vmm.vxd missing 2

[JennITChick]

I've tried twice now to cleanly load Windows 98SE on this computer of my brother's, and both times when I try to start it normally I get "Windows protection fault. vmm.vsd missing/unloadable" (or something very close, I only have one monitor). What's going on? This same CD reloaded Windows 98 SE about 3 weeks ago without any problems.

The computer in question is an old Dell Dimension XPS D300.

Thanks. Jennifer Sigman
Unemployed

 

[mudskipper]

By chance, does this computer have a scanner on it (specifically a Umax SCSI)? If it does not have a scsi scanner, then this post won't help you much ;-)

If so, remove the SCSI card, install windows. Then look at Umax's website for the fix before installing the scanner.

Or, you can post back and I will try to post the link to the fix for you--although I will not be checking my threads for a day or so.

Hope this helps you--and good luck! Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[JennITChick]

AH! This one used to have a scanner on it. Thanks a ton, I'll try that in the morning. Jennifer Sigman
Unemployed

 

[mudskipper]

Found a page that has some info. It also links to the MS article relating to it.

http://www.aro.csupomona.edu/cesari/vmm32vxd/

(MS Knowledgbase)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q191874

Hope this helps!! Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[JennITChick]

Hmmm... well, I've run into an interesting thing... my brother used the USB for the scanner, and there's no SCSI card on here. It's weird that it would come up after a format and install, too. I'll keep trying, I've got another Windows 98 CD to use. Jennifer Sigman
Unemployed

 

[JennITChick]

OK, popping this up to the top... I have clean formatted the computer, installed Windows 98, and I'm still getting this cannot load/missing vmm32.vxd error. I've used two different disks. I'm not sure how the above would help, since I'm not trying to install any scanner software. Any other suggestions? This error only started coming up after I formatted and reloaded the computer. Jennifer Sigman
Unemployed

 

[mudskipper]

Try to boot using the bootlog. What are the last few things to load before the error came up? Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[johnsonm]

What you may want to try is first using a boot disk and typing "fdisk /mbr". That will delete the master boot record on the C: drive. Second, delete all the partitions on the HDD with fdisk, and then low-level format (no "/q" switch) the drive. Then take out all cards (except video of course) and try installing 98se that way. Then, if it installs, add each card individually.

I remember having a weird issue like yours before and that worked for me. It was awhile ago, so I apologize if this doesn't work. What had happened (if my memory serves me) is that the HDD's FAT partition table became so corrupted that it wouldn't remember where files were stored.

And if that doesn't work then check out this MS article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q194679&

:It talks about vmm32 being in a different directory. I'm sure you've check this out already though...
-Mike Johnson

 

[JennITChick]

I've fdisk'd and formatted this computer about 3 times...

And thanks for the tip, but yes I did go make sure the file was in the right place.

I've done a Google search, and apparently I'm not the only one who had this crazy problem come up. One person suggested I put the hard drive in another computer and try loading it from there. I may do that, taking the hard drive to my brother's house and using that motherboard.

Thanks, ya'll. Jennifer Sigman
Unemployed

 

[johnsonm]

I figured you've done all the standard geeky stuff. You may want to think about getting a new hdd though- they're not too expensive, and with this problem you've been having it may be less of a headache in the long run.

Mike Johnson
IS Support Specialist

 

[Kento]

I've seen this problem caused by bad ram so get Doc Memory and run a few ram tests and see what it says. It's free and run via startup floppy. Or if you have two ram sticks then remove one and see what happens. If you still have the problem put that one back and remove the other one.

http://www.dimmtester.com/PAGE/products/demos.asp

 

[JennITChick]

Thanks for the testing software, I'll give it a try. Jennifer Sigman
Unemployed

 

[mudskipper]

I hate to resurrect an old post, but I am very curious--did you ever get this PC going? If not, what have you found?

Thanks for the info!! Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[JennITChick]

Hey, that's OK... the memory was fine, so I took the hard drive and put it in another computer (my old P3 600 that I had given to my brother) and loaded it, then brought it back to the P2 300 and it ran fine. Mom's thrilled.

Jennifer Sigman
Unemployed

 

[mudskipper]

Glad it is working for you! Thanks for the info-I'll sleep better now!! LOL Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[WeeGeordie]

I had this problem once after installing SCSI scanner drivers in a system that did not have a SCSI card.

I used msconfig to enable the startup menu and stepped through the startup one command at a time. I found that the last module prior to loading the vmm.vxd was failing. Used msconfig again to disable the failing command in autoexec and all was well.

WeeGeordie

 

[JennITChick]

The problem is, WeeGeorgie, is that I had formatted the hard drive at least three times. There were no SCSI drivers installed. Jennifer Sigman
Unemployed