shutdown error after DUN

[Goober2]

Many thanks for HFSLIP and 2ksp5.html--an awesome app and page. And to think that I actually paid for XPlite...

Anyway, I've got a weird DUN problem with my new HFSLIPed W2000 pro installation. The dial-up to the web works fine; it's what happens afterward that's the issue. When I disconnect, the DUN icon remains in the tray, although it will no longer pop up a context menu when you right-click it. Task Manager doesn't show any relevant app (DUN is gone), but TCPview shows if I try to shut down the system, the "End Program" dialog pops up telling me that my connection is still running. If I wait a little longer--doing some other task before turning off the machine--"End Program" tells me that "Connection Tray" is still running (rather than the name of my dial-up connection). Either way, I end up with "This program is not responding". After I hit "End Now," the system pops up the "Please wait... | Saving your settings" dialog, and hangs at that point, forcing me to physically restart by pushing the button on the PC.

Microsoft's web site was no help concerning this error; it occurrs with XP if you've got the welcome screen turned on, but HFSLIP and fdv's fileset have already put paid to that, so it's not the issue (and besides, I'm running w2k!). In win98, corrupted shutdown bitmaps and the fast-shutdown option were the villains, but since I haven't tried tweaking anything with any relevance in either of these two areas, they're probably not the issue. And it only happens after I've run DUN anyhow. (Doesn't matter whether I go through the DUN window or the rasphone start-menu|accessories shortcut, the result is the same.)

Sometimes I also get a dialog with the title, "SAS window: winlogon.exe--Unable to locate DLL". The error message reads, "The dynamic link library WINHTTP.DLL could not be found in the specified path c:\winnt\system32;.;c:\winnt\system32;c:winnt;c:\winnt\system32;c:\winnt; c:\winnt\system32\Wbem." I searched the Microsoft site but they only have info about a similar error concerning winhttp5.dll which only occurs if you try to run an old proxycfg.exe, which I certainly haven't done; and in any case, they don't offer their hotfix for public download.

Any ideas? (By the way, hfnetchk.exe, from what I could gather on the web, is professional payware, and I'm just a home user, so I don't have it. I hope that's OK.)

Many thanks,

Mike

ERROR_REPORT.zip

Edited April 7, 2006 by Goober2

[tommyp]

Goober2 - Squeeto on the forum also has some issues with dialup stuff. I have noticed that you and him are both using FDVs fileset. Perhaps there is something with those files? I'm running 2k+ie6+dx9+massive hfcleanup. My dialup works fine. I would not be able to really troubleshoot, but if you need a regedit or two, I can help you out. But I'm not sure what is needed registrywise.

[Goober2]

Thanks for the reply, TommyP. About fdv's fileset: the whole reason I was attracted to HFSLIP in the first place was to avoid IE, so I am definitely using the fdv fileset. (HFSLIP without it is beside the point, for me.)

An update on my situation. I did a totally fresh install with the same bootable slipstreamed CD as before, and then didn't install any applications. I immediately set up my DUN connection, the installed Mozilla and the Mozilla Control, and did all sorts of internet stuff, getting on and off, cancelling the connection as it was just getting started, letting it load several pages before disconnection, etc. Everything was fine; never got the shutdown problem.

So then I set up my home LAN. That's when the trouble started. As soon as I installed the driver for the Ethernet feature on my mobo and tried to reboot, I got the message about not finding winhttp.dll. However, it never hung at the "Saving your settings" banner, not once. I wiped the hard drived and re-ran the HFSLIP install, this time installing Firefox as browser instead of Mozilla. Same results, except once I did manage to get the system to hang at shutdown on "Saving your settings", but I still have no idea why excactly it did that. Anyhow, it seems that the winhttp.dll error and the "Saving your settings" shutdown problem are different issues.

Reformatted and reinstalled again, this time not installing the browser, just the modem and Ethernet drivers. Again, as soon as the networking driver was installed, I got the winhttp.dll error message upon shutdown (most of the time, but not always) but not the "Saving your settings" shutdown problem. But here's the weird part. When I installed the modem driver, right at the end I got a message saying that "Modemcsa.sys" needed to be copied from system32\driver cache\i386 and couldn't be found. It didn't make any difference to modem functionality--I created a DUN connection that worked fine--but every time I restarted the system, Windows would tell me that it needed modemcsa.sys. I looked through the cabs on the W2K CD but couldn't find this file, so I figured it must not really be necessary; there was one registry entry that had it as a value, so I deleted that string, then put a dummy text file named "modemcsa.sys" in system32\driver cache\i386. That stopped the modemcsa.sys messages and everything seemed peachy. But then I created a new user. Up to that point I had been working only in Administrator, but this new one was just a regular user. As I closed out of the new user, I got a very small error dialog with the brief message, "Installation failed"--and every time I rebooted and logged in as this new user, I got the same message, AND if I used the DUN connection while logged in as the new user, I got the "Saving your settings" shutdown problem. But no problem if I was logged in as admin!

So I reinstalled again. This time I created the new (regular) user before installing either the modem or the network drivers. Then installed modem drivers and created a DUN connection, but didn't install ethernet drivers. It didn't matter; this time I still sometimes got the "winhttp.dll could not be found" with all users (even though on one of the previous installs I hadn't gotten it until the ethernet drivers were in) and I also got the "Installation failed" message upon bootup when logging in as the regular (though not admin) user. I created several other users with varying parameters ("standard" power user vs. normal "restricted" user vs. "backup operator", etc.), but only administrative users were OK--all other types got "installation failed" upon login, as well as the shutdown-crash if the DUN connection was used.

So WTH? Why would it give me problems with all user types _except_ administrator? The only error message it shares with the others is the intermittent "winhttp.dll could not be found".

I really, really, don't want to let IE touch my system, but I'm about ready to give up on HFSLIP slipstreaming. It just ain't workin', and I've reached the outer limits of my (admittedly limited) troubleshooting abilities. Over two hours of different web searches has failed to reveal anything remotely approaching the problems I'm having. Anyone have any last thoughts? If it makes any difference, my modem is a cheapo Conexant half-duplex 56k, while the ethernet is the standard onboard Marvell Yukon that comes with my ASUS A8V mobo.

[tommyp]

If you are using FDV's fileset, the winhttp.dll isn't installed. Try extracting winhttp.dll from your installation source and place it into the win\sys32 folder. After you do that, open a command box (start/run and type in CMD) and type this in to register the dll:

regsvr32 winhttp.dll

[Goober2]

TommyP, thanks for the winhttp.dll recommendation. Although it pains me to add back elements of IE, at least it worked to get rid of that particular error. I also figured out what was causing the shutdown-crash error: the modem. See, I've been doing all this on a new whitebox, which I had a local shop put together for me. I specified most of the components, but I told the guy that I didn't much care about the modem--just needed a cheap 56k. So he gave a me a generic Taiwan unit, and I didn't think it would be a big deal, but a look inside the box at its model numbers and some time spent on the web reveals that it's one of the worst winmodems out there (Rockwell/Conexant 56k HFS). To test it, I installed Win2000 the normal way. Non-admin users don't get the "installation failed" error message upon login like they do with the HFSLIPstream, but if the DUN connection is used when one of those non-admin users is logged in, the system still hangs at shutdown (although unlike an HFSLIP install, the "saving your settings" banner isn't displayed).

A newer driver--which I had a devil of a time finding--solved the shutdown-crash problem. So that's two down and one to go--the "installation failed" problem for non-admin users still bedevils my HFSLIPstream, so it's probably another Win2000 system file that I should extract. Anyone have any clue as to which one it might be?

[fdv]

first of all, sorry you had all of that trouble with my fileset. the WINHTTP error never used to happen, but some hotfixes replaced the explorer and shell with new versions that integrated even more internet explorer garbage in them (take a look at the REGINST sections and calls to zones, etc in the core os files). the problem lies squarely on microsoft's shoulders. now, shutdown looks for this dll, winhttp, when it never used to.

you've done a lot of troubleshooting and pretty much figured out everything you need to (your ability is certainly not 'limited') without needing the help from anyone here. nevertheless here's my recommendation FWIW.

i have read your posts and am just 'thinking out loud' here. no idea which file it might be that's causing problems, but my recommendation is to ditch the winmodem. winmodems are software-driven beasts that may have all sorts of ie-file dependencies. who knows what it's missing. you'd have to do a regmon.exe and sit and watch what the thing tries to look for and even then it's certainly no guarantee you'd find the actual names of files it thinks that it wants.

The installation failed problem... look in your start menu.

All users have "MRU Killer" INF in there, and it's a Registry cleaner for Most Recently Used entries. Non-admin users can't mod the registry, hence "Installation failed."

Edited February 28, 2008 by fdv

[Goober2]

FDV, many thanks for weighing in.

> i assume you have tried to see what happens

> when you load a non-hfslipped install and

> then add microsoft's hotfixes... do you get

> the same problems you do with hfslip?

Yes, I did (I mentioned that briefly above, but it was buried in one of my verbose paragraphs), and the answer is No. The only problem that was common to both a HFSLIP and a normal installation with SP4 & hotfixes was the shutdown-crash problem with non-administrative users after using the DUN connection, and that was solved with the new driver. So with a regular Win2000 install, I don't get...

a) the winhttp.dll error, nor

b) the "installation failed" error

...but I do get them with HFSLIP. What makes this interesting is that I don't get these errors on the regular Win2000 install even after having used XPlite to remove IE--proof positive that your fileset is better at truly getting rid of IE than XPlite is.

I've unfortunately run into a much bigger problem. I could live with the above-mentioned errors, but the entire reason I got this new machine is to run the voice-recognition program Dragon Naturally Speaking--and it refuses to install on an HFSLIPstreamed OS. The installation starts up and then immediately closes out with the message that the "installshield engine (iKernel32) could not be installed (0x0100000)". I also get that error when trying to install both my sound and video card drivers (Creative Soundblaster Live--an oldie but still a goodie--and a much newer, fully Win2000-compatible ATI Radeon 6800 256MB). However, on a normal install of the OS (which has also been XPlited) all of these install with no problem; and the voice-recognition app installs fine on a normal install of Win2000 even if I haven't yet installed the audio or video cards (it won't work until the audio card is also working, but it'll install OK).

So what's this iKernel32 bit? With various shenanigans I was able to work around it for both the cards (using an alternate hacked driver for the SBLive, and going to the unpacked files for the ATI--good thing they unpacked before the routine shut down!) But there's no way to work around the problem with the voice-recognition program. A web search proved unhelpful (a lack of admin priveleges was mentioned on one site as causing this error, but I've been running these tests as Administrator; another site said to try installing in Safe Mode, but that didn't work either). I ran regmon as I tried one of the installs but there was such a welter of information that I couldn't make much sense of it--about every other key wasn't found, and I have no idea which keys might have been significant and which weren't.

Anyway, the cause is definitely not the modem, because I physically took the modem out of the machine before re-running my HFSLIPstream. Who knows, maybe it's some other hardware, but the rest of the machine comprises fairly high-quality components and I'm using the latest, or at least fairly recent, drivers for all of them.

This really sucks. What a wonderfully lean UI is delivered by HFSLIP/FDVfileset! I just love that first bootup with no tour, no bubbles, none of that webview frame crap in the windows, all the system files already showing...not to mention the security benefits. But the main reason I got the new machine was to run this VR app, and it just will not install on my HFSLIPstreamed version of the OS. So it's back to the bloatcrud, unless someone knows what the deal is with iKernel32.

Edited April 15, 2006 by Goober2

[tommyp]

Are there any messages about this in your event viewer? Perhaps they can help us out.

Here's something to try out. http://consumer.installshield.com/kb.asp?id=Q108312

[Goober2]

Many thanks for the iKernel page. It was the answer--along with a few other installshield-related issues which I found out about with further poking. (I'm skipping over a lot of headaches here, but that's what it all boiled down to.) So, thanks a ton! I now enjoy a scrumptiosly dreamy, slimmed-down Win2000 install--oohlala! Computing life couldn't be better. Or much better, anyway. (If only there were voice-recognition apps for Linux...but that's another story.)