Late in the time that Windows 95 OSR2 was the current
offering, USB support came out. It sounded like a perfect way to install
new hardware, even better than plug and play. But USB support had to be
patched on to Windows 95 OSR2, not built in. A few companies rushed to
put USB support on the computers that they were selling. Some were in such
a rush that they didn't update their owner's manuals and they didn't include
the update of USB for the customer to use to reinstall USB. To find out
if you have this situation first check to see if you have OSR2. Right click
on My Computer>Properties. If that says:
System
Microsoft Windows 95
4.00.950 B
then you have OSR2. Next see if the USB Supplement is installed. To
do this go to Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs. If "USB Supplement to
OSR2" is listed, then it is installed.
If the "USB Supplement to OSR2" is installed on OSR2, then, to safely reinstall OSR2 you will have to remove "USB Supplement to OSR2" before reinstalling OSR2. Then after you get OSR2 installed and working you will have to reinstall "USB Supplement to OSR2" if you plan to use USB hardware. This advice is only valid with the above conditions met. (If you are trying to add USB support on OSR2, it may not be necessary to install "USB Support to OSR2". Some motherboards might use their own drivers.)
Without knowing about this a person could follow the necessary method to reinstall Windows without wiping their hard drive clean. They would just overwrite the files in the normal installation not knowing what was lurking on their disk ready to make their computer unable, even after reinstalling Windows 95, to start Windows 95. The reinstall would appear to go smoothly. If when asked "Keep existing files ?", you answered no, everything was ok. Most people who didn't know the danger of not making a clean installation would answer yes, afraid to loose any files.
Well, if you let Windows reinstall saving some existing files, you will get run around and then out of Windows instead of getting in. If you followed instructions given to you when you started Windows 95, you would be instructed to go around and around without end, starting confirming questions and then rebooting.
The key to recognizing this problem, besides the endless loop that Windows puts you in, is the message:
"Windows could not combine VXDs into a monolithic before starting. Windows may not run properly. If Windows fails to start, run setup again. Press any key to continue."
So you press a key and you get:
"A device that is specified in the SYSTEM.INI file is damaged. It may be needed to run Windows. You may need to run the Windows setup program again. If the file is included in another software package, you may need to reinstall the software that uses this file."
An error message for 13 VXD files will, one by one, be shown and you will be told to press any key to continue. After 13 messages and 13 press any keys the following message will appear:
"Configuration manager cannot load because one of the following files is not present or has an invalid version number: VMM32.VXD,SHELL.VXD,VTD.VXD,VXDLDR.VXD,WPICD.VXD Try running setup again. Press any key to continue."
When you press a key your screen says,
"It is now safe to turn off your computer."
You could go around and around and your computer
would get you to press any key a number of times and then show you the
shutdown screen. The reason that this happens is that you have reinstalled
OSR2 without the USB patch added. To solve the problem reinstall Windows
and whenever you are asked keep an older file have Windows get rid of the
older file replacing it with the newer file. You will have a completely
new Windows installation without USB support. If all goes well you will
be able to get Windows started. You can then install the USB supplement.
You should be able to get the file usbsup.exe on the internet. When I wrote
this it was available at http://www.compuscape.com/driver/usbsup.exe
or at ftp://ftp.tcc.ru/pub/windows/updates/win95/usbsup.exe.
There are variations of this problem still cropping up. For the latest information search the internet for "vmm32 error" or go to Microsoft's knowledgeable site. They have information at several sites, one of which is
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q167/8/89.asp
Another place for information about these problems, not affiliated either with me or Microsoft is
http://web.dreamsoft.com/jjcesari/vmm32vxd/home.htm
http://revolution.3-cities.com/~crstrode/ntkweb.htm
And for the good side of USB. Click here.
Most of the problems with USB seem to be caused by early implementations of software and hardware. Windows 98 version 2 seems to be much better setup for USB as does the more recent hardware made to meet USB specifications.
jv