Brand new install, VMM32.vxd missing

[christarp]

No matter what I do I can't get it to boot. I've had it boot for a few previous attempts but it was always full of missing .vxd files, now I did a format (three times actually), and each time it won't even boot now. Before I can even enter my key it says vmm32.vxd is missing and I need to shut down.

In the previous attempts I've had where it did boot and was missing other .vxd files, no drivers would install and nothing would work properly. It entirely depends on luck as to what works, sometimes the CD drive will work, sometimes windows 98SE won't find any CD drivers, and as a result it doesn't work, sometimes USB drivers will work, other times not, I've never got the radeon 7000 to work (and I assume it's because of the integrated graphics wanting to take precedence, but I haven't found any jumpers to disable integrated graphics, or way to disable it in the bios). Funny thing is I use the exact same process each time I install. Keep in mind, this is a brand new install from a 98SE disk.

It's an old compaq presario 2286.

AMD K6-2, 128 MB ram, radeon 7000, 4GB hard drive.

[dencorso]

The HDD is toast.

[christarp]

The HDD is toast.

You know.. I don't know why I didn't even think about that, but that might be the case.. I'll swap it out for something else I've got and see if I run into any more issues, I'll report back in a little. Thanks for the idea!

[christarp]

Alright, replaced hard drive. Same error vmm32.vxd missing/unable to load error

:/

[dencorso]

Do a Memtest86+ for the RAM (at least 12h, unless it fails before that), then SuperPi, for the CPU/MOBO. Let's eliminate hardware as a cause, OK?

[ZortMcGort11]

try using less RAM, or different RAM.

if there's two sticks of RAM, try taking one of them out. then see what happens.

for something that old, could require pc100 low density, not pc133 ram... even though they say pc133 will work and that they're interchangeable... which i think is a crock.

Edited April 13, 2013 by LostInSpace2012

[christarp]

try using less RAM, or different RAM.

if there's two sticks of RAM, try taking one of them out. then see what happens.

for something that old, could require pc100 low density, not pc133 ram... even though they say pc133 will work and that they're interchangeable... which i think is a crock.

I am using one stick right now. From what I've found online the pc should be able to do up to 128MB per dimm, i'll see if I can fish up the stock 32MB stick though, thanks for the idea!

[dencorso]

Well, but the MemTest86+ Live CD is much easier to get at this day and age than pc100 or pc133 ram sticks. And he can always extract the floppy image from the boot of the CD and deploy it as a real floppy, in case the machine cannot read a CD.

[christarp]

Well, but the MemTest86+ Live CD is much easier to get at this day and age than pc100 or pc133 ram sticks. And he can always extract the floppy image from the boot of the CD and deploy it as a real floppy, in case the machine cannot read a CD.

Didn't even see the memtest post before haha, I'll try that tomorrow (need to get some blank cd's).

Thanks for all the suggestions, definitely needed some direction.

[dencorso]

You're much welcome!

My take here is simple: the machine is old, and is misbehaving... so let's build some confidence the hardware is still reliable, before moving on to software. And those two tests I suggested are long, but can be left unattended, so that's a good start, IMO.

[christarp]

Well, I've been running memtest for about 6 hours now, no errors at all.

[dencorso]

That's good enough. You can move over to super Pi... 2 -3 h should be enough to builld our confidence in the CPU. Then boot to DOS, format and scandisk (with surface test) the HDD. After that, we get to work on the OS, OK?

[christarp]

Well, something happened. I wasn't sure how I would get super pi to run without windows, so I took out the memtest cd and turned it on, and surprisingly I didn't get vmm32.vxd error (I don't get it either). Instead, windows wants me to put in the 98SE CD and it's trying to copy files over. First one is dhcpcsvc.dll, but when I put the cd in it says it can't be found. (Specifically, "The file 'dhcpcsvc.dll' on Windows 98 Second Edition CD-ROM cannot be found. Setup could not find a file on the specified path. If the path appears below, make sure it is correct. Click OK to try copying again.")

It says to make sure the path is correct, and right now it's trying to copy from C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\PRECOPY, should I direct it somewhere else?

Edited April 14, 2013 by christarp

[dencorso]

Are you sure the CD is good and the CD reader too? All this behaviour you describe sounda like haphazard hardware failures at some point.

[christarp]

Are you sure the CD is good and the CD reader too? All this behaviour you describe sounda like haphazard hardware failures at some point.

The CD is good, and the drive is too, before being in this computer I was using it in another one I had. I also switched out the CD for another one in an attempt to see if it was the CD, and it didn't fare any better.

I feel like it is some sort of hardware failure somewhere like you said, I can't think of any other explanation, but everything SEEMS to work alright. Note: a little bit ago I got fed up with trying to get 98 on this, and figured I'd try to install XP and see how it worked. XP ran fine, sound worked, cd drive worked, video worked, but for some reason 98 just gives me hell.

And while XP worked it was very sluggish, which is why I'm trying to get 98 on this again (also have some older games that simply don't work on newer computers).

I'm honestly stumped.