Missing .dll file - How to Fix?

[dudleydocker]

My daughter's Dell running Vista Home now gets a pop-up message stating "this application has failed to start because ODBC32.dll was not found. Reinstalling this application may fix the problem".

I did some digging and found a website (http://www.dll-files.com) where I was able to get the file. I know XP and prior OS's enough to be dangerous, but have no idea where to put file now that I have it or if in fact it is the key to my problems.

It seems to affect iTunes the most.

Thanks for any help.

 

[blackangst1]

I think if you either double click or right click Windows will ask you if you really want to put that file there. Something like that. Just DL the DLL to your desktop or whatever.

 

[dudleydocker]

I have the file on the PC's desktop; doesn't it need to be moved to a specific system file? If so which one? Thanks.

 

[blackangst1]

when you double click it should extract to the appropriate folder. Or right click>>extract. One of those two. Windows will put it where it needs to be.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: blackangst1
when you double click it should extract to the appropriate folder. Or right click>>extract. One of those two. Windows will put it where it needs to be.

No, it wont.

but have no idea where to put file now that I have it or if in fact it is the key to my problems.

For giggles and grins I went to the site and downloaded the file, the readme file inside of the zip clearly states where to place it.

 

[dudleydocker]

yeah I did see that in the readme (Use WinZip to extract the file to your windows\system directory.) but didn't know what to look for in Vista, i.e. c:\windows\system...\......

so, now, when I went to look again on the PC in question I am greeted with a new problem. At boot-up I get the Dell BIOS screen, then a Vista logo, then an interim screen that says: "Configuring updates: step 3 of 3 - 0% complete - don not turn off your computer." The percent complete never advances past zero and the PC reboots. It just keeps doing this over and over until I power it off.

 

[postmortemIA]

DLLs need to be registered..

 

[Boobs McGee]

You have to be careful downloading dll's from websites. I don't know about that specific file, but many changed from xp to vista. It is likely the file you downloaded is for xp.

Also the error you are getting ins't always indicative of the actual problem.

Also like postmortemIA said, you would need to register any dll file not just extract it. The first step would be to place the file in the appropriate location and then register it.


Anyways, it looks like your machine has larger problems at hand and this error is likely just one of the symptoms presenting itself to you. You might want to look at throwing the dell restore disk in and starting over.

 

[C1]

See if you can start up in Safe Mode. If so, begin uninstalling stuff. Since the something that got hosed appears to be associated with the open DB connectivity, begin by uninstalling MS Office (all of it and especially ACCESS). Concentrate on applications which rely on use of the network. After each uninstall, try to reboot to see if the problem has been removed. At some point, the system will work properly, then just re-install the desired applications.

 

[SearchMaster]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
DLLs need to be registered..

Not necessarily.

 

[dudleydocker]

It seems my bigger problem now is this "Configuring updates: step 3 of 3 - 0% complete - don not turn off your computer." " looping which is preventing the PC from starting. I researched this and it seems like it a mess to resolve. I have tried a couple of solutions involving deleting files at a c-prompt (del C:windowswinsxspending.xml ) while in repair mode, but the system couldn't find the files. Any suggestions?

Thanks.