WININIT.EXE

[mpacey]

When I boot Windows ME, I receive the following message:

WININIT.EXE: Missing/unable to load
Press any key to continue. . .

When I press any key, the O/S does load, but I would like to know what's wrong.

When I Restart ME, it does not shut down, and I have to press the Reset button on the Tower to Restart.

This is not good, as a disc check ensues.

Thanks for any help.

[Sterling_Aug]

http://www.google.com/search?q=WININ...ient=firefox-a

It appears that this may be one of several different viruses/trojans.

Run a full virus scan using Counterspy now!!!

[mpacey]

Thanks for the reply. I downloaded Counterspy, but it isn't compatible with Windows ME. I will run a Full Scan with Avast!, Ad-Aware and Spybot.

By the way, I used Counterspy to scan XP Home, and it picked up 7 issues.

It seems like an excellent program.

[Rocketmech]

Download Counterspy 1.5 for W98 / ME .

Maybe run an online AV scan also , http://usa.kaspersky.com/services/fr...us-scanner.php


BTW , theres a good chance your AV already removed the file , hence the error . Check the Windows directory for the file .

[mpacey]

Thanks Rocketmech.

I downloaded and ran a full scan with Counterspy 1.5.

It picked up 9 potential risks, some high.

I quarantined and/or removed all of them.

I also ran My PC Checkup, and fixed 5 suggested issues.

I then re-booted ME and the O/S still will not shut down. (just a flashing cursor)

I then pushed the reset button on the tower, and I still received the message:

WININIT.EXE: Missing...

I also downloaded and ran a full scan with kaspersky. It is currently paused at 69%, 420,504 files, (0 items detected), as it was hung up at that point for a long time. I will resume it after I finish this message.

Is there somewhere else I should be looking?

Thanks.

[Train]

Over install WinMe and see if that fixes it.

Kind of acting like the hdd may have a couple bad sectors on it, so run scandisk and have do a surface check.

[crossedup]

Two places, both start at " start" and then the "run" command.

type "msconfig" first and click the startup tab, look for references to that file and uncheck them.

next

type "regedit" and search for that file name, remove any that show up. Be a bit more careful with this approach, this is a bit more dangerous than the first option.

The spyware or virus is gone as rocketmech mentioned but windows is still trying to load it and it is not there, thus the errors. You have to get rid of the startup entry in one of those two ways.

[Rocketmech]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/276283

Even if you do not have or had the worm , at least the article directs you to replace wininit.exe which should help . If not , then a ME reinstall over the top is in order as suggested .

[rraehal]

One thing to keep in mind about Win Me is that it can still use the legacy SYS and INI files to start programs. The error you get leads me to believe that you have this problem with the WININIT.EXE error. If you click start and run, you should be able to open SYSEDIT. Look in the SYSTEM.INI or WIN.INI files. One of the two has a load= line. Your WININIT.EXE error may be coming from that line. Simply delete the WININIT.EXE from the line leaving everything else in tact.

If SYSEDIT is the wrong command you can open those files with NOTEPAD. They are in C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32