Hi. I've been having a bear of a time with my computer lately. I've recently re-formatted and re-installed win-xp, and have updated drivers... yet I am having a recurring problems with access violation errors during the installation of games that used to work fine. The error message reads..

Access violation at address 00456906. Read of address F7EA1CC1

I've done a diagnostic on my main memory with a utility from microsoft. I was wondering if maybe the memory on my video card could be an issue? The computer boots up fine... but maybe?

config
P4 2.4 Intel
Geforce FX 5900XT
1.5 GB ram
sound blaster audigy
2 80 GB Hd
MSI 648 Max MB

At this point I'm rather stuck.

Do those same addresses always come up or do they vary?

Access Violation errors are usually program related.

However; to check hardware:

check the Device Manager: RT click My Computer then click Manage then Device Manager or go to start/run/ devmgmt.msc for any "!"

Also: Start/Run/ dxdiag | Display

Also: Also: look in your Event viewer: rt. click My Computer then click Manage then Event Viewer.
Or: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/ eventvwr
Open the system as well as the application tabs & look for X errors. Click error line for details.
Post back the source & event id especially of errors that seem to coincide with an installation attempt.

Thanks for getting back to me so fast! I've done what you suggested and have noticed quite a few red "X" marks. I don't know how many is a "normal" amount though. Most of the x's for the system tab are with the Service Control Manager. The line reads "Application management service terminated: the specific module was not found" There are also event id's but they simply seem to denote the events in sequence, not specific errors.

With the application tab, there are also some red X's, but there doesn't seem, to my untrained eye, to be a consistent pattern except for "Msi installer" (though not for all of them).

I will gladly supply more specific information for an event if you feel it would be helpful.

Cheers.

Some errors are to be expected. Often certain services at startup trigger a few errors.

You will notice in the Event Viewer that the time is listed.

Noting this you can try to force an installation error & then see if any coresponding event occurs at that time.

Also:

Do those same addresses always come up or do they vary?