A problem that keeps persiting on my computer that keeps getting worse is those pesky runtime errors. Im not sure if my computer is unique to this problem, but it seems to be when i execute a certain command, im not sure what. But the error will be a small box in the center of the screen that simply says “Runtime error at…” and it will list some numbers (hexadecimal?) and then it has an OK button. If you click the OK button, another box instantly appears where the previous was. Its impossible to close it and it freezes up your system until u have to ctrl+alt+del the system to death or simply restart. Its kept on getting worse, happening like twice a day.
If it happens while only running one program, I would recommend reinstalling that one program. If it happens continuously and regardless of what you’re doing, it’s time for a Windows reinstall. Fun fun fun!
No the problem really isnt specified to one program. It used to just occur when i closed IE5, but it has seriously escalated from that, but usually its when i close a program. How would I go about uninstalling windows 98 and reinstalling it BTW?
Yeah when i run scandisk i usually get no errors until it gets to the end, when its scanning the boot sector, and it gives me an error that says ‘found an error in the boot sector that could potentially cause windows to report disk space slowly or incorreclty’ or something like that. Something serious i would assume, but i never thought it would ever have anything to do with this…
Would it be possible to give us any more information? A “runtime error” just means an error that a program encountered while running, and can refer to pretty much any program whatsoever, for any number of reasons. Does the window give you any details other than the hex?
It used to happen on my old Pentium 120 and it started happening on my current Pentium II 400. It always happened on my 120 when i closed Internet Explorer. It never happened besides then. I started using my used (by my father, but reformated etc…) pentium 400 and everything was fine until about 3 months later, when i started getting runtime errors when closing IE again. I scanned and defraged my cpu, but still no positive results. The system steadily degraded and the errors kept occuring more frequently, and one day in Winamp it crashed when i opened it. Now it happens regularly and the only thing u can do is click the OK button until it just totally locks up and requires you to manually restart it.
The only detail that the error displayes is a little box that appears in the middle, with a title of Error, and the message is ‘Runtime Error at 19E3:3950’ (i just made those numbers up, but thats what it looks like). Once the error pops up, you cant click on the taskbar or the desktop, but you could continue selecting songs in Winamp or typingin notepad. Its a real hassle because you have to restart your system all the time. Ive tried everything, even that odd Dr. Watson program that seems to hide in your windows directory.
I would call up technical support but i dont have any phone #'s handy and before i try to find them i wanted to see what the SDMB would think
Toolie, keeping in mind that I am not a techie… I would backup everthing that you don’t want to lose, and then reformat, and re-install Win…
It’s a pain in the ass, but sometimes necessary! (are you listening, Bill Gates? We’re frigging sick of this archaic code!!!)
[sub]Astro bears no responsibilty for anything weird that happens to your comp if you follow Astro’s advice… Astro only advises this because it has helped him in the past… others with more knowledge are urged to reply to Toolie before she does this!!![/sub]
Sometimes you can just reinstall windows (and IE) on top of windows and it will sometimes fix the registry. If this doesnt work you might try updating your drivers for the major hardware components.
I recomend upgrading to win 2000 or win ME. Win ME is probably easier because a good chunk of your hardware runs a good chance of not having 2000 drivers. Supposedly both of these OS’s will fix themselves when something breaks.
You could demonstrate your lack of patience with microsoft and try linux!
Astroboy!!! I AM MALE!!!
Im not sure why u think the name toolie implies female (well then again neither am i) but my friends call me Toolie because im Mike Vertuli Jr.(Ver-TOOH-lee) so my friends just call me Toolie.
But yeah i like ur idea on backing everything up, i have a ZIP drive, and only about 600 MB of info that i really need so it aounds like a plan.
If i could ask, how do you properly format your hard disk? I had a bad eposide 3 years ago when the MS-DOS prompt tried to get some sort of revenge on me…
(I typed in format C: on my old computer and it did its stuff from there only to leave my system a crippled child left helplessly in coma)
I tried to reinstall windows over windows (98) and it didnt change anything in performance or with the damn errors
I also like the idea of Linux too, but im not sure on the cost and the compatability with alot of the games and programs i have
Usually when this happens to me it’s a corrupted DLL file. It should say “Runtime error at FFFF:0000 in module (SOMETHING)”. Just replacing that DLL file with the one off of the windows CD (using extract) would fix it. The DLLs are used by many programs so that’s why it’s not isolated to one program. If it doesn’t give a module name then I can’t help you.
Im not sure if it changed anything though. I looked on the details after it was done scanning and it said it didnt change any files at all. Im not sure if this fixed it though, ill have to find out. Oh, i wrote down the what the error box said when another error happend this morning.
title (in that colored bar) says Error.
THe message was Runtime Error 216 at 00002940.
That one-line text message and an OK button were the only thing in that evil window
when i hit OK another one poped up after that, i think it was Runtime Error 315, i didnt check. After that they kept popping up the same.
Well if this doesnt work, i guess my hard disk is gonna get a good formattin’
