windows protection error

yes i have an hp pavilion 333mhz and i recently had to reinstall win 98 but everytime i install it, it gives me the error
Windows protection error. You need to restart computer.
c:\windows\options\vmm32.vxd: missing/ unable to load.

if i restart it enough times it doesnt give me the message but then i have problems in the os like the hardware wizard crashes all the time and doesnt let me add new hardware manually