OFF97: STOP HLINK.DLL Error After Installing SR-1

• Microsoft Office 97 for Windows, Service Release 1
• Microsoft Windows NT, version 4.0
• The Beta 1 version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

If you install Microsoft Office 97, Service Release 1 (SR-1), on a computer running Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0, and you restart the computer, you may receive an error message similar to the following:

   Microsoft (R) Windows NT (TM) Version 4.0 (Build 1381: Service Pack 3).
   1 System Processor [32 MB Memory]
   ...
   STOP: c0000221 {Bad Image Checksum}
   The image HLINK.DLL is possibly corrupt. The header checksum does not
   match the computed checksum.

   Restart and set the recovery options in the system control panel or the
   /CRASHDEBUG system start option. If this message reappears, contact
   your system administrator or technical support group.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the following conditions are true:

• You are running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with either Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Service Pack 3 (SP3).

  -and-

• The Beta 1 version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 is installed on your computer.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, use the following appropriate method.

Method 1: Windows NT 4.0 Is Installed on a FAT Partition

You may be able to correct this problem copying a new version of the Hlink.dll file from another computer to your computer. Before you do this, you must create a boot disk that contains Hlink.dll. To create the boot disk, follow these steps:

1. Insert a blank floppy disk into a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 95.

2. Double-click My Computer. Right-click the icon for the floppy disk drive in the My Computer window, and click Format on the shortcut menu.

3. In the Format dialog box, click Full, and then click to select the Copy System Files check box. Then, click Start. After the disk is completely formatted, close the dialog box by clicking Close twice.

4. On the Start menu, point to Find and click Files Or Folders. In the Named box, type "Hlink.dll" (without the quotation marks). Click Find Now.

5. Right-click the Hlink.dll file that is found. On the shortcut menu, click Copy.

6. On the Start menu, click Run. In the Open box, type "A:" (without the quotation marks). Click OK.

7. On the Edit menu, click Paste.

To replace the corrupted Hlink.dll file, follow these steps:

1. Insert the floppy disk into the computer on which the problem is occurring.

2. Restart the computer.

   After the computer is restarted, you see the command prompt.

3. Type the following command

         copy a:\hlink.dll c:\winnt\system32\hlink.dll
   

   and press ENTER. If you are prompted to overwrite the existing file, do so. If the path to your System32 folder is different, use the appropriate path in the command line.

4. After the file is copied, remove the floppy disk from the computer and restart the computer.

Method 2: Windows NT 4.0 Is Installed on an NTFS Partition

If your version of Windows NT 4.0 is installed on an NT File System (NTFS) partition, it is not possible to replace the corrupted Hlink.dll file because it is not possible to access the contents of the NTFS partition if you cannot start Windows NT 4.0. In this case, it may be necessary to reformat your hard disk and reinstall Windows NT 4.0. Restore any data stored in the inaccessible partition from a backup copy.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

This problem occurs because of a conflict between Microsoft Office 97 SR-1 and the Beta 1 version (also known as Build 544) of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. This conflict occurs when both products are installed on a computer that is running Windows NT 4.0.

Note that this problem does NOT occur if the Beta 2 version (also known as Platform Preview 2 or Build 1008) or the final released version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 is installed on your computer. The problem described in the "Symptoms" section in this article is caused by the earlier version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 NOT by Microsoft Office 97 SR-1.

NOTE: The Beta 1 version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 was not fully tested. It should not be deployed in production environments. Support for beta products is limited. If you want to install and use Microsoft Office 97 SR-1, you cannot also use the Beta 1 version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0.