Tag Archives: vista

Strange Vista boot cycle

Computer Aid Posted on by

Another Vista problem.

This time, the system would occasionally stop while booting.

The windows “starting” bar at the bottom would just keep cycling continuously.

So one of the first things I notice is that the hard drive has a few errors, but not enough to trigger SMART to say the drive needs replacing… but enough to be a concern.

So I replace the drive, and that seems to fix the error, but eventually, it re-surfaces.

So I try replacing the power supply, the RAM, even the motherboard, but the error keeps coming back.

Since this problem only happens 1 in 10 restarts, its frustrating to diagnose.

Eventually, I manage to trace it to a faulty SATA DVDRW drive.

There were no other indications that the drive was faulty, and it would cause boot problems even if there  was no disk in the drive.

Looks like another item to add to the “learnt by experience” list…

Repair install of Vista SP2

Computer Aid Posted on by

Its strange, but I’ve not encountered this type of problem before.

A PC has a failing motherboard, so I agree to install a new motherboard/CPU/RAM, and do a repair install of Windows so that no data is lost.

My first problem is that it appears that its not possible to do a repair install of Vista if it has SP1 or SP2 installed.

That shouldn’t be a problem, just create a slipstreamed Vista DVD, with SP2 included… But it seems that Microsoft have somehow prevented people from creating Vista SP2 slipstream DVDs…

Next step: download an ISO image of a standard VISTA SP2 DVD… But these disks seem very rare, and are usually “cracked”, which leads to other potential problems, despite me wanting to use the image legitimately.

Somehow, I stumble upon the windows sysprep command.

Since the motherboard is still mostly functional, I’m able to start the old Vista hardware, run the sysprep command (I use the GUI, and select the generalize, shutdown, and oobe options).

This tells Vista to forget any hardware specifics (which is what stops it from starting if the motherboard is changed), and to ask the usual questions that happen when the PC is started for the very first time (OOBE = out of box experience).

I now transplant the generalised hard drive to the new hardware, and the system now starts up, and allows me to install the new drivers.

The only problem with this, is that it won’t work if the motherboard fails completely, as its then not possible to “generalise” the Vista installation… In that case, its a backup, and clean install scenario.

Error 10107: a system call that should never fail has failed

Computer Aid Posted on by

I was asked to look at fixing a very slow vista laptop (and the internet wasn’t working either).

It took about 10 minutes to start, and everything seemed very slow.

task manager showed that it was using 800Mb out of 1000Mb, so that accounts for part of the slowdown.

A look into the processes, showed that nothing was monopolising the CPU, and the disk drive wasn’t busy either.

The obvious first step was to install MalwareBytes, but It gave a few errors and wouldn’t install.

OK, its looking more likely that there is an infection at work here.

I start in safe mode (with networking), and manage to install and (but not update) malwarebytes… hmmm, nasty.

I decide to scan with the slightly outdated malwarebytes, and it finds a few virus and spyware “leftovers” that were skipped by avast.

But that still doesn’t account for the slowness and the lack of internet.

Next, I start the PC “normally”, and take a look at the windows services.

The first thing that grabs my eye, is that the DNS service is not running.

Since DNS is a very important part of using the internet, it shouldn’t be stopped… so I try to start it, and I get the following error:

Error 10107: a system call that should never fail has failed.

So after I stop laughing, I get off the floor, and decide to look at the event log, and see what kind of error messages the systems has been generating.

But starting the event viewer gives another error:

Error 1747: the authentication service is unknown.

Now this is getting really strange.

I take a look through the list of services, only to find that the event log service is not listed in the services list!

At this point, I decide to scan the net for a solution… and I find a remarkably simple solution:

start an administrator command prompt (start -> search for cmd -> right-click -> “run as administrator”

once the command prompt (black box) starts, type:

netsh winsock reset

then reboot the PC.

Amazingly, the PC is now completely back to normal.

Vista: the things some people will tolerate

Computer Aid Posted on by

I’m still amazed that there are people who purchased low-end PCs when Vista was first released, and are still living in the painful world of a 512Mb Celeron running Vista.

I saw one the other day, and what should have taken me 5 minutes, took over 1 hour… and that was after I removed startup applications that didn’t need to start!

The owner was trying to use the PC to run a business, but she could only use it for a few seconds, then had to walk away, and return a few minutes later to do a few more seconds of work.

I was appalled.

Given that the PC was being leased, then I told her, she would be much, much better off returning the PC, and buying a new one. Or at lease get the leasing company to upgrade the PC.

Microsoft probably don’t realise the extent of the problems that they caused with Vista. They don’t realise that many people don’t know what the problem is, let alone how to fix it, so people will just put up with a horribly slow PC.

Vista cannot see network shares

Computer Aid Posted on by

After a few problems getting vista to see shared network drives on some network attached devices (and sometime on XP shared drives as well), I finally found the solution:

Start -> secpol.msc (in the Search field).

In the left pane: Local Policies -> Security Options. In the right pane: double click on: “Network security: LAN Manager authentication level”.

Local Security Setting tab -> “Send LM & NTLM – use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated” option. -> OK.

Seems like microsoft have used Vista to cut ties with the past (insecure) versions of network share authentication. Of course they failed to realise that network attached drives cannot be easily updated.

connect to bigpond nextG using Vista and BP3USB Maxon modem

Computer Aid Posted on by

I had setup a customers laptop (Vista) with AntiVir (I kept the standard vista firewall and windows defender), and tested that her NextG wireless USB modem (BP3-USB) was working correctly and made sure the system had fully updated itself.

She then travelled out of town for about 3 months, and when she got back, she contacted me, saying that soon after I installed the antivirus, she could no longer connect to the internet.

After a bit more digging, she says that when the problem first happened, she called Bigpond (Telstra) and spent over 1 hour with technical support, until they said it isn’t their problem: it must be the antivirus that’s blocking access to the internet (I suspect they think AntiVir is a full security suite, with firewall, etc… so they point the finger at the antivir firewall… which doesn’t exist in the free version)

I can already smell something fishy.bp3USB

I do a scan with malwarebytes, and it only detects some minor adware infection… nothing that would cause problems connecting to the internet.

Next, I try connecting using the USB modem. It connects correctly, but I can’t view web pages, and pings don’t work.

I look at the Antivirus, defender, and windows updates, and I see most have been updated between 1 and 2 months ago… looks like this has worked, in some fashion, since I last worked on it.

Since it seems to connect, then I start suspecting the firewall. I reset the Vista firewall back to its default settings.

Now, it seems to connect properly. I can view a few web pages, and then: nothing… no internet again.

Hmmm, looks like the firewall problem was masking another problem.

Maybe the BP3USB is damaged or overheating (the internet has many reports of the BP3USB being DOA, and all sorts of reliability problems with them).

So I download the latest drivers from bigpond: http://www.bigpond.com/res/images/helpcenterFAQs/wireless/bwbcmwin32_fullcd_2.13.zip

Hmmm, I notice the Vista laptop has bigpond software version 2.10.6 installed… Yet I’m downloading version 2.13.16

I setup the bp3usb on my own XP laptop, and it works perfectly for over 30 minutes. That means no overheating or other physical faults.

So, back to the customers Vista laptop: uninstall the V2.10.6 software, reboot, then install the V2.13.16 software that I downloaded (and re-enter the username/password)

And now the connection is perfect.

Now, the questions are:

  • why couln’t BP tech support guide the customer into resetting the Vista firewall settings?
  • why couldn’t BP tech support send the customer a CD with the latest software?

Customer says she will try billing telstra for my charges… I wonder how far that will fly?

General Failure. The URL was: xyz Application not found

Computer Aid Posted on by

PC with Vista, and customer can no longer click on a link in outlook.

Instead, a window pops up, saying: General failure. The URL was: {the url you want to see.html} Application not found.

I ask: “when did this start happening?”, and the customer admits he had installed google chrome, but didn’t understand what it did, so he “removed it” (intending to go back to IE7).

I wan’t going to ask the details on how he removed it, as it sound like a simple fix.

A quick looks around the net show an easy fix for XP, but all sorts of registry changes, if you are using vista and IE7.

I found a simpler solution, that also works with Vista:

  • Within IE7, go tools -> internet options (or within control panel: internet options)
  • Advanced -> reset internet explorer settings -> reset -> reset

Please note that this will disable toolbars, reset cookies, reset home pages, search providers (most people won’t notice if this happens anyway).

Vista 64 RAM usage

Computer Aid Posted on by

I tried out Vista 64 for the first time recently. I setup a new PC for a customer wanting to run Adobe illustrator & photoshop CS4.

So without going over-the-top, I got aPC with an intel DP45SG motherboard, a 3Ghz Core 2 duo, 8GB DDR3 RAM, and an ATI 4670.

The installation went smoothly, as did installing AntiVIR, Adobe reader, Java

Java was interesting, as the website suggested I install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions, because I was using a 32-bit browser on a 64-bit OS…

Huh?

Sure enough, task manager shows all 32-bit processes with a “*32” at the end of the name… including ie7

I have a bit of a hunt around, and I see both ie7-32 and ie7-64 are installed… although ie7-32 is the default (apparently because many websites are not activex-64-aware… yet).

Other than that, the biggest surprise, is the RAM usage. Once started (with no other apps running, except for antivirus), task manager shows Vista-64 using anywhere between 1GB and 1.5GB… whereas I usually see vista 32 using 600 – 800Mb .

I’d heard that many 64-bit OSes can use up to twice the ram of the equivalent 32-bit OS, but I was still surprised.

Even so, that still leaves “only” 6.5Gb RAM for applications, which should make adobes CS4 apps really fly.

Hardware drivers are still the biggest issue with Vista 64. Luckily I didn’t need to install too many external devices… So my biggest problem was with a USB wireless adapter. Out of 4 cheap ebay adapters, only 1 actually had correct drivers (both on the CD and automatically downloaded from the net).

The customers printer installed flawlessly from the internet… I was pleasantly surprised.

So how is it? Its quick. I’m not equipped to do extensive benchmarks, but I didn’t notice any of the typical Vista delays when doing things like opening the control panel. The Vista “experience index” was 5.7 (based on the lowest score from the CPU).

So I can see that 64-bit is the way of the future… but only once 64-bit hardware drivers become commonplace.

Vista SP1 error code 80200010

Computer Aid Posted on by

I did a Vista recovery for a customer, and after the usual batch of updates, I was finally asked to install SP1.

OK, I knew SP1 can take a while, so I decided to start it, then come back a few hours later, and see what happened.

Well, it looks like it generated an error code 80200010

So I figure: Oh well, I’ll try it again.

This time it seems to “resume” the SP1 download from 47%

Hmmm, looks like either the download got interrupted, or the wireless network connection dropped out, or the PC went to sleep / standby during the download.

So this time I regularly check the progress of the download, and I have no more issues, and SP1 installs without any more hiccups.

Vista could not perform this operation because the default mail client is not properly installed

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer recently bought a Vista PC.

After a few weeks he started getting a strange error message:

Could not perform this operation because the default mail client is not properly installed.

This would happen whenever he would click on a mail link within internet explorer.

It didn’t take long for me to realise that there was something wrong with mailto: links on any web page (and also any mailto: link within html emails.

I’m sure there is a setting (or a registry entry), to fix up the mailto: association.

I tried the following steps until it started to work:

Start -> Default Programs -> Set Program access and computer defaults -> Custom -> default email program (you need to scroll down for this) -> set registry values to default.

Control Panel -> Default Programs -> set your default programs -> select windows mail (or your normal email client) -> Choose defaults for this program -> make sure all boxes are ticked (eg .eml, mailto:, email link)

Control Panel -> internet options -> Advanced -> Reset