--- Forwarded Message from peter <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 01:31:09 -0400
>From: peter <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #5093 Help! - DLL problem
>References: <[log in to unmask]>

------------------
First, what is wrong if there is an Illegal Operation error?
When an application starts up, Windows will assign a piece
of memory to it with memory addresses in your computer's
RAM. Everything will be fine as long as each application
only uses its own memory addresses. If an application or
anything else tries to take memory addresses that have been
already assigned to another application, it may make your
system unstable and cause crashes. Therefore, when an
application tries to access memory addresses outside of the
range that Windows has assigned it, Windows shuts it down.

What causes these illegal memory operations and invalid DLL
access problems? It could be virtually anything, for
example:

1)      you don't have enough memory or harddrive space on your
computer to run these applications (the Windows has no
memory to assign to the application), or 

2)      you have installed the applications in password-,
rights-, write-protected area (which prevents the Windows
from assigning memory to the application because it can't be
accessed), or 

3)      the hard drive of your computer is too fragmented (Often
the software grabs a piece of memory and does not relinquish
it, this also causes memory and memory allocation problem),
or

4)      some of the required files are corrupted, or there is a
conflicting application (that competes with this application
in getting memory allocation), or

5)      the required DLLs are not at the referenced location, or

6)      there are more than one copy of the same DLL, or

7)      your operating system is newer than your application, or

8)      etc.

Unfortunately, the specific source of problem is often hard
to pin down. If you really want to track it down, the best
way is to click on "Details," which appears in the same box
that tells you that "This program has performed..." and
write down the names of the DLL files that are causing the
problems.

Then do a Find in your computer to see if the required DLLs
are there on your computer. Maybe the DLL files are missing.
Then you need to find them and install them into either in
the directory of the program or your windows/system
directory. 

If you find them, check what version they are by clicking on
properties. The problem 
may be that the versions of the DLLs of these applications
are incompatible. If your 
operating system is a newer version, try to contact the
vendors of the applications 
for more current versions that match the operating system of
your computer.

Since you have installed the applications more than once,
there may be more than one copy of the same DLL on your
computer. If this is case, then you need to uninstall the
applications (DO NOT SIMPLY DELETE THE APPLICATION BY DRAG
IT INTO RECYCLE BIN, RATHER USE THE INSTALL/UNINSTALL
UTILITY IN THE CONTROL PANEL--THIS WILL ALSO CLEAR ALL
UNWANTED REFERENCE INFORMATION). Then check again. If there
are remaining DLLs after this UNINSTALL action, delete them
manually. You also need to run scandisk, defrag, scandisk
again and shut the computer down before you run a clean
Windows and/or application installation. 

It will also be a good idea to get and run the MS utility
called DllClean. It is a free tool and comes as
DllClean.zip. That tool will search out superfluous
references to .dll files, redundant .dll files, and unused
.dll files on the system and clear them out. This action
will solve a lot of problems.

Hope this helps,

Peter

> I'm not really familiar with extension problems, and our tech people
> told me to contact the vendor, but I wonder if someone can help me with
> this.
> 
> I've recently decided to reinstall foreign language programs, because
> they were so messed up.  I asked our tech people to reinstall clean
> Windows 95 and other basic programs (MS Office, Netscape, telnet and
> Real Audio) so that I could start over with the installation of the FL
> programs.  I didn't have problems installing, but I cannot play several
> programs.  Usually, it will give me the illegal operation error message
> and shut off the programs.  Sometimes, I see an "invalid access to DLL"
> message.
> 
> I'll write down the names of the programs in case someone might know
> particular ways to set up these programs.
> 
>         Who is Oscar Lake?
>         Learn to Speak Spanish
>         Video Linguist
>         Travel Tur