PRB: Acmsetup Caused IPF in Kernel32.dll - Dell Inspiron 3200

If you are installing one of the above products onto a Dell Inspiron 3200 laptop computer under Windows 98, you might receive an error similar to the following:

One possible cause is a hardware error in the CD-ROM drive. So far, Microsoft has only seen this hardware problem affect installation of software under Windows 98 and Windows 95. Microsoft has not received any reports of problems when you install the software under Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or Microsoft Windows 2000.

Also, this problem is more likely to occur if DMA access is enabled, but it can occur even after disabling DMA access.

First try disabling Direct Memory Access (DMA) access in the Windows 98 Device Manager. For information on how to do this, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If that does not resolve the problem, check to see what kind of laptop CD- ROM you have and do the following:

1. If it is a Toshiba 24x CD-ROM drive, remove the CD-ROM drive. It's a removable CD-ROM drive, so this should not be difficult.
2. Look at the barcode on the bottom. It should contain either A00, A01, or A02.
   
   NOTE: the A01 and A02 models do not have any known problems with Visual Studio 6.0 setup.
3. If the barcode contains A00, contact technical support at Dell and ask to have your CD-ROM drive replaced.

If your CD-ROM drive is an A01, A02, or some other drive type, the problem is not as clear. You should look for other possible causes in the Microsoft Knowledge Base and consider contacting Microsoft Product Support. For information on contacting Microsoft Product Support, please see the following Web page: If you must install Visual Studio before your new CD-ROM drive arrives from Dell, remove the CD-ROM drive and install Visual Studio from some location other than the CD-ROM drive. Either install from a network location or from a removable media other than a CD or copy the CD to the hard drive. In all cases, avoid using the CD-ROM drive in the laptop and leave it out of the machine. If you copy the CD to a Jazz drive or to the hard drive, you must use the CD-ROM drive in another computer.

If you have unsuccessfully installed Visual Studio using the A00 CD-ROM drive, you might have some corrupted system files on your hard drive. If you continue to have setup problems after installing your new CD-ROM drive from Dell, it might be due to these corrupted files.

For additional information about troubleshooting this type of problem, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: This model of Toshiba CD-ROM drive was also used in some Quantex laptops. You may experience similar problems. The resolution above still applies, though you should contact Quantex instead of Dell for a replacement CD-ROM drive.