XPSP2 Problem

osheam4

Hi all,
i'm getting constant error messages on my parents computer saying;

The instruction at '<address>' referenced memory at '<address>'.
The memory could not be read.
Click OK to terminate the program

these happen randomly(and frequently) since i upgraded to XPSP2 from winME.
I reformatted the hard drive and the messages are still appearing.
The format is now NTFS.
I am thinking about going back to ME.
Any ideas before I do?
thanks in advance.
Mark

ShiverinEskimo

Sounds like you're out of memory - what spec of machine are you running and what program causes this error - is it one program or any, do you have multiple progs open normally?

Increasing the virtual memory normally helps if you have limited amounts of ram. You can do this under the Advanced tab in system properties (right click on my comp and hit properties), then hit performance options and under advanced change the virtual memory to something bigger.

On another note though - did you install service pack two on top of an older SP1 installation - if you are running pci -express there is isolated reports of this causing havoc - that you should install xp from a cd that has been integrated with an SP2 download..

UberNewb

It's not an out of memory error.

When does this message pop up, you need to find out what it's loading when the message pops up. some people used to get that message after installing google toolbar. When they unistalled it the message stopped popping up!

If you google that error you might find some more help.

osheam4

i installed over winME so i thought that this was the problem.
then i formatted the disk to NTFS and reinstalled XPSP2.
the problem occurs at any time.......on powerup, opening any application or even when PC is idle.
there is 256MB ram on PC and 1GHz processor on computer.
I'm wondering if it could be something to do with the BIOS..... i know nothing about this.
also, virtual memory has been enabled/ disabled. also i increased and decreased this also....no change.
thanks,
mark

UberNewb

Try booting up in safe mode and see if still get that message

stevenmu

There was some issue with upgrading Me to XP and a fix for it but I've no idea what it was. I'd say a full XP reinstall should sort you out.

astrofool

when you say you reformatted, do you mean a clean install? or just changing the drive to ntfs?

it sounds like a hardware problem of some sort, you could try checking the event viewer to see what the computer is doing when it does crash (my computer->right click->manage).

Generally the 9x kernel is more forgiving to system instabilities, whereas the NT kernel will just halt if it reaches an unsafe situation (9x would often continue, and corrupt data).

osheam4

it was a complete reformat os hard disk.
also same thing occurring in safe mode.
i might go back to winME altogether. my head is wrecked from it.