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Their offer has expired according to their site.

Hi zy_18, I experienced a similar problem with a customers new desktop. Ran MemTest86+ test for 5hrs which didn’t return a fault ?? Not unusual ! However the BSOD was pointing to a memory fault. So I returned it to the store under warranty with my notes, not once but 3 times. It was frustrating, but I had no doubt it was the memory chip or chips causing the BSOD.

The store tech finally accepted my diagnosis that is was a memory fault & swapped the DDR3 chips for a new set & problem solved. It could have also been a MOBO track or Mem socket fault, but in my case it was a chip problem.

Don’t mess with it. If it’s under warranty, don’t void your warranty by opening it or breaking the stores seals. take it back to the store.

gluk

My Comodo Dragon browser (the latest release) has been crashing frequently during the course of a days use. The M$ message tells me something has caused a DEP violation, but not WHAT!
Due to the constant App patching & updating that now occurs, it’s impossibly to be sure just when it started or what might be the cause.
To compound the problem, Dragon or VISTA will not allow the .EXE file as a DEP exception.
Fortunately, Dragon does provide a recovery/refresh function, (it’s helpful. but time consuming & annoying) but M$’s useless function & error messages are NO help.
The Admin/App error logs are equally useless, providing no more help than is already known from the crash screen, unless I have access to the HTML & source code of the DEP or what ever functions. I am not a programmer, so that info is useless!

The only thing I do know, based on a trial & error binary type isolation, by removing & then adding an Extension back in each day, is that one of the more than a dozen Extensions is the problem. I am still trying to determine which one after 3 days of trial & error to see if Dragon can run without crashing. A tedious process at best!

I’ve already run all the usual diag’s..SFC, CHKDSK, VISTA repair instal, Registry chk, etc,… all to no avail!

As far as I am concerned, the M$ crash report & unhelpfull error messages are totally useless!

CCleaner V3.20.1750 from Piriform, http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/update?v=3.20.1750&l=1033 does a good job of clearing junk of the PC. Get the FREE version, (no time limit) unless you want to use it in a commercial environment.

As well as clearing the browser cache, it also consolidates the Chrome database, (and other browsers if you use them) a necessity, since it also becomes fragmented & slows Chrome down.

Hi,
If your USB controller is not showing up in Device Manager as ‘Enhanced’ you need to go to the motherboard manufacturers web site & download & install (update) the MOBO (Motherboard) driver software.

It may be as easy as clicking on the controller in device manager & clicking on ‘UPDATE’. (Must be online for it to work) With any luck it will find the software driver. If not, go to the MOBO web site & find the MOBO model & D/L the drivers.

XP has had USB2 support since SP2 was released. If your still running SP1 you should install SP2 & ALL the security patches, as a matter of urgency. SP1 has more security holes & problems than you can poke a stick at!! While your at it, if you don’t have it or you have other AntiVirus,.. install MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials from Microsoft ONLY. Your XP must be a valid copy)) as well. You don’t need any other firewall or Antivirus. (must not install or have any other installed AV). MSE does it all & way better!

Hi JK,
Have you tried to run with Oracle’s latest release Java 7 Standard edition V7 Update 5..build 1.7.0.05-b05.

I had been running with V6 as well as V7 ever since Oracle took over Java.

In the Java Control panel (click the Java tab & View) you can tick (or untick to experiment) all the Rev options it finds installed on the PC.

However I recently unticked V6 & since no software had complained, including my bank & other financial institutions, who always drag their feet with old browsers & Apps, so I removed V6. Haven’t had a problem since.

Hi newdeal,
You might have the same problem I’ve encountered not once but several times, but for different reasons.

Two quick procedures might solve your problem which is a poisoned DNS cache in either your router or the DNS cache resolver in XP.

To see if it’s the router, just reboot it & that will clear it’s DNS cache. When the router has completed the reboot, check the site which is given you a problem. If it’s fixed your done.

If your still in trouble it’s time to see if it’s the XP DNS cache resolver. To check & clear it, follow these steps:

Step 1 – Close all open web browsers and applications on your computer.
Step 2 – Open the Windows command prompt by pressing the Windows Key & the letter ‘R’ together and entering “cmd” in the text box followed by clicking the “enter” key or the OK button.
Step 3 – At the command prompt, (see example below) enter “ipconfig /flushdns” without the quotes, followed by pressing the “enter” key. After a moment, Windows will display a message similar to: “Successfully flushed the DNS ResolverCache.” Once the message is displayed, the DNS will be flushed removing all DNS entries. Don’t worry, the correct entries will be restored as you resume browsing.

Now try browsing to the site that was causing a problem.

Hope you have a solution…..

Keith

Hi Dick-Y.. ditto to your experience. I’d seen it on many older PC’s when being serviced. V2 & XP were always doing it & XP’s firewall was also complaining about no firewall, with the Balloon error message, which would eventually get it right & go away.

Bruce,
If RussB’s IT department is doing it’s job, they will have also turned OFF Group Policies. I know I would!
Why would any IT department want individuals modifying or messing with the system. I can’t think of ANY!
No non IT employee should be messing with Group Policy or System Restore, even if a virus did manage to penetrate the Co’s firewall defences, .. especially when an image can fix any problem so much faster.

..Keith

You may be right…

I’ll play with it some more…

I’m going to see if they have the original disk to do a repair..

Looks as though the Group Policy which controls all the fire wall settings has been changed by the virus infection or corrupted by a disk error(s). Based on the screen shots you provided, Java is also in trouble, but you can reinstall it (or un-install it first, in case it’s also causing a problem) after you fix the firewall problem.

You need to run thru the following in the order I’ve listed them, which isn’t easy by remote control. You’ll need to run as ADMINISTRATOR & OK the nag screens unless you turn OFF Account controls.

1. Run a full 5 pass disk check. (explain to the user before you reboot & start dskchk,…. they must see all 5 passes (essential) not just the default option of 3 passes). If pass 4 & 5 is not run, further problems may occur as you try to get it up & running again.

From ‘My Computer’—> Right click the C drive (assuming it’s the system disk), left click—> Properties—> Tools —>Check Now & tick BOTH boxes then Start & OK the schedule request & reboot. (It’s up to the user to keep you informed now). When pass 5 is done, it will report it’s finding & the disk is CLEAN if all is OK. If not, repeat the Disk Check until it ‘IS’ clean. All 5 passes can take a long time (2-3hrs or more, depending on the disk size & number of files on the system drive) so you & the user will have to be patient!

2. Try this ‘FixIt’ first… http://goo.gl/rKewy If it doesn’t…

3. Establish, if possible when the problem first occurred, run ‘SYSTEM RESTORE’ & pick a SYSTEM RESTORE point prior to the problem. If Restore fails (which it has a habit of doing, regularly!). Check the Firewall again, if it’s OK your done, go to step 6,…. if not then…

4. Go to Start (Orb)—> Administrative Tools (or in the Accessories folder)—> ‘Services’ & look for the ‘Windows Firewall’ entry, if it’s not there, you will have to use the Group Policy Controls to reset all the firewall options to their ‘defaults’. Each option is labelled with a default, so it’s made easy to reset them.

Check which version of VISTA is installed on the PC. Press the ‘Windows Key’ & ‘Pause/Break’ together to see the details.

NOTE: SP2 introduced major changes to the Group Policies. If not SP2, I suggest installing it & all patches, if possible. ‘Windows Update’ will usually run (providing the Network is OK) even when the firewall or normal browsing is damaged or blocked. It’s a trusted site.

The VISTA Policies for the Firewall & IPSec are here.. http://goo.gl/n4Ync

Read the bit ‘In this document’ in BLUE about all the requirements, especially the defaults & blocking requirements.

Reboot when done.

5. When your done go back & check for the ‘Windows Firewall’ entry in ‘Services’ step 4 above.

If the Firewall Driver is missing, go to the Hardware Manager, Open the ‘Hidden Devices’ & look for the Windows Firewall Driver. If it’s disabled, enable it, If it’s not there you will have to reinstall it. Try SFC again, assuming the disk repairs & group settings have all been run OK.

Run SFC in Safe Mode from the RUN box & a CMD prompt..

6. Don’t forget to reinstall ‘JAVA’ and if I was you, I’d also reinstall MSE & Internet Explorer V9 & reconfigure them all correctly, especially IE’s security levels… All these interact with the Kernel & OS.

Sorry it’s such a long post, but when a virus gets at the O/S or disk corruption occurs, it can wreck havoc. Fixing it may be impossible & require a fresh install!
A user who runs VISTA as ADMINISTRATOR :rolleyes: all the time is really asking for trouble, especially if they don’t have a very good & UPTODATE version of MSE data files, for example, & react to it when it blocks a virus.

In my opinion it’s the best of all the FREE AV’s &!! (See Fred Langa’s post last month) it’s not a resource hog like most, if correctly configured. (You don’t want to know what I think of most AV App’s)….

good luck….

Lets know how you go?

..Keith

Hi Fred, I ran into a similar problem trying to get Printer Sharing to work. The Windows error message is obtuse.. Kept telling me the Print Spooler wasn’t running.. but it was .. of course. Was at my wits end, then had a flash!
If LMHosts &/or NetBIOS are turned OFF,.. Windows PC to PC, especially XP, cannot communicate across the internal or external network. Find them in the TCP/IP network config under the Advanced WINS tab. Turn both ON solved my problem. Worth a try..

..Keith

I’ve encountered this type of problem myself. It’s possible your router’s DNS cache is corrupted.
To flush it & force it to get new addresses from the Network, reboot the router (power off for 30 seconds), then try again.

Is your DVD PATA or SATA? I agree with CLiNT’s request & suggestion. Assuming you have some technical skills…..

Are the DVD R/W, HDD drives on the SATA/PATA ? ports being detected and reported correctly during the POST & Boot.
If you don’t see this diagnostic BIOS screen, go to the BIOS setup & look for the Diagnostic BOOT screen ENABLE. The option is frequently found in the list usually found just before the exit button on the task bar at the top.

If you don’t see either the DVD or the HDD in this screen (press “Pause/Break” to halt the display) then you may have either a crook DVD or HDD cable/connector on the MOBO or wrong HDD Master/Slave setting on the drive. If the drive(s) still do not show up in the Boot diag screen, then your MOBO/Drive controllers or Memory is highly suspect. I’m assuming you have already checked the Power Supply rails for both +12 & +5 volts to the Drive connectors. Do the check on the old Molex 4 pin connector. The SATA cables are small & your liable to short the power supply!!

I’ve run into MOBO’s/WINXP installation problems, which just will not install from a DVD on a SATA. It’s OK using a PATA cd/dvd drive.

If it’s on a SATA port, temporaryily unplug it & plug any old working CD ROM into the MOBO PATA Controller#1 connector on the MOBO with an 80 wire cable & try again.
You need to install XP -SP1 or SP2 before SP-3 will install? Unless you have created a SlipStreamed CD of SP1 or SP2 & SP3. (& all the patches maybe)