I can't really recall when I first noticed these problems, but among other issues, I couldn't access my printer settings and my settings wouldn't save on exiting. So after consulting the KB, I decided to do a re-install of the OS (W2K) and all appropriate patches and service packs.

This corrected the other problems that I was having, but now I have an even bigger mess. Specifically, when I try to run a couple of programs (BF1942 for example) I get the following error: BF1942.exe couldn't find entry point DdEntry1 in GDI32.dll.

And then, NOTHING, back to the desktop. Other programs are fine, and the KB doesn't provide much help on this.

Anybody have an idea on how to fix this?

That's a DirectX error. Have you reloaded your DX?

That one is dealing specifically with Direct Draw for your video card.

Yes, up to 9.0a. Everything is up to date. Should I try the OS reload again and then reapply all the fixes again?

I would reinstall DX and vid card drivers first.

Yup..listen to BA, he knows his ****znitz. Ive had that problem too with my ol geforce2 card..

Thanks for the assist BA. I'll let you know if it works. I take back all those curses I muttered when you showed me up on other posts.

OK, here's the update....

Uninstalled and reinstalled video drivers. - No change
Tried to reinstall DX9.0a - nothing installed, as it showed all current.

Therefore, I need to do something else. Any suggestions?

some games are sensitive to what areas of ram their resource files are stored on, if you have your system overclocked it might be affecting this area of ram (corruption) and making the game just not run...as a matter of fact, games are one of the best ways to test both your ram..and an experimental overclock, so if yer running into problems, and have exhausted all other possible explanations, then try bringing your clox down a bit...unless...of course...you arent overclocked at all, then you are FUBAR....

another possibility is that the CRC (cyclic redundancy check) or checksum of that file or resource might be bad, this can be caused by....say it with me....overclocking, but more often than not, is caused by a dirty or scratched installation cd or a "bad" download, so if you can, pull those cds out, take a good look at them, tell them you love them, clean them, put them in your cd rom, install them, then have a smoke afterwards, and pray that im right...

its like i always say... "anything to prove it aint the puter doin it"

Its likely that Mr. Gumby, like millions of computer users, downloaded the game from somewhere but chances are you downloaded it from one of the popular p2p's and those p2p's usually have crapper files, so it's likely those errors are due to a bad ISO/BIN/BWT.

The system is a tad overclocked. 166X10.5 vs 133X12.5. This entry point problem didn't happen until AFTER the OS reinstall, so I doubt that this is the cause. I will check, but I'm not holding my breath.

This program is not downloaded, it is a pseudo-legit install (ie, my friend gave me the game to play in trade for one of mine)

I can say for sure that this is not the only program that I am having the problem on, it is just the one that irks me the most The systemtray icon for the ATI control panel also causes the exact same problem. Other thoughts?

Uninstall DX9a.

Install DX8 and see if it fixes your woes.

Then re-install DX 9a.

I am convinced that DX9 should still be in beta development!

Wanna explain how to uninstall DX? According to MS, it is not uninstallable, short of a system restore point which is unavailable on W2K.

http://download.guru3d.com/

You can find a couple of DX uninstallers here.

Anyone else finding DX 9 to be really (really) flaky?

Thanks for the link AntiM. I should've known someone would have come up with it. Here's what I was relying on from MS:

Q. How do I uninstall DirectX?

A. DirectX 9.0 is a system component and cannot be uninstalled. If there is a problem with the DirectX installation, it can normally be resolved by shutting down all running applications and reinstalling. As mentioned previously, DirectX 9.0 is fully backward-compatible with titles written for previous versions of DirectX. If you are having other problems after installing DirectX 9.0, these can often be resolved by installing updated drivers for your display card, audio card, or input device.

DX7 and 8 games and apps don't run quite as well under 9. 3dmark2001 is down a few hundred points from DX8. And games seem to be more sensitive to overclocking. It's reasonably stable on XP pro. But from what I've gathered from various posts here and elsewhere, I think it's probably less stable on other OS's.

My thought is that yeah, it still ought to be in beta... it has to keep performance the same or better, across the board, before they can push it like they are now.
But whatever, Microsoft doesn't give a **** about what anyone thinks, they only care about their bottom line.

Good info about the uninstaller AntiM but the fact is that none of these DX9A to DX8 uninstallers completely uninstall DX9A, goto Run and type DXDIAG and look at the files and versions, also compate the filesizes to that of DX9A, most are the same as DX9A

The only way truly back to DX8 is (1)system restore, (2)booting from XP CD and running "repair an existing windows installation", or (3)formatting

Well, as I have W2K, if the uninstaller doesn't fix it, then it's back to the reinstall. ugh.