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Window 98 and Software Crashes

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Johnlw007

Technical User
Aug 17, 2009
5
US
Yikes!!! Something happened (program or file corruption?) to Windows 98 or my software programs. The PC has a Pentium II with 500MB of RAM. I'm running MS Office 97. This computer currently does not have Internet access. (My other (office) computer does, though). These two issues occurred aournd the same time and may be related.

Music Software:
SONAR 2.2 and Wavelab 3.0: In SONAR, when I highlight an audio clip, go to TOOLS and select Wavelab, instead of opening and displaying the clip for editing in Wavelab, I now get an error message, "Cannot complete process".

Excel:
When I open up a file and click on Print Preview and then click Close, the program and Windows 98 freezes up on me. Nothing works.

When I use... Ctrl+Alt+Delete and try to quit or end the program(s), I get an array of error messages:

"The system is dangerously low on resources. Would you like to terminate the following program?" (As I quit each program, another Window 98 file or program is displayed asking if I would like to terminate).

So, I shut off the power supply to the computer and turn it back on. Windows 98 goes through its system check to find errors. One of the error messages says, "The following files have allocation errors: Windows Temp\wrf0000.tmp". I indicate "yes" when asking to fix a problem. It appears to fix it and then boots up. I still have the same problems (above).

Any thoughts. I'm wondering if I need to re-install Windows 98 (but then I won't have the various system updates... when I used to have dial-up connection), MS Office 97, SONAR or Wavelab.

I desperately need to keep this computer alive for a little while longer. Please help.

Thank you.


 
You could delete the temporary file. It is just that, temporary. Go at it from command prompt if needed.

Granted that you will be missing some updates but an over the top reload normally doesn't touch programs or data.

Be prepared for a long process. It can take several reloads to resolve issues. I've had to do as many as 4 in a row before everything sorted out. And because it can take more than one you might consider putting the install stuff on the hard drive and installing from there.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
 
the problem PC did at one time have internet access, and it got disabled somehow and the problems started right there after... did I understand that correctly?

if so, then you may have malware causing the problems...

there I would suggest, you DL the following two CD's burn them on cd's and run scans on the affected PC...

DrWeb LiveCD

Avira Rescue System

also running CHKDSK C: /F from the command prompt, or SCANDISK, to test the integrity of the file system and drive...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"
 
Thank you for your responses!

For clarification, not connecting to the Internet is not the issue for my music computer. I just wanted to let you know that I would not be able to go online to download any fixes, or whatever, unless I could do it from my newer office computer.

I'm not that computer literate. Doing anything in DOS would be new to me. Perhaps, I can do a file search to find that file and delete it?

Do you think this is a Windows 98 issue or an Excel and SONAR issue? When you mentioned reloading, were you speaking of reloading Windows 98?

Keep the suggestions coming! I really appreciate it!

Thank you,

John
 
I was talking about reloading windows on top of the existing windows. It puts the files supplied by the original installation in place of any that are on the hard drive, whether they are the orignals, modified, or updated.

It is possible that this could corrupt your existing stuff to the extent you would lose it all but I've never lost one, FWIW.

To get to it in DOS, START, PROGRAMS, MSDOSPROMPT, then in DOS "cd temp", then "del wrf0000.tmp". To get back to windows, "exit".

The file may come back. Some program you run may create it.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.
 
Hi Ed,

I'll give all your suggestions a try and let you know what happens! Stay tuned...

Thank you,

John
 
Hello to all,

I have found the fix to one of my problems, above. I have solved the problem with Excel crashing. I did not have to re-install Excel or Windows 98. Here is the detail of the problem, below, and the FIX! I wanted to share this with everybody. Read on!

Note: I have Windows 98, 2nd Edition Q239887 update (latest).

My Problem:
When I open an Excel file and click on the Print Preview button and then click the “Close” button I get the following error message:

“EXCEL caused a general protection fault in module USER.EXE at 0006:000056f4”.

Other times, when I open Excel and then to close Excel, I get the following error message:

“The system is dangerously low on resources. Would you like to terminate the following application?
• explorer"

When I click yes, I repeatedly get the same error message with the following applications listed in succession:
• Imgicon
• Systray
• Adusermon
• Cgmenu
• Cg16eh
• Cg32eh

Upon Google searching on these error messages, I found the following solutions, which I have tried AND IT WORKS!!!!

Problem: EXCEL caused a general protection fault in module USER.EXE at 003:00003d32. (Similar error to mine).

Fix: Open windows explorer. Do a search for "*.xlb" without the quotes. When the file is found, delete this file. Now open up Excel. The .xlb file is your menu settings. When you reopen excel, it will create a new .xlb file.

When I did a file search for *.xlb, only one file turned up, which was found under C:\WINDOWS\. In my case, the file name was “PII 3508.xlb”.

I tried it… this worked! Awesome!

Now, it's on to trying to figure out my music software glitch.

Thanks for everyone's input.

John
 
Incase anybody else ever has this issue, I found the fix to my software glitch between SONAR 2.2 and Wavelab 4.0.

First, the other night, I tried re-installing SONAR 2.2, but that did nothing. The problem still existed.

Tonight, I did a "Repair Install" of Steinberg Wavelab 4.0 (which requires inserting the installation disk). I then rebooted the computer. IT WORKS, NOW!!

Now, I can keep working on audio projects until my new studio computer and software arrives.

John
The One

Thank you!
 
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