Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

GDI.EXE Problem

Feb 16, 2004 11:34PM PST

Running Windows Me
Internet Explorer 5.5 all patches and fixes applied
Outlook Express 5.5 all patches and fixes applied
Tiny Personal Firewall
PC-cillin 2000 all files and scanning engines up to date
Ad-Aware 6 all up to date
Scan for viruses and bugs daily all clean

Error message on startup
Internet Explorer has caused an error in GDI.EXE

Symptoms are moth eaten looking icons on desktop and icons in files and folders do not match program

I have restarted computer and symptoms are still the same.
I have tried System restore and the symptoms are still the same

GDI stands for Graphics Device Interface

I can't think of any recently installed programs or games played on this computer that may be giving me this headache.

Any answers or solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Susan

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re:GDI.EXE Problem
Feb 16, 2004 11:41PM PST

Some resist finding and installing the video card driver and then the DirectX version of their choice.

I'd like to ask what the firewall is protecting this OS from. I've yet to find an exploit for Windows 95, 98 and ME but do often find these OSes with their 64 thousand byte resource pools often can't run too much without trouble. I'll install a firewall to sniff out if a software is calling home, then uninstall it since the resource issue can cause more trouble than anything else.

Best of luck finding a video card driver.

Bob

- Collapse -
Re:Re:GDI.EXE Problem
Feb 16, 2004 11:52PM PST

Bob,
Sometimes I have a little trouble comprehending your answers.
I guess the short and sweet is that I have to find a new video card driver.
Do you care to expand on that or point me in the right direction.
Thanks Susan B.

- Collapse -
To find the video card driver...
Feb 17, 2004 12:09AM PST

You would have to tell the forum what video card you have.

Any clues on the make/model?

The second item is an ongoing issue that has NO CURE in Windows 95/98 and ME. The 64 thousand byte memory blocks known as RESOURCES are fixed in size. If you want to know more about it, please read the MEMORY ARTICLE at http://www.aumha.org/articles.htm Since these OSes have such limited RESOURCES and a depleted resource could cause the effect noted, it's always good to look for what you don't need to run on this OS.

- Collapse -
Re:To find the video card driver...
Feb 17, 2004 1:30AM PST

Sorry about lack of information. I hope I have the right puppy here. NVIDIA TNT2 M64 4xAGP (Dell)
Dell Dimension 4100 Desktop
Windows Me OEM version number 4.90.3000
Came with 128MB of RAM
Have recently installed another 128MB of RAM
20GB Hardrive with 10GB used at present
Intel Pentium III Processor at 800Mhz
Anything else?
Thanks again.
Susan B.

- Collapse -
For the Nvidia TNT2, I've...
Feb 17, 2004 1:44AM PST
- Collapse -
Re:Re:To find the video card driver...
Feb 17, 2004 1:47AM PST
- Collapse -
Re:GDI.EXE Problem
Feb 17, 2004 12:15AM PST
- Collapse -
Susan, Have You Tried ???
Feb 17, 2004 1:34AM PST

...repairing Internet Explorer. Some research indicates that that this might help.... although installing the newest graphics card driver does sound like a good option also:

You will need to use the Internet Explorer repair tool:
1. Click Start.
2. Click Settings.
3. Click Control Panel.
4. Click Add/Remove Programs.
5. On the Install/Uninstall tab, click Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and Internet Tools
6. Click Add/Remove.
7. Select Repair Internet Explorer.
8. Click OK.

Hope this helps.

Grif

- Collapse -
Re:Susan, Have You Tried ???
Feb 17, 2004 1:55AM PST

Thanks Grif, I have tried the repair tool and its still the same Sad.
I have investigated the Hewlitt Packard Deskjet 932C issue and that doesn't seem to be the problem either.
I will wade through CursorCowboy's article suggestions and see what I can come up with.
Thanks as always.
Susan B.

- Collapse -
Re:Re:Susan, Have You Tried ???
Feb 17, 2004 3:26AM PST

What screen resolution are you using? Have you changed it recently? I once corrupted my video driver when I tried to switch to a screen resolution my driver would not support and lost my entire desktop.

- Collapse -
New Video Driver has fixed my problem!
Feb 18, 2004 9:38PM PST

Thanks to all of you for your guidance. Happy After spending a while going through all of the info, I downloaded and installed the older Dell Driver or NVIDIA. So far things are back to normal. My display is running at 16bit high color with 800x600 pixels resolution. I hope I have that right. I have bookmarked the articles and pages that everyone has provided for further reading.
Thanks again!
Susan B.

- Collapse -
(NT) Susan, Good Job & Glad We Could Help !
Feb 19, 2004 12:37AM PST

.