XP won't launch any apps...

[4.6POWER]

Hey boys & girls,
I haven't left my pc on overnight for some time. Just recently I got back in the habit of doing that. When I come back to the pc... I can't launch any new programs. Double clicking anything will just sit there and stare you in the face... even selecting proggies from the start menu does nothing. I can use the apps that were opened from the night before... and close them down and all, but nothin new will open... not even "my documents" folder or "my computer"

My temps are fine... and this is the first operating sys I have acpi enabled and am controlled be pm. I am thinking about disabling that stuff. I have already declocked to stock speed to see if that was the problem.... it does this every night now. any ideas?

Joe

[moonraker]

That's a wierd one.
Do you have to reboot or does logging off and on again sort it?
Will it run anything if you log in as another user?
What are you running on it overnight, seti or something similar?
Can you get the task manager up? (ctrl-alt-delete)
If so, try to run an app from there using the Run dialog box
File/New Task(Run...)
say regedit or IE or something.
Sorry these are more questions than answers but it's all I can think of.

[4.6POWER]

Originally posted by moonraker
That's a wierd one.
Do you have to reboot or does logging off and on again sort it?

I have never tried logging off.. usually I just reboot

Will it run anything if you log in as another user?

Only one user on the machine

What are you running on it overnight, seti or something similar?

instant messenger, outlook, couple of ie, sometimes media player

Can you get the task manager up? (ctrl-alt-delete)

yes

If so, try to run an app from there using the Run dialog box
File/New Task(Run...)
say regedit or IE or something.
Sorry these are more questions than answers but it's all I can think of.

i'll try doing that.. i think the problem lies in incompatibility/hardware type issue than configuration wise. If I try opening a few things... the other proggies are very stuttery, as well as the start menu will flicker closed again if I open it. Task manager reports low cpu usage though... very odd.

[moonraker]

Hi,

the reason for the "other user" question is that I have had user profiles in NT/2K get corrupted to the point where certain apps just will not run. Whereas if you log in as another user, they run fine. I don't know what causes it, it doesn't happen that often, but when it does I just create a new user profile, delete the old one, and use that instead.

What hardware are you running, any exotic combinations?
If you are overclocked, maybe you need to back it off a little.

[4.6POWER]

Hmm... could be about the profiles. I dunno... I've only ever had one user since install. I turned off some power saving options... and that seemed to fix it somewhat. I haven't had all that much time to play with it... so we'll see. Thanks for your help.. I'll post back when I have some 'tweaking' time :D thanks again,

Joe

[Jetrunner]

wow, that kinda thing happened to me when i went to arizona....i turned it off before i left...came back, still off, then whenever i used the comp after that, it would do that annoying "stutter" every 5 seconds, ya know, the little freeze every few seconds? well, i just set it back to 1 ghz(was at 1150) and that didnt change anything, so i just left it there, then like it did that for a week and 1 morning i woke up and it worked....lol...not ANY help to you at all, but maybe give you a little hope of "automatic repair?" hmmm kant think of what to tell you, you've tried all id know to try...:confused:

[4.6POWER]

Yeah this little problem is a major thorn in my side right now. It does it all the time... I leave it alone for like an hour or so, then it won't open anything new. apm control by pm doesn't change anything. I tried turning acpi off, but winxp won't boot if I do that, thanks bill! I'm down to spec speed... I have no stupid little proggies from wierd internet sites installed.... arrrrghgggg :mad: I've changed all the power saving settings to "always on" and adjust the sleep whens.. to "never". I am about to reinstall xp without acpi.


Joe

[Jetrunner]

:confused: :confused: :confused: :mad:
sorry, good luck with it though...

[nitan]

hi 4.6...long time since i've seen u post...i have encountered a similar problem but on boot....it happens VERY rarely but these are the symptoms:

1. Turn machine on
2. Seems to boot totally normally
3. Desktop loads perfectly
4. Try to run somin and get nothing.

Absolutely ****** all, all i can do is access the Start--> Shutdown menu. Restart and everything is fine. Only one user profile in use, I have no idea wot it is, i have all recent updates on my system, i am hoping that the release of SP1 will see the problem solved, as it is a very rare problem i have not tried a lot to solve it, but ur problem seems more severe. Only think i can suggest is ensure u have all critical updates installed...other than that notthing...sorry dude:confused: :( :confused:

Good luck

Nitan:)

[4.6POWER]

Thanks for the support guys! I dunno what to do... I am thinking it is some proggy just not functioning correctly. I'm gonna start only leaving one proggy running overnight and see if I can make any connections. I'll keep u posted. ;)

Joe

[4.6POWER]

arggg... this problem is just getting worse and worse. Now I have noticed CPU utilization is always at 100%. 50% is going to PRODUCTS.EXE and 50% is going to EXPLORER.EXE. I have no idea why this is occuring... the pc is just sitting with nothing of mine running. I'm doing searches to find what this "PRODUCTS.EXE" actually is... I smell a worm. I will post my Task Manager Processes soon so you guys can take a look... see if you notice something out of the norm.

Joe

[4.6POWER]

ok.. it seems it's not the "PRODUCT.EXE" which is causing the problem. It is actually Explorer going to 100% usage. If I just sit with the computer at idle.. the only thing running is task manager.. after a short time cpu usage will go to 100% and explorer is taking it all up. If I end process.. then relaunch explorer, everything seems fine. I'm still playing around... anyone have any clue? *lee*? anyone? *cough* *lee* ? anyone?
























*lee*?
lol

[joek71]

try to trace the prog an unistall it. you posted no picture. I had something like that before with another prog. it must be something you installed. you have two choices reinstall XP or uninstall every prog one at a time and see what happens.

Let me know,
good luck

[nitan]

hey bay-otch:p , if troubles are getting that bad would a reinstall not be prudent??...if things get that bad with my comp i just bite the bullet and reinstall the OS. Other than that i have no idea, have u run a virus scan?? that might be an idea but make sure the virus defs. are up to date...

nitan:)

[4.6POWER]

Hey guys, I ditched XP. It will give this 100% cpu utilization to one of three proggies. 1)explorer 2)products 3)ds9. All three are windows proggies.. the first two are for the OS, the other is from office. I tried installing the via service pack, as is recommended for anyone having problems. This instantly caused more problems. The USB would cut out instantly at overclocked FSB settings... and the system would no longer shutdown or restart. I then reinstalled XP over the top.... only to come back to all the same problems... and some more. It would not recognize my display adapter... and I could not even run an nvidia driver. 16-bit color and 60hz refresh just don't cut if for me. I downloaded all the updates... and after they were installed and rebooted... you could go back to the update windows screen and it will still recommend the same updates. I've had it... this op sucks. It was asking me for via filter drivers during install also... no thanks. back to WINMEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[joek71]

You mite also have bad VIA drivers try to reinstall them. You have to install VIA driver first, try to update them.

[nitan]

d00d, dont use WinME is sux a$$, XP is better i think you should give it another go after a clean install...just my opinion

nitan:)

[joek71]

nitan is right ME is not as stable as XP, my friend had any he switched to XP, it mite look more stable but is is not. If you are going to do a fresh reinstall, this is my opinion what are the steps,
0)after reinstall-DO NOT OVERCLOCK!!!
1)install VIA drivers newest version
2)install the video card drivers
3)install AMD driver pack, if you cant find it let me know I will email it to
4)update XP
5)install all of your software
6)now you can over clock
7)these are just the steps I use and they work for me.

Good luck, keep us posted

[4.6POWER]

Thanks for the encouragement fellas...

Nitan- I agree, I think a properly running XP will beat ME any day. But I honestly don't know what I would do different on a fresh install that would prevent these problems from reoccurring. I did a good bit of research on XP before installing, and I thought I did what should have been a "textbook" install. The only thing I can think of would be to use the new service pack. Those via drivers suck... they are what have been limiting my FSB overclocking. I could use XP at any FSB I wanted and USB function was perfect. As soon as I did the via drivers... my USB would go out unless I cranked I/O volts up to 3.7 ballpark. I will give it another go someday... but I need to take a breather for now. Too much fiddling! :D :D


Joek- AMD driver pack me thinks is for amd chipset only, or was that the key ingredient that put the whammy on me?

Those via drivers I had installed on XP... I took the same executable and installed them over the top of my old winME install... and it works perfectly. Stability and I are best friends right now
:D :D :D

As for the rest of your methods... I already followed them to the Tee! Although I never bothered with via drivers till now. I also install all of the OS with the machine overclocked. If it can't do that stuff stable... then it is clocked too far! Hmmmmmm... maybe just forget about overclockin :rolleyes:

[joek71]

I have bin told that if you overclock before install WindowsXP wont install, but i never tested that. About the VIA drivers it is said that they are needed for the chip set, plus if i did not install them my XP wont pick up video card. About the AMD driver pack i read someewhere that it increases stability in KG7,KT, etc... boards, I will try to find the article and post here.

[nitan]

here's a mind teaser, i just had the same problem as you 4.6!!!

Booted PC nothing ran at all, decided to check CPU usage and guess wot?!?!

explorer.exe was at 99% CPU usage...rebooted, same prob, rebooted again, and here i am...weird or wot???? this must an issue the M$ know about, lets just hope that SP1 fixes it.

nitan:)

[4.6POWER]

Oh geez nitan... not another one!

OK watch for any of these programs hogging CPU time:
1)OSA9.exe
2)PRODUCTS.exe
3)EXPLORER.exe

OSA9 & PRODUCTS you can just end task and they won't bother you again. Explorer you can just end task... then follow moonraker's post from way back... just run it from the task manager "run" command. Now usually it won't do it for a while again... but if you let it sit idle for a while, watch out!! It would be a good idea to leave task manager open so you can see when these snakie proggies come back to bite-cha! Good luck bizznotch ;)