Boot Log

[Devon Sedlydins]

Sometimes my Dell Windows XP system will hang on boot up, but not
always. I know how to hit F8 and ask for a boot log to be created, but
I don't want to do that every time. How can I create a log so that I
can see at what point the system fails, on those occasions when things
go wrong? When failing, it will hang after the Desktop icons have been
created, at which point the pointer/hourglass freezes and forces me to
unplug the machine, since neither ctrl+alt+delete nor the on/off
button will function.

DS

 

[Rich]

Sometimes my Dell Windows XP system will hang on boot up, but not
always. I know how to hit F8 and ask for a boot log to be created, but
I don't want to do that every time. How can I create a log so that I
can see at what point the system fails, on those occasions when things
go wrong? When failing, it will hang after the Desktop icons have been
created, at which point the pointer/hourglass freezes and forces me to
unplug the machine, since neither ctrl+alt+delete nor the on/off
button will function.

DS

Boot up in safe mode. That will show you what driver is hanging as they
scroll by then it will hang then write the name of that one down and start
research to find a fix for a flakey driver.

Good luck, Rich

 

[R. McCarty]

Check your System Event Log. Windows logs events categorized as
Informational, Warning and Errors. If the issue is a Service that fails to
start or start in a timely manner the data should be logged.
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]
Expand the System Event Log and scan the Right Pane for red icons
that denote errors. Double Clicking each will display the details box
with a short description and an event ID #.

 

[Devon Sedlydins]

Check your System Event Log. Windows logs events categorized as
Informational, Warning and Errors. If the issue is a Service that fails to
start or start in a timely manner the data should be logged.
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]
Expand the System Event Log and scan the Right Pane for red icons
that denote errors. Double Clicking each will display the details box
with a short description and an event ID #.

Sometimes my Dell Windows XP system willhangon boot up, but not
always. I know how to hit F8 and ask for a boot log to be created, but
I don't want to do that every time. How can I create a log so that I
can see at what point the system fails, on those occasions when things
go wrong? When failing, it willhangafter the Desktop icons have been
created, at which point the pointer/hourglass freezes and forces me to
unplug the machine, since neither ctrl+alt+delete nor the on/off
button will function.

DS

Thanks - that log seems to indicate repeated failures like,

Time Provider NtpClient: An error occurred during DNS lookup of the
manually configured peer 'time-nw.nist.gov,0x1'. NtpClient will try
the DNS lookup again in 60 minutes. The error was: A socket operation
was attempted to an unreachable host. (0x80072751)

and,

The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or
more time sources, however none of the sources are currently
accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 60
minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.

I don't recall configuring any time programs, but possibly I did and
forgot. Is it safe to delete these entries, once I find them with
Regedit?

DS

 

[R. McCarty]

For Time Server issues you can usually resolve that by simply changing
the currently set server to an alternate.
A list of available servers here:
http://tf.nist.gov/service/time-servers.html
Open Data/Time applet, Internet Time (TAB) and make change & test
with Update Now button.

Check your System Event Log. Windows logs events categorized as
Informational, Warning and Errors. If the issue is a Service that fails
to
start or start in a timely manner the data should be logged.
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]
Expand the System Event Log and scan the Right Pane for red icons
that denote errors. Double Clicking each will display the details box
with a short description and an event ID #.

Sometimes my Dell Windows XP system willhangon boot up, but not
always. I know how to hit F8 and ask for a boot log to be created, but
I don't want to do that every time. How can I create a log so that I
can see at what point the system fails, on those occasions when things
go wrong? When failing, it willhangafter the Desktop icons have been
created, at which point the pointer/hourglass freezes and forces me to
unplug the machine, since neither ctrl+alt+delete nor the on/off
button will function.

DS

Thanks - that log seems to indicate repeated failures like,

Time Provider NtpClient: An error occurred during DNS lookup of the
manually configured peer 'time-nw.nist.gov,0x1'. NtpClient will try
the DNS lookup again in 60 minutes. The error was: A socket operation
was attempted to an unreachable host. (0x80072751)

and,

The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or
more time sources, however none of the sources are currently
accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 60
minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.

I don't recall configuring any time programs, but possibly I did and
forgot. Is it safe to delete these entries, once I find them with
Regedit?

DS

 

[Devon Sedlydins]

Check your System Event Log. Windows logs events categorized as
Informational, Warning and Errors. If the issue is a Service that fails to
start or start in a timely manner the data should be logged.
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]
Expand the System Event Log and scan the Right Pane for red icons
that denote errors. Double Clicking each will display the details box
with a short description and an event ID #.

Thanks - that log seems to indicate repeated failures like,

Time Provider NtpClient: An error occurred during DNS lookup of the
manually configured peer 'time-nw.nist.gov,0x1'. NtpClient will try
the DNS lookup again in 60 minutes. The error was: A socket operation
was attempted to an unreachable host. (0x80072751)

and,

The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or
more time sources, however none of the sources are currently
accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 60
minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.

I don't recall configuring any time programs, but possibly I did and
forgot. Is it safe to delete these entries, once I find them with
Regedit?

DS

As a final note to this topic, in case anyone needs it in the future,
I started deleting startup items using msconfig. The culprit appears
to have been a Veritas Storage Guard product - sgtray.exe. Dunno how
it got into my startup files, but I have had no problems since I don't
load it any more:

http://www.winsite.com/bin/Info?1000000034906

The Event Viewer never noted the problem, I assume because the system
failed while trying to load the sgtray thingee.

Thanks for the help in any case!

DS