Program abnormal termination - Windows XP Home Edition

[Guest]

Often a program will bomb out with no message. I usually get a "bong" like
you hear when you hit an invalid key; and the screen is gone.

It can be almost anything that I'm running, Office, Quickbooks or anything
in IE. What's interesting is the fact that I can have several IE sessions
up, one will bomb out with no message, but the others will continue to run.
Same thing with Office. I can have several Office applications up; one will
bomb, but the others will continue to run.

I do not get the usual warning screen indicating that its going to bomb nor
does it ask if I want to send the dump to MS.

My system is IBM NetVista with 1.5gig main memory and lots of free disk
space. The processor speed is 1.6gb Pentium 4. WindowsXP Home Edition is
the O/S with SP2 and all the latest updates, per the automatic Windows Update
program.

I ran PC Doctor on the hardware using the long program; and the only sqwalk
I got was lack of a dial tone for the modem (which didn't have a phone line
attached).

I suspect some corruption in the O/S System; but before I reloaded it or
upgraded to Window XP Prof, I thought I'd ask if there is anywhere to go in
trying to debug this.

Thanks.

Wes


23233-1434

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Hello Wes,

Number 1 is to have this pc's memory thoroughly tested. The behavior of a program just closing a screen or going away does point to hardware issues.

Use a working pc and get a memory test utility, place on diskette, flash drive, (or portable media) and run it on the problem pc.
Run a RAM memory test. MEMTEST86 is one such utility.
See http://www.memtest86.com/

Did someone add memory recently? Anyone been inside the pc case? Hardware changes?
Do you recall any significant change before this type of "abend" started happening?

See what Event Viewer has in it's log. Select Start button/ select Run , then type in

eventvwr.msc<enter>

-- or Go to Control Panel / Performance and Maintenance/Administrative Tools >Event Viewer.

Review the sections and look for Errors or Warnings that match the time the event occurred.
Double click---the information "may" give a clue.

Right Click the My Computer icon on desktop. Select Properties.
Next, select Advanced. Look for a block that says Startup and recovery. Review the settings in the System failure block.
Write an event to system log should be Checked (selected).
Automatically restart should be off.

If you want a dump at each event, look at "Write debugging information". You may want to select "small memory dump".

Review the list of Windows XP services, and see which ones 'may' have been turned off.
From Start > select RUN > then run
MSCONFIG

Once there, select Services Tab. Make sure block "Hide all Microsoft services" is not on.
Scroll down the list of services. Write down & post back on which ones are turned off.

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

P.S. Not familiar with PC Doctor. Does it have a memory checker utility?

Once you rule out hardware, and if you suspect o.s. corruption, I'd suggest you consider these in order.
Run XP's System File Checker first. See what it may find.
Last step being a repair-install of XP ---- providing you have a XP CD ( and not a factory restore CD).

 

[Guest]

I did indeed add memory some time back. I added 512mb to go to the maximum
for this machine, of 1.5gb. I had some problems with that memory similar to
what I'm experiencing now, so I backed it out and bought IBM memory. That
seemed to work fine for a time.

But, the problem described has now recurred and seems to be getting worse as
time goes on. PC Doctor does have a memory checking module. It did not find
any problems with the memory.

I think I'm going to download the memory checker you suggest and run it. I
do not have the cd for the operating system - only the cd that came with the
machine. So, to even attempt a repair, I'd have to come up with a cd.

But, I will exhaust the memory issue before considering that.

Thank you for your well informed and sussinct response.

Wes

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Wes,

Do post back with your progress. YW

 

[Guest]

I ran the memory test for approximately 18 hours. One pass was completed
with almost a second pass completed, with no memory errors detected. I
excaped out.

So, I started up the system; and almost immediately I got the error. I
looked at the Event Viewer; and the error reads like this:

"Faulting application schwizex.exe, version 4.0.18.0, faulting module
reggmrnt.dll, version 2.99.17.0, fault address 0x00019f83"

The program I was loading was Microsoft PictureIt which sometimes comes as
part of MS Office. The program loaded and when it displayed the picture
files in My Documents, it immediately terminated with no message.

There was a link in the Event Viewer to MS; but when I went there, it didn't
say anymore except that there might be a companion error code also; but there
wasn't. The preceding processed ended normally according to the Event Viewer.

Unless I'm missing something here, it seems to point to S/W rather than H/W.
What do you think?

Thanks.

Wes

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Hi Wes,

Agreed then. It's software incompatibilities.

Do take a look at this MS article
ConfigSafe causes an error message in Windows XP
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321789>

 

[Guest]

I looked at the reference you suggested and downloaded the CfgSafe Patch
and applied it.

I also ran System File Checker as you suggested; and it did come up with
some files it wanted to replace. But, because I don't have a CD for
WinHomeEd, it couldn't complete the replace. This machine came from IBM with
the O/S already installed and I didn't get a windows XP CD. I thought it
would probably have the source files on disk; but I guess not.

So, guess I'm going to have to get one unless you have some other thoughts.

Please advise

Thanks.

Wes

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Do you have XP's service pack 2 on this system? eg, did you apply it ?

Use Windows Explorer and take a look at your Windows folder. Either at \Windows or \WINNT (so modify next loc as needed).
Do you see the service pack folder at
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386

If yes, then, when prompted for CD, use the Browse button & point (or navigate, or type in) to this \i386 folder.

 

[Guest]

Hello, again.

I do have SP2 applied. I found the folder you suggested. Its there.

Then, I ran the System File Checker again; and guess what?

There was no browse option when it asked for the CD ROM. It had a Retry,
which just came right back; and Information button which said I needed the
CD; and a Cancel option. No option to browse for the file.

I thought that was funny when I first saw it, because the MS info that I
read from your earlier post listed three possible sources, the last of which
was the CD implying that it would check for the others first.

Could I have something here that makes the system think I don't have SP2
applied? I have run Update; and it found nothing in Critical or Custom that
was missing.

I'm really confused.

Thanks for your patience.

Wes

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Since you do not have the XP CD for this system, you cannot run SFC.
I was mistaken about the browse option. Sorry, Wes.
If I can think of some other options, I hope to post back here.

 

[Guest]

Here is what I got out of the EventVwr tonight. Most often, here lately,
its been IE that blowing up, usually with a bong.

"Faulting application iexplore.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, faulting module
oleaut32.dll, version 5.1.2600.2180, fault address 0x00004874.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp."

Would it do any good to update IE from the MS website?

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Can you recall the last time IE browser "had a problem" ? what were you / it doing?

Try this: Close your browser and any other program you have running.

Use Windows Explorer. Look at folder C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386

Copy oleaut32.dll 'from' there to C:\Windows\System32

Then, from Windows Start, select "Run",
type:
"REGSVR32 oleaut32.dll"

(without the quotes) and press Enter. You will see a popup message stating this process succeeded.


Logoff & log back in to Windows. Bring up your browser. Check out a few "typical" sites that you visit.

 

[Guest]

I couldn't move the file because the sytem32 version was in use. I could
not find any way to get out of Windows to a command prompt (outside windows).
I used to be able to kill Windows and get to a DOS prompt.; but I can't
figure out how now.

So, I couldn't complete the procedure you suggested.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your patience.

Wes

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Restart pc, use the "tap F8" procedure to get choice for "Safe mode with command prompt".
Once in, you will see a command prompt. Try the copy in there.

 

[Guest]

Well, I'm just not having much luck.

When I try to update from the command prompt in safe mode, it still starts
windows, too (in safe mode) and will not let me overlay the file. Says its
in use. I can't find a way to get a command prompt without Windows, even in
safe mode.

Any ideas?

Thanks again.

Wes