ultimate extras sounds problem with explorer.exe

[Dreamsayer]

I just installed the new update for the Ultimate Extra Sounds Schemes. When I
have one of these new schemes selected as my sounds, when I shut down or
reboot my pc, I see a brief black screen with red text and something about
explorer.exe not respoding or something. It happens with either of these new
sound schemes Glass, or Pearl. When I put if back to default, problem goes
away.

Nice extra MSFT!

Anyone else with this problem?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Not with my computer...the extras work fine.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

I just installed the new update for the Ultimate Extra Sounds Schemes. When I
have one of these new schemes selected as my sounds, when I shut down or
reboot my pc, I see a brief black screen with red text and something about
explorer.exe not respoding or something. It happens with either of these new
sound schemes Glass, or Pearl. When I put if back to default, problem goes
away.

Nice extra MSFT!

Anyone else with this problem?

 

[Dreamsayer]

Carey,

Is there a log or something that I can look at to determine what might be
causing this brief screen to display? My suspicion is that the new logout
sounds are taking a bit longer to complete than the normal one, so it's
hanging the explorer.exe service from closing.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Have you installed the latest audio drivers?

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

Carey,

Is there a log or something that I can look at to determine what might be
causing this brief screen to display? My suspicion is that the new logout
sounds are taking a bit longer to complete than the normal one, so it's
hanging the explorer.exe service from closing.

 

[Mark]

I just noticed I have the exact same problem with my computer, went back to
default sound scheme, everything's normal and yes I have all the latest
drivers.

Mark

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Message when you try to shut down or to restart Windows Vista: "The following
programs are still running: Explorer.exe Playing logoff sound"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931330/en-us

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows System & Performance

 

[Mark]

If it's a Vista sound scheme, why doesn't Microsoft program it so it works
for the OS they designed it for? No 3rd party vendor to blame on this one.
Even Microsoft doesn't understand Vista.

Mark

 

[Dreamsayer]

Carey,

Yes, I have the latest drivers, I saw your pointer to the FAQ, as well as
Mark's response.

1. "I just noticed I have the exact same problem with my computer, went back
to
default sound scheme, everything's normal and yes I have all the latest
drivers"
2. "why doesn't Microsoft program it so it works
for the OS they designed it for? No 3rd party vendor to blame on this one.
Even Microsoft doesn't understand Vista"

HEAR HEAR!!!

What a waste of time troubleshooting a stupid sound scheme update...

Thanks for the extra MSFT!

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

Are you using the "long" shutdown sound? Which one is your exact shutdown
sound?

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

Which "shutdown" sound are you using? The long sound may be more
interesting, but you'll have to ignore that message because the clip is too
long for the Vista Quick Shutdown feature.

This is exactly why the "long" sound is not the default.

If you're hitting this with the short sound, I'd love to know more.

 

[Dreamsayer]

I am hitting this problem with the short sound. I've tried both schemes, the
Pearl and Glass and left the default sound selected. And both of them cause
this problem. After reading Carey's pointer to an FAQ about 10 second sounds
causing this, It doesn't seem that either of these logout sounds are that
long in the first place.

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

How long are each of the "Windows Shutdown" sounds under
c:\windows\media\schemes for those schemes? They should be five seconds
long. If you've accelerated the shutdown timeout under five seconds you
would not be able these sounds, of course, but by default they shouldn't
cause any problems.

 

[Dreamsayer]

I will double check when I get home, but I'm positive they are under 5
seconds because I counted slowly to test and they seemed right around 5 or
less. I have done nothing to accelerate any shutdown timeout. Is this some
reg hack? If so, I have not done this. I have applied SP1 if that makes any
difference.

 

[Dreamsayer]

zachd,

So any info to share regarding this problem? My guess is you guys have
duplicated this and are working on a fix? Cause you been kinda quiet...

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

=) This isn't a support channel and I'm a busy guy - I operate here as a
friend only. If I even pretend to be responsible, I apologize. I'm your
pal here hopefully providing useful technical data. Oftentimes my end may
go silent for weeks as other things crop up in my life. It's not that I
don't love you, I'm just crazy busy. =)

I haven't replicated this. I would "suspect" that there would have been a
beta of this that didn't see this issue, so I'm curious at this point what's
unique / different about Mark/your/others systems here. Unfortunately
knowing why your shutdown sound takes too long to start / finish is a little
interesting to debug, in my uneducated opinion.

The only "fix" here would be to use a shorter Shutdown clip or to turn off
that shutdown sound. No other fix is really viable or relevant that I can
think of. The latter you could easily do yourself. =\ The former would
seem relevant if some notable chunk of the user base is hitting this issue
(where "notable" is actually a surprisingly low and user-friendly number).
So far two confirms and 1-2 more rumored peoples has me curious, but
suspecting isolated instances tied to some interesting machine-specific
shutdown issue. Since this is playback to happen every time for everyone
using the new schemes, I would have expected much more feedback about this
than we've currently garnered.

But do recall that this isn't a support channel in any capacity, so you and
I are simply nattering about the problem trying to suss it out. =)

 

[Dreamsayer]

Zachd,

My apologies. I didn't see your previous response on 4/29/2008 9:13 PM PST
before I sent you another message. I didn't notice the "more" option at the
bottom of the forum, and the second page of messages. As well as the email
alert of a response doesn't take you directly to it for some reason.

I appreciate your efforts in trying to help out. Even tho not much
help...;-) When I have time I will see if I can figure this on my own, and if
I find a solution will post back to the forum.

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

No worries, we're friends here. =)

Unofficially this machine-specific issue probably doesn't meet the bar at
the current 3-4 user threshold to produce further change. I did ask the
chap who created these sounds to think about this for any future sound work
he does, though, so consider the feedback well passed on -- and you have a
working solution here, so we can probably consider this matter handled on
both ends.

I very much appreciate your feedback and information: thank you.

-Zach

 

[spjr2]

I'm glad I check these forums.I also recently started getting this unusual
black screen during shutdown.I couldn't figure what it was because it lasted
less than a second.I also recently installed the ultimate sound scheme.It
doesn't do it every shutdown.

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

What's the value for
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
, value name "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"?

What's your Windows Experience Rating? I'm curious if your system is fast,
slow, or just bogged down doing other stuff on shutdown.

 

[spjr2]

My Wait to Kill is 20000.My windows experience is 5.1.