Msgsrv32 error

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My computer is getting this error message recently in several programs, at unpredictable times: Msgsrv 32 This program has performed an illegal action and will shut down. The details reveal a General Protection Fault at a variety of DLLs — seemingly a different DLL each time. Clicking Ignore lets me continue working for a short while, but when the program finishes a task it does shut down. Often I can open the program up again and everything’s fine.

I run Windows 98 on a PC. The three programs affected most often are Office 2000 (especially Word), Publisher 2002, and Adobe Acrobat 5.5. Once or twice it has happened upon booting up, or shutting down.

What do I need to know or do to stop the crashing?

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Betsy, for this problem I’d highly recommend that you re-run the Windows 98 setup program, and “upgrade” it to itself – performing an install exactly where Windows lives now. It’s an easier solution than trying to suss out what’s causing the problem. If it persists after that, then it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start digging.

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Reinstalling Windows 98 is something I might be able to do. My “personal computer geek” has installed some variation of Win 98, and of course since then has retired — but I still may be able to figure it out. You can tell that I’m not “geeky” myself, even though I have much admiration for those who are!

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Re-installing is fairly simple, Betsy – just follow the onscreen prompts. Setup will check and replace/repair any files that are incorrect or damaged. As you asked in another post, for most purposes on Windows 98 128MB of memory is enough. You can see how much is installed by going to Start – Settings – Control Panel and selecting the System applet. There should be a summary on the first screen that appears, and the amount of RAM installed is displayed.

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Solved the problem by buying a new computer with Windows 2000!

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(Edited by DaveA on 28-May-03 18:48. )

http://www.generation.net/~hleboeuf/ermsgs32.htm%5B/url%5D
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?…B;en-us;q169987%5B/url%5D
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6883/msgsrv32.html [/url]
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000450.htm%5B/url%5D

Function of the Windows 32-Bit Message Server
This article describes the purpose of the Win.32-bit message server
(Msgsrv32.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?…B;en-us;q138708%5B/url%5D

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Interesting articles. The “simpler, shorter ones suggested turning off power management. As I said in another reply, there’s no such thing. The longer, more technical articles recommend things that are way beyond what I’m willing to tackle.

I’ve turned off my screen saver, which was one of the ones that comes with Windows 98. Maybe my desktop was just tired of seeing fish. If that takes care of the problem, fine. If not, I’ll go for the reinstall. If that doesn’t do it, we’ll take a little trip to the computer store.

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Thanks for your suggestions, too. The steps for disabling power management don’t work for me because there’s nothing called “Allow windows to manage power on this computer” in Control Panel-Settings-Power Management. Nothing even close.

You mentioned updating Video drivers. How would I go about doing that?

And you mentioned being sure I have enough memory. How much is enough?

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Hi Betsy:
In Win98, you can find the power management by:
1. Right clicking the desktop & choosing Properties. A dialog box appears.
2. Choose the Screen Saver Tab.
3. Click Settings. A Power Management Properties dialog box with 2 tabs appears.
4. Go to the Power Schemes tab.

Here you can make sure the scheme is set to always on so that it never goes into standby.
Hope this helps,

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