nothing but 0xc0000142

12/2/04 | me

[philetus]

My wife shut down her puter. A while later, I turned it back on. When W2k loaded it gave me "the application failed toinitalize properly (0xc0000142). Click on OK to terminate the application." for every start up program. I also get it if I click on any app. Sure could use some help.

[trailboss800]

This error is caused by one of these 3 things:

1. X-Win32 was corrupted during the installation.

2. X-Win32 is being interfered with by another running application(s).

3. The user who installed X-Win32 does not have administrator privilege, in which the software was not able to store settings to the registry. To fix this, you need to remove the software, then log on as administrator and run the installation again.

Usually another application is now interfering with X-Win32. McAfee and other anti-virus products do interfere with X-Win32. The best bet is to uninstall McAfee. If that is not a possible solution for you, try starting X-Win32 first then start McAfee. McAfee locks some files that X-Win32 needs so it prevents X-Win32 from working. Usually if you start X-Win32 first, then you can start McAfee and they will coexist on the server. If McAfee is starting as a service, stop the service, start X-Win32, then restart McAfee.

[dila813]

You may be being hacked, create a new admin account and disable the old one. With Win2k You should never sign-in with the Administrator named account. You should create another account and rename the Administrator account.

It is a bad idea.

W2k is good, but you got to have your security set up good. Too many know how to hack it.

[explodingspleen]

There is a free upgrade available that resolves all windows problems. You will need to back up the data on your hard drive, then just download and follow the instructions.

[woofie]

I get that from my wife a lot

[spodefly]

You wouldn't be having this problem if you were using a Mac!

Was I the first to say it?

[opinionator]

Return your wife to the store and upgrade with a newer model.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Since you're getting a bunch of typical jackass answers here:

Off the top of my head, I'd say this is typical virus behavior.....or, less likely, you're having a bizarre memory problem like a byte went bad in a memory DIMM.

A more serious hardware problem is less likely....it wouldn't cause uniform program problems....if your sound card went bad, Word would start but Media Player would probably fail to start.

Since you can get on the internet, go to Trend Micro and download their Administrator Command Line anti-virus.  It's free, they don't advertise it, and it rocks.

First download this file to a new folder on your desktop.

Sysclean Package	2.2MB

Then download the Virus pattern from here

lpt277.zip

(AS/400, S/390, Windows)

4.9MB

Unzip the pattern file to the folder you made.

Open the folder and double-click "Sysclean.com"

There's no installation....a window will open....just press the "Scan Now" button....or "Go" or whatever it is....I can't remember.

If you have a slow computer with a lot of files it could take a hour or two to scan.  Just let it go until it's done.  It will repair every infected file it can, or it will delete the file.

[backhoe]

Once you work past the wisecracks, flaming, and calls to switch to Linux or a Mac, FR has some of the best tech help I've ever seen or gotten with my assorted PC ills.

However... if you want to go off-site, here's a very good one:

http://www.virtualdr.com/
The VirtualDR high-tech help threads...

Look at the left sidebar, join the forums, and if you don't see your problem stated, post the question, and wait a bit- you'll get help.

[BlackbirdSST]

You wouldn't be having this problem if you were using a Mac! Was I the first to say it?

Yes you were the first. It shouldn't be long before the other MAC owner stops by to back you up. ;) Blackbird.

[primatreat]

god bless you. I thought I was alone in the wilderness!!!!

[Dilbert56]

FWIW, over a year ago I had a problem where a worm infected my PC by associating itself with the filetype of "EXE". Anything that was supposed to run as an EXE would instead launch the infecting code. The folder options won't let you associate anything with EXE and I couldn't launch REGEDIT to fix it. I ended up exporting the .EXE key from another machine an importing it on the infected one. Later I found a more direct fix, a worm cleaner that addressed my specific problem.

[TechJunkYard]

Do you have automatic updates turned on? Could be that something clobbered a system DLL.

A pair of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles (here and here) deal with this error when encountered after an upgrade to Windows NT 4.0 so you might want to check the DLLs mentioned, and perhaps copy them from a working install.

There is also a note here about anti-virus programs interfering with the system files, so if you run such packages (particularly McAfee) you might want to check that out.

Good luck... from a sympathetic Linux user.

[Hokum]

I arrived at this forum because I was having an (0xc0000142) problem at windows start up, with Devldr32.exe. No worries now; I solved it by erasing my old account and taking up a new one.

Thanks!

[TechJunkYard]

Glad you were able to resolve the problem. Talk about a blast from the past!