control panel problem

[Delboy]

Have just noticed, going into Control Panel/Add remove programs/Windows
Setup after a second or two an error box comes up "Rundll32 An error has
occurred .... Ignore/Close" Ignore keeps bringing up the same box; Close
opens another box "Rundll32 has caused an error in SetupX.dll Rundll32 will
now close. Try restarting .....". Still the same both before and after
reboot

Install/Uninstall & Start-up Disk sections both ok. No other problems that I
have seen anywhere else.

Ad-aware, Spybot, AVG Free all show no malaware, Have Restored back to
before Xmas, Regedit/ Fix no effect.
Have tried Noel's Stinger routine in Safe Mode. No problems; no cure.

Of course, I have no idea when this first happened. Any ideas for a fix O
Wise Ones out there?

--
Delboy

A common mistake that people made when trying to design something completely
foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

[Mike M]

Been deleting empty folders in the Program Files tree and then playing
with a registry cleaner? If so then you've fallen into the trap that many
others have fallen in to over the years. If you backed up the entries
deleted by the reg cleaner try restoring them, especially the VARLID key.

I've attached a zip file containing a reg file containing all of the
required entries. Download this, extract the reg file and merge (right
click on the reg file and select "Merge") with the registry and this
should hopefully fix the problem.

This problem can be avoided in future by not deleting the folders placed
in Program Files during the installation of Win Me but more importantly by
not deleting any values in the key
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Set up\VarLDID
when using a registry cleaner.

What happens is that if any of the folders referred to in VarLDID (you can
see them by opening the reg file using notepad) is deleted then most
registry cleaners will remove the value (entry) in the VarLDID key that
refers to that folder. This is because the registry cleaner considers it
to be a "dead" entry since the folder no longer exists. Setupx then has
problems because if can't find one of the paths it needs and then gives
the error you saw.

I hope this helps and solves the problem.
--
Mike Maltby



Delboy > wrote:

> Have just noticed, going into Control Panel/Add remove
> programs/Windows Setup after a second or two an error box comes up
> "Rundll32 An error has occurred .... Ignore/Close" Ignore keeps
> bringing up the same box; Close opens another box "Rundll32 has
> caused an error in SetupX.dll Rundll32 will now close. Try restarting
> .....". Still the same both before and after reboot
>
> Install/Uninstall & Start-up Disk sections both ok. No other problems
> that I have seen anywhere else.
>
> Ad-aware, Spybot, AVG Free all show no malaware, Have Restored back to
> before Xmas, Regedit/ Fix no effect.
> Have tried Noel's Stinger routine in Safe Mode. No problems; no cure.
>
> Of course, I have no idea when this first happened. Any ideas for a
> fix O Wise Ones out there?

[Delboy]

Thanks for the file and the explanation Mike. Your cure worked like a dream.
One more thing to remember not to do.
BTW is it safe to delete folders left behind in Program Files by
uninstallers? They often do!

--
Delboy

A common mistake that people made when trying to design something completely
foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

"Mike M" > wrote in message
...
> Been deleting empty folders in the Program Files tree and then playing
> with a registry cleaner? If so then you've fallen into the trap that many
> others have fallen in to over the years. If you backed up the entries
> deleted by the reg cleaner try restoring them, especially the VARLID key.
>
> I've attached a zip file containing a reg file containing all of the
> required entries. Download this, extract the reg file and merge (right
> click on the reg file and select "Merge") with the registry and this
> should hopefully fix the problem.
>
> This problem can be avoided in future by not deleting the folders placed
> in Program Files during the installation of Win Me but more importantly by
> not deleting any values in the key
> HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Set up\VarLDID
> when using a registry cleaner.
>
> What happens is that if any of the folders referred to in VarLDID (you can
> see them by opening the reg file using notepad) is deleted then most
> registry cleaners will remove the value (entry) in the VarLDID key that
> refers to that folder. This is because the registry cleaner considers it
> to be a "dead" entry since the folder no longer exists. Setupx then has
> problems because if can't find one of the paths it needs and then gives
> the error you saw.
>
> I hope this helps and solves the problem.
> --
> Mike Maltby
>
>
>
> Delboy > wrote:
>
> > Have just noticed, going into Control Panel/Add remove
> > programs/Windows Setup after a second or two an error box comes up
> > "Rundll32 An error has occurred .... Ignore/Close" Ignore keeps
> > bringing up the same box; Close opens another box "Rundll32 has
> > caused an error in SetupX.dll Rundll32 will now close. Try restarting
> > .....". Still the same both before and after reboot
> >
> > Install/Uninstall & Start-up Disk sections both ok. No other problems
> > that I have seen anywhere else.
> >
> > Ad-aware, Spybot, AVG Free all show no malaware, Have Restored back to
> > before Xmas, Regedit/ Fix no effect.
> > Have tried Noel's Stinger routine in Safe Mode. No problems; no cure.
> >
> > Of course, I have no idea when this first happened. Any ideas for a
> > fix O Wise Ones out there?
>

[Delboy]

<snipped> BTW guilty as charged!

--
Delboy

A common mistake that people made when trying to design something completely
foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

[Mike M]

Delboy > wrote:

> Thanks for the file and the explanation Mike. Your cure worked like a
> dream. One more thing to remember not to do.
> BTW is it safe to delete folders left behind in Program Files by
> uninstallers? They often do!

Yes. Thanks for letting me know the fix worked. As long as you don't
delete the entries in the VarLDID key you can get rid of the empty folders
in the Program Files tree.
--
Mike Maltby

[Mike M]

Delboy > wrote:

> <snipped> BTW guilty as charged!

LOL. You're not the first by any means. :-)
--
Mike Maltby