Board index » Windows OS » CONFIGMG error

Windows OS224
After running a Windows ME Setup I am getting the following message:

â??While initialising device CONFIGMG: Windows Protection Error. You need to

restart your computer.â??

The system will then only start in Safe Mode, after which I get the message

â??CANNOT DETECT DEVICES IN SAFE MODE. Windows cannot detect and install

devices while it is running in safe mode. To detect & install devices,

restart Windows & don't choose Safe Modeâ??



My problems started after receiving a â??RUNDLL has caused an error in

MMSYSTEM.DLLâ?? where I lost sound, and mouse control, and only had 16 colour

display. To resolve this I tried a Registry Restore, but with no luck. I

therefore reinstalled the Windows ME operating system, which got rid of the

RUNDLL error message, and resolved the sound and mouse issues, but not the

graphics.



To try to remedy this I downloaded and installed the latest video drivers

suggested by my machine manufacturer. However, upon restart, the system kept

shutting itself down just after the Windows logo screen, and would only

operate in Safe Mode. Since then I have been receiving the CONFIGMG error. I

have again performed another installation of the operating system, but I seem

to be going around in circles.



I have accessed Microsoftâ??s Support site at

//support.Microsoft.com/?kbid=187612&sd=RMVP where the CONFIGMG error is

explained with possible resolution tasks. However, when contacting my

computer manufacturer concerning an updated BIOS or advice on how to disable

the suggested L2 Cache in the CMOS, they inform me that the error message I

am experiencing occurs due to corrupt master boot record or corrupt partition

on the hard drive and only can be resolved by deleting the partitions and

restoring the computer using the original Recovery discs.



Can anybody advise if there is anything else I can do before succumbing to a

full system restore?


-

Some details would be useful - what make/model is the PC? - what make/model

is the graphics card?

which driver set did you install??



try this

Reboot to Safe Mode

Open Device Manager

Remove ALL Display Adapters

Remove ALL Monitors

Reboot to Normal Mode - Windows will reinstall the required drivers -

hopefully curing your problem.



--

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)



Nil Carborundum Illegitemi

http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm



http://tinyurl.com/6oztj



Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Alann" <Alann@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in message



-

Noel, Thank you for your help.

My computer is a Hewlett Packard Pavilion 7891, which came installed with

NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS graphics. The download of latest video drivers I

performed from the nvidia URL was â??81.85_forceware_win9xâ??, and from the setup

file contained therein a whole new set of display adaptors and monitors

appeared in my Device Manager.



Last night I removed all adaptors and monitors as suggested and rebooted,

and for a few minutes I thought the problem was being resolved. The system

got past the CONFIGMG lock-up and continued updating the system settings.

However, once completed, an automatic startup only got me past the Windows

logo screen, at which point the computer switched itself off. A button

restart then took me back into Safe Mode. This loop now happens each time;

i.e. a shut down from Safe Mode and subsequent switch-on closes down after

the Windows screen, followed by a Safe Mode start at the next switch-on.

I note in the Device Manager that the NVIDIA GeForce display adaptor is

listed, but no monitors.



As an additional bit of info I note from previous threads that Norton 2001

can have an influence on setup. I have therefore accessed the System

Configuration Utility and disabled the Norton NAVAP in the Static VxD tab,

and the Norton Auto Protect in the Startup tab. Still no joy.



Any further advice would be very much welcomed.





"Noel Paton" wrote:



-

Oh Gawd! - NAV again!

OK - this could have been induced by NAV mistakenly killing the install in

some way - or by a hardware problem.

With NAV totally disabled, try the remove/reinstall again - if it works,

then all well and good, and you should be able to restart NAV without

problems.

If it doesn't work, then boot back up into Safe Mode, and see if you can

change the Display settings to a default value - 800x640 at 75Hz is a

reasonable starting point - which may allow the system to work properly.

If still no joy, in Safe Mode, go to Add/Remove Programs, and remove all

Video-related installs (just the driver ones, e.g. nVidia controls then

reboot to Normal Mode again and see what happens



--

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)



Nil Carborundum Illegitemi

http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm



http://tinyurl.com/6oztj



Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Alann" <Alann@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in message



-

Thanks again. I'll give it a go over the weekend and let you know the outcome.



"Noel Paton" wrote:



-

Good Luck!



--

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)



Nil Carborundum Illegitemi

http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm



http://tinyurl.com/6oztj



Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Alann" <Alann@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in message



-

Not much to report in the way of progress Iâ??m afraid.



With the display settings at 640x480, and with minimal hardware acceleration

I still only got past the Windows screen before the computer switched itself

off. Iâ??ve also switched off just about all that I feel safe with in the VxD

and Startup tabs of the System Configuration Uitility. Mainly all Norton and

AOL stuff, and I carried out another ME operating system reinstall, followed

by another removal/reinstall of the display adaptors. Again it gets me past

the point where it previously switches off and detects the NVIDIA display

adaptor, followed by the message â??To finish setting up new hardware you must

restart your computerâ??. If I select YES it restarts and shuts down again. If

I select NO it continues to load to Windows in normal mode, albeit without

enhanced graphics, but at least I get my sound and printer back on line. In

Device Manager it tells me that NVIDIA GeForce cannot work properly until you

restart. Doing this takes me back to square one; i.e. switching off after

restart. In all instances there are still no monitors listed in the Device

manager. Not even a folder titled MONITORS for them to sit in.



I went into Add/Remove Programs as suggested, where â??NVIDIA Windows 95/98/ME

Display Driversâ?? was listed. However, being the novice that I am when it

comes to messing with the system settings, I chickened out when I got the

message â??This will uninstall the NVIDIA display driver. All driver components

& corresponding registry entries will be permanently removed from the

system.â?? I thought Iâ??d better check with the experts before hitting the

continue button.



God, this is so frustrating.





"Noel Paton" wrote:



-

Go for it - you can't be worse off that you are now!

What that will do is remove the nVidia drivers - leaving the default drivers

behind, which you can continue to use until we get this sorted out.



Unfortunately, you have compounded the problem by reinstalling ME over

itself!!! AGAIN, yet!



If you have IE6 installed, it is now almost certainly broken beyond repair

(and if you didn't have it installed, then you should have!<g>- unless you

realised that it needed to be uninstalled prior to the ME reinstall), and

you'll need to uninstall/reinstall IE to get it working properly again.

Instructions for this process are here

http://www.crashfixpc.com/ReInIE.htm



Please post back if you need more details - preferably before attempting the

process!!<g>



Back to the subject of your Display drivers - I think we may need a little

drastic surgery here, after you've uninstalled the nVidia drivers.....

Assuming you're in the UK - try using the latest drivers from HP, rather

than from nVidia (HP have a habit of tweaking things)

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?lc=en&cc=ns&os=209&product=61743&dlc=en&softwareitem=pv198en

HP seem to have stopped updating their drivers almost as soon as XP came

out - OTOH, nVidia like to foist beta-quality drivers onto the public and

see what happens!





In the small print (which is actually NOT anywhere to be found without

searching, but is here -

http://www.nvidia.com/object/81.85_9x_supported.html) they say that the GTS

is not supported by the 80-series forceware drivers!!!

here's the link to their latest 'working' drivers (so they claim!)

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_77.72.html



If they don't work, then go back down the list of older drivers until you

find one that does work

the list is here - use the 70-series drivers only.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_archive.html





HTH



--

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)



Nil Carborundum Illegitemi

http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm



http://tinyurl.com/6oztj



Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Alann" <Alann@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in message



-

Noel, many thanks for all your time and help.

Looking at your latest suggestions, and the chances that knowing my luck,

I'm bound to mess something esle up, do you think I ought to just concede and

do a complete system recovery using the Recovery Disks that originally came

with the computer?



"Noel Paton" wrote:



-

Never! - you'll have to spend the next week doing the updates and reinstalls

and there are too many parties to go to for that!<g>



If you don't have IE 6 installed on that machine, don't worry about it - and

either way, it's a lot easier to fix the graphics first and IE later.



get the right driver set, install it, and see what that does for you - then

worry about IE.



--

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)



Nil Carborundum Illegitemi

http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm



http://tinyurl.com/6oztj



Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Alann" <Alann@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in message



-

Alann



The procedure that Noel recommended sounds complicated especially to some of

us that are technically challenged, however, it's not as bad as you think.

Forget the uncertainty and go for it. Worse case scenario is that you end up

with default drivers but at least with these, you can boot up again and

start looking for the right ones.



Good luck.



Dan



"Alann" <Alann@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in message



-

SUCCESS!! Well done Noel, youâ??ve cracked it.

I removed the NVIDIA drivers in Add/Remove Programs and rebooted. The system

got past the previous shutdown point and continued searching for plug and

play devices in the Add New Hardware Wizard where it picked up on the display

adaptor not being configured properly. This then requested me to start the

Hardware Installation Wizard, at the end of which I rebooted and, Hey Presto,

I got my computer back.

Everything seems to be working OK. Iâ??ve re-activated Norton and AOL and I

had no problems getting back on the Web.

Iâ??m pretty sure that had I found this discussion group at the point I

experienced my initial problem, things would have been resolved a lot sooner.

Itâ??s great to find people that not only know their stuff, but who are also

keen on helping others.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Just one other thing before I sign off. Iâ??m picking up strong vibes that

Norton and ME are not a good mix. I gather I would be better off uninstalling

it.







-

Great news! - thanks for coming back to let us know!



WRT Norton, 'strong vibes' is putting it rather mildly<g>. I know of no

application which is claimed to run under Win ME which produces more

problems - particularly in these newsgroups. It accounts for possibly 10%

of the traffic here!



If you're using NAV on its own - then I'd recommend removal and replacement,

either with a paid-for AV such as Kaspersky or NOD32, of the free version of

AVG. In ALL cases, disable (or refuse install of, in the case of AVG - use

custom install) the email scanning option - it serves no useful purpose, and

tends to lead to corruption of email data, and problems with emailing.



If you're using NIS, and need a firewall, then scout around, there are still

a few good ones that work with Win9x - or use the older versions available

for the purpose, some of which are still free.





--

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)



Nil Carborundum Illegitemi

http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm



http://tinyurl.com/6oztj



Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Alann" <Alann@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in message



-