Can't boot (Windows protection error)

Hel[LO]p! When I boot my WMe PC it goes to the DOS menu and says that windows did not finish loading on the previous boot. It says to choose to boot in Safe Mode. When I do that, I get a "blue screen" that says, "Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer. System halted." Of course, when I restart my computer, it goes through the same cycle.

If I select "Normal" mode, the PC immediately reboots to the DOS menu. I tried selecting "Step-by-step confirmation ", and took all of the default answers to the prompts. Right after loading the first driver, msmouse.vxd, the PC immediately rebooted to the DOS menu. I don't think that it is msmouse.vxd is causing the problem, because it prompted me for a Y/N response as to whether or not I wanted to load msmouse.vxd. Either way, Y or N, immediately after that the PC reboots to the DOS menu

What is wrong? Can this be fixed?

Thanks,

Richard

 

Windows protection error is usually a hardware issue. Have you made ANY upgrades/changes to the machine or peripherals lately? It is probably whatever device is being loaded after the mouse

 

A memory stick that has gone bad will cause this, or the wrong new stick.

 

[One] solution to "Windows protection error" at boot up

I thought it would be best to just start a new thread for this, but see the thread "Can't boot. (Windows protection error) ", last post: May 17, 2004 for a lenghty description of the original the original problem.

Admin: merged with original thread

Basically, I'd try to boot, it would say I needed to start in Safe Mode because windows didn't finish loading the previoius time, and then Safe Mode would lead to a "blue screen" with the message "Windows protection error, you must restart your computer ".

It was suggested that it might be a hardware problem. I believe it could well have been "hardware" that caused my problem, but the solution, in my case, turned out to be to boot with an Emergency Boot Disk, then "C:'ing" to the hard disk, cd'ing to windows, and then running "scanreg" (with no qualifiers). When it ran, it said, "Copying system files ", and the "Restoring system files ". Then, it said it fixed an error in the registry, and I could boot again.

Here are some related links:

support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;221512
support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;183887
www.bootdisk.com


I hope this is of some help to others.

 

-

I only ever had the 'Windows did not finish loading on the previous attempt' errors (then protection errors) when I was infected with the Tequila virus about 9 years ago (when trying to install and run 95). Seems the problem is more common than I thought and doesn't always relate to viruses...