Works: "Wkgdcache caused a general protection fault in module" error message when you run Works

When you run Microsoft Works, you may receive one of the following error messages: In this error message, module name is the name of a hardware driver or other program.

This issue may occur if one of the following conditions is true:

• The printer driver for your printer is damaged.
• More than 300 fonts are installed on your computer.
• Conflicts with drivers or other programs exist on your computer.

On Microsoft Windows XP-based systems, a conflict may arise if the program is running in Microsoft Windows 98 compatibility mode.

To resolve this issue, use the following methods in the order in which they are presented.

Disable Windows 98 Compatibility Mode (Windows XP)

If the program that is experiencing the issue is running in Windows 98 compatibility mode on Windows XP, disable the Windows 98 compatibility mode setting for that program.

Install the Latest Version of the Printer Driver for Your Printer

Contact your printer manufacturer for information about how to obtain and install the latest printer driver available for your printer.

For more information about hardware and software vendor contact information, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note If a multifunction printer is connected to your computer, you may have to remove the printer driver and disconnect the printer. To do this:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
2. Right-click the multifunction printer, and then click Delete.
3. If you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
4. If you are prompted to delete files that were only used for this printer, click Yes.
5. Close the Printers window.

If the issue continues to occur, go to the next method.

Remove Extra Fonts

To check the number of fonts that are installed on your computer:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Fonts.
3. Note the number of installed fonts displayed on the status bar at the bottom of the Fonts window.
   
   Note If the status bar is not displayed, click Status Bar on the View menu.

If more than 300 fonts are installed on your computer, remove fonts that you rarely use.

Note Certain fonts are required by Microsoft Windows. Do not remove any of the following fonts:

• Arial (including Arial Bold, Arial Italic, or any other variation of Arial)
• Book Antiqua
• Calisto MT
• Century Gothic (including any variation of Century Gothic)
• Copperplate Gothic (including any variation of Copperplate Gothic)
• Courier (including any variation of Courier)
• Courier New (including any variation of Courier New)
• Haettenschweiler
• Impact
• Lucida (including any variation of Lucida)
• Marlett
• Matisse ITC
• Modern
• News Gothic MT (including any variation of News Gothic MT)
• OCR A Extended
• MS Sans Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24
• MS Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24
• Small Fonts
• Symbol
• Symbol 8,10,12,14,18,24
• Tahoma (including any variation of Tahoma)
• Tempus Sans ITC
• Times New Roman (including any variation of Times New Roman)
• Verdana (including any variation of Verdana)
• Webdings
• Westminster
• Wingdings

To remove a font:

1. In the Fonts window, right-click the font that you want to remove, and then click Delete.
2. If you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
3. Repeat steps 1 through 2 to delete any other fonts that you want to delete.
4. When you finish deleting fonts, restart the computer.

If the issue continues to occur, go to the next method.

Reduce the Graphics Hardware Acceleration Setting

To reduce the Graphics Hardware Acceleration setting on your computer:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click System.
3. Click the Performance tab, and then click Graphics.
4. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider until it is one notch to the right of None (the Basic acceleration setting).
5. Click OK, and then click Close.
6. When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.
7. If you experience any problems after you reduce graphics hardware acceleration, follow these steps to restore graphics hardware acceleration to the original setting:
   1. Restart Windows in Safe mode. To do this, follow the appropriate steps for your operating system.

      Microsoft Windows 98

      Restart your computer, press and hold down the CTRL key after your computer completes the Power On Self Test (POST), and then select Safe Mode from the Startup menu.

      Microsoft Windows 95

      Restart your computer. When you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press the F8 key, and then choose Safe Mode from the Startup menu.
   2. When Windows starts in Safe mode, click OK.
   3. Repeat steps 1 through 6, but in step 4 move the Hardware Acceleration slider back to its original position.

If the previous procedures do not resolve the issue, then use clean boot troubleshooting to rule out possible conflicts with hardware drivers and other programs. For additional information about clean boot troubleshooting, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Update ATM

This problem may be caused by a conflict with older versions of Adobe Type Manager (ATM). If you are using ATM, update your version of ATM or disable ATM as your Windows font manager. To disable most versions of ATM:

1. Start the Adobe Type Manager program, and then turn off the font manager function.
2. Restart the computer for the change to take effect.

See your Adobe Type Manager documentation for additional information.

Disable Wkgdcach.dll

On Suite versions of the program, you may be able to work around this issue by disabling Wkgdcach.dll. To do this, rename Wkgdcach.dll as Wkgdcach.old.

Note This may cause the Works Word Processor program to not work. On Suite versions, this is not usually a problem, because the Works Word Processor is not normally used (Microsoft Word is used instead).

If none of the resolutions provided in this section work, there is probably corruption in the font driver for Windows. The best way to resolve this is to do a complete reinstallation of Windows.

Note Reinstalling over the existing operating system may not resolve the issue, because not all of the Windows programs will be replaced. Therefore, you may have to remove Windows (format the hard disk), and then reinstall completely (system restore).