Windows 2000

Hello all

I have an app that has been installing fine on Win 9x NT4. I am told that one of my customers has even installed it on an XP machine without any problems.

However on a Win 2000 machine recently the machine (laptop) went through the normal installation routine but after re-booting proceeded to Disk-Check the hard drive it then went into a continual loop, disk-checking time after time after time.

I wasn't at the machine when the installation was attempted but the user is adament that he has had the machine checked out and that it was the installation that casued the problem.

Anybody had this happen before?

I guess that one of the OS files was corrupted but I am not sure if this is releted to VB6 with Windows 2000.

I have checked out the Microsoft kb which refers to some file registration errors and a re-boot loop error.

I am running VB6 SP5. I am not sure of the SP on the Windows 2000 machine.

:confused:

Thanks in advance.

What packager did you use to build the install? What system files are in
the package? Did they have admin rights on the win2k PC when they
ran the install? Is there a chance the PC already had a virus when the
install was run? Can they boot into a safe mode and uninstall it?

Hello Thinker

I used the VB6 Package and deployment wizard to create the installation CD.

The files included; I have attached setup.txt (setup.lst)

Admin rights; Unsure on this one.

Virus protection; Again unsure, not sure if he would admit to it if he had no protection.

He didn't try to boot into safe mode. He simply took it to the local PC repair who removed a few pounds (sterling) from his wallet and promised a fix by Monday.

Its a bit vague I know but I am just trying to isolate an error (if there is one) so that I can prevent it in future. I can't find any indication that this error has been recorded, either on this web site or on Microsofts'.


I guess the only answer is a Win 2000 test machine.

I would take a look at the setup.lst but I guess the attachment didn't
make it.

Sorry I will try again.

Some of the files in the install I consider suspect are...
comcat.dll. This is the old nt4/VS6/IE4 version and there is newer one
that is already on win2K. comcat.dll version 5 isn't redistributable.

MSVCRT40.DLL, MSVCRT.DLL, MFC42.DLL. These files are runtime and
support for MS Visual C++ and certain apps written with them. They are
almost certainly already on all versions of windows, and almost always
loaded into memory so they can't be overwritten. Sometimes with win2k
files that can't be overwritten while running are put in a holding place
until the next reboot where they are installed. That could be related to
the problems you describe.

There is a large, strange mismash of DAO, ADO and Jet data access
components in the install, most of which are really too old to be installed
on win2k through other normal means (mdac_typ.exe). Are you really
using DAO 3.51 and ADO 2.1 in the app? I can't say that these older
components are causing any trouble, but I would be somewhat worried
about using 5-6 year old versions of anything on the newest O/S versions.

Some of the files in the install I consider suspect are...
comcat.dll. This is the old nt4/VS6/IE4 version and there is newer one
that is already on win2K. comcat.dll version 5 isn't redistributable.

MSVCRT40.DLL, MSVCRT.DLL, MFC42.DLL. These files are runtime and
support for MS Visual C++ and certain apps written with them. They are
almost certainly already on all versions of windows, and almost always
loaded into memory so they can't be overwritten. Sometimes with win2k
files that can't be overwritten while running are put in a holding place
until the next reboot where they are installed. That could be related to
the problems you describe.

There is a large, strange mismash of DAO, ADO and Jet data access
components in the install, most of which are really too old to be installed
on win2k through other normal means (mdac_typ.exe). Are you really
using DAO 3.51 and ADO 2.1 in the app? I can't say that these older
components are causing any trouble, but I would be somewhat worried
about using 5-6 year old versions of anything on the newest O/S versions.

Hello Thinker
Thanks for your reply. I think I should give up for today, I can't even handle this software at the moment.

Any way, you are right about the mish-mash. To be honest I haven't really taken a lot of notice of the installation files, as long as the installation worked it has been ignored. I guess that's no longer the case and I have to sort it out.

I am still using DAO. Again because this has not caused any problems it has not been necessary to change the software over to ADO. The bigest priority has been earning a crust and trying to keep ahead of customer requests/requirements. I am learning on the fly and this often involves long days. (and weekends).

I will tidy up my installation as a priority and remove any ADO references for now. I am also setting up a test machine with enough hard drive to install multiple OS's under different partitions. Hopefully I will be in a position to convert over to ADO before long.

Thanks again.