Vista - can't install apps on x64

Hi everyone,

I recently helped a friend buy and put a system together and are having some issues with vista x64. I've been searching this forum the entire night and haven't found a solution.

The problem comes from trying to install new applications i.e. firefox, winrar, and utorrent, are just a few that we have tried to install. The same error keeps occurring, it will automatically come to the error window stating that the program "has stopped working" and proceeds to search for a solution.

So far I have run the program as an administrator, compatibility mode, and have tried searching the even id #1000 on the windows support forums. Also it is the same exception code every time occurring from application error 0xc0000005.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, please we need this computer to work!!!
thanks again

It's "Access Violation" as in you tried to access some memory you weren't supposed to. Since it happens on everything I suspect there's a memory issue or related in the hardware. You might have some bad or mismatched ram.

Doesn't seem to be the problem. Swapped out the g.skill for some kingston and the problem persists.

any other replies would be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps what the ram plugs into is busted. If it errors the same on all software, then possibly the OS is hosed but more likely it's hardware. Try putting Linux on and see what happens. If it traps out no matter what, it's hardware.

An "access violation" doesn't have to mean a hardware fault. In fact, the vast majority of those errors are caused by software problems.

In your case, it seems apps which include (MSI) installer packages are giving you problems, which would suggest that the "installer" subsystem on your machine is itself broken, rather than all those apps. I think there's a tutorial here on how to investigate installer issues.

Then if you think it's installer related I suggest the OP install some apps that just use Inno Setup. That's what I use for my freeware:

Faves Downloads

If they trap out then I think you have a hw issue

There's not a lot of info but the OP's description does suggest that MSIEXEC might be crashing whenever they invoke an installer package.

Instead of guessing why don't we let OP perform a test as I suggested?
It's not cheating. I don't claim clairvoyance.