call the malpractice police - illegal operations abound! rundll32,iexplore,mplayer2

[cyphen]

Hey all. Wow, it's been a long time since i've been here! See some familiar.... uhhhh.... (faces?) So anyway, to get to the point...

well, it kind of happened all of a sudden. I'm running win98 (not SE, but with service packs) Sometimes when i try to shut down, i get a Rundll32.exe illegal operation.(also sometimes right when i start up) I three finger it, close rundll32, and then i can shut down no prob. However, i also get the same error whenever i try to launch more than one media player, but with mplayer2.exe performing the illegal operation. Also, I can't launch more than one IE5 browser from the executable because iexplore.exe performs an illegal operation. (i can, however open a new window with ctrl-n, which of course i sometimes don't want to do)

Also, outlook express 5 is taking forever to load. literally minutes. not long ago it launched and was opened in seconds.

as if that weren't enough, inside of IE5, i no longer have autocomplete (or in windows explorer either), which also means i no longer can double-click on entry fields on a web page that i had previously filled out (hotmail log-in screen,for example) to select a previous entry.

when i do fill out an entry field and tab or click out of it, i can't do anything else on the page for about twenty seconds - it just hangs. (only that webpage hangs - no other browser window or application is affected.)

here's what i know so far. I used norton ghost to restore a known good boot partition (two partitions on a 30 GB maxtor drive - 2GB boot,28GBdata/program) Still have the same problem... BIZARRE!!!!

so i figure - maybe i have a problem on my second partition (even though all of the programs that are having problems are on my boot partition.) so i do a scandisk- no problems. okay. FAT corrupt? (even though I redumped everything on my boot partition...) why not - check c:\ .... Nope - no errors. okay. Maybe it's a problem with the partition info in the boot sector? well, i ran powerquest's partition Dr. - it says no problems with the boot sector/partition information for either partition. So what's the dealio??? Is it maybe a virus that's running on my second partition? no, that doesn't make sense, because my entire boot partition was replaced with a known good image from months ago. anyone have any idea on this one???? This machine has been rock solid forever... got me stumped.

[qball]

sounds like a virus. The rundll32 error on boot could also be the culprit. Determine what is causing this and remove, see iffin it improves.

try winders update for OS and IE? I would recommend Media Player, but I can't find a way to get multiple players with 7.001...(???)

[Michael Chiew]

cyphen

Looks like you've got a big one on your hands. It's wild; it's mind-boggling. And it deserves our total attention.

Let's stay cool, take a moment to analyze what you've said about your problem.

SHUTDOWN/ILLEGAL OPERATION
Shutdown causes Rundll32 to commit an illegal operation. The 3-finger salute gets you out of the shutdown problem. You get the same error ILLEGAL OPERATION when you launch more than one media player. This time mplayer2.exe gets tagged for an ILLEGAL OPERATION.

What you've got are 2 illegal operations involving RUNDLL32 and MPLAYER2.

Do you have the same shutdown problem with mplayer2.

IE5 BROWSER
You can't launch more than one browser. When you do, iexplore.exe performs an ILLEGAL OPERATION.

IE5
You've lost AUTOCOMPLETE in IE5 and Windows Explorer. You can't double-click on entry fields on a web page previously filled out. When you do fill out an entry field and tab or click out of it, the web page hangs for 20 seconds.

Okay, let's summarise what we've got in 2 or 3 sentences, if possible.

You've got a shutdown/illegal operation problem with Rundll32 and Mplayer2. You can't launch more than 1 browser because you end up with another illegal operation. You've lost a measure of control over IE5 and Windows Explorer.

Cyphen, error messages are great pointers, although sometimes they do point us in the wrong direction. A seasoned veteran always has a "gut" feeling about things when they go wrong. What does your "gut" feeling tell you, cyphen.

Perhaps when we talk a little more about your problem, we may all be able to come to an intelligent conclusion of it.

Let's examine what we've got.

ILLEGAL OPERATION
I've had this error message before. Every time I get it, I re-install the program that's causing it and the problem goes away. Lucky me.

There are times when an
illegal operation is not as straightforward as it appears to be. An illegal operation takes place when an application or driver lodges itself in a location in memory already spoken for. If it happens irregularly like in my case, it's no big deal. But when it occurs frequently, and doesn't go away, illegal operations do signal problems that may not be software-related.

Remember, illegal operations affect memory. It tells us that memory may not be able to hold on to its job of allocating specific addresses for specific purposes. Memory may be losing its grip on things. So we're talking about RAM. Is it failing. If the problem persists as in your case, ram is a point to consider, cyphen.

BROWSER LIMIT
Again another ILLEGAL OPERATION, this time by iexplore.exe. Do you not get the feeling that you've been down the same road before. There is a common thread sewing up your problem - illegal operation.

IE5
A tell-tale sign here is that the web page hangs for 20 seconds. Ram inadequacies do cause systems to hang or crash.

If it's software-related, replacing the corrupted/damage driver or program should eliminate your problem. In your case, replacing Rundll32, mplayer2 and iexplore with clean copies should set your system straight.

Perhaps a clean reinstallation of your OS is a better alternative. Perhaps you need to upgrade your BIOS (I don't see the need unless you've added new components, be they hardware or software). Perhaps you need to upgrade your chipset drivers.

I yield the floor. I've had my say, and that's an awful lot.

Michael Chiew

[Raydeo Ray]

Just a "Shot in the Dark", but before you call the Illegal Operation Police you can try the win98 troubeshooting tool called System File Checker: Use: Start/Run/sfc and see what you get...Regards,

[qball]

It may be an autocomplete issue.

Open IE. Tools menu, Internet Options, Content tab, AutoComplete, click Clear Forms and Clear Passwords. This will eliminate your autocomplete history, but may clean up bloat and/or corruption.

[tazman]

I had a computer dropped off a couple of days ago with the same problems. About the only difference is that it couldn't get on line as the modem wouldn't respond. Everything was fine in Device manager - even modem diagnostics.

I slapped in a ethernet card, got online and updated Noron Anti Virus (she never had did a live update). To make a long story short, she was infected with W32/Magistr-A. Norton quarantined CDPlayer.exe, Media Player, IE5, Outlook Express - all told about 18 - 20 programs.

I went through over 4000 e-mails to find out all of the infections. She got the W32/Magistr on the 10th. I found Snow White and the KakWorm also for e-mails last fall. I deleted the infected e-mails, backed up her data and formated, reinstalled Windows (ME) and reset her BIOS.

Check this out and see if you are expierencing anything similar - if so, it can't hurt to update your a/v program and run a complete scan http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/ven....24876@mm.html - hopefully this is not what you have. I did a format just so I know everything is cleaned. Also check out how the virus is resetting the BIOS - explains why the date was 1/1/99.

Oh yeah, the whole reason I reponded to this post was the rundll32. The computer would hang when I was doing a backup and I'd three finger it and have 30+ Rundll32 running when the only app running should have been a copy from c drive to d drive. I must've rebooted 50x before I got everything backed up.

Good Luck!

ME

[shroompod]

AGHHH!!! Sounds like a re-format on both partitions .I'd hate to add some humor to your situation but ...... http://hotlick.com/new%20windows%20OS.swf the newest windows operating system !

[tazman]

LOL shroompod.

Actually, if my system was doing all of the above - I would fdisk and reformat anyway - whatever the cause. 'Course I back up EVERYTHING EVERY night so I wouldn't loose much - if anything. Being the optimist that I am, I prepare for the worse (here I would insert one of those cool smiles that I don't know how to obtain yet - I did read it in a tread here once - just too lazy to look for it so ...LOL).

ME

[cyphen]

hey guys - thanks for all the quick replies. while i was waiting, i dl'd an updated antivirus program and ran it. it said i had a file that was infected with Kriz. **** shareware program (which was listed as freeware, btw) didn't give me any option to ignore, and didn't give me any option to fix - all it would let me do is shutdown or lock the file -which ended up meaning i couldn't get into windows! (one of those times when the treatment is worse than the disease!!!) (what made matters worse was the AV software installation put it in startup - so i could never get into windows!!!)

so after rebooting to dos mode several times, restoring the infected corrupt file, and doing away with the useless antivirus program, i got back to where i was. So here's the scoop (so far as i know it)

The antivirus program was wrong. i didn't have an infected file. I had BUNCHES of them! Infected with W32.Kriz.

(F@#$ing useless weenie virus programmers! It's easy to destroy something - try MAKING something for a change - it doesn't take any talent to annoy people, so don't be proud of yourselves. I know you think of yourselves as "hackers", but hackers, at least at one point, had a code. pardon the pun! their work was not to destroy, but to protect the freedom of the people in different ways. they never made viruses intended to annoy people, delete their data, or any such thing. So wake up and get a life!)

<stepping off soap-box>
where was i - oh yeah - w32.Kriz
(BTW - whoever wrote that - i hope you die. or worse yet, have a similar or worse fate befall you, and suffer annoyances galore at everything you try to do.)
anyway, tazman, i checked out what you mentioned, and saw in the description that it was similar to w32.Kriz - so i dl'd the fix utility, and let it go - tons of files infected. I guess the way Kriz works is it is dormant for a month or so, so the backup image i restored was already infected. I'm going to verify this by restoring the same backup, deleting kriz, and changing the date. i'll let you know what happens.

after running the fixkriz.exe, i still have the same probs, however it didn't finish - it just hung for a while after a certain point.

I also do have a definitely for sure known good image from a while ago i can use, so i'm not going to lose anything. (except a little sleep)

still not sure that will entirely fix it though. like i said, I'll let you know, and thanks again for all the support!