The Hindu Business Line : Trouble after installing service pack 2

I am using a system with these specifications: Intel P4 -2.8 HT, Intel 865 GBF M/B, Samsung Ultra ATA - 80 GB HDD and 256 400 Mhz DDR RAM in a single slot.

I have partitioned the hard disk as C,D,E and F of 20 GB each. The system boots up with Win Me as the operating system. I have installed Win Me in C drive and Win XP in D drive.

My system has been working normally in this configuration for two years.

But recently, I loaded Win XP SP-1 and observed some difficulties. For instance, the Pixel View TV Tuner card is not working properly.

Also, after I upgraded to SP-2, the system always goes to `Restart' when Win XP is selected. So I formatted C: and D: and loaded C: with Win Me and D: with Win XP without service pack.

Once I tried with Win XP - SP 1 and updated Hot fixpack from Mother board CD for SP-2. But this also caused problems. I heard, Win-XP SP-2 cannot have Win me or Win 98 in partition C:. I wish to have your advice on this issue.

In the meantime, I formatted C: and D: and booted the system with the CD of Win XP SP-2 but found that the system hangs while copying files.

I wish to know whether this is due to the formatting of the disk with Win Me start-up floppy.

Right now, all over again, I have loaded C: with Win Me and D: with Win XP, without Service pack, and things are running smooth. Please explain why these hitches are occurring and suggest solutions.

V.K. Sridhar

There is absolutely no problem about installing Windows XP as a dual boot with Win ME or 98.

The problem in your case is you have installed SP2 and it has updated your system files and has patched up vulnerabilities and issues at hardware and software level. In this scenario, it might happen that in isolated instances some specific hardware or software might experience problems, leading to a situation like the one in your case.

What is happening now is that your system is getting a "Stop Error" for the reasons listed above. Since Windows XP is configured to restart automatically when a `Stop Error' occurs, it keeps restarting every time your system boots.

As a first step, you need to see what error message you are getting, and then proceed to find a solution. To do this, you need to first disable XP from restarting when a Stop Error occurs.

For this, please go to Control Panel and double-click on the System icon and select the "Advanced" tab. Then click on the "Settings" button under the head "Start-up and Recovery."

In the dialog box that pops up, please uncheck the "Automatically Restart" checkbox under "System Failure" head, click ok and restart the system. Now you will get a blue screen displaying a Stop Error.

If it looks like

0x000000FC (ATTEMPTED_EXECUTE_OF_NOEXECUTE_MEMORY), then you have a DEP (Data Execution Prevention) issue.

DEP is a technique applied at hardware and software level to perform additional checks on memory to help protect against malicious code exploits.

Devices or codes that do not comply with these standards will experience issues.

Here is a Microsoft link describing the issue and giving a workaround: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=878474

To temporarily turn off DEP and get into the system, please do this: Start the system in safe mode by pressing F8.

When the system starts, double-click on the system icon in the Control Panel and select the "Advanced" tab. Now click on the "Settings" button under the head "Start-up and Recovery."

In the dialog box that pops up, please click on "Edit". This will open the Boot.ini file. In that, look for the word "/NoExecute=OptIn" and change it to "/NoExecute=alwayaoff", save the file, and restart.

To permanently solve the issue, please update the drivers of your additional hardware such as the TV tuner cards by downloading the latest drivers from their respective sites.

If the Stop Error happens to be any thing other than the error discussed above, then go to support.microsoft.com site and type in the error number in the search text and search.

If you are still not able to find a solution, please mail us the exact error code and we can help you out.

Please e-mail us at eworld@thehindu.co.in

if you have queries on computer usage or if you find an interesting way of using a computer.

Solution by G. Rajah

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