General Protection Fault in Win ME

Hello, I am having a problem with my PC. When I boot normally, I get a blue screen and an error stating "Explorer caused a general protection fault in module KRNL386.EXE." I get the same thing with Statemgr and Stmgr. Then it locks up. In safe mode, I tried to run system recovery, but it doesn't do anything when I click the button. I hope to find a way to fix this rather than reinstalling windows. It is a Win ME system with a celeron 1.8 and 256 MB. Please help, thanks!

 

Have you tried running chkdsk/ f or chkdsk/ r on startup? It might fix what's wrong. If, when you're in safe mode, you can't schedule your computer to do the chkdsk action you can allways use your OS disk and repair that way.

 

chkdsk did not work, but how do I repair using the OS disk? Thanks!

 

Can you run Scandisk in Safe Mode?

 

When you say that chkdsk does not work do you mean that you can't get your computer to run chkdsk or that you ran chkdsk and it did not fix the problem?

I have a Windows XP OS Disk but it should be the same or similar to the ME OS Disk.

To repair from you Windows ME OS disk do the following:

Put your Windows ME CD in the CD drive.
Restart your computer and boot from the CD.
After the CD loads everything it needs to it will give you the option of Reinstalling the OS, Repairing the present OS, or exiting the CD. You obviously want to Repair, so presst the R button.
It will then ask what installation to log onto. If you only have one partition on your hardrive then the installation will be 1. Press 1 and then press enter.
It will then ask for your password. If you have one type it in and press enter. If you don't have one just press enter.
Then it will should say C:\WINDOWS> This is where you type in chkdsk / r to repair your OS.
It may take a long time to finish. When it does finish type EXIT and then press enter.

I hope my directions make sense and it fixes your computer.

Please post your results.

 

CA, it sounds like you're referring to the Recovery Console in XP, which is a 2k/XP thing, I don't believe ME has that. And in 9x/ME chkdsk is pretty wimpy - Scandisk is better at finding and fixing disk errors.

Mike, follow this guide for doing a Clean Boot in ME, a good place to start for troubleshooting:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;267288&Product=winme

Does the problem occur after a clean boot?

 

Isn't chkdsk for XP the same thing as scandisk for other systems? I thought it was the same or similar.

It's not a Recovery Console. It repairs errors on the harddisk.

Oh, well.

 

Kernel 386.exe is a core generator in WinME on start-up. StateMgr has to do with System Restore and I would imagine that 386.exe is not allowing the connection
. I read some discussion that this may be caused by an old virus that is still around call "Win. Red Team". Do a thorough Virus scan.
This can also be caused by a corrupted file. Start your puter in Safe mode (hold down control or F8 while booting), and activate scandisk. Be sure that it is set on "thorough" and "automatically fix errors". Do a complete scan. The scan will probably take some time, just let it do its job.I run ME and have had several "general protection fault errors" and this has repaired them in the past.
If all else fails(if possible), use System restore and restore your computer to a date that it was running well.

BTW, do you run Norton products? Norton and ME are like oil and water. I have not had one protection fault error since I got rid of Norton and installed a decent AV (Avast!)