Configuration problem?

[Colin Rayner]

Am having problems getting into Vegas, I get the splash screen but nothing more until a window titled "16 bit windows subsytem" appears with the message "c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and microsoft windows applications. Chose "close" to terminate the application"
Which I do and nothing happens, the splash screen remains on top of any other program that I run until I reboot my machine.
All my other sony programs, acid, sound forge etc work fine.

Any ideas? Please help!
Recent installations include WAX and the infamous service pack 2.........

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Howzabout some additional system info? OS, hardware, etc?
I assume you're running Win2K or XP, not NT, right?

[Colin Rayner]

Hi Douglas,
Yeah sorry about that. 2.3 P4 HP laptop, 512 RAM,
XP home ed service pack 2, avail virtual memory 1.96 gig,
ATI RS200/200m,
was working fine a week ago, if I click to open the program a second time, it opens with out the message and runs perfectly, just with the first splashscreen on top of everything.
Reinstall reqd?

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Have you installed any new plugins? New software? I don't know what would be causing this, unless you've got something that's messed with the registry.
How about a rollback to last week when the problem started? You can also do a repair install, but save all your presets first.

[Colin Rayner]

I did a system restore after uninstalling a new program that I had put on, but the problem remained. I will try a reinstall of vegas and see what happens......

[Colin Rayner]

I did a complete uninstall of vegas, then a system restore, but still got the same message when I re-installed Vegas.
Don't know what to try next............

[Glenn Chan]

You could try Googling your error message.

You'll find the MS knowledge base article on your error message:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;324767
I'm not sure what's happening though as Vegas is not a DOS program.

http://www.webuser.co.uk/cgi-bin/for...b=6&o=93&part= may also be helpful.

2- You could check your system for spyware and adware, but that probably won't do much.

3- You could try run --> 'sfc /scannow'
This will check your critical windows files to see if any have been corrupted.
However, I haven't seen this actually fix anything. It might also break things (not cool).

4- The ultimate solution is to format your drive and reinstall Windows again.

Unfortunately #4 is the best I can think of. It doesn't take too long if you follow the steps below. I would try #1 first (probably not #2 and #3).

Reformat and Reloading your computer with XP (expect 2+ hours)

1 - Copy Valuable Data > Use CD BACKUP 1st or a Portable USB Device

- Is any valuable "Must Save" data? Remember to back up this data!
- Copy/save Internet connection data. You may need to know your ISP password and username. If you do not remember, try Snadboy’s Revelation to find your password
http://www.snadboy.com/
If that does not work, you may wish to contact your ISP before wiping your computer. Remember to copy down your ISP’s phone number if you are using dialup.
- If using cable internet, you may need to copy down your computer’s name.
- Make a note of all hardware in the computer, especially the video card, modem, and sound card. Some motherboards may have these items built into it.
- Ensure all needed drivers are available. Try:
-The drivers CD that comes with each of your products.
-Windows Update.
-The product manufacturer’s website.
-driverguide.com
- Copy Favorites folder. On Windows XP systems, this is found under documents and settings à (your user) à Favorites. On other versions of windows, use the find function (start à search/find).
- Copy My Documents
- Copy stray Data from desktop, C: Drive, Program folders
- Check for Kazaa Shared Folders for Music/Junk
- Make/Export backups of Financial Data
- Back-up Email and Address Books
- Locate and Record Windows Product Key

2 – Format the hard drive.

To avoid problems, you should wipe off all the data on the hard drive to start off with a clean slate.
Windows XP: Boot into the Windows XP CD and do a quick format of the hard drive/partition you wish to install Windows XP on.
Windows 98: With a win98 floppy disk, use the FDISK utility to format your hard drive.

3 - FORMAT C: /s (OPTIONAL FOR WIN XP)

4 - Reinstall Windows

- If WIN98 then copy setup files to win98 folder on C:

5 - Reinstall Drivers if not auto detected

- Chipset/MOBO Drivers
- AGP and Video Drivers
- Sound Drivers
- Modem Drivers
- USB 2.0 Drivers (May Need SP1)

6 - Reinstall hardware

- Install Printer
- Install Scanner

7 - Load updates from Microsoft.
- Load Service Pack 1 XP (Takes care of USB 2.0 drivers sometimes)
- Load Media Player 9
- Load DirectX 9
- Load Security Updates

8 - Reload Software

- CD/DVD burner
- ISP (Do not Dail-Up or Connect yet)
- Quicken/Money/other Finance program

9 Restore Data

- Copy back Favorites and My Documents
- Restore email
- Restore financial backup

10 Load Free Protection Software

- Load Firewall (i.e. Zone Alarm Personal, which is free)
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

- Load Pop-up Stopper
With Internet Explorer, you can download the Google toolbar. It blocks pop ups and gives convenient access to google search.
http://toolbar.google.com/

Another way to block pop-ups is to use an alternative browser. Some of the ones good ones are:
MyIE2 - http://www.myie2.com/html_en/download.htm
Firefox - http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
Other good ones include Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/), Opera (http://www.opera.com/download/), and Avant Browser (http://www.avantbrowser.com/).

11 Load Other Free Protection Software – all these require updates.

- Load Spyware Blaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

- Spybot Search and Destroy. The following website has a tutorial and how to get started with Spybot:
http://www.tomcoyote.com/SPYBOT/index1.php

- Ad-Aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

- Load AVG Antivirus Free
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php
*You will need to register with AVG to get this program working.

If you wish to buy a commercial antivirus program, I recommend you try the demo for NOD32. NOD32 makes a smaller impact on your system’s performance and has a good track record for providing updates for the latest viruses.
http://www.nod32.com/download/trial.htm

***For video editing, you should disable real-time scanning features found in anti-virus programs.

Please keep in mind that the programs above are only as good as their last update. Remember to update them after installation and to update them every once in a while. Also check for windows updates while doing your updates.

12 Scan documents and emails for viruses. Outlook files from your old Windows installation may still contain viruses.

13 NETWORKED COMPUTERS

- Enable File Sharing
- Restore Group and Computer Name
- Connect to Server Drives

[Colin Rayner]

Thanks Glenn for that in depth reply, I checked out that link and as you say I don't know why its behaving that way with Vegas, and not with any other program.
I will have a good think about all and then make a "D".
Will advise on results, Thanks again for the help.

[Rob Lohman]

I'm pretty sure this is due to Service Pack 2. I've seen it happen
at a company here (exact same error). For (security?) reasons
there where some changes in the way 16-bit programs work
inside Windows XP SP2.

I called a friend of mine who had a similar problem with Borland's
Database Engine (DBE) installation. He found out that the problem
was that a couple of files where actually missing (including autoexec.nt).

The good thing is that these files are on the CD and can be
extracted and copied to your system. You need to open a
command prompt (look under Accessoires in your start menu)
and execute these statements:

expand D:\i386\config.nt_ %windir%\system32\config.nt
expand D:\i386\autoexec.nt_ %windir%\system32\autoexec.nt
expand D:\i386\command.co_ %windir%\system32\command.com

Where D: is the driveletter to your original Windows CD.
%windir% should be automatically replaced with the correct
directory to your windows installation.

p.s. the problem is probably occuring due to a 16 bit driver or
something, not Vegas (since it has been confirmed to work okay
with XP SP2!)

[Colin Rayner]

Thanks for that Rob, I wil give that a go. Just seems strange that all my other software works fine and the message only appears when I start Vegas............................

[Edward Troxel]

As Rob said, it's almost certainly NOT Vegas actually causing the problem. You have some driver somewhere that is getting loaded as a result of Vegas loading (such as a scanner driver, for instance) that is causing the problem. You need to look at the system as a whole.

[Colin Rayner]

Just to update you, as suggested above, I copied and replaced the empty file autoexec.nt with one that actually contained something and all is well,
Seems that Service pack 2 was missing or lost in transit the contents of that file.
Thanks to all for the help..

[Lars Siden]

Hi,

Curious: What does AutoExec.nt do on your Win XP Pro system? I'd get rid of it! In my ears it sounds like

1. You've upgraded to XP - not doing a fresh install
or
2. Installed some seriously OLD software/hardware that just placed/replaced files in your system.

G'luck!

// Lazze \\

[Rob Lohman]

It should be some serious old software (heh), that needs that file.
It's all a bit strange, because I'm not even sure there is anything
in those files. Autoexec.NT is a left-over from the (16-bit) NT world,
but can still be used (ie, it's still supported in XP today).

I'm glad it solved your problem Colin, thank you for updating us!

p.s. Lars: this will happen with a fresh install + SP2 as well (that's
what my friend found out), it has something to do with SP2 and
the combination of some 16-bit (old) programs. If you remove the
file again it will stop working.

The autoexec.nt file is a batch file that gets executed when you
logon to the system. It's like the old autoexec.bat in DOS. You can
open the file with notepad to look inside. Since it is comig off the
Windows CD there is nothing harmful in there, don't worry.