I just got this dell dem xps 450 and it had spyware and viruses on it, also alot of the old owners stuff on it. I reformated it and now while windows is running for the first time I get a "windows protection fault please shutdown and reboot. File Vmm32.vxd is missing or corrupt." I have tried reformating it several times and get the same error. I am useing the origenal reinstall disks that came with it. It is an actual copy of win 98 not a dell reinstall disk. Any ideas on how to fix it. I just bought it. Brian

Almost always the simplest thing is to reinstall - you might try installing in the original windows folder first. Since it's a fresh install, you may want to just start over by formatting VMM32 M$ Repair I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

This is happening on one of the reboots as part of the install??? If so, just take the CD out of the drive.

Hmm - sorry, I must have skimmed over your mention of already reformatting/reinstalling Reinstall disks? I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

I am beginning to wonder if it is the disk having a corrupt file. I have another copy of 98 so I will try that. I can get into safe mode but I get error messages stating that you cant install drivers in safe mode. I have some other things to try. I will keep you informed. Brian

Have had this similar problem with some older machines, with both Win 95 and 98. Not sure how truthful this all is, but have always felt that early CD-ROMs do not like the generic drivers that Windows installs tend to use. My way around this is to copy at DOS (scary thought I know) all the install files from a Win 98 CD to an Install folder on the hard drive. Then do an install from the HD. Takes a bit more time to set up, but it always seems to resolve these type of weird or odd setup problems on new installs. Cheers Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment..... Will Rogers