CTRL-ALT-DEL no longer kills non-responding programs

[Northlondon]

Anybody else found this?
All I get is a window asking if I want to report the fault (which I do -
successfully).
BUT, the non-responding programme just can't be closed.
I had thought the days of pressing the restart button were over, but
apparently not.
Any advice?

TIA


PS: I'm using WindowsXP professional SP2 and the problem usually occurs with
WORD when also using Realplayer.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

To open the Task Manager...

Ctrl + Alt + Del
Ctrl + Shift + Esc
Right click Taskbar | Select: Task Manager |
Under the Applications right click the program |
Select End Task | Under the Processes tab right
click the process | End Process | Answer YES

 

[Northlondon]

To open the Task Manager...

Ctrl + Alt + Del
Ctrl + Shift + Esc
Right click Taskbar | Select: Task Manager |
Under the Applications right click the program |
Select End Task | Under the Processes tab right
click the process | End Process | Answer YES

No. I'd already tried killing the process. That doesn't work either.
Just get caught in a loop where I try to kill the application (or the
process) and Microsoft asks me to report the problem. I report the problem
and then try to kill it again and Microsoft asks me to report it.....

I've run through these loops several times until I get tired and hit the
restart button.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

What program/process?

 

[Northlondon]

What program/process?

--

I guess it could be anything, but recently it's been realplayer, WORD,
Norton Utilities. Each listed in the task manager as not responding. I
didn't keep a note of which processes every time, but once it was
iexplorer.exe and another time it was sysdoc32.exe (Norton Utilities).

 

[Wesley Vogel]

I have no idea. I've had a few apps that were obstinate about closing, but
nothing that would *not* close. And nothing that wanted to send an Error
Report because it wouldn't close.

 

[Guest]

I am chasing a problem that may be a root to this one. IE 6 goes busy when I
click on a link or the BACK button. Now nothing in the main message queue
works:
CTL-ALT-DEL starts taskmgr.exe but no window displays
No active Application window repaints on exposure
Task bar and START not responsive

Yet MSOFFICE taskbar pops in and out (but no visible launch)
Some applications react (repaint window) on mouse hover but cannot be dragged
WINDOW-L sequence activates fast user switch and I can logon as someone else
ALT-TAB shows active appications and a moveable hightlight but no change in
display outside the ALT-TAB window. (I think there is a Message Box being
displayed UNDER the IE window that never gets to update real display and is
waiting for input it never gets--I see a generic window icon in the ALT-TAB
list, that
is similar to what I see occasionally when a Message/Warning dialog is
displayed)


I have tried killing IE via the alternate administrator user. Now the
desktop is BLACK
where IE window was located and frequently I cannot get WINDOW-L to fast
switch.
I tried killing the explorer.exe in the hung user, fast user switch back and
clean desktop WITHOUT TASK BAR AND START BUTTON. Now I can move window
previously under IE but cannot open new window, start tasks, or anything
useful.

Before I noticed WINDOW-L usually works, I had to use power-off button which
starts a shutdown with many "not responding" dialog displays needing Kill Now

Frequently, the shutdown progressed to the welcome screen (Saving your ...
and Shutting down) after killing the explorer.exe running the desktop. The
automatic reset sometimes would not happen. Then I hold in power button for

4sec to force power off. Reboot shows no improper shutdown activity.

I suspect the "messages" dispatcher is hung in some "helper" or
"application" so as to block entire desktop from updating (or is it a
priority problem with a dead-locked hi-priority task that is lower than mouse
tracking and a few dialog display functions?)