Dear Lola:
I can only suggest you might try what I would probably attempt. This is
based on a guess that you have a corrupted file for one of the references,
which is where DLLs come into play.
Open any form in design veiw and click the "code" icon. Then select
Tools/References. This is a list of all the "references" to DLLs.
Unless you (or are there others?) have set up unusual requirements, you
should see 5 lines of references at the top that are checked. Is this the
case?
If not, please report back here with the names of the checked references.
I'll try to suggest one that may be most likely to be a problem.
To isolate which one of the references may be a problem, uncheck these one
at a time. You'll need an accurate record of which ones were originally
selected so you can replace them if they prove to be at fault.
When you uncheck a reference, it may cause a "missing reference" message.
This may occur in addition to the existing error message. In that case,
according to my theory, it would mean that you have created a new problem.
But, at some point, if this works as I'm expecting, you will not get the two
previous messages. You may get none, or only one of them. That would mean
you have removed the reference to a corrupted DLL, which you would then know
to replace. You'll need to get this from a CD or by downloading it. The
path and filename appear in the references window for each one, so that
shows you which corrupted file needs replacement, and where to put it.
It is my understanding that you can replace a corrupted DLL file by
overwriting it, and there would be no registration issues.
If you have more than the typical (default) 5 references, then likely
someone who wrote the software has found a need for some other DLL
functionality. This should be done with their assistance if convenient.
Another approach, probably easier, is to try the same thing on another
computer. Likely the problem will disappear. A file compare of the 5 pairs
of DLLs should then locate the faulty one, and a copy from the good one to
the bad one may fix this problem.
You might want to cause and copy the exact error message into your next
message in case that might give someone here a clue.
Proceed carefully. Without making any changes, you should do nothing that
changes the system until you have isolated the problem and are quite certain
you know what the problem is.
Tom Ellison
