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tomdkat
March 10th, 2005, 05:53 AM
Hi! I'm working on a friend's Sony Vaio laptop (model PCG-982L) that has Windows ME installed. I was able to run a Windows Update via DSL Internet connection and I started installing a critical update for IE 6. During the download part, I received a dialog indicating a previous download or setup attempt had been interrupted and I was given the option of resuming or starting from scratch. I chose to start from scratch and let it run the complete download and install.

After a while, I was prompted to restart and did so. When Windows was booting, an "updating windows settings" message appeared and a progressbar indicated the settings were being updated. Then, I got an error dialog indicating there was a problem with a DLL that was corrupt. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the name of the DLL but I think it had "wv" or "vw" in the name. I know, too vague. :)

Anywho, I clicked "Ok" to clear the message and I received 4 or so more dialogs with similar or the same message (I forget which exactly). After that, Windows continued to boot (which I thought was cool) until it reached a point (after the startup sound played) where the explorer bar along the bottom of the screen (with the start menu) appeared and then disappeared. Then the disk activity stopped and the machine just sits there. I can pres Ctrl-Alt-Delete and the task manager comes up with only ONE process running, Ntprotect.

The laptop has a CD-ROM that is broken and I CAN boot from a Windows 98 boot floppy so I can access the C:\ drive from a command prompt.

Any ideas on how I can get the system operational again? I've tried replacing the shdocvw.dll file with a version from a working system but that didn't help. I can try to boot into Safe Mode but the explorer bar appears and then disappears, just like when I try to boot normally.

I was only trying to install the 21 critical updates there were pending and that's it.... HONEST! :) :(

Thanks in advance for your assistance. :)

Peace...

tomdkat
March 10th, 2005, 06:03 AM
One thing I forgot to mention, I tried the tips in this thread:

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-27994.html

but they didn't help. :(

Thanks...

Peace...

tomdkat
March 11th, 2005, 06:47 PM
Well, I ended up having to reinstall Windows ME. After posting this, I learned the "broken" CD-ROM wasn't so broken afterall as I was able to boot from Windows 98 and Windows ME CDs!

So, I got Windows ME reinstalled and now all seems to be well.

Peace...

JoJo Gunn
March 18th, 2005, 07:59 PM
What you described sounds similar to the "browseui.dll" error, one symptom being where you get to the desktop but nothing else loads, not even the taskbar.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=293174