"The NTVDM CPU has encountered and illegal instruction." Any idea why this is happening?
I really don't know, but googling that error message turns up a load of reports and fixes for the problem.
They are too numerous to type them here.
Some of the reports of this error are related to which Windows and which level of service pack you are running.
It probably be a good idea to read through and see what others have done.
Two found it to be a WORM.
One example:
I resolved this problem in another instance. Anytime I tried to use cmd.exe from Windows XP Pro, I'd get an error similar to this. I found that Notron Anti-virus did not catch a cmd.com file some enterprising script-kiddie had slipped into my machine. Ping wouldn't work either. Similarly, deleting the "hidden" ping.com allowed Windows to use ping.exe. Tracert also failed with this error. Sure enough, I found tracert.com hidden and deleted it. Then tracert.exe worked fine.
In Windows, "com" files are executed before "exe" files. This was being exploited. I did a search of my entire system and found 14 other hidden com files with exact exe counterparts. Of course, I couldn't run those commands until I removed the com files and allowed the exe files to work.
Now, all is back to normal.
Thanks for the insite into the .COM files. I found numerous in my \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory including:-
cmd
command
netstat
ping
regedit
taskkill
tasklist
tracert
& a file dated the same as bszip.dll
So I did to this as I did unto others. KILLED IT!
Now these things work fine again ... for the time being at least!
Its a WORM so Mr Carefull has, over the past 30yrs of IT has finally been caught out by the Kids!!!
The important file is bszip.dll in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 - check out the internet for further detail.
Ciao
Fred