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Invalid Page Fault Errors Occur in Windows

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Article ID:286180
Last Review:August 14, 2007
Revision:2.2
This article was previously published under Q286180
If this article does not describe your hardware-related issue, please see the following Microsoft Web site to view more articles about hardware:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/w98?sid=460 (http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=http%3a%2f%2fsupport.microsoft.com%2fdefault.aspx%2fw98%3fsid%3d460)

SYMPTOMS

If you are using Windows 95 or Windows 98, you may receive the following error message:
This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.
When you click Details, you may receive the following error message:
Program caused an invalid page fault in module module name at memory address.
After you click OK, the program shuts down.

If you are using Windows Millennium Edition (Me), you may receive the following error message:
Program has caused an error in module name.
Program will now close.
If you continue experiencing problems,
try restarting your computer.
To view the details, press ALT+D, or open the Faultlog.txt file in the Windows folder.

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CAUSE

This error message can occur for any of the following reasons:
•An unexpected event has occurred in Windows. An "invalid page fault" error message often indicates that a program improperly attempted to use random access memory (RAM). For example, this error message can occur if a program or a Windows component reads or writes to a memory location that is not allocated to it. When this behavior occurs, the program can potentially overwrite and corrupt other program code in that area of memory.
•A program has requested data that is not currently in virtual memory, and Windows attempts to retrieve the data from a storage device and load it into RAM. An "invalid page fault" error message can occur when Windows cannot locate the data. This behavior often occurs when the virtual memory area becomes corrupted.
•The virtual memory system has become unstable because of a shortage of physical memory (RAM).
•The virtual memory system has become unstable because of a shortage of free disk space.
•The virtual memory area is corrupted by a program.
•A program is attempting to access data that is being modified by another program that is running.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, identify when the error message first occurred. Also, determine if you recently made changes to the computer, for example, you installed software or changed the hardware configuration.

Use a clean boot troubleshooting procedure to help you identify the cause of the error message.

For additional information about the clean boot procedure, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
243039 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243039/EN-US/) How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 95
192926 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/192926/EN-US/) How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98
267288 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/267288/EN-US/) How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows Millennium Edition

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MORE INFORMATION

NOTE: To more effectively search the Microsoft Knowledge Base, use keywords that relate to your issue. If you are searching for troubleshooting information that is not mentioned in this article, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base again by using keywords that are listed in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
242450 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/242450/EN-US/) How to Query the Microsoft Knowledge Base Using Keywords

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APPLIES TO
•Microsoft Windows 95
•Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition
•Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
•Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

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Keywords: 
kberrmsg kbinvalidpagefault kbprb kbtshoot KB286180

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