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Problematic laptop

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I have an Advent 7240 laptop which has just been returned to me by a user.

The laptop will now no longer boot and displays the following error message:

“Invalid VxD dynamic link call to device number 3, Service B. Your Windows configuration is invalid. Run the Windows Setup program again to reset this”

The following actions have been taken.

1. fdisk /mbr – to clear the master boot record
2. c: drive partition formatted
3. windows 98 se reinstalled.

Upon reboot (despite wiping the drive) the same error message appears. The laptop has been re-built 3 times and I am finding it hard to find a reference for the above error message.

The box will not even boot in Safe Mode.

I suspect a potential hardware fault, but wouldlike further help to identify the problem

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Problematic laptop

In reply to Problematic laptop

the problem is in the system.ini file
boot in safe mode and remove the sound controller and then restart. if the problem persist do the same with the display adapter…the ide controller…etc

Problematic laptop

In reply to Problematic laptop

The system.ini file is from a Vanilla installation of Windows 98. This is the same system.ini as was working prior to the laptop being returned to me. Following a confirmed boot, all elements were switched off at boot, however system still would notboot.

Problematic laptop

In reply to Problematic laptop

You do not mention if you can boot to DOS.
Hopefully you have a diagnostics disk for this computer/system which is bootable.
Boot off that disk (may even be installed on the hard drive and accessable through bios. Do a through system diagnostic and annotate any errors/error codes. Normally these will be in simple text on which device it found a problem, location (ie: memory block), and why it thinks there is a problem (expected result E4FF recieved E4FE)
While in DOS mode you could also strip down your config.sys (check 3rd device =) and autoexec.bat to the Minimum required to boot, you can “rem ” out almost all of it except memory and hard disk handling then bring them back one at a time to find the culprit. You will have to set path to C:\windows\command to be able to use the edit command.

Good Luck!

Problematic laptop

In reply to Problematic laptop

It appears that bad memory is to blame. I can load Windows 95, however there is a constant problem with GPFs and Exception errors – a problem with memory methinks

Problematic laptop

In reply to Problematic laptop

The laptop does boot to DOS. In Safe Mode the following error is presented

HIMEM is testing extended memory….done

Windows XMS Driver Version 3.95
Extended Memory Specification (XMS) Version 3.0

ERROR: HIMEM.SYS has detected unreliable XMS memory at address 02060806
XMS Driver not installed

To continue starting your computer press ENTER

Upon pressing Enter

HIMEM.SYS is missing
Make sure that the file is in your Windows directory

Windows has stopped. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart your computer.

Problematic laptop

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Point value changed by question poster.

Problematic laptop

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