DX9 and XPe - Question for MS

[Howard Smith]

I have posted this before, but never had a response from MS, only from
Nikolai Vorontsov who has had similar issues.

When you install DX9 on a XPe build (pre or post Fbreseal) then eventually
(after a couple of reboots) IIS will die (along with DTC sometimes as well).

Given the fact that the DX9 SDK now supports managed .NET code this is
becoming a good choice.

Do MS know why this happens? and is there a timeline for a DX9 QFE?

More people are coming up against this (post from Joe 16/1/04 10:17)

Thanks

Howard Smith
Dynamax Technologies Ltd
www.dynamax.co.uk

 

[Andy Allred [MS]]

You're saying you install DX9 from the self extracting EXE via microsoft.com
and that it's causing a regression in IIS on your image?

Andy

 

[Howard Smith]

If I install DX9 as you mentioned. Then what happens is that a number of
things can happen

1. IIS dies
2. In component services > computers > My computer is not available
3. The DTC service marks itself for deletion

If IIS does not die completely then asp does not work.

Niklolai saw the same problem, however he only saw it repeadedly on a dual
processor XEON system, but only very occasionally on a single CPU (Niklolai
if you read this please repost your results).
I am working with a Via M1000 Mini-ITX board, and I see it all the time. I
thought it was only if you installed DX9 pre fbreseal, but it' the same post
as well. If you do it pre fbreseal then DTC dies as well as IIS, post just
seems to be IIS



Regards

Howard

This happens after a few reboots after installing DX9 - i.e. not straight
away

 

[Howard Smith]

Andy

What actually seems to happen is that eventually WWW and FTP services do not
start at reboot. If you try to start them manually you receive an error
about a dependancy. However both RPC and Security Accounts Manager are
running.

Also something else I noticed which may or may not be related is that if you
right click > properties a folder, it takes quite a long while to return the
properties.

One thing I did after installing DX9 was that I changed the machine name.
Next week I will try without changing the machine name, and see if it lasts
longer. It sort of feels like a SID issue?

Regards

Howard

 

[Nikolai Vorontsov]

Hi, Howard & Andy!

If I install DX9 as you mentioned. Then what happens is that a number of
things can happen

1. IIS dies
2. In component services > computers > My computer is not available
3. The DTC service marks itself for deletion

If IIS does not die completely then asp does not work.

Niklolai saw the same problem, however he only saw it repeadedly on a dual
processor XEON system, but only very occasionally on a single CPU (Niklolai
if you read this please repost your results).

Yes, it's quite possible error. So the scenario:
1. Dual XEON machine (as I mentioned it's also reproduced on a single
CPU PC but much much rare).
2. FBA with last command to run directx setup (and reboot after)
3. installing directx (some mouse click), reboot.
4. FBA finished, cloning.
5. Deploying cloned image, first run.
6. MSDTC is marked as prepared for deletion (I even posted event log
messages).
7. Next reboot - MSDTC disappeared, IIS started but ASP doesn't work.

 

[Howard Smith]

Hi Nikolai

Thanks for posting, hopefully this problem can get 'nailed'
The problem you have is slightly different to mine (although same end
result). With my setup IIS completly stops!! which is exactly what happens
if you reseal the image too many times, which is what makes me think it;s
SID related.

Regards

Howard

 

[Howard Smith]

Bump

Hi Nikolai

Thanks for posting, hopefully this problem can get 'nailed'
The problem you have is slightly different to mine (although same end
result). With my setup IIS completly stops!! which is exactly what happens
if you reseal the image too many times, which is what makes me think it;s
SID related.

Regards

Howard

 

[Nikolai Vorontsov]

Hi, Howard!

Bump

Well, I would like to mention that the current XPe (with all patches)
behaves different.

So, I'm using a dual machine, patched XPe, directx opk, direct media
formats and windows media codecs. I also use a System Cloning Tool with
all clearings set to FALSE.

I got the following results:
In 50% of FBA runs the IIS is damaged. But I was able to get a stable
version on second try (with dirctex9, and so on). It still recreates
MSDTC for the first reboot, but finally both IIS and DTC work and has no
any suspicious event log records. So, looks OK for me.

 

[Howard Smith]

Nikolai

Thats not what I am getting.
On XPe SP1 without QFE's DTC dies. However XPe SP1 with all QFE's here is
what happens.

1. Create image with all QFE's and with cmiResealPhase set to 0
2. After boot install all components not in XPe build, which are
latest shockwave, latest flash, QuickTime, DX9 etc
3. Run Fbreseal - shut down, capture image and ghost.

Now here is where it gets very strange.

If I put one of the hard drives back on the ORIGINAL motherboard used for
fbreseal it works and I cannot seem to get it to fail. But if I put a drive
on an IDENTICAL motherboard (Via M10000), then eventually the WWW and FTP
service will not start up - no errors, or warnings nothing. The only thing
we do to the image is change the machine name to something meaningfull.

This makes me think that somewhere/somehow a standard XP assett is being
copied over XPe, which brings in XP pro copy protection - Or maybe not. It
is very difficult to track without any event logs, and the time/number of
reboots before this happens is non predictable

If DX9 is excluded from the procedure above it all works fine, which makes
me nervous about applying DX9 anymore.

I am setting up testbed's now, and I am going to document every step of the
procedure, so it can be reproduced, or sorted.

The new version of our app, will use DX9 .NET managed code so its important
for me to resolve.

Andy - If you read this thread, are there any timelines for DX9 component?

Regards

Howard

Hi, Howard!

Bump

Well, I would like to mention that the current XPe (with all patches)
behaves different.

So, I'm using a dual machine, patched XPe, directx opk, direct media
formats and windows media codecs. I also use a System Cloning Tool with
all clearings set to FALSE.

I got the following results:
In 50% of FBA runs the IIS is damaged. But I was able to get a stable
version on second try (with dirctex9, and so on). It still recreates
MSDTC for the first reboot, but finally both IIS and DTC work and has no
any suspicious event log records. So, looks OK for me.

 

[Howard Smith]

Well this problem is not just limited to XPe.

I built a XP-Pro image on a Compaq D530, and using Windows update applied
ALL current updates which includes DX9. Configured IIS, and applied all the
extras we use (as per previous post) and using sysprep sealed the image. Now
if I clone and put in the original machine all is OK, but on a different
D530 IIS dies (service failure), but no event logs at all !!!!!.

If I remove IIS using add/remove, and then re-add it it then works - However
this luxury is not afforded me with XPe.
I know that this is also DX9 related because we have an image for the
Compaq's which is without DX9 and all is fine.

Just thought I would post this.

I'm gonna post also on the DX forum and see if this gets a reply

Howard Smith