NTVDM Error on HP Elitebook 2530p

[Karine Rivet]

We have 60+ HP desktop and laptop PC's deployed in our environment all of
which are running the same, single corporate image. We recently acquired and
deployed our first 3 HP Elitebook 2530p laptops with the same corporate image.

Our corporate image includes a shortcut in the startup group to run a batch
file named lwinsd.bat. The lwinsd.bat batch file calls/runs a secondary
batch file named winsd.bat.

All of our PC's run the batch file(s) successfully and without issue and
have for years. The 3 new Elitebook 2530p laptops periodically generate the
attached NTVDM error at the same time the batch(s) file is running. They
don't generate the error every day; perhaps only once every other week.

The error appears to be of no consequence other than annoyance, but I'd like
to understand why it's being generated on only these devices and how I might
prevent it.

 

[Dale Qiao [MSFT]]

Hello Karine,

Thank you for posting.

From your post, my understanding on this issue is: NTVDM error periodically
occurred on HP Elitebook 2530p while running the batch files. If I'm off
base, please feel free to let me know.

Based on my research, NTVDM error can be related to several factors: page
file size, hardware compatibility, corrupted system files and buffer size.
To troubleshoot this kind of issue, I would like to propose the following
suggestions:

1.Increase the page file size.

1)Press Win + Break keys to launch System Utility.
2)Click Advanced System Settings.
3)Click Advanced tab and click Settings under Performance.
4)Click Advanced and click Change.
5)Change the page file size at least to be 20MB.

2.Update the video driver and make sure the video card is on the hardware
compatibility list. If it is not, try using the standard VGA driver.
3.Verify that the WOWEXEC.EXE isn't corrupted by copying over a clean copy.
4.Obtain the following hotfix to enlarge the buffer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933662/en-us

If the issue persists, it is recommended to help collect screenshot and the
batch files. We'd like to perform a test.

Please let me know the information above so that I can provide further
assistance on this problem. I am looking forward to your reply.


Best Regards
Dale Qiao
Microsoft Online Community Support

 

[Dale Qiao [MSFT]]

Hi Karine,

I am interested in this issue. Would you mind letting me know the result of
the suggestions? If you need further assistance, feel free to let me know.
I will be more than happy to be of assistance.

Have a great day!

Best Regards
Dale
Microsoft Online Community Support

 

[Karine Rivet]

Hi Dale,

The page file is already 2GB and the workstation already has the latest
video driver installed. The video card is on the compatibility list. I'm
certain that WOWEXEC.EXE is not corrupt since this error occurs on three
identail workstations, all of which received the same corporate image that
every workstation receives.

The buffer hotfix link you provided is for Windows Vista; the workstations
incurring the error are running Windows XP.

Thanks,
Karine

 

[Jose]

Hi Dale,

The page file is already 2GB and the workstation already has the latest
video driver installed.  The video card is on the compatibility list.  I'm
certain that WOWEXEC.EXE is not corrupt since this error occurs on three
identail workstations, all of which received the same corporate image that
every workstation receives.

The buffer hotfix link you provided is for Windows Vista; the workstations
incurring the error are running Windows XP.

Thanks,
   Karine

Trial and error not working?

You can't post screenshots here, but you can upload them to a free
hosting site and then post the link back here so we can see what you
see. http://imageshack.us/ or http://photobucket.com/ are popular.

Have you used these methods to narrow things down and compare a
working system to an afflicted system?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q220155/

There may be useful information in the Event Log and here is how you
can post that:

To see the Event Viewer logs, click Start, Settings, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.

A shortcut to Event Viewer is to click Start, Run and in the box
enter:

%SystemRoot%\system32\eventvwr.msc /s

Click OK to launch the Event Viewer.

The most interesting logs are usually the Application and System.
Some logs may be almost or completely empty.
Not every event is a problem, some are informational messages that
things are working okay and some are warnings.
No event should defy reasonable explanation.

Each event is sorted by Date and Time. Errors will have red Xs,
Warnings will have yellow !s.
Information messages have white is. Not every Error or Warning event
means there is a serious issue.
Some are excusable at startup time when Windows is booting. Try to
find just the events at the date
and time around your problem.

If you double click an event, it will open a Properties windows with
more information. On the right are
black up and down arrow buttons to scroll through the open events. The
third button that looks like
two pages on top of each other is used to copy the event details to
your Windows clipboard.

When you find an interesting event that occurred around the time of
your issue, click the third button
under the up and down arrows to copy the details and then you can
paste the details (right click, Paste
or CTRL-V) the detail text back here for analysis.

To get a fresh start on any Event Viewer log, you can choose to clear
the log (backing up the log is offered),
then reproduce your issue, then look at just the events around the
time of your issue.