Windows Vista Forum / General Technical / Vista Technical

Using Sony PRS500 with Vista

chorusteacher1 — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:35:01 GMT

I recently purchased the PRS500 ebook reader from Sony. To use the device you must install Connect. I tried to install it but everytime I would get an error message in install wizard that said there was an interruption during installation so it could not be completed. I saw in an article that Sony was having compatibilty problems with Connect and Windows Vista. I'm using Vista so I'm wondering if thats my problem and if so, how to make it work. I'd really like to try out my new gadget but I need some help with this before I can do anything on it. Anybody have a PRS500 and using Vista or know of a possible fix I could try?

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Black Screen, desperate looking for a solution

pilgrim9 — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:34:14 GMT

Hi. I need good advice about the following problem; every time that I tried to access Control Pannel or My Computer, the computer goes into the Black Screen Mode. This problem started a few days ago.

The computer was under attack by SVC.exe and MSServer.exe Trojans and its seems that I managed to clear them, they are not showing up in the System32 or in the registry again. Probably this was due to accessing a few file sharing websites.

I ran AdWare 2007 who found around 87 Malware and Adware cockies, all deleted. I also used Kaspersky Antivirus who found around 23 Trojans and other nasties. In top, I run SpyHunter who found another 6-7 undesirables.So far, I been dealing with this problem by using the Task Manager to get back to the normal screen by typing explorer.exe into the "Task Box". When I tried again to access the Control Pannel or any of the Hard Drives, it goes Black again. System Mechanics reveals that the application file named ddcbxYPF.dll reintalls itself every time that is deleted on HKLMachine\software\microsoft\windows\currentuser\explorer\browserhelperobjects and its string numbers like 7675C6E7-9DF2- etc under a new set of strings.

I went to System32 and I deleted the above file and all the files that install themselves with the size and at the same date and time as ddcbxYPF.exe but this one always re-invent itself. I also tried Hijack This found the file, deleted it, do a Restart, and again it is back. I downloaded a program called Free Autoruns program which apparently is a fix to deal with one of the latest Vista updates to restrict computers access to material coming for non-encryted or non-signed Websites which could be the source of the Black Screen. but I can not get to the Temp Directory to install it.

Also, everytime that I came back from the Black Screen to the normal one UAC shows up in spite that I disabled it long ago. I tried to access the Control Pannel and it goes black. As extra information the Internet works ok, runs very smoothly, I can access all other programmes, Office, Antivirus, Burning music, etc.(VISTA is the OS). The processor runs at 2.2gig, 2 1/2 Ram, all maintenence needed is done by System Mechanic Professional 7,

To be honest I run out of ideas, If anyone can help me I'll be very grateful. Thanks

Macro pgm won't work on Vista IE windows

TipaCow — Sun, 11 May 2008 22:16:44 GMT

Hello all,

Firstly, I might say that I have ALS, and rely upon macros much of the time for my typing. Without it causes me much time.

I have an old program called Keyboard Express, from 2000. It worked fine on my 98 and XP pcs, but I'm having problems on Vista. It will function fine on Notepad or Wordpad, but not at all on any IE web pages.

Any suggestions?

Thx!

Tip

Windows can't check for updates

kelli — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:15:03 GMT

Yes another one who's computer cant check for updates. I have tried everything in the pinned thread above and the thread about this below to no avail.

Any other suggestions on how to get Windows to update? I've had my computer less than 3 months and in the last few days the little icon appeared down the bottom telling me "Windows can't check for updates" yet when I force it to search for updates it searches for hours and hours, I don't even get an error code. I've searched the internet high and low and have found no solution. The last update my Windows installed was "Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.31.8557.0) on 7 April, 2008 (Service Pack 1 (KB936330) was installed on 30 March, 2008).

HELP!!!

Remove from this list - but always returns (Start Menu)

TipaCow — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:16:53 GMT

When I got my new pc, it came loaded with a lot of stuff I didn't want, and some I'd seldom use. I uninstalled some programs, but the Start Menu icons for the pgms I'll seldom use are hard to get rid of. I right click and select "Remove from this list", but when I reboot they're back again. Does anyone know how to permanently delete the pgm icons below the line?

Item Not Found

rahulkb32 — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:53:07 GMT

I have a 4gb Kingston Flash Drive, and when i try to copy some file which are large in size such as anything greater than 400 mb (movie) i get an error:
[b]
"Could Not Find This Item

This item is no longer located in (directory) Verify the Items locations and try again."[/b]

However i have verified that the file (movie) is there and works, however i have gotten this error after several attempts, i have tried reformatting the flash drive. Also i have changed the security settings for the that folder and have checked the Full Control icon, however i still get the same error.

I would also like to mention is when i copy something such as some pictures which are less than 100mb they do transfer fine. Also when i transfer something from my external hard drive to the flash drive such a Movie (does not matter the size) it also transfers, so there is something wrong with the settings on the computer, however i am unsure what it is.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks,

Ati Crossfire

MafiaLord91 — Tue, 13 May 2008 06:24:48 GMT

Does Windows Vista support Ati Crossfire yet? I think it might but I am not sure. Also if I do Crossfire should I do it with two 3870 HD cards or wait for the 4800 HD cards to come out?

logon to the local machine

Stein — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:14:27 GMT

I want to install some software (GeneMapper) and I get 2 error messages.
One says I need win XP (solved this one with the compatibillity function in vista)
The second one says I need to 'logon to the local machine'

What does this mean?

I've unhided the real administrator account and tried running the setup as such but still I get the second error message. And i've searched the web (and the build in Vista help) for several days regarding this topic but couldn't find anything about it.

I have Vista home edition and I don't think my hardware specs matter (it's a brand new computer).

If this topic is already discussed I must apologize but the search function in this forum doesn't work for me (says that the admin restricted the acces whilst I registered and logged in).

greetz!
Stein

Repairing Windows Update

WAW8 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:08:39 GMT

If you run into the problem where Windows Update refuses to install updates, here is a solution Jason found on some other sites which seems to work pretty good if you do everything right! Apparently Microsoft knows this is a problem and has no solution but this works!

The issue is that the WUA 3.0 (7.0.6000.374) upgrade is corrupted,
essentially the system reports the WUA to be 7.0.6000.374 but the files on
the disk are still from the old version (you can check some of the DLLs like
wups.dll, wuaueng.dll etc... in the windows\system32) ... and you cannot
install the WUA 3.0 even manually.

Delete the following file:

C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml

Since Windows security will not allow you to do this, hereunder the
procedure to take ownership of the file:

Run a command prompt with "Run as Administrator".
Type in the following commands:

takeown /f C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

cacls C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml /G :F

Then delete the file

del C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

Reboot the machine, then manually install the WUA 3.0 downloadable from
here: http://download.windowsupdate.com/v7/windowsupdate/redist/standalone/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe

This should fix the Error 80073712 when the other solutions do not work.

BE AWARE that renaming C:\windows\winsxs\pending.xml might have
unrecoverable impacts on your Vista installation

NOTE:

As a result of this comand:

takeown /f C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

your user name will display which you can use in place in
this command (drop the < and >, one space after G and no space after
):

cacls C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml /G :F

If the del command works (no errors displayed) you can go on and do the
download of Windows Update.

[Update]: There are reports that Comodo firewall is preventing Windows Update from working. You not only have to disable Comodo; you have to completely uninstall it.
Check to see if you have Comodo installed or running.

[SOLVED]Vista only sees 1 Core of dual core processor

lokeycmos — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:59:20 GMT

I am at a total loss and i hope someone can help me with this. i have a k8n neo4 mainboard with 2 gb ram and a 4200+ processor(socket 939). the problem is that vista ultimate 32 is only showing 1 proc in device manager and 1 graph in task manager. ive spent the last 4 hours researching this on google to no avail. ive tried uninstalling and reinstalling in device manager, safe mode, msconfig>boot>advanced options> detect HAL and uncheck # of Procs, and various combinations of these. Only once did i get it to show both cores in safe mode, but after i rebooted it went back to 1 and i cant duplicate it. I really hope someone out there can help me out! thnx in advance ;)

Joe

[SOLVED] Error message: "Login process has failed to create the security options dialog"

lasix1 — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:33:07 GMT

I'm running Vista Home Premium on a one-year-old HP Pavilion desktop. 2G of Ram, 250G Hard drive. It randomly locks up.Thescreen goes blank, the mouse cursor is visible and movable but I cannot right click and get any anything to happen. When I hit ctrl-alt-del to bring up the task manager, nothing happens for several minutes and then I get (sometimes) an error message Titled:
Login process has failed to create the security options dialog
With a dialog message of:
Failure - Security Options

At that point the only remedy is a hard shutdown. This happens sometimes 2-3 times a day. When it reboots the incident does not appear in the event log. Oh yes, when this happens, the hard drive tends to wheeze and whirr likes its having a heart attack.

There are references to this on the internet, and I saw one on the Vista 64 forum, but I have yet to see any real causes or solutions advanced. One person indicated he had gotten rid of the problem by putting in a new hard drive, but this seems drastic to me since there is no other evidence that the hard drive is bad.

If anyone has an answer to this, I will be very grateful.

Wired Media Center

Steelshivan — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:20:46 GMT

Essentially, I am looking for the cheapest setup possible that will still work well to have a media center pc. Software and choice of OS is not an issue.

If someone knows of a good way to have a wired connection from my bedroom (where my pc will be) to the tv, I would also be interested in that. The distance is approximately 33ft, or 45ft if i kept my pc where it is now. I could make do with a wired connection that way so I didn't have to buy a media center extender, at least until cheaper wireless extenders come on the market. What type of cable would I need to do this, and would using that cable for this use be effective for my needs, at those above distances? Thanks.

Removable drives listed in Windows Explorer

pzoli123 — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:01:06 GMT

I have constantly 4 removable drives listed in Windows Explorer, although I have no USB or whatsoever plugged in. If I plug-in a USB stick a fifth drive appears which is the actual stick. How can I remove these 4 drives from the list? Thanks for any help!

Vista

Springerrob — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 06:56:09 GMT

I've been using Vista now for a month now, and I have to say it hasn't been a pleasant month.

I've used Windows all the way from Windows 95 up to the latest incarnation, none of the previous versions have been so buggy, unreliable or slow as Vista.

I have a brand new PC with 2 gigs of ram and Vista is just out of its depth.

Start up takes for ever, it often hangs on shut down, Explorer is constantly re starting, media centre is slow and crashes, side bar is constantly crashing, blocked start up programmes keep restarting even though they've been blocked, the latest problem, after a windows update, my Vista ready printer is now incompatible, the printer support know its a problem and they're rushing to update their drivers. Each time Windows updates I lose my optical drive and have to alter the registry, a known problem with half a fix. System restore won't restore, just like the problem they had in ME.

The people I bought the PC from, a big well known company, said yes they know the issues and are as frustrated as it customers.

All in all its a disgrace and I feel I have been taken as a mug by Bill Gates, now to add insult to injury Gates is talking about the next new OS with in the next year or two, as things stand now a PC with a Windows OS is just going to b a liability to any one buying one, the future to me looks PC free.

For the record I'm not a Linux freak, I've been down that road, its as bad as the rocky Microsoft road.

Memory Tech Question

PorPorMe — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:38:59 GMT

First off,specs:

Athlon XP 2400+
Epox 8k5A2+
GeForce Nvidia 7600GS AGP
PowerMagic 350w PS
Sony Dru-84A DVD-Burner
CD-4x4x32 CD-Burner

At the moment, I'm back to XP Pro SP3.

I ran for about 2yrs on XP with 1GB of PC2100 DDR DIMMS configured so:1x512MB/PC2100_2x256MB/PC2100 and XP was happy. I installed Vista Ultimate and it grunted a bit so I ordered a 1GB PC2100 chip online. It arrived and I installed it.

Configuration is now this:1GB 1st bank-512MB 2nd bank-256Mb 3rd bank.

Now to the techy stuff. During the day, my machine would die. No warning, no shutting down, dead. Sometimes it would boot right back up, sometimes not. When it wouldn't, the post codes would not read either. My best guess was (with my limited knowlege) was it had to be memory related. I pulled the 256MB chip and then booted to a disk with Windows Memtest v3.3. All tests passed.(I think this problem was just poor contact with one or more of the chips.) Fired Vista up, and ran Everest Ultimate. Surprise!!

Field Value
Memory Module Properties
Serial Number None
Module Size 1 GB (2 ranks, 4 banks)
Module Type Unbuffered
Memory Type DDR SDRAM
Memory Speed PC3200 (200 MHz)
Module Width 64 bit
Module Voltage SSTL 2.5
Error Detection Method None
Refresh Rate Reduced (7.8 us), Self-Refresh

Memory Timings
@ 200 MHz 3.0-3-3-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 11-14-2 (RC-RFC-RRD)
@ 166 MHz 2.5-3-3-7 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 10-12-2 (RC-RFC-RRD)
@ 133 MHz 2.0-2-2-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS) / 8-10-2 (RC-RFC-RRD)

Memory Module Features
Early RAS# Precharge Not Supported
Auto-Precharge Not Supported
Precharge All Not Supported
Write1/Read Burst Not Supported
Buffered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
Registered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
On-Card PLL (Clock) Not Supported
Buffered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Registered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Differential Clock Input Supported
Redundant Row Address Not Supported

The Epox mobo will only support up to PC2700. XP PRO SP3 is running fat an sassy on this 1GB PC3200. How? Was the combination of PC3200 and PC2100 the problem? Is leaving this PC3200 chip in going to be a problem?

[SOLVED] Windows can't check for updates

LynnMc — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:29:21 GMT

Hi, I was hoping someone here would be able to help me. For over a month my laptop hasn't been able to download windows updates. An icon appears in the system tray telling me as much. When I click on the icon it brings up the update page, I click on the check for updates which returns an error code of 8000FFF. I have tried searching for this errror code but can't find it.

The last Windows update was CAPICOM (KB931906) which was downloaded on 29th August. Since then it has only been Windows Defender updating and Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. Have there been any updates since that date?

In addition Microsoft XML Core Service 4.0 Service Pack 2 (KB936181) has been trying to install since 20th August but fails every time. That error code is 643, and again I can't find that error code.

Is this something I should be concerned about?

My laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1521, AMD Turion (TM) 64x2 TL-50 1.6GHz, 1918meg, 32-bit operation Vista Home Premium.

I hope someone will be able to give me some guidance/advice on how to correct this problem.

Thanks

Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer

pteam — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:21:24 GMT

Hey guys I have a new dell with windows vista home premium 32 bit. I have a Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer, is what it says on the ack of the mouse. I have installed Intellipoint 6.2 the newest version from microsoft. The mouse works, but when I change the two thumb buttons to copy and paste, its ignored. It stays at back and forward. Its really annoying because I've been using those buttons as copy and paste for years and now when I hit it it will go backwars on whatever page I'm working on.

Also when I click on mouse in the control panel a message pops up: "Some mouse settings might not work until you connect a Microsoft mouse to a USB port on your computer or set up a Mircosoft mouse that uses Bluetooth technology."

Ovbiously its plugged in via USB, the mouse worked fine and all the other buttons on XP, now I just cant change any buttons to anything else.

Any suggestions?

CD/DVD drives not working

spartacus1875 — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 13:10:49 GMT

just tried to install some software onto my laptop by inserting the cd into the cd rom, nothing happened so entered 'my computer' to see that the cd/dvd drive was missing. i went into device manager to the relevant devices and checked the properties, this message was there:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

i tried updating the driver but it says:

The best driver software for your machine is already installed.
Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date.

Any ideas on how i can fix this?

Runnin Programs in Task Bar

face — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:50:28 GMT

When I start programs, there are a couple I start in a specific order so that they are in a specific order on the Task Bar. Every so often, these two programs swap positions on the Task Bar. Why is this, it irritates me!

Program 1 is Lotus Note. Program 2 is Firefox.

Thanks!

Windows Experience Index

aussietaff — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:05:43 GMT

Hi, I have Vista Home Premium and when I try to update my WEI it goes through all the assessment process and at the very end comes up with the message "Cannot complete assessment The assessment or other operation did not complete successfully. This is due to an error being reported from the operating system, driver, or other component"

It has been like this for a number of months and at the same time, the Windows Help, lost all the headings and icons at the beginning of each paragraph, Where there should be a heading or an Icon, there is a box with a tiny X in the top left corner.
Any help would be appreciated.

[SOLVED] Error 0x800423F3 when backing up or restoring

khayes — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:28:47 GMT

Hi all,

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FE780G that is just a little over a year old. It originally came with Windows XP MCE. I upgraded to Vista Home Premium through the Sony Express Ugrade that came with the system.

I have been running Vista since April 2007. I have had once a weekautomatic backups running since that time and never had a problem.

This week the back up failed and gave the following message

"A shadow copy could not be created for the following reason. The writer experienced a transient error (0x800423F3).

I then tried to restore to a previous point just prior to the last backup and got the same message.

I'm not sure whether it is related, but I also can not access any of the system information using Windows Mangement System Information tool. In System Information I get the following message

"Can't collect information. Cannot access the Windows Instrumentation software. Windows management files may be moved or missing"

I haven't installedany new software or updated any drivers in the last week.

After searching for some answers I've done the following

Checked services to make sure VSS is started and checked to make sure WMI is started.

No help.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could provide some assistance here.

Thanks,

Ken

Can anyone help me with my administrator account

mRNA — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:10:04 GMT

I followed the directions on the net and had my "only administrator account" in my computer hidden by doing the "regedit" stuff(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current version\Winlogon\SpecialAccount\Userlist>>>and I added a key). But, I suddnely found out that I could not activate the administrator account anymore even in the safe mode. And what's worse, i even left my only account(not a administrator account) under parental control that i almost cannot change any settings now. what shall i do??

I've tried to log on with safe mode and change the key, but I failed to do it.

I really really really don't want to reload the computer and lost everything

HELP PROFILE!!!

captain — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:31:38 GMT

I tried to logon to my account on my computer and it said :

The User Profile Service service failed the logon.
User profile cannot be loaded.

I found a bit about it on the windows site but it ended up saying I should delete my account because it was temporary! This account has all the pictures of my 2 year odl neice we have taken and all my photography, all of my writings, EVERYTHIGN!!!

the computer didn't delete any of it. I checked and it said that the 100 GB was still used on my hard drive.

I am going totally insane. I am using a different account on the same computer.

HELP HELP HELP!!!!!

dell
2GB ram
144GB hdd
ask if you need anything else

Hig GIG counf on HD

milgar — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:43:55 GMT

I am using Vista and show a total of 37 Gig usage on HD- I checked all my files including the hidden files and can only account for about 17 GIG. Where could 20 GIG's be hiding.

[SOLVED]BSOD - Stop error codes

SearingNegus — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:52:08 GMT

I have only just registered for this forum and have read a really usefull guide about bsod and stop error codes that gives great advice for fixing the root cause of the problem from within windows. What I cant work out is how do i begin to fix the situation if vista wont start at all. Each time we try to boot the computer the following error appears.

STOP:c000021a {fatal system error}
The initital sessesion process or system process terminated
status of 0x00000000 (0xc0000001 0x0010048c).
This system has been shut down.

The operating system is Vista Ultimate and has been working fine for ages now. In the build up to the bsod he was burning a dvd he created from his holiday pics and videos. I am asuming this is still linked to a poor device driver like what the previous article has said but I would really appreciate someadvice as to how to fix it if you cant access vista at all and do not have the use of those clever diagnostic tools.

Any help greatly appreciated.

thumbnail settings question

karkalec — Sat, 03 May 2008 11:36:17 GMT

I'm having a problem with thumbnails in a giant folder of video files eating up so much cpu (loading the thumbnails) when I open the folder that it's pretty much unusable--takes 10 minutes to load them, then media player freezes. I have a dual core 2.4 ghz with 3 gigs of ram. What I'm wondering is if there's some way to set thumbnail options for certain types of files or certain folders only. When I selected "always show icons, never thumbnails" (Organize/Folder and search options/view, top option) the problem went away and performance was good. The problem is, that setting affects all files in every folder on the computer, including both hard drives and all types of media. This is a pain for jpegs in particular, to not be able to see what they are.

Is there a way to...

a) set folder options specific to a folder which do not affect other folders

or

b) set thumbnails to load on jpegs but not video files

thanks in advance for helping me solve this annoying problem.

justin

Sleep mode problems

Les — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:32:10 GMT

When my CPU goes into sleep mode automatically, I can re-boot the CPU by moving the mouse or hitting any key, but The monitor does not re-boot.

I have to pull the plug and restart from scratch to enable the monitor.

I understand there have been some issues on this, and it has been identified as an inherent fault with VISTA. I am using Vista Ultimate.

Any suggestions as to how I can fix this problem would be gratefully appreciated.

Les

Bad_pool_caller error in the mornings only

sloooo — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:17:53 GMT

Every time I start my computer up, I always get a blue screen with a "bad_pool_caller" error. The code it shows is 0X000000C2. At the bottom it tells me it is doing a physical dump of the memory. My RAM checks out fine. Hard drives are good. The thing that gets me is that it ONLY does it in the morning. I have never had that error any other time. Any help would be great since i'm pulling my hair out now.

I build computers for myself and friends and family and am comfortable troubleshooting everything, and I have. I'm just kind of dumbfounded with this issue. I'll list my system specs below.

Windows Vista Home 32 bit

Asus P5N-E SLI mobo

3 Gigs Corsair Extreme DDR 2 RAM

4-250 Gig SATA hard drives

Duel Nvidia 8600 GT vidio cards

Offical Guide to Fixing BSOD/STOP errors!

Jason — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:26:51 GMT

Background

This guide will show you how to use Free Windows Debugging tools to analyze the mini dumps which occur after a BSOD(Blue Screen of Death). Windows Debugging Tools include an application called WinDgb in which70% of the time will return the source of the bluescreen.A mini or kernel memory dump occurs when a windows Kernel level process makes an error causing the entire OS to issue a STOP command, hence the blue screen. Kernel level process's and different from user level process (applications like IE, Word etc.. are User level process's). Kernel level process run at the core of Windows appearing as device drivers and other very low level software used to communicate with raw hardware I/O, and system memory management. This is commonly why most people say you have a driver issue when your computer begins experiencing STOP errors i.e"Blue Screens".

95% of the time the OS is not a fault for a STOP error but a poorly written device driver. So don't blame Microsoft!

What happens when there is a STOP error?

When Vista encounters a STOP it will flash the common blue screen, dump the physical memory to the hard drive and restart. Now in past Windows Operating Systems you would need to change a system setting in order to stop the system from restarting in order to read the actual STOP error code on the blue screen. This can still be done under: Right Click My Computer > Properties > Advanced Properties (Left Pane) > Startup and Recovery Settings > uncheck the auto restart box. Most of the time this will not be necessary as the next time you log on after a blue screen restart Vista will prompt you with a little window describing the STOP error code and where the dump file can be found.

STOP Error options Windows:

NOTE: It is generally better to have a small memory dump then a kernel dump as more info is at hand for the debugger.

Windows Error Solution Window:

Locating the memory dump file

Looking at the photo above, the first file location listed will appear similiar to:

C:\Windows\Minidump\MiniXXXXXX.dmp (XXX is a random identifier)

This is the location in which we will use later when using Window Debugger to search for the driver which caused this STOP error or "Blue Screen".

Using Windows Debugging Tools

To begin you must download the free tools from Microsoft here: (If you are unsure which version of Windows you have x86 or x64, most likely you have x86)

x86 Download:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/installx86.mspx

x64 Download:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/install64bit.mspx

Download and start the Installation

Upon the completion of installation go to your start menu and locate "Debuggin Tools for Windows" and click on WinDBg.

Once loaded, click File > Symbol File Path and enter (without quotes) "SRV*DownstreamStore*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols"

Opening the Memory Dump:

Now Click File > Open Crash Dump and navigate to the location of the file we found earlier, and hit OK. You will be prompted to save workspace, and hit yes.

Now wait 10 seconds or so depending on how fast your PC is for the application to load up the memory dump. Don't be alarmed if you see messages at the end such as:

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for vmm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for vmm.sys

This just means that the symbols file we loaded earlier could not locate information for this particular driver, most likely because it is 3rd party and not supported. This shouldn't be of any concern.

Begin the analyzing the memory dump!

This part is quite simple located the line which reads:

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

Click the hyperlinked "!analyze -v" and it will begin to locate the source driver of the STOP error. You can also type this syntax into the textbox at the bottom of the screen.

Locate the PROCESS_NAME line for a listing of the process in which was involved in the STOP and scroll down to fine the IMAGE_NAME which will display the underlying driver at fault.

In my Case Virtual PC.exe was the process and the driver Vmm.sys. This in turn seemed to be quite accurate as I was using Virtual Pc at the time of crash.

Other Commands(Type into textbox at bottom of debugger:

The !analyze -show command displays the Stop error code and its parameters. The Stop error code is also known as the bug check code.
The !analyze -v command displays verbose output.
The lm N T command lists the specified loaded modules. The output includes the status and the path of the module.

So I know the problem driver/process...Now What!?

You could issue the command lmv m drivername and it will give you info on that particular driver such as its location, its date (which can be helpful in determining if its an old driver that needs updating). Since you now know the driver name you can google and check the manufacturers site for an updated driver which Should fix the problem.

So Is that it...Am I Done?..Beware:

Using WinDBg is not an instant fix, it is not always correct and sometimes will not find a solution. If this is the case I suggest you run a memory test on your computer to make sure your memory is running correctly and not the source of the problem (Bad memory is a common cause for Blue Screens). Type "Memory" into your start menu and click the only option, this is the built in windows memory test which works very well for ruling out memory problems.

Uninstall mesed up my desktop

Shelbyshines — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:11:22 GMT

Hi,

I am not as computer savvy as some of you here, so I need help!

My daughter downloaded something called firefox. I didn't like it so I uninstalled it from my laptop. Now, my desktop icons won't work. I tried going to default programs and change internet related (I thought) things to IE..but now all of my icons even on my start window are showing IE..and I can't open anything on the start menu or desktop using an icon. HELP!

My computer won't go into sleep mode

Jonat45 — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:34:26 GMT

I have just reinstalled Vista 32bit Home version and have found that if I try to put the computer into sleep mode, the system reboots and comes back with the "windows did not shut down properly" screen.

I have looked for advice and was told to update all my graphics drivers which I have done.

I found that an adapter called Microsoft 6 to 4 wouldn't update because of unrecognised drivers (code 31)

(I have 2 nvidea 6800 graphics cards)

But it ran ok on older drivers before.

Any ideas would help

John

Hung Programs will not close. HOW do I close them without reboot??

rag133 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:57:53 GMT

THis has happened several times to me so far, a program will hang and I cannot shut it down. It happened twice today with Windows Explorer and off and on with other programs like IE. I try to close, nothing. I go to task manager and shut it down there, nothing happens. The only way I found to unfreeze it is to reboot when it asks me to close the program and continue the shut down and I say yes.

Is there another way to shut these programs down?

Thanks

problem with printer

philip41 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:30:33 GMT

Hope someone can shed some light on this strange printer problem.

We have 2 wireless laptops both running vista home premium and 1 desktop running xp pro.
The printer is a networked HP photosmart 2575 all-in- one

The desktop and 1 of the lap tops have no problem with the printer at all, however the other laptop an Compaq presario v6000 does.

What happens is add new printer and the printer works fine, reboot and go to print something and Vista is reporting that the printer is offline, when infact it is not, the only way around this is to delete the printer and add a new one.

The printer software has been installed and is upto date.
Is there anything i may be missing here.

New computer

MafiaLord91 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:38:53 GMT

I have built myself a new computer. I am having lockups while trying to multitask and I thought it was my AMD Phenom 9600 TLB issue but I have done some stability tests and my system does not crash. I am wondering if I have bad RAM or an issue with the RAM. My RAM is 4GB (2 2GB dual-channel sticks) G.skill ddr2-1000 but my motherboard (asus m3a32-mvp wifi edition) does not run at that frequency I can underclock my ram and run at 800 mhz or overclock and run at 1066 mhz. Windows Vista continually hangs while multitasking or trying to install software. I only have a few days to return my RAM if needed.

help

pinkee99 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:52:02 GMT

when I try to go on my computer it keeps going through this blue screen that says configuring updates 3 of 3 0% complete do not shut down and then it goes to the shutting down screen and then it all starts over ...its been doing this for sometime now can someone please help?

DVD Drive no longer plays movies

leonidas 540bc — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:49:08 GMT

Hi - My cd/dvd burner was working fine, but after SP1 it now no longer plays DVD movie discs - and it's doing my head in!!

It does everything else - burns dvds, reads/writes cds...

just wanted to know if anyone else had a similar experience????

cheers

external SATA drive problems with VISTA

Steve264 — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 06:25:30 GMT

I have a Seagate Momentus 100Gb SATA 2.5" HDD in a G-Tech USB 2.0 interface enclosure.

This works fine if plugged into a winXP machine, will transfer data both ways acceptably fast and keep running all day.

Plug it into Vista (6.0.6001 Service Pack 1) and it will be recognised initially, but if I start to transfer data it will run for about 15 seconds and then brick - the drive operating light is on, but the data transfer hangs and Vista sits there telling me 15 seconds left (or whatever). After a further delay of about 30-60 seconds, the drive disappears out of disk management console and is no longer listed as a USB device.

This is happening on my two Vista machines (AMD Turion Laptop, Intel Core 2 Duo desktop) so my feeling is the common factor is Vista.

Anyone come across this, or any information to explain it? And hopefully a solution?

Cheers,
Steve

Windows Explorer Blues/Super Lag

karkalec — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:35:06 GMT

I'm having trouble with my computer lagging when I open a file with large amounts of video files in it (10+ gb). The computer takes a loooong time to refresh the folder when I first open it. When I click on a video file, it takes a long time to open, and sometimes I get a "Windows Explorer Has Stopped Working" error.

I'm running a dual core 2.4 ghz with 3 gigs of ram and an 8800gt video card, so I should have pretty smoking fast performance. Could this be a virus or malware of some kind? My Norton scans and all my free spyware scans are showing nothing...

Justin

The testing for several DVD to iPod converters

nongying613 — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:37:58 GMT

[Text removed by Moderator]

In your hurry to post, you failed to take the time to look over our Forum rules.

Check out #6:

The following are not allowed:

1) Public Linking or exchanging of pirated software.
2) Posting of links to places to download or view pirated software.
3) Posting of CD Keys or Serial #'s.
4) Any type of spam related material (advertising, flaming, general forum abuse).
5) Multiple posting of the same topic.
6) No Advertising period.

I'm requesting that you be banned.