How do I fix a rundll error at startup

Advice from Jose Ibarra: 

A "Cannot find...", "Cannot start..., "Cannot load...", "Could not run..." Cannot run" "Error loading...” “Runtime error…” or "specific module could not be found" message at startup is usually related to malware that was set to run at startup but the referenced file(s) has been deleted after a malware scan leaving behind a registry entry or startup item pointing to a file that does not exist.  

 

It could be from a malicious software removal or an uninstalled application.  The entry may have a curious looking name since it was probably generated at random when the malware was installed. If you search your system for the referenced file, you may not even find it.

 

Windows is trying to load this file but cannot locate it since the file was mostly likely removed during a scan for malicious software. However, an associated orphaned startup parameter or registry entry remains and is telling Windows to load the file when you boot up or login.

 

You need to remove the referenced entry so Windows stops trying to load or run the file. It may or may not be in the registry but you can find it.  Autoruns (see below) will find the item no matter where it is. 

You need to be sure to fix the problem and not just fix the symptom of the problem by simply relieving your system of the displaying message - that is not a fix (there is a difference).

 

If you just locate and uncheck the item in msconfig, that disables the item but does not remove the reference to the bogus startup item from your computer.   The msconfig program is not a startup manager, it is a troubleshooting tool.  Disabling things in msconfig to put a stop to the messages and thinking your problem is resolved is short sighted and leaves behind a sloppy XP configuration.  Merely disabling the display of a startup error message should not count as a "solution" to the problem.

 

If you are comfortable editing the registry you can search for and remove the reference directly from there or remove it using a popular third party tool called Autoruns.  The problem may not always be found in the registry though.

 

Before making any changes to your registry by hand or with third party tools, be sure to make a backup of the registry first. There is no undo or quit without saving option in regedit.

 

Here is a link to a popular registry backup tool:

 

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/erunt.html

 

You can also use Autoruns to find the leftover startup item no matter where it is hiding.  Autoruns does not install anything on your computer.  It will display all of the startup locations where the reference might be so you can disable it or delete it completely.  Here is the download link for Autoruns:

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

 

Launch Autoruns.exe and wait for it to finish populating the list of entries.

 

When Autoruns is finished scanning your system, it will say "Ready" at the bottom left corner.  Autoruns can be a little intimidating at first if you have never see it before since it displays a lot of information.  You are really only interested in a couple sections.

 

The problem item is usually in the system startup or user startup entries so click the Logon tab and see if the startup item is there.

 

Scroll through the list and look for a startup entry related to the file(s) in the error message.

 

If you don't find it in the Logon tab, look for it in the Everything tab.

 

You can also click File, Find to search the Logon or Everything tab for all or part of the name of the item.

 

Right-click on the offending entry and choose to delete it.  If you are not sure what it is, you can just disable it, reboot and if the issue is resolved, and then delete the offending entry.  If you don't see it in Autoruns you may have to edit the registry and remove the item from the Startup folder there.  Autoruns should display the same information though.

 

Since you had or have an infection, follow up with this:

 

Perform some scans for malicious software, then fix any remaining issues:

 

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware detection programs:

 

Malwarebytes (MBAM):   http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free

 

SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS):  http://www.superantispyware.com/

 

They can be uninstalled later if desired.

 

Reboot your computer and troubleshoot remaining issues.

 

Also please state the make and model of your pc, and your current antivirus.

Community Star

Community Star

Hello.

It means you have junk!

Click on this link: http://www.scanwith.com/Autoruns_download.htm Download & install it. (This is a safe reliable software). You can keep it for future use if you choose to.
1.after download completed, select autoruns & right click on it
2.click on "extract here"
3.on the extracted files, click on "autoruns" application select it & right click, and click on "openorrun" & click OK or yes if ptompted by an administrator to finish the installation process.
4.when that is completed, open or run "autoruns"
5.on the open window click on "Everything"
6.on all the programs which said "File not Found" select each & every one of them, click one at a time...
7.right click, & click delete & ok

It helped?

After downloading Autoruns 11.33, I have two applications 1) autoruns.exe and autorunsc.exe.  I right clicked on autoruns.exe and I don't see "extact here".  I see extract files.  Is this what I select?

Yes!  Extract the files and proceed to ttrough the steps given above..

Well, I have a very simple RUN DLL problem which Autoruns (Sysinternals) did NOT find! It is simply this (less the asterisks):

* RUNDLL

* Error loading C:\Documents

* The specified module could not be found.


I found a lot of entries that were missing using Autoruns, and am in the process of eliminating them (unticking them one at a time), but so far, none of these eliminations have made the RunDLL error go away.

Oh, it actually involves my F drive, since I have two HDD and have just reinstalled Win XP Home Edition SP2 on the second drive using my Dell Recovery CD ("E" is my CD-ROM drive), except that it would not install entirely properly, so I had to get help from Microsoft on where to find SP3 (at Microsoft Downloads) so that I could use the Windows Update website.

I suspect that the RunDLL issue is related to my problems in reinstalling the OS, though this is pure speculation.


George

if you had reinstalled properly and then updated you would not have any issues, what procedures did you follow to reinstall?

before doing anything you should have gone straight to Microsoft updates and updated pc to sp3 and about 180 other updates.

That kind of error usually means that you have a startup item where the "path" to the file(s) should be enclosed in double quotes and it is not.

Since something like "c:\Documents and Settings" contains white space (a space character" if the startup item pointing there doesn't have double quotes around it, all XP will see is the first part up to the white space.  Some installations are faulty.

e.g., something like this would be an OK startup item (I'm just making this up since I have zero startup items:

"C:\Documents and Settings\Jose\SomeProgram.exe"

Something like this would generate an error similar to yours:

C:\Documents and Settings\Jose\SomeProgram.exe 

Since there are no double quotes in the path that contains white space, all XP sees is C:\Documents and a space and that makes no sense.

You need to be able to see what the afflicted startup item is, then you can decide what the best way to fix it is...  You might not need it at all, so you can uninstall it completely or you can uninstall and reinstall it, or you can fix it by hand, or you can just disable it, but first you have to know what it is and who/what is missing the encasing double quotes in the path to the program.

Note that f you choose to disable it, you will fix the symptom of the problem (you won't see the message anymore), but that will not fix the "problem" and leave you with what I consider a sloppy XP configuration (ugh).

If you can't figure it out or need more help, do this:

If I were you, I would use CCleaner to look at all your startup items and you might be able to spot and disable them (it may take a few passes) or if you look at the list of startup items and are not sure what to do, you can post a list of your startup items and somebody can help you look at them.

Here is how to do that:

Download CCleaner from here:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

CCleaner will let you manage most Startup items and also do some other cleanup oriented operations.  Some people will recommend you not to use the registry functions in CCleaner so avoid those features for now.  I have no issue with it myself, but it is sometimes a contentious issue I prefer to avoid whenever possible!

You can uninstall CCleaner later if you don't like it.

Launch CCleaner and choose Tools, Startup and pay attention to the "File" column and look for something the has Documents and Settings in it that does not have double quotes around it and see if you can identify the culprit.

You can disable startup items, see how things look and if you want - totally delete unneeded startup items, or just leave them disabled while you continue troubleshooting.  Note that disabling things does not uninstall anything and if there is a problem, you can just enable the item again.  If you are sure you don't want it at all, then you can delete it.

After launching CCleaner and seeing what startup items you can disable/delete if you still are not sure about your startup items, do this:

Launch CCleaner and choose Tools, Startup and in the bottom right, click the "Save to text file" button to save the Startup information to a text file on your desktop with a name you can remember - something like startup.txt

Save the startup information text file to your desktop (or someplace you can find it) open the text file with a text editor (notepad or WordPad), select all the text (Ctrl-A), copy all the highlighted text to the Windows clipboard (Ctrl-C) and then paste (Ctrl-V) the contents of the startup list back here in your next reply and perhaps somebody can tell you other things to consider.

I have zero startup items on my computer and my startup list is empty, so none of this matters to me!

would any rundll errors come up after a proper reinstallation?

 

Notice that this post started on 3 September with "Pam Champagne" and I don't think that problem is the same as the tacked on problem from EcoMicro here in mid October (I don't think).

Maybe if you uninstall/reinstall that should do it, but first you would have to know what to uninstall and reinstall.  I think there was even some Microsoft program that had this problem too, but I canna find it in me notes!

It would be good if the OP would use CCleaner and see if they can spot it there so we can know what it is.  You might be able to spot it in msconfig too, but sometimes folks have trouble resizing the window and columns to see the full width of the Command value.

okay, we can see if he will open his own thread and use ccleaner. :)