# Error message on boot up

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-message-on-boot-up/121877>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 1, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-message-on-boot-up/121877 "2002-08-01T14:51:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fizzgog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Fizzgog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fizzgog)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-message-on-boot-up/121877/1 "2002-08-01T14:51:14Z")

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When i turn my computer on, i get an error message saying that DW has performed an illegal operation.What is it and how do i correct it?

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/error-message-on-boot-up/121877/2 "2002-08-01T15:12:17Z")

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what stage of boot up does this message come at ?

what is the colour of the screen when this message is displayed ?

is there any accompanying information ?

it may be the DW virus going around… but your information is too limited to figure from…