Can't open device manager, rundll.exe error

[AnnieMS]

winxp tab ed sp3

I tried to open device manager today via rclicking my computer and got "run a DLL as an App has encountered a problem etc", rapidly followed by "DrWatson Postmortem Debugger has encountered a problem etc." Both [rundll32 and drwatson] remained running as processes in taskmanager. I also tried opening device manager via the System applet in CP , via run > "devmgmt.msc" and doubleclicking devmgmt.msc in windows/system32. Somewhere in there I got an error message stating "An exception occurred while trying to run "C/windows/system32/shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL "C:\Windows\system32\sysdm.cpl,System"

System event viewer has faulting modules irprops.cpl [if that's infrared I have that disabled since I don't use it] & devmgr.dll for rundll32.exe and hang module hungapp. For drwtsn32.exe there's faulting module dbghelp.dll.

I can open some .msc's ok - certificates and diskdefrag and event viewer - by doublclicking on their .msc file. Computer management gets me an error message that "MMC has detected an error in a snap-in" and recommends shutting down and restarting mmc. That didn't work. If I choose the option to open keep mmc running and ignore the problem snap-in, computer management opens ok w/ the other snap-ins. I tried the old restart windows, but no go.

Googling for rundll exceptions and searching here for rundll hasn't provided anywhere to start. Any suggestions?

[cluberti]

It sounds like something's failing when calling devmgr.dll - this could be a problem with the dll itself, or something that's installed that has it hooked. I would suggest the following:

1. Download and install version 6.11.1.404 of the Debugging Tools for Windows.

2. Create the folder C:\adplus on your computer.

3. Open a command prompt, and browse to the directory that the Debugging Tools was installed to (usually "C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x86)\" if you accept the installation defaults).

4. Execute the following command from the command prompt:

cscript adplus.vbs -crash -quiet -o C:\adplus -sc "rundll32.exe devmgr.dll DeviceManager_Execute"

Device Manager will attempt to spawn, and should crash. It will create a folder in C:\adplus with a bunch of files and folders - zip up the C:\adplus folder at this point and upload it somewhere (or PM me) so we can have a look at the crash itself.