ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB /Dell Dimension 8400 problem

[Marilyn and Bob]

I apologize in advance to all you gamers, but I have a totally different
problem that I believe is caused by the Catalyst drivers for drivers my PCI
ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB Video card. I can't get into MSPaint as
well as another legacy graphics program (Corel Printhouse). When I try to
open MSPaint I get the error message: "Paint has encountered a problem and
needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." However when I try to
access MSPaint in Safe mode, it does not cause the error. It also works
fine in VGA mode (which I assume loads all the drivers except the video
ones). And if I uninstall the ATI drivers, MSPaint also works.

I have a new Dell Dimension 8400 running XP Home, SP1. Pent 4, 3.0 G with
1.0 G RAM. SATA hard drive. It has a PCI ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB
Video card.

I did two clean reinstalls of XP Home with the (add-on) SATA/RAID drivers
and two repair reinstalls. I have tried every fix for MSPaint that I found
on MS newsgroups, forums and help sites and still got the same error and the
only thing that works is the removal of the ATI drivers from the system.

I reinstalled the original ATI drivers from the Dell Resource disk and all
the latest ones from the ATI site up to 8/16/04. MSPaint fails with all of
them.

The problem clearly lies with the Dimension 8400 motherboard /ATI X300/
Catalyst driver combination. Has anyone heard of this problem? Does anyone
have a fix? Could it be as simple as changing an internal setting using
the control interface or via the registry?

I have already contacted Dell Support. They ran out of ideas (other than
another reformat and clean install of the OS, which I refuse to do) but they
promised to research it and get back to me. I also am waiting for an e-mail
response from ATI. But I assume that the experts here can be a lot more
helpful than tech support.

 

[Spencer]

Hi Bob,

Has this happened from day one when you received the PC from DELL

What have YOU installed since receiving it?

If nothing, why are they sending out a machine that can't run some of the
OS's basic functions? Surely they tested it before shipping. (you don't need
to answer this but might be worth asking them)

On another note, can you send a copy of the Error Details that XP has to
send to MS so I can have a more detailed look please?

This might not help but I have had nothing but problems with Dell in the
past and ask people who are thinking of getting one to think again. That's
My Opinion.

Spence

 

[William]

I apologize in advance to all you gamers, but I have a totally different
problem that I believe is caused by the Catalyst drivers for drivers my PCI
ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB Video card. I can't get into MSPaint as
well as another legacy graphics program (Corel Printhouse). When I try to
open MSPaint I get the error message: "Paint has encountered a problem and
needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." However when I try to
access MSPaint in Safe mode, it does not cause the error. It also works
fine in VGA mode (which I assume loads all the drivers except the video
ones). And if I uninstall the ATI drivers, MSPaint also works.

I have a new Dell Dimension 8400 running XP Home, SP1. Pent 4, 3.0 G with
1.0 G RAM. SATA hard drive. It has a PCI ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB
Video card.

I did two clean reinstalls of XP Home with the (add-on) SATA/RAID drivers
and two repair reinstalls. I have tried every fix for MSPaint that I found
on MS newsgroups, forums and help sites and still got the same error and the
only thing that works is the removal of the ATI drivers from the system.

I reinstalled the original ATI drivers from the Dell Resource disk and all
the latest ones from the ATI site up to 8/16/04. MSPaint fails with all of
them.

The problem clearly lies with the Dimension 8400 motherboard /ATI X300/
Catalyst driver combination. Has anyone heard of this problem? Does anyone
have a fix? Could it be as simple as changing an internal setting using
the control interface or via the registry?

I have already contacted Dell Support. They ran out of ideas (other than
another reformat and clean install of the OS, which I refuse to do) but they
promised to research it and get back to me. I also am waiting for an e-mail
response from ATI. But I assume that the experts here can be a lot more
helpful than tech support.

Not much help but I have the same PC with the 3.4ghz CPU and MSpaint works
fine from day one out of the box. I still have the drivers loaded for the
ATI card that came with the system as I have not felt energetic enough yet
to try the new drivers. The driver that came is 4.5 catalyst which says
6.14.10.6444. I found that out earlier today in a below post.

Really strange what is causing the problem.
Bill

 

[William]

I apologize in advance to all you gamers, but I have a totally different
problem that I believe is caused by the Catalyst drivers for drivers my PCI
ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB Video card. I can't get into MSPaint as
well as another legacy graphics program (Corel Printhouse). When I try to
open MSPaint I get the error message: "Paint has encountered a problem and
needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." However when I try to
access MSPaint in Safe mode, it does not cause the error. It also works
fine in VGA mode (which I assume loads all the drivers except the video
ones). And if I uninstall the ATI drivers, MSPaint also works.

I have a new Dell Dimension 8400 running XP Home, SP1. Pent 4, 3.0 G with
1.0 G RAM. SATA hard drive. It has a PCI ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB
Video card.

I did two clean reinstalls of XP Home with the (add-on) SATA/RAID drivers
and two repair reinstalls. I have tried every fix for MSPaint that I found
on MS newsgroups, forums and help sites and still got the same error and the
only thing that works is the removal of the ATI drivers from the system.

I reinstalled the original ATI drivers from the Dell Resource disk and all
the latest ones from the ATI site up to 8/16/04. MSPaint fails with all of
them.

The problem clearly lies with the Dimension 8400 motherboard /ATI X300/
Catalyst driver combination. Has anyone heard of this problem? Does anyone
have a fix? Could it be as simple as changing an internal setting using
the control interface or via the registry?

I have already contacted Dell Support. They ran out of ideas (other than
another reformat and clean install of the OS, which I refuse to do) but they
promised to research it and get back to me. I also am waiting for an e-mail
response from ATI. But I assume that the experts here can be a lot more
helpful than tech support.

Something just came to mind. Did you install any adobe programs after you
got the PC? I seem to recall some time ago having a similar problem and it
was related to adobe or one of their programs.

Bill

 

[Marilyn and Bob]

Something just came to mind. Did you install any adobe programs after you
got the PC? I seem to recall some time ago having a similar problem and it
was related to adobe or one of their programs.

Bill

The only Adobe program I installed is Adobe Reader, so I doubt if that is
the problem.

 

[Marilyn and Bob]

Hi Bob,

Has this happened from day one when you received the PC from DELL

What have YOU installed since receiving it?

If nothing, why are they sending out a machine that can't run some of the
OS's basic functions? Surely they tested it before shipping. (you don't need
to answer this but might be worth asking them)

On another note, can you send a copy of the Error Details that XP has to
send to MS so I can have a more detailed look please?

This might not help but I have had nothing but problems with Dell in the
past and ask people who are thinking of getting one to think again. That's
My Opinion.

Spence

I do not know if I had this problem out of the box, as I didn't test it
immediately. I've installed a number of programs on this computer that had
previously been on my Win98SE box. However, I did run MSConfig in the
diagnostic (no applications loaded) mode and also ran EndItAll2. I had the
problem in both cases, Since it only works in Safe Mode, I have to think it
is a driver problems (or, at worst, a registry issue).

 

[Marilyn and Bob]

Not much help but I have the same PC with the 3.4ghz CPU and MSpaint works
fine from day one out of the box. I still have the drivers loaded for the
ATI card that came with the system as I have not felt energetic enough yet
to try the new drivers. The driver that came is 4.5 catalyst which says
6.14.10.6444. I found that out earlier today in a below post.

Really strange what is causing the problem.
Bill

Thank you so much for your response. It's good to know the facts (even if
it conflicts with my theory). It still isn't worth it for me tp do a full
format/install.

 

[NoRemorse]

try all
The only Adobe program I installed is Adobe Reader, so I doubt if that is
the problem.

You could reinstall the OS without any additional software. Check if it
works. Then start installing drivers while checking if the problem
resurfaces. It's a pain in the ass, but you might be able to find the
offending piece of software. Also, you could try downloading all the updated
drivers from Dell. You could even install Service Pack 2 for Windows XP
(before installing any drivers). You could try updating the BIOS as well
(follow the instructions attached to the download TO THE LETTER if you want
to flash your BIOS.)

And speaking of Dell's support. They are not supposed to run out of ideas.
Your computer doesn't work like it should. Keep calling (it costs them money
hehe) asking for supervisors, managers, or higher level support.

 

[Marilyn and Bob]

You could reinstall the OS without any additional software. Check if it
works. Then start installing drivers while checking if the problem
resurfaces. It's a pain in the ass, but you might be able to find the
offending piece of software. Also, you could try downloading all the updated
drivers from Dell. You could even install Service Pack 2 for Windows XP
(before installing any drivers). You could try updating the BIOS as well
(follow the instructions attached to the download TO THE LETTER if you want
to flash your BIOS.)

And speaking of Dell's support. They are not supposed to run out of ideas.
Your computer doesn't work like it should. Keep calling (it costs them money
hehe) asking for supervisors, managers, or higher level support.

I really don't know if this is accurate or not, but I would *guess* that
Dell VGA mode installs all the drivers except the video ones. When in VGA
mode, MSPaint worked. Also I removed the ATI driver, rebooted and MS Paint
worked. That is not to say that there is not a conflict between drivers and
if I removed another one, but had the video driver running that Paint would
work. Aren't computers fun? I guess at one point I should try a selective
reboot and reject all drivers except for the ATI ones and see if I can get
into Paint. This all seems like a lot more effort than it is worth. I
think I need a vacation.

 

[NoRemorse]

I really don't know if this is accurate or not, but I would *guess* that
Dell VGA mode installs all the drivers except the video ones. When in VGA
mode, MSPaint worked. Also I removed the ATI driver, rebooted and MS Paint
worked. That is not to say that there is not a conflict between drivers and
if I removed another one, but had the video driver running that Paint would
work. Aren't computers fun? I guess at one point I should try a selective
reboot and reject all drivers except for the ATI ones and see if I can get
into Paint. This all seems like a lot more effort than it is worth. I
think I need a vacation.

I've never used the Dell restore disk that came with my laptop so I don't
know if it installs drivers. You can download updated drivers from
http://support.dell.com. You could even update all the drivers (chipset,
lan, mouse, audio, and whatever) right now without bothering with a fresh
install.

 

[William]

I apologize in advance to all you gamers, but I have a totally different
problem that I believe is caused by the Catalyst drivers for drivers my PCI
ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB Video card. I can't get into MSPaint as
well as another legacy graphics program (Corel Printhouse). When I try to
open MSPaint I get the error message: "Paint has encountered a problem and
needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." However when I try to
access MSPaint in Safe mode, it does not cause the error. It also works
fine in VGA mode (which I assume loads all the drivers except the video
ones). And if I uninstall the ATI drivers, MSPaint also works.

I have a new Dell Dimension 8400 running XP Home, SP1. Pent 4, 3.0 G with
1.0 G RAM. SATA hard drive. It has a PCI ExpressATI Radeon X300 SE 128MB
Video card.

I did two clean reinstalls of XP Home with the (add-on) SATA/RAID drivers
and two repair reinstalls. I have tried every fix for MSPaint that I found
on MS newsgroups, forums and help sites and still got the same error and the
only thing that works is the removal of the ATI drivers from the system.

I reinstalled the original ATI drivers from the Dell Resource disk and all
the latest ones from the ATI site up to 8/16/04. MSPaint fails with all of
them.

The problem clearly lies with the Dimension 8400 motherboard /ATI X300/
Catalyst driver combination. Has anyone heard of this problem? Does anyone
have a fix? Could it be as simple as changing an internal setting using
the control interface or via the registry?

I have already contacted Dell Support. They ran out of ideas (other than
another reformat and clean install of the OS, which I refuse to do) but they
promised to research it and get back to me. I also am waiting for an e-mail
response from ATI. But I assume that the experts here can be a lot more
helpful than tech support.

Bob,

Came across this tip. Backup registry before you try it. If this doesnt help
you may also have a corrupt mfc42u.dll file. let us know.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
I don't know if this problem is still affecting you, but here is the fix:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q185501

To resolve this problem:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then press
ENTER.

2. Locate and click the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Applets\Paint

3. Right-click the registry key, and then click Delete.

This registry key is rebuilt the next time that you start Paint.

 

[Marilyn and Bob]

Came across this tip. Backup registry before you try it. If this doesnt help
you may also have a corrupt mfc42u.dll file. let us know.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- --
---------------------------------------------------
I don't know if this problem is still affecting you, but here is the fix:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q185501

To resolve this problem:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then press
ENTER.

2. Locate and click the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Applets\Paint

3. Right-click the registry key, and then click Delete.

This registry key is rebuilt the next time that you start Paint.

Yes I've tried this a number of times. It doesn't work. I can't get into
Paint even if the registry items are removed. In fact I can't get the
registry items back at all, except by entering Paint in Safe mode.

 

[Marilyn and Bob]

I've never used the Dell restore disk that came with my laptop so I don't
know if it installs drivers. You can download updated drivers from
http://support.dell.com. You could even update all the drivers (chipset,
lan, mouse, audio, and whatever) right now without bothering with a fresh
install.

Dell does not supply a Recovery disk. They (to their credit) supply a
"real" OEM version of Windows XP Home and a Dell Resource Disk which
contains the video drivers. However I have already downloaded and installed
all the new drivers from the Dell site, and when that did not work, the even
newer drivers from the ATI site.

 

[William]

try

Yes I've tried this a number of times. It doesn't work. I can't get into
Paint even if the registry items are removed. In fact I can't get the
registry items back at all, except by entering Paint in Safe mode.

Wow, its a toughie..what about the mfc42u.dll file? Maybe its corrupt.
Search your pc and post how many instances it is there and in what directory
and the version. I will compare it with mine and see if any differences.

 

[Marilyn and Bob]

MSPaint
Wow, its a toughie..what about the mfc42u.dll file? Maybe its corrupt.
Search your pc and post how many instances it is there and in what directory
and the version. I will compare it with mine and see if any differences.

William,

Just two copies of mfc42u.dll:

One in: C:\WINDOWS\system32

the other:
C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595
b64144ccf1df_6.0.0.0_x-ww_ff9986d7

both are:
Version 6.0.8665.0 (995,384 bytes) Modified 7/16/2003
both were Accessed today, 6 seconds apart

 

[William]

William,

Just two copies of mfc42u.dll:

One in: C:\WINDOWS\system32

the other:
C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595
b64144ccf1df_6.0.0.0_x-ww_ff9986d7

both are:
Version 6.0.8665.0 (995,384 bytes) Modified 7/16/2003
both were Accessed today, 6 seconds apart

Ok I have it in two other locations to the ones above and have no idea if
they are really needed

C:\I386

C:\I386\ASMS\6000\MSFT\VCRTL

Also my versions are the same as yours and created Aug 29 2002, same size.

Might be worth a shot in the dark and copy it to the other two locations see
if it makes a difference. If not you can remove them.

I would also be willing to email you in zip form my copy just in case yours
is somehow corrupt.

Bill

 

[William]

When when
C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595
Ok I have it in two other locations to the ones above and have no idea if
they are really needed

C:\I386

C:\I386\ASMS\6000\MSFT\VCRTL

Also my versions are the same as yours and created Aug 29 2002, same size.

Might be worth a shot in the dark and copy it to the other two locations see
if it makes a difference. If not you can remove them.

I would also be willing to email you in zip form my copy just in case yours
is somehow corrupt.

Bill

Running out opf ideas when you did the clean installs were they with a
reformat of the HD? I came across another user that had a similar problem in
the UK and found out that a jpg file that he downloaded from a web site had
corrupted MS Paint and casued it not to open. Did you do a virus scan or
scan for spyware with a program like adaware? Even if you did one with say
Norton I would also recomemend doing one with
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp Its online, free,
and catches stuff others miss.

Bill

Bill

 

[Marilyn and Bob]

C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595

C:\I386 is just XP's (or your computer maker's) repository of basic Windows
files so that one doesn't have to always load the CD to install Windows
components. This is the same folder that is on the Windows CD. It's like
the old Windows/Options/Cabs folder in Win 9X. The files in those folders
are not actively used . Thanks for the offer of the .dll file but my
better half (Marilyn) has a working version on her XP laptop and I can get
it from there.

Running out opf ideas when you did the clean installs were they with a
reformat of the HD? I came across another user that had a similar problem in
the UK and found out that a jpg file that he downloaded from a web site had
corrupted MS Paint and casued it not to open. Did you do a virus scan or
scan for spyware with a program like adaware? Even if you did one with say
Norton I would also recomemend doing one with
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp Its online, free,
and catches stuff others miss.

I've done a virus check, and ran both spybot and adaware. I will try
housecall, but I'm not optimistic. It looks like the only way to possibly
solve this is, as you suggested, a reformat and clean install of the OS. If
Paint works then I have to slowly add things back to see where the problem
lies. I am just not willing to do that now. I can just hope that Dell or
ATI comes up with a solution or that by some chance a new ATI driver (they
do come out monthly) miraculously solves the problem.

Anyway, I thank you for your efforts. I will monitor this board for
another week or so (then we go on vacation) to see if you or anyone else has
any other thoughts.