mis-configured XP Media edition to be a server

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When I purchased this Vaio Media computer, I think my employee networked it
incorrectly by creating this computer as a SERVER. At this time, I only use
PEER-TO-PEER. How can I reverse this action?

PROBLEMS I am having. Most of the time when I try to re-boot this computer,
it can take 5-30 minutes to shut down. It may take an hour or so to re-boot
if another computer is accessing a file stored on it. Being a "server" is the
only situation that I can think of that might cause this problem.

Thanks for any input!
Paul
 
Tilework said:
When I purchased this Vaio Media computer, I think my employee
networked it incorrectly by creating this computer as a SERVER. At
this time, I only use PEER-TO-PEER. How can I reverse this action?

PROBLEMS I am having. Most of the time when I try to re-boot this
computer, it can take 5-30 minutes to shut down. It may take an hour
or so to re-boot if another computer is accessing a file stored on it.
Being a "server" is the only situation that I can think of that might
cause this problem.

Thanks for any input!
Paul
Click to expand...

There are many reasons for a slow shutdown. I don't know what you mean
by "being a server". Only a server operating system can provide a
domain, and Windows XP Media Edition is not a server operating system.
Do you mean your employee said the workstation is a member of a domain
without having a domain present?

Here is an excellent shutdown troubleshooter:
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm

However, based on your post I would suggest you have a local
professional come in and take a look at your setup.

Malke
 
Thank you for your response!
I didn't understand the write-ups you mentened on the slow shutdown site,
but will try again later.

After getting the computer out of the box, (this was months ago), the
employee that uses it set it up. He had the automatic set-up ask the
questions. From what he and I remember, the software asked if this computer
was to be a "server" and he answered yes. He was so excited about getting a
new computer that he was just clicking anything that looked like it would let
him get online the fastest. (not mhz fast, time fast). So, we don't really
know how he got it running.

I would NOT mind clearing this computer completely to the OUT OF BOX
condition. Having this computer take so much time to re-boot costs me
hundreds of dollars every month. Having a local expert wouldn't be bad
either, I was just hoping to possible get some answers to quick fix it this
weekend since I had a few minutes.

Thank you again for your time.
Paul
 
Tilework said:
Thank you for your response!
I didn't understand the write-ups you mentened on the slow shutdown
site, but will try again later.

After getting the computer out of the box, (this was months ago), the
employee that uses it set it up. He had the automatic set-up ask the
questions. From what he and I remember, the software asked if this
computer was to be a "server" and he answered yes. He was so excited
about getting a new computer that he was just clicking anything that
looked like it would let him get online the fastest. (not mhz fast,
time fast). So, we don't really know how he got it running.

I would NOT mind clearing this computer completely to the OUT OF BOX
condition. Having this computer take so much time to re-boot costs me
hundreds of dollars every month. Having a local expert wouldn't be bad
either, I was just hoping to possible get some answers to quick fix it
this weekend since I had a few minutes.
Click to expand...

Since we really don't know what your employee did and since you don't
have a high level of computer skills (and that's not an insult - we all
have our areas of expertise), I would suggest you have the professional
come in and set you up correctly. You certainly can return the machine
to factory condition (and that would be my suggestion if you don't get
a pro), but since you don't know how to set it up correctly that isn't
your best choice.

Since this is obviously a business, spend the money on a good
professional to come in and set up the computer correctly and look over
your business' network, security, backup strategy, etc. This will save
you lots of money in the long run and can help prevent a computing
disaster. For instance, do you even have a disaster plan? Are you doing
backups and taking the backups off-site? Etc. I don't mean for you to
answer those questions now, just that these are the sort of things a
pro will do for you along with getting this one workstation set up
properly.

Good luck,

Malke
 
Malke wrote:

Usually I hate to double-post, but you may find this article I wrote for
my clients useful:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page3.html#11-2-05

I have a lot of small business owners as my clients (and even if you are
a large business owner you should know this stuff) and I've seen
first-hand what happens when they don't know what is going on with
their technical equipment.

Best of luck,

Malke
 
If this helps, the program "DDE SERVER WINDOW" is almost always a
non-responsive program. I don't use this computer, but most times when I try
to re-boot, I must manually "END NOW" after about 3-5 minutes of waiting for
the computer to respond. I don't know what this program does.

Thanks again.
Paul
 
Tilework said:
If this helps, the program "DDE SERVER WINDOW" is almost always a
non-responsive program. I don't use this computer, but most times when
I try to re-boot, I must manually "END NOW" after about 3-5 minutes of
waiting for the computer to respond. I don't know what this program
does.
Click to expand...

You are getting this error because the computer is set up incorrectly.
See my previous posts to you. Either call in a pro, wipe the drive and
start over, or go through the shutdown troubleshooter.

Malke
 
Malke said:
Since we really don't know what your employee did and since you don't
have a high level of computer skills (and that's not an insult - we all
have our areas of expertise), I would suggest you have the professional
come in and set you up correctly. You certainly can return the machine
to factory condition (and that would be my suggestion if you don't get
a pro), but since you don't know how to set it up correctly that isn't
your best choice.

Since this is obviously a business, spend the money on a good
professional to come in and set up the computer correctly and look over
your business' network, security, backup strategy, etc. This will save
you lots of money in the long run and can help prevent a computing
disaster. For instance, do you even have a disaster plan? Are you doing
backups and taking the backups off-site? Etc. I don't mean for you to
answer those questions now, just that these are the sort of things a
pro will do for you along with getting this one workstation set up
properly.

Good luck,

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"
Click to expand...

Again, Thank you for your response and your excellent insight on creating a
"disaster plan". Excellent post, and yes, I have a "plan" ... I "BUS" my
critical data...

"B"ackup ... daily or more often
"U"pload ... Get the data off my physical premises at least weekly
"S"ecure ... I confirm security on all of my computers & storage areas

As I mentioned, I will try again later on the slow shutdown site. Time is a
luxury I have little of and I didn't want to read all of the material on that
site at that time. I took the time to read it now, and have found several
things extreamly helpful ...

Since this computer is used by my (trusted ex-marine ... future son in law)
employee and not me, I had to do a lot of investigation to find out what was
slowing it down.

1) I strongly feel how it was set up was not the best on how this computer
is used. YES, I will call a professional to investigate this further.

2) Itunes was installed on the computer. This was mentioned on the site you
provided. Following the instructions you guided me to has helped.

3) Although I don't know if the CD-ROM drive is a Samsung 24x or not, with
leaving a CD-ROM in the drive as suggested, this seems to help.

4) So far, since I have fixed several problems that I had fixed with your
help, I have not had the shut-down problem. I have set a RESTORE POINT to go
back to as a point of origin that I don't think there is a problem. If the
shut-down problem comes back, I will RESTORE it back to this point and try to
re-create the problem so I know what programs I must restrict using on this
computer.

Thanks!!! Have a GREAT Thanksgiving and a Happy Holliday Season!
Paul
Owner: Tile Work by Paul
 
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