.

If you have installed (or experienced problems with) CD software such as Easy CD, Nero, etc., the easiest thing to do would probably be to try uninstalling and reinstalling it, but you might want to visit the support site for the product(s) first, and see if there are any software updates for your product, and try installing them first.

If this isn't a factor, and if you only have CD-ROM drives installed, you might want to check Device Manager and see what the details are for your CD-ROM drive, and make sure there are no yellow flags (exclamation points, etc.) showing for that drive.

Flooby,

Thanks for the information.  How do I get to Device Manager from the DOS prompt  to check your suggestion?  I assume that Easy CD's site will have instructions to uninstall from the DOS prompt as you suggest.

 

Rather than addressing that at this point, and in light of your limited functionality, I think I'd try to run System Restore from a command prompt.  Choose a restore date prior to when this occurred, and preferably, prior to when you installed Easy CD.  Your personally generated documents should remain intact.  See the link below for instructions.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279736

Unless you have a good deal of irreplaceable data on the drive (not a factor when one performs the oft-recommended regular backups), I think I'd just format and reinstall WinME to a clean drive.  You could spend the next year trying to get this figured out, and given the flakiness of WinME, it may not be worth the effort.

Better still, get yourself a copy of Windows XP Pro, and put that on there.  FAR fewer headaches.

just to let you know. Tried the MS KB #279736 procedure to use the system restore tool from the DOS prompt.  Tried several times but couldn't get it to work.  First steps were to get Program manager to start from shell and that didn't happen so I couldn't go to next step and run the tool. 

Just for kicks tried to run tool but it said it couldn't be run from DOS mode.

 

 

thanks again for help. Still under warranty so I called Dell Tech Support.

Basically spent a lot of time trying all the stuff I had already tried and then finally just did a reformat and ME reinstall and it is now bootable and working, for now.