cluberti

If you really have to wait 5 - 30 minutes (anything more than a minute or two, really) is a huge problem, and one that should probably be investigated. If you configure your machine for a complete dump via the keyboard, I wonder if you can dump it while it's hung during this time (at that point most drivers are loaded, so it would be a service or a kernel service dr 1. Configure for a complete memory dump via the keyboard (has to be a PS/2 keyboard, USB won't work at this point in the boot process): - Create or set the following registry value: Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters Value: CrashOnCtrlScroll Type: REG_DWORD Data: 1 - Right-Click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and select "Properties"; this will open the "System Properties" window. Go to the "Advanced" tab and click "Performance Options". Click "Change" under "Virtual Memory". Set the pagefile to be located on the partition where the OS is installed, and set it to be equal to Physical RAM + 50 MB. - Also in the "System Properties" window, click on the "Advanced" tab, then click "Startup and Recovery". Make sure "Complete Memory Dump" is selected. You can change the location of the memory dump file to a different local partition if you do not have enough room on the partition where the OS is installed. You will need to reboot for these changes to take effect. 2. Time your next boot, so you know exactly how long (in seconds) it takes from the symptoms of the hang to start and stop - we want to dump it sometime in the middle of the "hang" period, so we need to know how long the hang behavior lasts 3. Reboot again, but this time hold down the RIGHT CTRL key and press the SCROLL LOCK key twice when the box is at the middle of the "hang" - this will cause the box to bugcheck and create a memory.dmp file. 4. Once the box reboots and comes back up, let me know and I'll give you a place to upload the memory.dmp file.iver causing this, I'd guess).

Did you modify this CD in any way - like add drivers or install scripts to the CD (more worried about drivers at this point, if it works in a VM)?

If you go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services in the registry, you should find a key with that service name. You can set the "Start" value to 4 (disabled) and reboot, and that should keep it from starting. Once you get it disabled, then you should have better luck getting rid of it from your system with antivirus tools.

SP2 installation changes both the Professional and Home boot screens from saying "Windows XP 'versionname'" to just "Windows XP". It's normal behavior.

Fantastic. Let me know if you run into any snags. By default, the dumps should be in your Windows directory and named "rulename.dmp" (whatever you named the rule).

You mean like right now, when my wife wants to go to bed at 3AM? And I'm here posting?

Once you download and extract the .zip file, run the setup.exe in the appropriate architecture folder (for most people, it'll be x86 for 32bit and amd64 for 64bit). Once done, it'll place an icon in your control panel called "Process Dumper" - go in there and create a new rule (using the executable name you wish to dump as the rule name). You can either use the defaults, or choose to create your own rules (select the place for the dumps to go when created, and select "all exceptions" if you do this). Otherwise, it should create dump files in your %windir% location when a process that matches a rule crashes.

Well, scaring people away usually isn't the best sales tactic, but yeah. Slavery is also key .

You can do some of this with RIS: http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServe...3.mspx?mfr=true But it's not completely automatic if you have any choices required by the client or the client is not completely prestaged in AD. However, if you add Ghost to the mix: http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost...000042011340125 Just remember that disk imaging can be a "bad thing" on differing hardware, so it's best to test it out before going feet-first into any disk imaging routine.

I've not heard that logo testing of hardware (WHQL certification) will be stopped anytime soon. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/whql/default.mspx

Best thing to do is to install userdump and configure it to monitor the .exe name of the application giving you the problems. Once configured, the next time the crash occurs it'll create process dump files (by default in your %windir% directory) that can be analyzed in windbg or cdb to see what's going on.

If you open a command prompt and ping the site's name from a working and this non-working machine, do they both ping the same address, and are you able to ping from both?

Try changing out your video driver for the "Standard VGA driver" and see if the problems persist. They might, but some of this is video driver-driven, so it's always the place I start with explorer.exe oddities. If that doesn't work, consider shellexview to disable all non-Microsoft explorer hooks (reboot required once all disabled) to see if that resolves it.

The best things to do, when wanting to get into this stuff, is probably the following two things: 1. Read (many times over) the book "Windows Internals, 4th Edition" by Mark Russinovich and David Solomon. It teaches you everything you need to know about the innards and inner workings of the Windows NT kernel including memory management, security model, priority, dispatching, etc. 2. Get into a class (preferrably in your area) on Windows Kernel debugging, whether that be from your local training center or some other source. With a good deal of reading and practice, you should get the hang of it. It's not rocket science, thankfully - more of an art form .

Glad to hear it's working . The reason I first recommended that it could be the media is that the error code c0000001 means "STATUS_UNSUCCESSFUL" during a CRC check on the bus.

Consider NTBackup - it's built into windows and has a complete recovery feature: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/s...t_03july14.mspx

Certifications should never come before experience, but they should be considered important in that it shows some literacy in a particular technological skill, and the follow-through to finish what is started - similar to a college degree, bar certification, or technical diploma. These things say little about your actual skill level and proficiency, but they do show follow-through and a basic proficiency. Get what certs you are able, but get experience (even if that means interning for a non-profit or other smaller organization for little or no pay). Having experience (even a little) is MUCH more in-demand in the long run by employers. Any place that hires on certs alone (or prefers certs to experience) is not a good place to work as a technical employee, long term. But it might get you experience in return for lackluster pay, which might be worth the trade-off in a few years .

Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with gaming (hey, I was part of the famicom generation - that thing was sweet in my teenage years). However, most of us as kids had parents that would force us outside to play with other kids or our siblings (or both) most days after school and all summer (to our benefit, physically and socially). Gaming was a treat that we did for an hour or two when we were doing well in school, weren't in trouble, etc., not a way of life as it has become today, and I see it in my two teenage nephews (and starting in my brother's kids) where it's OK to play video games all day in lieu of playing outside with friends. Again, gaming itself isn't bad, but too much of anything is a bad thing (especially if it hinders social and physical development, which gaming in place of playing at the park or in the street/driveway with friends and siblings certainly does over time). And in my opinion, that DOES fall on the parents (most kids will do whatever they're allowed to do by their parent(s)). Just my two pence.

That would probably be the file it's looking for .

I'd suggest emboot's RIS Menu Editor: http://www.emboot.com/products_RISME.htm

lol - you're very welcome. Good luck in the future, and I again suggest the Windows Internals book - you'll learn A LOT.

Well, best to create a new OU and apply policies to the machine one at a time (removing from the domain after each policy change, to make sure the policies are clean). One will trigger it, so good luck.

Actually, you'll find that WDM drivers are great if they're WHQL certified. If they aren't, they'll suck due to the fact that the hardware vendor makes crappy drivers - driver quality is vendor-specific, and has nothing to do with being WDM or not. For the record, WDM simply stands for Windows Driver Model, which means basically that the vendor followed the SDK and supplied those to Microsoft to include on the CD. However, when drivers aren't WHQL certified, they can be just as bad as non-WDM drivers. Not saying that all non-WHQL drivers aren't of the highest quality, but most are not.

Ntdll.dll is just an API .dll, which means that it's an application making an API call (via ntdll.dll) to the OS that IE is causing to terminate, likely due to local machine lockdown (IE6 did this only for apps that register themselves to use the lockdown zone, but IE7 does the opposite - you have to "opt out"). This really affects applications that embed web browser controls, or load files embedded in web pages used in the application. These types of apps will have some issues running once IE7 is installed due to the local machine lockdown being enforced by default. Take a look here, and let me know if this sounds like what you're seeing, and if the workarounds listed here work (they should): http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost....17&SiteID=1

When you visit one of these pages you have trouble with, what do you see (what error, or what page is displayed) in your browser of choice?