KERNEL32.DLL Error Help!

[Makaveli]

I have a friend who is having a problem booting his computer. He tells me whenever he goes to boot, he gets an error saying "Explorer has caused an error in KERNEL32.DLL and will now close" and his system will lock up, and when it doesnt lock up he cant open any programs. The only thing he can open is "My computer" but he cant open any files in there. This problem just started up randomly after a reboot.. Any suggestions?? Thanks..

-MaK

[meese]

What Operating System does he have?

http://www.all-windows.com/kernel32.html

see if this helps some

[sam]

you can download any DLL file from here for free it has helped me a lot
http://www.dll-files.com/

[Eraserhead]

This is a common problem with Internet Explorer 5.x versions. Upgrading to IE6 might fix the problem - it worked on a friend's computer

[Elburn]

I decided I'd get an account to make this process easier for me.

I am the one with the kernel32.dll problem that MaK dicussed earlier.

I'll give some particulars on the problem.

After downloading a big file (680 MB...I scanned it before opening, nothing came up) the error saying that "Explorer has caused an error in KERNEL32.DLL and will now close"

I figured this was just a regular error- but it wasn't.

I rebooted and as it was loading my desktop icons that same error came up. If it didn't freeze at this point, i could open up my computer and look through my drive, and I can open the recycling bin. But I can't open control panel things, that error will come up, and I can't open any other programs.

The same error even comes up when I click Start-> shutdown or restart... so I have to turn it off manually.

I found a DOS virus scanner, nothing came up....although I recall it saying something about a suspicous thing in a boot sector, but it boots fine, it's just my kernel32.dll and explorer.exe.

Which brings me to the post about upgrading IE. I've tried, but I can't connet to the internet or even open IE for that matter because of the error.

Any help would be great. Thanks

-Elburn

Oh yeah, I have Windows ME ver. 4.90.3000
and
I tried downloading a new dll, from the dll site, my computer didn't like that and wouldn't even boot

[Eraserhead]

Re: accessing the internet to d/l IE6:
Try booting in Safe Mode with Networking. I'm not familiar with the ME boot options but since ME is only an enhanced version of Win98, you might be able to boot into Safe Mode + Networking by pressing F6 at startup (after the POST routine has finished). If safe mode runs Ok, you can access the internet (assuming that since you d/l'ed a 680mb file, you have DSL or cable)

[Elburn]

Haha, yeah, I have cable.

But, the problem occurs in safe mode as well. That is, I cannot open any programs or even shut down/restart. And the Ndetect or whatever for the network doesn't work either. The error that "Ndetect (or whatever that file is) has caused an error in KERNEL32.DLL and will now close"

[Eraserhead]

NTDETECT is the program that loads the OS after NTLDR has started the boot process. It checks your hardware and reports the results to the registry. If it's causing problems that early in the boot process you'll probably need to reinstall ME from the CD or try a recovery/repair job from the CD, if you can.
I don't like the "suspicious thing" in your boot sector. Do you have any more information about that? (Don't worry too much - some DOS-based virus scanners report boot sector errors when everything's just fine)

[Elburn]

No, I don't know anything else about the boot thing. But the DOS scanner did say something about giving many false alarms.

I have Win XP, but I didn't want to have to install it if I didn't have to (I like ME).... but it looks like I'm going to have to.