Laptop Problems

tmmar · 03-04-2009, 12:53 PM

Was poking around last week and must have messed something up but can't figure out what. I am running Windows XP home on a Dell laptop. The messages I am getting are:

Instruction at oxooc89eec referenced at memory location oxoooooooo could not be written.

To help protect your computer Generic host process for win32 services has closed.

I have McAfee and Spyware doctor running and have run Adaware several times but the messages still sporadically come up. I have the original OS installation disk but it is service pack 2 and the current version on the machine is SP 3 so it is difficult to reinstall.

Any clues as to what to look at would be appreciated.

Hokiehall · 03-04-2009, 01:05 PM

Can you boot up at all? If so, try running System Restore and choose a date prior to when you were poking around. That may solve the problem.

tmmar · 03-04-2009, 01:06 PM

I looked at that and it won't allow me to access a date prior to the problem.

Hokiehall · 03-04-2009, 01:11 PM

Crap. Is this error giving you the Blue Screen of Death?

tmmar · 03-04-2009, 01:14 PM

No - just causing these other messages to pop up at various times.

Hokiehall · 03-04-2009, 01:23 PM

It is possible it might be a memory problem but I am not certain about that. The easiest thing would be to put new memory in the machine to see if that solves the problem. The one issue with that of course is it will cost some money. But it is relatively easy to do. If it works, problem solved. If not, you might need to re-install the OS.

Re-installing the OS might be your best bet but will require you to save any data files you have on to a memory stick or CD/DVD. You also will need all of your program installation disks. Sometimes a complete re-format is the best thing to do but requires time. It is not hard to do, but takes some time to re-install everything you had. It does give you an opportunity to get rid of old files you no longer need and will ultimately speed the machine up, at least for a while.

It is also no problem to upgrade to SP-3 once you re-install the OS. Simply go to the Microsoft website and download all of the security patches. It will be one of them.

hunt4240dw · 03-04-2009, 01:35 PM

Actually, you can re-install windows without loosing all your data. I have done it a few times on personally systems and a few times on work systems. I supports computer systems for my job. If you do reformat, then you will need to save data.

David

TravelSoftballDad · 03-04-2009, 08:06 PM

It is a memory problem. Go to START...RUN...then type "msconfig" in the box. Select Start-Up tab and you'll see all sorts of crap that runs at start-up. De-select all 'extra' stuff but leave your firewall/anti-virus. By turning them "off" you're not deleting anything and all with run, but not at start-up...only when needed.

See if that helps. Windows Media Center (not the player itself, but the program that allows you to watch / record TV) is notorious for that type of memory error.

Let us know how it goes.

**Bama Rambler** · 03-05-2009, 09:12 AM

Sounds like a bad ram location to me. I agree with Kim. Change out the memory card(s) and see what happens. Wally World has laptop ram pretty cheap. Might be a chance to upgrade to larger as well.

tmmar · 03-05-2009, 01:52 PM

My Dell has an option to be able to restore it to the state it was in when it left the factory. Took about 10 mins. I did that and it seems to be running fine. I now must install all the third party software that I had on the machine, but that is minor compared to the problems I was having.

Ace_Clark · 03-20-2009, 07:18 AM

Hey, if you haven't fixed this yet? IM me on AIM as dmzkiller1. This could be a ram issue, thermal issue, bad driver, corrupted driver. It could be a variety of things. Do NOT buy ram at Walmart. Buy off Ebay or Newegg.com.

tmmar · 03-20-2009, 10:28 AM

I have a Dell Inspiron which has a feature that allows you to restore the computer to the way it was when it left the factory. I did that and it has been running fine since so something must have gotten corrupted that was overwritten when I did the restore.

rthrbelsewhere · 03-23-2009, 09:05 PM

If you have another computer or a friend with one, download a program called memtest86+ and burn it to a cd... then boot from the cd rom drive. If you have bad memory, it will flag it in this program with several lines written in red.

: ) good luck

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