"Cannot connect to kernel" error

Hello,

My system:
Windows XP Home SP3 (fully updated)
AMD 4200+
3 GB RAM
Firefox 3.0.7

I installed ESS 4.0.314 last night. It installed perfectly after I created an Acronis image of my HDD and then removed my ESS 3.0.684 installation completely using Revo Uninstaller and a couple of disc and registry cleaners. It looked good and worked perfectly.

Today, however, when I booted up the system, I had a Windows notification that my system was at risk because I did not have any security in place. The green ESS icon in the system tray had turned red. When I went to Start--> Programs-->ESET and tried to start the program that way. I received a "Cannot connect to kernel" error or words to that effect. I ran SysInspector and can upload the results to ESET if they have the time to spend upon this issue. After trying to re-start the system for a while, I installed my Acronis image and have reverted to ESS 3.0.684.

Has anyone else had the same problem? Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Lane