Problems running 16bit Apps in WinXP

[Noel Nosivad]

Hey all,

I've just discovered on my own system that I can't run 16bit applications.

NTDVM.EXE has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

I'm runng WinXP Pro SP1, 1GB RAM, P3 1GHz.

I'm trying to install the only available drivers for my Epson PhotoPC 500 digital camera, which the files contained in the Self-Extracting Executable are 16bit and supported for WinNT, Win9x/ME.

I use to have these drivers working on here before, but that was years ago. I thought my NTDVM file was corrupted so I asked someone to check if their one worked and whether they could sent it to me.

I tried using the sent one to me and still the same problem, also deleted it and had windows recreate the file and still the same problem.

No matter what 16bit applications I try, the same problem and same error at the same address occurs. A debug suggests an integer is being divided by 0.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Compatibilty Mode has no effect whatsoever.


Noel Nosivad

[Budda]

hmm not sure what your problem is cause XP should run any 16bit application you throw at it, but try running the .exe in compatability mode.

Just right click on the .exe and go to properties and then compatability and then choose win98 and then okay and run the exe again and see if that has any effect

[Noel Nosivad]

Hey Budda,

I've tried the compatibility mode but that has never worked. It's got to be some type of setting or config but I've looked at all the possibilities, I could think of, I haven't looked at the possibility that it's a .dll file at fault.

I've installed the drivers now, but I had to install it from another computer on the network and just installed it into my program files on this computer.

It works fine just running the .exe to load the camera on my computer now, so the question is, how can I get 16bit applications to run, without using my networked computer to install it, as it's a longer process that way as well as not how the computer should work?

Because the error message is the same and the memory address is the same I would suspect the culprit is not NTVDM.EXE but possibly WOWEXEC.EXE which these two programs go hand in hand when running 16bit environments, NTVDM runs fine when tested from a command line.

WOWEXEC.EXE however can't run, shows the same error with all 16bit applications. I've tried replacing WOWEXEC and still no go.

I may try copying the entire system32 folder from my other computer onto this one and see if that solves any mysteries, anyone know the bad effects it could have? Both computers have been updated to their fullest so hopefully the system files won't conflict.

I'm off to backup and will post if this solved it, I would just do individual files to see if I can discover exactly which one it is that may solve the problem but there's too many files in the system32 folder.


Noel Nosivad

[PoWa]

Can you run it from the cmd prompt?

What about downloading some new drivers specific to XP from the manufacturers website?

[Noel Nosivad]

Hi PoWa,

Unfortunately support for this camera was dropped, the last and final drivers came out in 1997, it had no support for WinME, 2K or XP at the time but it runs fine in XP.

The problem is no 16bit applications can run on this system. They work off my other computer.

I tested wowexec.exe in the commandline and was presented with NTVDM.EXE error box stated above. Same error, running NTVDM in commandline shows no signs of error.

I also tried sysedit from the run box and couldn't run it as well as ntdetect.com in the root drive. So far I haven't been having any luck finding the culprit.


Noel Nosivad

[beama]

hi Noel
just been reading this thread and one thing occured to me that you may have tried but haven't said here.
SFC (system File checker) run from the cmd line you will need your xp install disk and several cups of coffee though, maybe worth try.

[Mzee]

From time to time XP stops supporting 16bit & Dos. (NT4 also)
In the system32 folder there are files "autoexec.nt" & "config.nt"
These files and some others may corrupt.
The cure is, copy all the files in the "repair" folder (overwrite) into the "system32" folder, & presto, your Dos & 16bit are restored.

This has happened on both XP Home & Professional. I don't know why, but it does.

[Noel Nosivad]

Hi beama,

I did run the command but I didn't go through with it, it did not ask for my Original WinXP CD, it asked for my Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 CD, It's not like I bought it with the Service Pack 1 installed, I had to download it.

Surely there's ways to make a CD with the Service Pack 1 installed on it? Can that be an option? I still have the Service Pack 1 files, just incase I ever needed to reformat.


Noel Nosivad

[Noel Nosivad]

Hey Mzee,

Correct answer, apparently the autoexec.nt and config.nt became corrupt, maybe because I kept modifying it, but could never tell it had been corrupted. So replacing those two files from the repair folder fixed it.

There was no need to copy the rest of the files that were in there, just those too. I'm still going to modify the config.nt file though.

Thanks everyone. Problem solved.

Just to sum it up,

The two files you need are in

C:\Windows\Repair

You need autoexec.nt and config.nt, copy those over to

C:\Windows\System32

Overwriting the already existing files, Then test it with a 16bit application, something like sysedit which you'll find in the c:\windows\system32 folder, this program is used for modifying the win.ini, system.ini, autoexec.bat, config.sys. It's rarely used in WinXP but MS decided they'd leave it on your hard drive because you don't need all that space :P


Noel Nosivad

[Mzee]

Once you have your system running well, make a Ghost Image of it, then you will never have to bother with all these updates again.
It takes less than 20 minutes to reinstall XP with a Ghost file.
If you do this you can switch off System Restore as it uses disk space and resources.