An unknown error has occurred

[Bruce]

Machine is running WinXP Home, SP2, with all patches, updates, etc. It's
been running fine, but just this morning, I woke and saw an error box on
the screen. I don't know what program is involved.

The upper left of portion of the simply says, "Error".

There's a red circle with an "X" in it.

The text in the box says, "An unknown error has occurred"

Then there's the OK button.

I have the same programs running as I've always had. When I click OK,
the box goes away, and can reappear in 30 minutes or in 2 hours.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Bruce

 

[M and D]

Could it be a virus or spyware?

Steven

 

[Bruce]

Could it be a virus or spyware?

Steven

Machine is clean of both, and Event Viewer gives no clues.

 

[S. Taylor]

If this error occures regulary, use msconfig.exe disable all startup items.
reboot and try to recreate the error.
if it doesn't occure then use msconfig.exe to enable 1 startup item only.
reboot and try to recreate the error.
if it doesn't occure then repeat the above steps, until the last enabled
item
does cause it.

 

[Guest]

Bruce,
I have exactly the same problem. You have described it perfectly. Have you
been able to fix your PC as yet?
Steve...

 

[Guest]

I think that the problem was with an older version of "The Weather Channel".
I liked the old version, and never upgraded to the newer version.

When I removed all Weather Channel programs from my computer, the error
condition stopped.

 

[Bruce]

Bruce,
I have exactly the same problem. You have described it perfectly. Have
you been able to fix your PC as yet?
Steve...

Steve, my aplogogies for not writing back sooner, but I see you found the
problem. I also found the cause, and I thought I had shared it with this
ng, but I must have forgotten.

Yes, you are right. It was the old version of the Weather Channel. I,
too, tried the new one many months ago, but I didn't like it either, so I
re-installed the old version. (I don't think you can still get the older
version, but I always download, rather than install from the internet,
and keep copies of all the programs I install on my machine, so I was
able to re-install the older version.)

I figured out that it was the Weather Channel by luck. When I went back
to work after the Christmas holiday, my work machine had exactly the same
error message, and the Weather Channel program was the only program I
left running over the holidays. I reconfigured my work and home machines
NOT to start up the program on re-boot, and the problem went away.

Now, if I want to use the program, I just launch it. When I get the
error message, I know what is causing it, but it's not a problem. I just
ignore it. I don't know if the new version of the Weather Channel would
cause this error or not, but I don't like the new version enough to find
out. I'll live with the old version and it's error message. Maybe some
day the error message will stop <g>.

Glad we both figured it out.

Sincerely,
Bruce