Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)

Subject: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:57 AM

So, apart from the TV card I just about got my "spare" machine)(Celeron 2600, WinXP, 512K) running for daughter to take away to Nottingham with its original 80G hard drive and her original 80G hard drive in it as a slave so she or a techie friend can retrieve all her data and settings at thier leisure. This left me her former slave 80G drive as a spare.

Just before she left she was doing a bit of internet banking and said my main machine (that she was using) was behaving badly, but she is an absolute albatross for computers so I ignored....

Hardly was she out of the drive than I started getting Fatal Exceptions OE and OD (and a few others, as time wore on) mainly when trying to send in Outlook. It got to the stage that the machine was unusable. This is my main machine that runs my office. AMD2400, W98SE, 512, 80G hard drive and a 160G slave for "stuff" running as D 'cos W98SE won't let me make it list after the partitions on the 80G.

This machine was set up with OS and other programs on C partition, and other partitions E, F, and G - E for a backup of the OS, F for data (including the actual current psts for Outlook, and the install files for all downloaded programs), and G for backup of data. I also use a DVD writer to back things up and had last backed up all documents and psts on Dec 15.

Use another machine to do a bit of rummaging on the internet. It looked as if the problem is likely to be memory (the addresses that come up with the fatal exception are memory addresses) or mother board. All computer shops shut so can't take memory to have it tested.

I used Acronis to restore the OS to as it was running stably (well, stably for 98SE) in June. That takes about 5 minutes. It was OK for about half an hour until I tried to send in Outlook. Those two exeptions were back big-time and Outlook was unusable. Therefore it wasn't OS and must be memory or MB.

Use Acronis to make a clone of all partitions of my main drive onto the spare 80G just in case. Takes the damned thing 6 hours!!

Very computer-savvy friend has a look. Agrees might well be memory or motherboard. It just happens he has a spare AMD and motherboard with memory in at home, so I drive to Lewisham to borrow it. He has no drivers for it (bum).

Put his board and bits in my case, it pretty well boots off my original 80G drive (once I have figured out that I have connected the front USB ports wrong) and I start hunting for drivers etc. I get nowhere with the PCI drivers but most other bits I sort of get working - and sod me the bloody fatal errors re-appear so badly there is no point in continuing. Therefore it wasn't memory or MB since both have been changed. Must be damaged drivers addressing wrong bits of memory.

Put my motherboard back with original drive, planning on format C and re-install. Original hard drive fails. Does not go round at all. Thank God for that clone as other backup bits are scattered among manybackup CDs and DVDs.

Format C and E on the clone (actually do it setting that drive as a slave on a spare machine), put clone in main machine (which I have in the meantime put into a nice small neat case in place of the old full size ATX case, since the MB is microATX, PSU almost too big to go in, can't get the mask for the I/O on the rear panel to fit, etc, going to need a USB hub when all is well), re-install Windows. This fights me every step of the way, failing to find files, reporting that one of my DVD drives (the new dual layer combo drive) is not working, telling me that various things are not valid W32 application, etc, etc). Get it up, install office, Outlook won't run. Uninstall Office in order to reinstall. Installation stalls and will not resume. Guess what? Those damned fatal exceptions OD (at 0028:???) and OE (at 0096, I think) are back.

Put Office on spare machine and copy the current psts so I can work if I ever get the time, most clients out of the loop for Xmas-NewYear. Seems OK but I'm a bit worried about running Office 2000 in MinME on a PIII933 with 512 memory.

Rip machine to bits. Discover I have the optical drives the wrong way round set master to slave and slave to master, format C and reinstall. Install Windoze. Goes well this time, leaving Win disc in one optical drive and using the other for drivers/programs/utilities/etc and the Win disc goes and finds drivers and stuff (why is it always secur32.dll and vserver.vxd and a fe other usual suspects that go missing) when needed.

As of late last night I have everything except Office in, and have only seen a few fatal exceptions on the way (alas, they look like the same ones) and the machine seems pretty good for surfing, playing music, watching films, etc, and I am terrified to install Office in case it all falls over and I ahve to start again or buy a new machine.

I think I might just install Word on this machine and leave Outlook on the other one. I haven't seen those fatal exeptions since last night (touch wood).

Which brings me to the point of the story.

What the hell could be causing those fatal exceptions? I never had them until boxing day, and they have now been present on two different C drives, two different motherboards, two different sets of memory, four installs of the OS. The PSU is pretty huge, a 450 watter to run a dual layer DVD re-writer, a CD re-writer, floppy drive, 2 hard drives, a Zip drive on the USB and nothing else yet, so I figure I can rule out PSU issues.

Baffled!

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:22 AM

I'd suggest going to Microsoft Advanced Search.

Select Windows 98 for the product, and make sure that in the box "return results" has "for this product only" up.

Put "Fatal Exception 0E" or "Fatal Exception 0D" in the search box (no quotes) one at a time. You'll get at least a dozen results for each. You may be able to tell from the "blurb" in the list of results which of the papers may be most applicable, and/or looking at a few articles may give clues to where to look next. (Of course, be sure to type "zeroes" and not "letter Os" in the search for box.)

There probably are too many possible causes to expect to find a KB article that describes your exact problem; but a look at what kinds of things cause the problems that look most like yours should give you some clues. These two exceptions appear to come mostly from "improper" attempts to bypass the "Windows Protection Layer" and make direct hardware access. Win98's WPL is pretty wimpy, but it does sometimes try to do what it's supposed to ...

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:42 AM

I suspect the missing site in John's post is: MS Knowledge Base. I had a look earlier; IIRC there are about 96 for Fatal Error with Win98, and I think 16 with 0D and 44 with 0E (I decided it needed more info to narrow it down to possibles!).

Mick

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 09:16 AM

Ah, 0D not OD! That may make a difference.... (duh)

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 09:18 AM

PS, machine still up and I'm using it for this post....

Up without a fail since 8 this morning till 2.30pm local time now ---- that's pretty good for Win98!

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 02:23 PM

Mick Pearce -

The link I gave was to the "Microsoft Support Advanced Search" input page. It works fine for me.

The advantage of using Advanced Search rather than the "standard" search box that's on most pages at Microsoft is that it lets you choose to include search of Developer Network and Technet articles that aren't normally tapped in the simple search, and makes it a bit easier to look for troubleshooting vs how-to's, or just for downloads etc. It also gives you a "pick list" where you can limit the search to a single product, which cuts out a lot of the chaff in the returns.

Most "result" pages from a simple search include a search box that offers the option to switch to "Advanced Search." I usually just start at the big page.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Bernard
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 02:59 PM

Outlook is a bit flaky at the best of times, and is often the culprit when memory errors occur.

It's called a 'memory leak' - you'd be forgiven for thinking this is faulty memory, but the 'leak', in simple terms, is a silly way of saying the programme doesn't use the memory properly, resulting in two programmes trying to use the same bit of memory.

Usually it's caused by a corrupt file, and an uninstall/reinstall will fix it.

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 03:39 PM

Yes, Bernard, I follow, thanks, and that is why it is vexing that after several formats it still might happen (did until today).

Machine still up. Over 12 hours continuous on Win 98. Amazing. Now do I dare try puting Outlook in it?

Outlook has a bit of a rep for being full of bugs, I think.

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 05:08 AM

JiK

Sorry for assuming the wrong link (I thought there might be a tag problem but there was nothing in the html at all when I looked).

I tend to start at the KB for problems (this harks back to the days when at various times I was systems programmer or systems manager for HP mainframes; once a quarter I had to spend a few hours reading through the 1.5 inch KPR Manual (Known Problem Reports - and even then some problems were identified as features) and once a month though the updates). I do use the developer network library (I used to keep an old copy on disc here) and the other resources, but usually when I want information on how to do something or how things are set up rather than problems (and a searchable problem database is a luxury compared to the old days!).

Mick

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 05:19 AM

Still up in W98SE! Time to make a backup of this version of the OS and programs before risking Word Excel and maybe Outlook.

One thing that's very odd. This machine is downloading from the internet at about half the speed of the other machine on the same network.

Subject: RE: Tech: Fatal Exceptions OD and OE (W98SE)
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 08:56 AM

Ah - the backup killed it totally! After a whole rest of the day yesterday, it turned out to be the motherboard, but a friend had given me his Athlon 2000 and board, and after the rest of the rest of yesterday (up to 2 am) I had that nearly right but no PCI bus and the drivers seemingly missing.

This morning got me nowhere - but my optical drives disappeared in Windoze (still there in the BIOS).

Just after a sandwich I had decided to format C again (!) when I hit the wrong button, did an over-the-top by mistake, and it found the network and the optical drives so apart from a few bits of installation I'm back!!