Strange Computer Errors

[Steve Z]

My trusty computer of two years is now having some strange problems. One time when it booted up I saw the following error message:

"HIMEN.SYS has detected unreliable XMS memory at address 0022C9AA
XMS driver not installed."

Most of the time it will boot up all the way to the Win98 desktop. But, as soon as I go into a program for about 3 minutes, it will go to a blue screen and display error messages:

"A fatal exception OE has occurred at 0028:C0003E25" or "0028:C0031A43."

Or the blue screen will show something like this:

"An exception OE has occurred at 0028:C00037FC in VxD VMM(01)+
000027FC. This was called from 0028:C00844A8 in VxD VKD(01)+
000001D0. It may be possible to continue normally."

When I try to continue, the keyboard won't respond. When I try a warm boot it just goes to a black screen. The only thing I can do is a cold boot to get it back running. I tried to defrag the hard drive, but after a few minutes it goes back to that same blue screen with the error messages. Sometimes the error message numbers will be different. I'm not sure what type of motherboard it is, but it's a full size AT board with an AMD K6-II 233 with 64 SIMM RAM and a Win98se OS. Also, the computer seems to go through the boot process much slower than before when it was working fine. I'm wondering where I should start to troubleshoot this problem.

Thanks, Steve

[tjaymadison]

The Himem.sys error most often indicates physical RAM problems.

Try removing and reseating the module(s).

If the 64 is 2x32, try with one at a time, and/or swapping sockets.


------------------
"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage, mathematician, computer pioneer, analytical engine designer (1791-1871)
-- (Question: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?')