Kernel32 game error

Discussion in 'Software' started by IndigoIce, Mar 20, 2008.

  1. IndigoIce

    IndigoIce Private E-2

    I hope I explain this properly...
    I downloaded and installed a couple of games off of the internet. I'll use the game "Mind Medley" as an example. (Its a game from gamehouse.com) The download and installation went fine, but when I tried to play the games, I kept getting an error message that says "MindMedly has caused an error in Kernel32.dll. MindMedley will now close. If you continue to experience problems, try restarting your computer". After trying it a few times, it would just give me a flash screen and then disappear.

    I have started and restarted the pc but the same message. I have gotten this message with a few of the games. And now to top it off, somehow it has caused the bottom of my desktop to remain black, although everything else is normal. Ive tried changing the resolution, but that didnt help. Ive uninstalled the games, but the bottom of my screen is still black and no amount of fidgeting with the settings of the monitor do any good.

    Is there anyway to fix that error message and remove that black section from the bottom of my desktop screen? Super Anti-Spyware, AVG Anti-Virus both come up clean. I've even ran Ccleaner.
    In case its needed, I am running an older model pc that has Matrox MGA-G100 AGP, 4.0 on Windows ME. Even though its old, Id be surprised if its my system since my other games play just fine.

    I hope I made sense and thanks in advance for any help. This is my 1st post, sorry if Im not in the right forum.
     
  2. Eezak

    Eezak Staff Sergeant

    Tell us a bit more about your computer -- is it a brand name? Model? Or did you buy it from a small local store or build it yourself? May need some more info but that will be a start at least.

    Can you uninstall and reinstall your graphics card drivers? You say the bottom of your desktop is black. What does the area that's not black look like? I mean does it appear normal or is it "squashed" looking? Is your task bar visible at the bottom of the area you can see? Are all your icons there?

    If you right click on the "good" area of your desktop and select "Properties" and then select "Settings" what screen resolution is your desktop set to? What other settings are available?
     
  3. Mimsy

    Mimsy Superior Imperial Queen of the MG Games Forum

    Screenshot...?
     
  4. IndigoIce

    IndigoIce Private E-2

    Hi Eezak, thanks for responding.
    Ok, to answer your questions:
    It's an HP Vectra. I bought it, did not build it myself.
    I havent tried uninstalling and reinstalling my graphics card drivers simply because Ive never done that before and was unsure of what I was doing.
    The bottom of the desktop is still black, but the rest of the desktop looks fine and isnt "squashed". My task bar is visible, but will look squashed if I used the settings on the monitor to lower it any further. The area thats black is just completely black, no images at all, not even faded. But I have noticed when I reboot the pc, I can see a faint blue line at the same level the black screen begins...and yes, all of my icons are there.
    The screen resolution of my desktop is set to 1024 x 768 pixels. Its also on High Color (16 bit). I do have the option of changing it to True color 24 bit, and True color 32 bit. But I have never used those. I do see an advanced setting. The refresh rate is set to "optimal". Ive never changed that so I assumed its the default. The hardware acceleration is set to "full"..always has been.
    I hope this helps..
    Thanks so much for your help!
     
  5. IndigoIce

    IndigoIce Private E-2

    Hi Mimsy..
    I am unsure of how to send that....have never done it before.
     
  6. Eezak

    Eezak Staff Sergeant

    Here are instructions on this site for 1) taking a screenshot and saving it; and 2) attaching the saved screenshot to your post in a thread in this forum:

    1) http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=26019

    2) http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=86880

    This may look a little complicated but it's really not so bad. If you have problems creating, saving or attaching the screen shot, post back with your questions and we'll try to help. I doubt that the black area will show up in the screen shot, but just seeing what the "visible" area of your screen looks like may be helpful.

    Thanks for responding to my questions. Now I have a couple more. Which specific model of the HP Vectra do you have? (I just looked at HP's website and found there are a lot of variations of the Vectra.) This is a desktop machine, not a laptop -- is that right? How old is it and is it still under warranty. (Not certain, but think you may have two problems that started about the same time but are unrelated -- a game or games with some faulty programming that caused your kernel32. dll errors and some hardware -- RAM or your graphics card -- that's defective and causing the black area at the bottom of the screen.) Do you know if your Vectra has a separate graphics card or is the graphics card integrated into the motherboard itself?

    What happens if you run a non-game program? For example open up the word processor, WordPad (go to Start/All Programs/Accessories/WordPad). Do you still see the black area at the bottom of the screen? Do you get the kernel32.dll error messages when you try to start WordPad or when you open your web browser, or when running any other non-game programs? And does the black area remain unchanged at the bottom of your screen no matter what program you run?

    Which operating system are you running? Windows? Which version of Windows?

    And by the way, pardon my bad manners for not saying earlier, Welcome to MajorGeeks! :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2008
  7. IndigoIce

    IndigoIce Private E-2

    Ok, I was able to take a screen shot..you're right..it wasnt complicated..but for some reason I cant attach it. I keep getting an error message when I try. Ive tried a few times so far..but I'll keep trying.
    Ok..on to the questions:


    Thanks for responding to my questions. Now I have a couple more. Which specific model of the HP Vectra do you have?

    I have a HP Vectra VL..a series 8 I believe..I'll turn the tower over tomorrow to double check the series....but its definitely a VL...and yes..its a desktop.
    No, its not under warranty. It's about 4 yrs old.

    Now, whats happening now is that I did some researching and found that the registry cleaner (Abexo) that I used may have been the culprit. So I restored the registy..good thing I backed it up...*whew*..and now I see the games are loading, and I can even play them..no flash screen..BUT..the game will start from the beginning at any given moment and erase all of whatever work Ive done in the game.
    It then gives me this error message:

    "RUNDLL32 has caused an error in SHDOCVW.DLL. RUNDLL32 will now close."

    I also get that message if I quit the game on my own.

    Yes, I still have the black area at the bottom of the screen, although it did not show up on the screen shot..like you said it probably wouldnt..and yes, the black area remains no matter what Im running on the pc. I was able to raise the taskbar up so I could see it at least. If I had left it where it it's supposed to be, I wouldnt be able to see it..

    I am not good with hardware, so I am unsure if my graphics card is in the motherboard or not.
    To answer your other questions...No, I dont get any error messages when I open non game programs such as my Wordpad, Notepad or my browser.
    Everything else so far seems to run just fine.
    I'm running Windows ME.


    And by the way, pardon my bad manners for not saying earlier, Welcome to MajorGeeks!

    Thanks for the welcome!
    Im sorry I took a while to respond...Im fighting a terrible cold along with this pc...
     
  8. Eezak

    Eezak Staff Sergeant

    Sorry to hear you've got a cold. Can't help you fix that, but will try to help with your computer problem.

    Which version of Windows are you running and which service pack? -- for example on my computer I have Win XP with SP2 ("Service Pack 2").

    I should have asked how large that black area is at the bottom of the screen -- either estimate what fraction of your display is black or estimate how many vertical inches is black. For example, "1/4 of the screen is black" or "The black area is about 4 inches top to bottom."

    Do you have an LCD ("liquid crystal display" -- typically very thin and relatively light and easy to move) or CRT ("cathode ray tube" -- the older "TV" type monitor which is rather bulky and heavy) type monitor? Is it HP also?

    I shouldn't have said I thought the black area must be due to some defective hardware -- it could be, but it may be a problem that can be fixed with a monitor or display driver setting adjustment. Let's check some settings and display information. (I know you posted some of this info before, but please double-check and also provide the additional info requested below.)

    1) Right click on an open area (that is, don't right click on an icon, or on the taskbar/start button -- right click on some area of your desktop wallpaper that is just part of the background color or picture) and select "Properties" from that right-click menu.

    2) "Display Properties' opens -- click on the "Settings" tab.

    3) Make a note of the settings for "Screen resolution" and "Color Quality" -- what are they set at currently?

    4) Click on the "Advanced" button.

    5) Click on the "Monitor" tab and make sure the box down at the bottom of the "Monitor" section that reads "Hide display modes that this monitor cannot display" is checked.

    6) What is the "Screen refresh rate" set to currently? 60 Hz or a bit higher?

    7) Click the "Properties" button and check the messages that appear. What does it indicate for "Device type", "Manufacturer", and "Location"? And do you see the message at the bottom (under "Device status") "This device is working properly"?

    If the black area is relatively small -- say an inch or less in height -- you may be able to use your monitor adjustments to enlarge the area of your display to fill out the screen. However, since your Taskbar was apparently not entirely visible before you moved it and previous attempts to solve the problem by changing monitor settings made your Taskbar appear squashed, I don't think it's likely that simply adjusting your monitor settings is the best way to approach this problem.

    Tell me what you found when you examined your display settings per the instructions above.

    You've been working smart -- it's very important to back up the registry and know how to restore that backup before editing any registry settings as that can save you a lot of work and headaches if you should make a mistake while working in the registry.
     
  9. IndigoIce

    IndigoIce Private E-2

    Not sure if My reply went through, so Im sending it again. Sorry if it comes through twice.

    Sorry to hear you've got a cold. Can't help you fix that, but will try to help with your computer problem.

    Thanks :)

    Which version of Windows are you running and which service pack? -- for example on my computer I have Win XP with SP2 ("Service Pack 2").

    I am running Windows ME. Unsure of any service pack..how do I tell?

    I should have asked how large that black area is at the bottom of the screen -- either estimate what fraction of your display is black or estimate how many vertical inches is black. For example, "1/4 of the screen is black" or "The black area is about 4 inches top to bottom."

    The black area at the bottom of the screen is about 2 inches high from the bottom..maybe a teeny bit more..but not much.

    Do you have an LCD ("liquid crystal display" -- typically very thin and relatively light and easy to move) or CRT ("cathode ray tube" -- the older "TV" type monitor which is rather bulky and heavy) type monitor? Is it HP also?

    No, I have a CRT monitor, but its not an HP..its an IBM...Ive had it nearly as long as Ive had the pc since the original monitor had to be replaced. Never a problem till now.

    3) Make a note of the settings for "Screen resolution" and "Color Quality" -- what are they set at currently?
    The screen resolution is set at 1024 by 768 pixels. The Color Quality is set at "High Color 16 bit.

    4) Click on the "Advanced" button.

    5) Click on the "Monitor" tab and make sure the box down at the bottom of the "Monitor" section that reads "Hide display modes that this monitor cannot display" is checked.

    This option is not listed in the Monitor Tab.

    6) What is the "Screen refresh rate" set to currently? 60 Hz or a bit higher?

    The Screen refresh rate is set to 60 Hz currently. It was on "Optimal"..


    7) Click the "Properties" button and check the messages that appear. What does it indicate for "Device type", "Manufacturer", and "Location"? And do you see the message at the bottom (under "Device status") "This device is working properly"?


    For Device type, it says "Monitors". Under Manufacturer, it has "IBM". There is no "location"...at least it doesnt say anyway. Strange thought..it does say that the device is working properly.

    Tell me what you found when you examined your display settings per the instructions above.
    I've never had to restore the registry before and now that I have, I see some options that were not available before..such as with the Display. I now have a "Matrox display Properties" that was not listed in my Control panel before. I also notice that before I was able to change the screen refresh rate. Now I dont see the option to do that. Its like its just "set" and there is no drop down menu like before to change it. Im not sure if these changes are good or bad...


    You've been working smart -- it's very important to back up the registry and know how to restore that backup before editing any registry settings as that can save you a lot of work and headaches if you should make a mistake while working in the registry.

    Thanks...It was a good thing I did. Never had to restore it before.

    Thanks again!
     

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