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One of the more unsettling problems a computer technician can encounter is a “Fatal Error” message that won’t clear up even when the computer is rebooted. More than one frustrated tech has even gone so far as to reinstall the operating system, only to find that the error shows up again. About that time, the only ‘Windows’ you want to deal with are open ones on the third floor, so you can toss out the computer!

Before you do anything quite so drastic, let’s take a look at some of the causes and cures for this seemingly unsolvable problem. The causes generally fall into three categories: a virus, a corrupted file, or something (hardware or software) that was installed on the system just before the problem showed up. If you’ve just installed new hardware, a likely culprit is the Virtual Device Driver or VXD for that hardware, especially video drivers. Some hardware also installs specific programs or utilities that can cause compatibility problems.

To pin down the cause and eliminate the source, the first thing to do is find out whether you can boot successfully to Safe Mode. Press F8 when you see the “Starting…” prompt. This takes you to the Boot Menu. One of the choices on this menu is Safe Mode, which boots up with a minimal set of drivers and will often work when you can’t boot to the full OS. If you can’t boot to Safe Mode either, then you will need to find a clean boot disk or the emergency repair disk you made when the OS was installed. You did make one, didn’t you?

Once you’ve booted up, you’ll probably want to run your anti-virus program first, just to get rid of that possibility. While we are on the subject of viruses, we should mention the boot virus. This type of virus infects the Master Boot Record on the hard drive, and the easiest way to get rid of it is to use the Micro-Scope diagnostic software, which comes with a utility to replace the infected Master Boot Record with a generic version that lets you boot up again from the hard drive.

If the problem wasn’t a virus, the next thing to do is run MSCONFIG, a very handy utility that comes with Windows 98, ME and XP. Select RUN from the Start menu, type in MSCONFIG, and click OK. Go to the Start-up tab to see all of the applications and utilities that run automatically when Windows starts up. Make a note of which ones are checked before you uncheck all of them and reboot. If the problem went away, you now use the process of elimination to find the guilty party. For Windows 2000, you can do basically the same thing using Regedit (you should make a backup of the registry before making any changes). After starting Regedit from Start/Run, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MicrosoftWindows\CurrentVersion\Run. Again, make notes of the entries before you undo them and try rebooting. MSCONFIG is less risky, so use it instead of Regedit if your OS includes it.

If you’ve turned off all the start-up processes and still can’t do a full boot, go back to the Boot Menu (F8, remember?) and instead of Safe Mode, select Step by Step Confirmation. This is going to prompt you on everything that loads during the boot-up process, and you can decide Yes or No at each step. The first time through, say Yes to everything but make a mental note of each item. Sometime during this procedure the system will crash or you will get that same Fatal Error that’s been deviling you. The last item the OS tried to load before the error appeared is almost certainly your bad boy. Write down the exact file name.

Now that you know what’s causing the problem, it needs to be eliminated. Boot to Safe Mode again and run Regedit. Of course, you’ll want to make a backup before you change anything. This is done in Regedit by pulling down the Registry menu and selecting Export Registry File. Once you’re safely backed up, use Find on the Edit menu and type in the file name you located. Delete any entry with that exact name, and press F3 to find the next matching entry. Reboot when you think you have them all. If there is still a problem, go back to the Step by Step Confirmation. There may be additional entries for that file or there may be an additional problem step that you hadn’t gotten to the first time.

At this point you should be back up and running, but you’re not quite done. The file(s) you eliminated were there for a reason and should probably be replaced with an uncorrupted or later version. For instance, if a device driver was deleted, you can go to Device Manager and see that one of your devices is now flagged as a problem. Or you may see that some utility or process no longer shows up in the system tray or on the Startup tab of MSCONFIG. Occasionally the deleted file is only half the problem because it conflicts with something else running in the background, but in most cases you can get a new, clean copy of the driver or utility from the manufacturer and it will work just fine. Now you’re done! Aren’t you glad you didn’t throw that box out the window?

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