title: MongoDB Error: "key $ne must not start with '$'"
body: <p>I had hunt with this error: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26624729/node-js-mongodb-remove-error-key-lte-must-not-start-with">node js mongodb remove error &quot;key $lte must not start with &#39;$&#39;&quot;</a>, but that did not helped me.</p>
  
  <p>I am doing following query</p>
  
  <pre><code>coll.remove({ _id : { '$ne' :  SomeId }, blah : blaVal });
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But that gives the error : </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p><strong>key $ne must not start with '$'</strong></p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I have started facing this issue, when i migrated mongodb 2.4 to 2.6</p>
  
  <p>My configs are:</p>
  
  <pre><code>nodejs : 0.10
  mongodb : 2.6.8 (no issues with 2.4.x)
  mongodb driver (npm package version) : 2.1.3 (have tried with 1.4.x and 1.3.x, but error is still there, even emptying node_modules and again `npm install`)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What should I do to resolve the issue?</p>