Introducing Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
The Windows AIK provides a collection of tools and documentation for performing unattended installs of Windows Vista, but these tools are not integrated with one another. For instance, you must use one tool (Windows SIM) to create your answer file, another tool (ImageX) to capture an image of your sysprepped reference computer, yet another tool (Package Manager) to service your images, another tool (WinPE) to boot your bare-metal destination computers, and so on. By adding Windows DS to the mix, you can centralize the management and deployment of your images, but you still have to work with a collection of disparate tools to perform your deployment.
To simplify desktop deployment, Microsoft first created Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD), an integrated toolset together with comprehensive guidance for deploying Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System. BDD went through several versions including:
BDD 2.0 and 2.5 – Used for deploying Windows XP that was released in two editions: Standard edition for smaller midmarket customers, and Enterprise edition for larger organizations that had an Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 infrastructure deployed.
BDD 2007 – Used for deploying Windows XP, Windows Vista, and the 2007 Office System and released in a single edition for both midmarket and enterprise customers.
BDD has now morphed into Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008 (MDT 2008) which lets you deploy the following versions of Microsoft Windows:
Windows Vista
Windows XP Professional
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2003
In addition, you can use MDT 2008 to deploy the 2007 Microsoft Office system and Microsoft Office 2003 to your desktop computers.
MDT 2008 simplifies the task of deploying Windows Vista (the focus of this present series of articles) by providing the following benefits:
Provides an integrated workspace from which you can perform hardware/software inventories, mitigate application compatibility issues, migrate user profiles, package and deploy applications, create and manage distribution shares and deployment points, and to build, service and deploy your images.
Supports integration with Windows DS for centralized server-based deployments.
Supports integration with your existing systems management infrastructures that use SMS 2003 and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM 2007).
Allows you to customize various aspects of the deployment process to suit the needs of your organization.
Understanding LTI vs. ZTI
Depending on your infrastructure, MDT 2008 enables you to perform two basic types of deployments:
Light Touch Installation (LTI) – Lets you deploy Vista without having any systems management infrastructure in place in your organization. LTI is an ideal solution for small to medium-sized organizations who need to deploy Vista to dozens or even hundreds of systems at a site or in a department. LTI deployments can be performed manually, partially unattended, or almost fully unattended as desired. In its simplest form, LTI can even be used to deploy Vista in a workgroup scenario from a single computer running Windows XP. For greater scalability, you can integrated MDT with Windows DS to perform centralized, server-based LTI deployments.
Zero Touch Installation (ZTI) – Lets you deploy Vista by leveraging the capabilities of your existing SMS 2003 or SCCM 2007 infrastructure. ZTI deployments are usually completely automated in nature and are also usually integrated with Windows DS.
Note: This present series of articles will focus on LTI deployments of Windows Vista SP1 Enterprise Edition.
Types of Deployment Scenarios
MDT 2008 supports a variety of different deployment scenarios:
New Computer Scenario – Deploy Vista onto a bare-metal system that has no operating system for a user who does not have an existing computer or user profile on your network. Use this scenario when deploying systems for new employees.
Upgrade Computer Scenario – Upgrade a system running Windows XP to Windows Vista and retain the user's existing profile settings. Use this scenario when you have existing systems whose hardware will support running Vista.
Refresh Computer Scenario – Re-image an existing system that is already running Vista in order to resolve problems the user is experiencing with her computer.
Replace Computer Scenario – Deploy Vista onto a bare-metal system for a user who has an existing computer running Windows XP. During the deployment process, the user's existing profile settings and data are migrated from her old XP computer to her new Vista computer.
Note:
This present series of articles will focus mainly on demonstrating the New Computer deployment scenario.
Installing MDT 2008
You can install MDT 2008 on x86 or x64 systems running the following operating systems:
Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise edition
Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later Standard or Enterprise edition
Windows Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate edition
Windows XP Professional SP2 or later
Depending on the platform you choose to install upon, you may also need to download and install the .NET Framework 2.0, MMC 3.0, and various updates.
It's also a good idea to have a second hard disk drive in the computer you are installing MDT on so that you can use this drive to host MDT's distribution share and (depending on your setup) deployment point. This will be explained in more detail in the next article of this series.
Be sure you begin by downloading the latest version of MDT 2008, which at the time of writing is MDT 2008 Update 1. For the scenario used in this series of articles, we're going to install MDT on a server named SEA-MDT that is running Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 and which belongs to the contoso.com domain. This means that the only additional software we need to preinstall on the system is the .NET Framework 2.0, which can be obtained from Microsoft Download Center.
Begin by downloading MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit_x86.msi or MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit_x64.msi as needed from here, and double-click on the Windows Installer package to launch the setup process (Figure 1):
Figure 1: Installing MDT 2008 Update 1
A complete install of both tools and documentation is selected by default (Figure 2):
Figure 2: Select installation options
Once you have finished installing MDT, launch the Deployment Workbench by clicking Start, All Programs, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, Deployment Workbench (Figure 3):
Figure 3: The MDT Deployment Workbench
The Workbench is the integrated workspace from which you can perform all of your deployment-related tasks. As you can see from the above figure, the Workbench has four main areas:
Information Center – Provides access to the Getting Started guide and other MDT documentation, news updates concerning MDT, and the latest version of MDT components (see Figure 5 below):
Distribution Share – This is where you bring together your operating system installation files and package files, your application installation files, and any out-of-box device drivers you will need to perform your deployment.
Task Sequences – This is where you define the steps that will take place during your deployment (essentially configuring your answer file).
Deploy – this is where you create your deployment points (the actual sets of OS, app and driver files needed for performing your deployments) and the MDT database (stores configuration information used for customizing your deployments).
Figure 4: The Components node of the Workbench
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Computer Restarts
We have received lot many problems from our readers complaining that their computer restarts abruptly. It seems like that the computer restarts without any reason, but it is not so, every-time your computer restarts abruptly, there must be some or other reason that you might not have noticed.
In this post we will look into those reasons and the possible solutions to fix computer restart problem. So lets have a look at the possible reasons:
Computer restart due to overheating
Computer restart due to faulty RAM
Computer restart due to faulty Hard-disk
Computer restart due to overheating up of hard-disk
Computer restart on attaching some external USB device
Computer restart due to other hardware problem
Some software causing operating system crash causes computer restart
There may be some rare typical reasons also, but let us focus on these common reasons and lets have a look on how to fix computer restart problem because of above reasons.
Going one by one, lets see how these problems can be fixed:
Computer restart due to overheating:
Computer restarts due to over-heating when the processor fan goes faulty. See this post for detailed solution.
Computer restart due to faulty RAM:
Computer restarts abruptly if RAM goes faulty, or if you install some in-compatible RAM or more than one RAM modules of different frequency or type. See the RAM upgrade post for details.
Computer restart due to faulty Hard-disk:
Faulty hard disk is one of the most common reasons for abrupt computer restart. Run a hard disk scan to fix this issue. If there are bad-sectors on your hard-disk, its the time to get it replaced.
Computer restart due to overheating up of hard-disk:
If there is not proper ventilation around your computer, the hard disk may also reach temperatures where it starts to malfunction and computer restarts in some of these cases. The fix is to keep the computer at a ventilated place. Also installing some cabinet fans also solves this problem to big extent.
Computer restart on attaching some external USB device:
I have experienced that when I attached my memory-card-reader to my computer, the computer restarted. I tried it again, it again re-started, it was not a co-incidence, it was a faulty device. So the fix is, remove all external USB devices and insert one by one, and see which device is causing problem.
Computer restart due to other hardware problem:
Computer restart problem is also caused by faulty motherboard sometimes,for example my desktop’s BIOS went corrupt a few weeks back. But the chances of motherboard are relatively low, so if nothing else seems to help, get the motherboard checked by hardware vendor or technician.
Some software causing operating system crash causes computer restart:
Sometimes a software can also be the culprit behind the computer restart. If you have recently installed any new application or game, and computer has started to restart when using that application or game, you need to un-install it to fix the issue.
everything's gone. Be it a random reboot, or the infamous "blue screen of death", it's very, very frustrating.
The problem is that this can be caused by so many things, it's difficult to nail it down quickly.
Let's run through some of the possibilities, and what I'd do.
•
Malware
You've touched on one thing I always look at first: viruses and spyware. Do make sure that your scanners are running, and are being regularly updated with the latest databases of spyware and virus definitions. For anti-spyware tools, that should happen daily - anti-spyware tools typically do so less often.
Software
If you're running Windows 9x (meaning Windows 95, 98 or Me), there's about a 50/50 chance that the problem is a software problem. Because of how their design evolved, those versions of Windows were all somewhat more vulnerable to crashing bugs in the software. A poorly written device driver, or even an application bug, could in the worst case scenario cause a system reboot or blue screen.
If you're running Windows XP (or Windows NT, 2000 or 2003), the system is designed more robustly - meaning that it's more difficult for these types of problems to result in a random reboot or crash. Not impossible, just much less likely.
If you've made a recent change to your system, perhaps installed a new software package, or a new piece of hardware, and these problems started happening thereafter, that's a likely clue. Depending on the software or hardware, my first reaction would be to look to the vendor for reported problems and possible updates. In particular, device drivers are the most likely to cause crashes and reboots without warning.
As I said, software related reboots and blue screens have become more rare under Windows XP. However you should still make sure that your system is as up-to-date as possible, particularly including drivers for recently installed hardware.
"... Which leads to the ultimate predicament... it could be anything. Quite literally.I know that many folks have become suspicious of Windows Automatic Update for various reasons, but I've not heard of any crashes resulting its use. I still recommend it as the best way to keep Windows up to date.
Hardware
I will say that if your computer is still under warranty, you need to talk to the manufacturer first. You should exhaust all your options in getting them to repair a failing machine before you head out on your own and possibly void your warranty.
Naturally, if you've recently installed new hardware, that's a possible clue. You might consider removing it temporarily to see if the problem abates. If it does, it points to either the device itself being the cause, or perhaps the system power supply, as I'll discuss in just a minute.
If your computer has been running fine for some time, and you haven't installed any new hardware or software recently, then my tendency would be to start suspecting various hardware components.
Perhaps the most common are failing fans. The fans that move air through your machine to keep it cool are critical to its operation, and are often the first to fail - either due to accumulated dust and dirt, or simple age. When the fan stops working, the machine overheats, and when the machine overheats - it crashes. Randomly.
Next most common is a failing power supply. Power supplies can fail slowly - meaning that they can become 'marginal' before they fail completely. And the symptoms of a marginal power supply are - you guessed it - random crashes. This is one of those cases where replacing the power supply (or having someone replace it for you) is often an inexpensive test. Particularly if you've added more hardware to your system over time, you may simply be demanding more of the power supply than it was designed to provide, so an upgrade might well be in order as well.
I have this gut feeling that memory is failing just a little more frequently than in the past. I won't speculate as to why, or even if my observation is accurate. The good news is that there are tools specifically designed for testing memory. Memtest86 is one such tool that performs an exhaustive test of your computer's memory. Microsoft also provides a Windows memory Diagnostic. Both tools run from a bootable floppy or CD (Windows cannot be running for the tests to exercise all memory), and both tools are free.
Naturally, it's also possible that the fault lies elsewhere. Your motherboard, an add-in card, even your disk drives or video card. Which leads to the ultimate predicament ... it could be anything. Quite literally.
One of the more common repair techniques is to make an educated guess at what might be wrong, replace that component, and keep repeating until all the components of your computer have been replaced, or the problem goes away.
Unfortunately, doing that is beyond the resources or desire of most computer owners.
My approach
So here's what I would do, when faced with a randomly rebooting computer:
Yes, I would consider upgrading to Windows XP, if the machine is capable of it.
Make sure that anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities are running and up-to-date.
Make sure that the operating system and all device drivers are as up-to-date as possible.
Run a memory diagnostic such as Memtest86 or Windows memory Diagnostic.
Run a hard disk diagnostic such as SpinRite.
Run a motherboard temperature monitoring tool such as Motherboard Monitor - it's a free tool that will report your CPU's temperature among other things, and will let you see if the machine is overheating for some reason.
At this point I've done pretty much everything I can that doesn't involve opening the computer. If the problem isn't evident or resolved, we need to get a little more serious. This might also be the time for some to simply take their computer in to a technician for diagnosis.
Next, I'd open up the computer and:
Carefully vacuum all the dust out of the machine.
Make sure that the fans which are accessible are running properly. If not, I replace them. If the machine doesn't crash as quickly with the cover off, that's often a sign of overheating.
Remove as many optional hardware components as possible that would still allow the machine to run. If the problem disappeared, I would re-install components until it reappeared, and then remove other components to make sure that the problem was associated with only a specific component.
Re-seat all remaining and accessible connectors and expansion cards - sometimes problems are as simple as a loose connection.
At this point we've done pretty much everything we can with what we have on hand. Next up, we start spending money (or, perhaps if you're a geek, pulling from your spare parts bin), and go down the "replace parts until it works" path. This is another jump off point for many - it's definitely easier to simply take the computer in to a technician for diagnosis.
I'd replace the power supply first. Unless there's other data that says the problem is likely to be elsewhere, I'm just playing the odds here. If I went this far, and I planned to keep the computer for some time, I'd also consider upgrading to a higher wattage supply at the same time. Replacing a power supply is only moderately difficult.
Next up, would be the motherboard. This is a bit of work, as it often involves tearing the entire computer apart.
Lastly, I'd consider replacing the computer.
In reality, unless you're really interested in playing with the hardware and trying the "replace it 'til it works" approach, I'd recommend skipping this last set of items completely and taking it into a repair shop to let them figure it out.
And, naturally, before you do so, it might also be time for a cost/benefit analysis: will it be cheaper or more effective to simply replace the computer than to fix it? I'm not at all saying that it will be - it depends on the availability and going rates for computer repair in your area, and the potential cost of fixing whatever is broken. But this is the time to at least do the math and compare.
In this post we will look into those reasons and the possible solutions to fix computer restart problem. So lets have a look at the possible reasons:
Computer restart due to overheating
Computer restart due to faulty RAM
Computer restart due to faulty Hard-disk
Computer restart due to overheating up of hard-disk
Computer restart on attaching some external USB device
Computer restart due to other hardware problem
Some software causing operating system crash causes computer restart
There may be some rare typical reasons also, but let us focus on these common reasons and lets have a look on how to fix computer restart problem because of above reasons.
Going one by one, lets see how these problems can be fixed:
Computer restart due to overheating:
Computer restarts due to over-heating when the processor fan goes faulty. See this post for detailed solution.
Computer restart due to faulty RAM:
Computer restarts abruptly if RAM goes faulty, or if you install some in-compatible RAM or more than one RAM modules of different frequency or type. See the RAM upgrade post for details.
Computer restart due to faulty Hard-disk:
Faulty hard disk is one of the most common reasons for abrupt computer restart. Run a hard disk scan to fix this issue. If there are bad-sectors on your hard-disk, its the time to get it replaced.
Computer restart due to overheating up of hard-disk:
If there is not proper ventilation around your computer, the hard disk may also reach temperatures where it starts to malfunction and computer restarts in some of these cases. The fix is to keep the computer at a ventilated place. Also installing some cabinet fans also solves this problem to big extent.
Computer restart on attaching some external USB device:
I have experienced that when I attached my memory-card-reader to my computer, the computer restarted. I tried it again, it again re-started, it was not a co-incidence, it was a faulty device. So the fix is, remove all external USB devices and insert one by one, and see which device is causing problem.
Computer restart due to other hardware problem:
Computer restart problem is also caused by faulty motherboard sometimes,for example my desktop’s BIOS went corrupt a few weeks back. But the chances of motherboard are relatively low, so if nothing else seems to help, get the motherboard checked by hardware vendor or technician.
Some software causing operating system crash causes computer restart:
Sometimes a software can also be the culprit behind the computer restart. If you have recently installed any new application or game, and computer has started to restart when using that application or game, you need to un-install it to fix the issue.
everything's gone. Be it a random reboot, or the infamous "blue screen of death", it's very, very frustrating.
The problem is that this can be caused by so many things, it's difficult to nail it down quickly.
Let's run through some of the possibilities, and what I'd do.
•
Malware
You've touched on one thing I always look at first: viruses and spyware. Do make sure that your scanners are running, and are being regularly updated with the latest databases of spyware and virus definitions. For anti-spyware tools, that should happen daily - anti-spyware tools typically do so less often.
Software
If you're running Windows 9x (meaning Windows 95, 98 or Me), there's about a 50/50 chance that the problem is a software problem. Because of how their design evolved, those versions of Windows were all somewhat more vulnerable to crashing bugs in the software. A poorly written device driver, or even an application bug, could in the worst case scenario cause a system reboot or blue screen.
If you're running Windows XP (or Windows NT, 2000 or 2003), the system is designed more robustly - meaning that it's more difficult for these types of problems to result in a random reboot or crash. Not impossible, just much less likely.
If you've made a recent change to your system, perhaps installed a new software package, or a new piece of hardware, and these problems started happening thereafter, that's a likely clue. Depending on the software or hardware, my first reaction would be to look to the vendor for reported problems and possible updates. In particular, device drivers are the most likely to cause crashes and reboots without warning.
As I said, software related reboots and blue screens have become more rare under Windows XP. However you should still make sure that your system is as up-to-date as possible, particularly including drivers for recently installed hardware.
"... Which leads to the ultimate predicament... it could be anything. Quite literally.I know that many folks have become suspicious of Windows Automatic Update for various reasons, but I've not heard of any crashes resulting its use. I still recommend it as the best way to keep Windows up to date.
Hardware
I will say that if your computer is still under warranty, you need to talk to the manufacturer first. You should exhaust all your options in getting them to repair a failing machine before you head out on your own and possibly void your warranty.
Naturally, if you've recently installed new hardware, that's a possible clue. You might consider removing it temporarily to see if the problem abates. If it does, it points to either the device itself being the cause, or perhaps the system power supply, as I'll discuss in just a minute.
If your computer has been running fine for some time, and you haven't installed any new hardware or software recently, then my tendency would be to start suspecting various hardware components.
Perhaps the most common are failing fans. The fans that move air through your machine to keep it cool are critical to its operation, and are often the first to fail - either due to accumulated dust and dirt, or simple age. When the fan stops working, the machine overheats, and when the machine overheats - it crashes. Randomly.
Next most common is a failing power supply. Power supplies can fail slowly - meaning that they can become 'marginal' before they fail completely. And the symptoms of a marginal power supply are - you guessed it - random crashes. This is one of those cases where replacing the power supply (or having someone replace it for you) is often an inexpensive test. Particularly if you've added more hardware to your system over time, you may simply be demanding more of the power supply than it was designed to provide, so an upgrade might well be in order as well.
I have this gut feeling that memory is failing just a little more frequently than in the past. I won't speculate as to why, or even if my observation is accurate. The good news is that there are tools specifically designed for testing memory. Memtest86 is one such tool that performs an exhaustive test of your computer's memory. Microsoft also provides a Windows memory Diagnostic. Both tools run from a bootable floppy or CD (Windows cannot be running for the tests to exercise all memory), and both tools are free.
Naturally, it's also possible that the fault lies elsewhere. Your motherboard, an add-in card, even your disk drives or video card. Which leads to the ultimate predicament ... it could be anything. Quite literally.
One of the more common repair techniques is to make an educated guess at what might be wrong, replace that component, and keep repeating until all the components of your computer have been replaced, or the problem goes away.
Unfortunately, doing that is beyond the resources or desire of most computer owners.
My approach
So here's what I would do, when faced with a randomly rebooting computer:
Yes, I would consider upgrading to Windows XP, if the machine is capable of it.
Make sure that anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities are running and up-to-date.
Make sure that the operating system and all device drivers are as up-to-date as possible.
Run a memory diagnostic such as Memtest86 or Windows memory Diagnostic.
Run a hard disk diagnostic such as SpinRite.
Run a motherboard temperature monitoring tool such as Motherboard Monitor - it's a free tool that will report your CPU's temperature among other things, and will let you see if the machine is overheating for some reason.
At this point I've done pretty much everything I can that doesn't involve opening the computer. If the problem isn't evident or resolved, we need to get a little more serious. This might also be the time for some to simply take their computer in to a technician for diagnosis.
Next, I'd open up the computer and:
Carefully vacuum all the dust out of the machine.
Make sure that the fans which are accessible are running properly. If not, I replace them. If the machine doesn't crash as quickly with the cover off, that's often a sign of overheating.
Remove as many optional hardware components as possible that would still allow the machine to run. If the problem disappeared, I would re-install components until it reappeared, and then remove other components to make sure that the problem was associated with only a specific component.
Re-seat all remaining and accessible connectors and expansion cards - sometimes problems are as simple as a loose connection.
At this point we've done pretty much everything we can with what we have on hand. Next up, we start spending money (or, perhaps if you're a geek, pulling from your spare parts bin), and go down the "replace parts until it works" path. This is another jump off point for many - it's definitely easier to simply take the computer in to a technician for diagnosis.
I'd replace the power supply first. Unless there's other data that says the problem is likely to be elsewhere, I'm just playing the odds here. If I went this far, and I planned to keep the computer for some time, I'd also consider upgrading to a higher wattage supply at the same time. Replacing a power supply is only moderately difficult.
Next up, would be the motherboard. This is a bit of work, as it often involves tearing the entire computer apart.
Lastly, I'd consider replacing the computer.
In reality, unless you're really interested in playing with the hardware and trying the "replace it 'til it works" approach, I'd recommend skipping this last set of items completely and taking it into a repair shop to let them figure it out.
And, naturally, before you do so, it might also be time for a cost/benefit analysis: will it be cheaper or more effective to simply replace the computer than to fix it? I'm not at all saying that it will be - it depends on the availability and going rates for computer repair in your area, and the potential cost of fixing whatever is broken. But this is the time to at least do the math and compare.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Grid Error Message
Hi there, i have recently installed Grid on my computer, and applied the latest patch, however whenever i try and launch the game it trys to load then just crasshes with an error report message.
This happens everytime.
I have tried everything and nothing seems to be working, any ideas please?
My system specs are:
Windows XP Professional
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU
2.40ghz
2.00gb ram
Geforce 8800 GTS
i have made some progress on this, i have a creative soundcard and have been readiong these forums for a solution, it now launches when i disable the sound card, which is great becuase it works, but rubbish as i have no sound.
I have tried searching for the adi_oal.dll but cant find it anywhere on my comp, i am on Windows XP, any idea where it is?
I am dealing with a problem in datagrid. Sometimes when I select or drag the datagrid column I get an error message saying "Index out of range exception". Can someone help me in explaining the reason for that error.Thanks in advance
hi friend //this code for fill datagrid withhelp of dataset
dbDataSet = new DataSet();
dbDataSet = function();
datagrid.DataSource = dbDataSet;
dtgGodown.TableStyles.Clear();
DataGridTableStyle dtgTs = new DataGridTableStyle();
dtgTs.MappingName = "tablename";
datagrid.TableStyles.Add(dtgTs);
int nGridRowCount = dbDataSet.Tables[0].Rows.Count;
if(nGridRowCount != 0)
{
datagrid.NavigateTo(0,"tablename");
datagrid.Select(0);
datagrid.TableStyles["tablename"].SelectionBackColor = Color.Gainsboro;
datagrid.TableStyles["tablename"].SelectionForeColor = Color.Red;
datagrid.TableStyles["tablename"].GridColumnStyles["fieldname..."].Width = 162;
datagrid.TableStyles["tablename"].GridColumnStyles["fieldname.."].Width = 0;
}
/////////////////////////////
clickevent
/////////////////////
if (nGridRowCount != 0)
{
strFlag = "Edit";
lable.Text = datagrid[datagrid.CurrentCell.RowNumber,1 ].ToString();
txtbox.Text = datagrid[datagrid.CurrentCell.RowNumber, 0].ToString();
}
To trap the record that is being accessed in a DataGrid Web server control, you use the DataKeys collection of DataGrid on an ItemCommand event, and then pass the ItemIndex property as a key to the DataKey collection. When you click a link to move to the next page (or to a new page) in the DataGrid, you may receive the following error message:
When you click a link to move to the next page (or to a new page) in the DataGrid, the ItemCommand event is invoked. The value of the ItemIndex property is -1 in the ItemCommand event. You may receive an error when you pass the ItemIndex property as a key to retrieve the value from the DataKey collection because the DataKey collection is zero bound.
private void DataGrid1_ItemCommand(object source, System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataGridCommandEventArgs e){ // If Not navigating to Next Page, show the CategoryID in the text box. if (e.Item.ItemIndex > -1) { // Get the CategoryID of the Row Selected in the DataGrid. TextBox1.Text = DataGrid1.DataKeys[e.Item.ItemIndex].ToString(); }}http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813832
ASP.NET Ajax Grid and Pager
Introduction
This article will show you how to create an AJAX Grid and a generic pager, which mimics the built-in GridView control on the client side.
Features
The Control(s) Provides:
Able to bind to any web service call that returns an array.
A GridView like API on the client side.
Able to AutoGenerate Columns based upon the dataSource.
Support for Sorting and Paging where developer can spawn his/her own logic.
Full VS Design Time Support.
Supports Column Drag and Drop.
Compatible with all major browsers including IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari.
Prerequiste
This is not a beginner’s guide. If you are new to ASP.NET AJAX or not familiar with Client-Centric or Server-Centric Development model, I strongly recommend you visit http://ajax.asp.net. To run the solution you must have:
Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Web Developer.
Latest Version (v1.0) of ASP.NET AJAX.
SQL Server 2005 (At least Express Edition) for running the sample.
Northwind Database (You can download the sql script from here).
Background
ASP.NET AJAX is a great platform to develop rich user experience web applications. The most amazing part is that it replaces the traditional page postback refresh model. We can easily add an UpdatePanel (A Part of Server Centric Development model) in the updatable part of a page to remove the regular page postback. But the problem with an UpdatePanel is that it not only returns the updated data but also returns the HTML tags of that updated part. This is not an issue if you are developing small or mid size applications where performance and network bandwidth is not a concern. However if you are developing a large system where performance and network bandwidth matters, then definitely you want to send only the updated data without the unnecessary HTML tags.
When developing a database application it is a common requirement to show data in a tabular format with sorting and paging. ASP.NET has two first class controls for this purpose, the DataGrid and the GridView. But the problem with these controls there is no object model in the client side, which we can utilize with JavaScript. There is no way we can call a Web Service or Server side method and bind the result with it in the client side. Developers often have to write reparative DHTML code to render the tabular data.
The AJAX Grid
The provided AJAX Grid solves the above problem. Developer can easily bind the result of a Web Service or Server Side method calls in the client side. It also exposes a similar API like DataGrid/GridView in client side that most of the ASP.NET developers are already familiar with.
Data Binding
When binding data we set the DataSource of the target control and call the DataBind() method. The same steps are required for the AJAX Grid. The following lines show the Suppliers table records from the Northwind database.
Code Listing 1: JavaScript
view sourceprint?01.
02.function pageLoad()
03.{
04.
var grid = $find('grid'); // Get the reference of the Client Side Component
05.
DataService.GetAllSupplier
06.
(
07.
function(suppliers)
08.
{
09.
grid.set_dataSource(suppliers);
10.
grid.dataBind();
11.
}
12.
);
13.}
Code Listing 2: AJAX
view sourceprint?1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Figure 1: Output
This is a simple page, which uses a ScriptManager with a WebService reference and an AJAX Grid. In the pageLoad() (A special event which is fired by the ASP.NET AJAX Library every time the page is loaded) event we are getting the reference of the AJAX Grid by using the $find method (A shortcut method to find the Client Side Component, please do not confuse Client Side Component with regular DOM element, to get a DOM element reference use $get) statements and then we are setting the dataSource that the web service call returns and finally calls the dataBind() method. As you can see, the output is the same as we would set up a DataGrid/GridView with the default setting.
Styling
The above example shows the data in a plain vanilla style, certainly we do not want show the data in this way rather we would like to add some styling property. AJAX Grid similarly exposes CssClass, HeaderCssClass, RowCssClass, AlternatingRowCssClass and SelectedRowCssClass to do the same styling as the DataGid/GridView controls. Once we apply these styles the above example output looks like the following.
Figure 2: Output with Styles
The Supplier.aspx of the attached sample has full source code of the above two examples.
The Column Collection
When showing the tabular data we certainly like to add more control such as hiding a column, showing a different header text, alignment, allow sorting, setting column width etc. In AJAX Grid we can easily define the column collection in declarative model like the following:
Code Listing 3: AJAX Grid with Columns
view sourceprint?01.
03.SortOrderAscendingImage="Images/up.gif" SortOrderDescendingImage="Images/dn.gif">
04.
05.
Nowrap="True"/>
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
Nowrap="True"/>
13.
14.
15.
16.
The AJAX Gird Column contains the following important properties:
HeaderText: Same as in the DataGrid/GridView.
DataField: Same as in the DataGrid/GridView.
Sortable: If true, the header text will be displayed as a hyperlink instead of text.
SortField: Must be specified if SortField is different from DataField.
FormatString: Same as in the DataGrid/GridView.
Sorting
The AJAX Grid also supports sorting in the same way as the DataGrid/GridView control. When a column header is clicked it raises the Sort event, which we have to subscribe. To show the current sort order we have to set the SortOrderAscendingImage and SortOrderDescendingImage property of AJAX Grid. In order to get the current sort column and order we can check the SortColumn and SortOrder property. The following shows how to add sorting support in the AJAX Grid which shows the Customers table of Northwind database.
Code Listing 4: AJAX Grid with Columns
view sourceprint?01.function pageLoad()
02.{
03.
// Getting the reference of the Client Components and
04.
// attaching the event handlers
05.
_grid = $find('grid');
06.
_grid.add_sort(sorted);
07.}
08.
09.function sorted(sender, e)
10.{
11.
// Set the SortColum and SortOrder of the Grid so
12.
// that it can properly render current sort column and
13.
// and the associated image
14.
15.
_grid.set_sortColumn(e.get_sortColumn());
16.
_grid.set_sortOrder(e.get_sortOrder());
17.
18.
// Here we can call the WebService with the new SortColumn and SortOrder
19.}
Figure 3: AJAX Grid Sorted
The Customer.aspx of the attached sample has the full source code of the sorting example.
Selecting/Deleting Rows
To show the Select and Delete link like in the DataGrid/GridView we have set the ShowSelectLink and ShowDeleteLink property to true. Once a row is selected it will raise the SelectedIndexChange event. The same thing happens when the delete link is clicked; it raises the RowDelete event. Both of these events pass the CommandName and CommandArgument but for this the DataKeyName must to be set. For example if we set the DataKeyName to the primary key of a table in these events it will have the primary key value as CommandArgument. You can also select a row by using the SelectedIndex property or the Select() method. To deselect a row use the ResetSelection() method.
The RowDataBound Event
In the RowDataBound event we can do some special processing before the data is bound. For example when showing the Products table of Northwind database we can change the background color to red that Unit in Stock is less than 10. Another example could be that our Web Service returns the Product's CategoryID but we want to show the category name instead of that CategoryID. These kinds of changes can be done in this event. This event passes the binding row and the current data item that it is binding. The following shows how to bind this event and do the special processing.
Code Listing 5: RowDataBound
view sourceprint?01.function pageLoad()
02.{
03.
// Getting the reference of the Client Components
04.
// and attaching the event handlers
05.
_grid = $find('grid');
06.
_grid.add_rowDataBound(rowDataBound);
07.}
08.
09.function rowDataBound(sender, e)
10.{
11.
var product = e.get_dataItem();
12.
13.
var tdCategory = e.get_tableRow().cells[2];
14.
var categoryName = getCategoryName(product.CategoryID);
15.
tdCategory.innerHTML = categoryName;
16.
17.
var tdUnitsInStock = e.get_tableRow().cells[5];
18.
if (product.UnitsInStock < 10)
19.
{
20.
tdUnitsInStock.style.backgroundColor = '#ff0000';
21.
}
22.}
Figure 4: RowDataBound
The Product.aspx of the attached sample has the full source code of the RowDataBound event example.
Paging
When working with large tables we often required to use paging. Although the DataGrid/GridView has built-in support for paging they are pretty much useless. Most developers often refuse to use the built-in functionality and use their own custom logic which usually takes a start index, page size and other additional parameters and in turn returns only the paged records with the total number of records. The sample DataService.asmx contains some of the methods (GetCustomerList, GetProductList) which contain the custom paging logic. Usually a Pager shows the page numbers, next/previous, first/last page links. The following shows how to implement a pager control.
Code Listing 6: AJAX Grid Pager JavaScript
view sourceprint?01.function pageLoad()
02.{
03.
// Getting the reference of the Client Components
04.
// and attaching the event handlers
05.
06.
_grid = $find('grid');
07.
_grid.add_sort(sorted);
08.
09.
_pager = $find('pager');
10.
_pager.add_pageChange(pageChanged);
11.
12.
//Getting the reference of the DOM elements
13.
_message = $get('message');
14.
15.
loadCustomers();
16.}
17.
18.function sorted(sender, e)
19.{
20.
// Set the SortColum and SortOrder of the Grid so that
21.
// it can properly render current sort column
22.
// and the associated image
23.
24.
_grid.set_sortColumn(e.get_sortColumn());
25.
_grid.set_sortOrder(e.get_sortOrder());
26.
27.
// need to reset the current page as sorting has been changed
28.
_pager.set_currentPage(1);
29.
30.
loadCustomers();
31.}
32.
33.function pageChanged(sender, e)
34.{
35.
// Set the new page as current page
36.
_pager.set_currentPage(e.get_newPage());
37.
loadCustomers();
38.}
39.
40.function loadCustomers()
41.{
42.
// Calculating the startindex
43.
var startIndex = ((_pager.get_currentPage()-1) * _pager.get_rowPerPage());
44.
45.
// Need to convert the sortoder which our WS can understand
46.
// This needs to be on one line. Its been wrapped to display better in this article.
47.
var sortOrder = (_grid.get_sortOrder() == Ajax.Controls.GridSortOrder.Descending)
48.
? 'DESC' : 'ASC';
49.
50.
_message.innerHTML = "
53.
_message.style.display = "";
54.
55.
DataService.GetCustomerList
56.
(
57.
startIndex,
58.
_pager.get_rowPerPage(),
59.
_grid.get_sortColumn(),
60.
sortOrder,
61.
function(pagedResult)
62.
{
63.
var total = 0;
64.
var customers = null;
65.
66.
if (pagedResult != null)
67.
{
68.
total = pagedResult.Total;
69.
customers = pagedResult.Rows;
70.
}
71.
72.
_grid.set_dataSource(customers);
73.
_grid.dataBind();
74.
75.
_pager.set_rowCount(total);
76.
77.
_message.innerHTML = '';
78.
_message.style.display = 'none';
79.
},
80.
function(exception)
81.
{
82.
_message.innerHTML = '' + exception.get_message() + '';
83.
}
84.
);
85.}
Code Listing 7: AJAX Grid Pager ASPX
view sourceprint?01.
Figure 5: AJAX Grid Pager
The followings are some of the important properties of the AJAX Pager:
ShowInfo: When true, shows the info such as Page 1 of 10. The default value is false.
ShowFirstAndLast: When true, shows the first and last Link. The default value is true.
FirstText: The text which will be displayed as link for the first page. The Default value is <<
LastText: The text which will be displayed as link for the last page. The Default value is >>
ShowPreviousAndNext: When true, shows the Previous and Next Link. The default value is false.
ShowNumbers: When true, shows the page numbers as link. The default value is true.
RowPerPage: The Number of row that each page contains. The default value is 10.
CurrentPage: The currentpage that the pager is showing.
HideOnSinglePage: The control will not be rendered if it founds there is only one page.
ShowTip: When true, a tooltip will appears on hovering on any of the links.
InfoCssClass: Styling property for the info part.
CurrentPageCssClass: Styling property for the current page.
OtherPageCssClass: Styling property for other pages.
The AJAX Pager contains only one event PageChange that the developers have to subscribe to load the new page data. I have excluded the Pager from the Grid so that it can be utilize in with other controls that show tabular data.
Both the Customer.aspx and Product.aspx of the attached sample has full source code of the Paging example.
Drag and Drop
Drag and Drop is an essential part of any Rich Web Application and thus it has become a common feature for Web 2.0 applications. Certianly Pageflakes is one of the best candidates for utlizing drag and drop. The Ajax Grid has built-in support for column drag and drap. Just set the AllowDragAndDrop property for any Column to true and it will be drag and dropable. The following screenshot shows the implemented version of a drag and drop in the Customers table of the Northwind database:
Figure 5: AJAX Grid Drag and Drop
The Ajax Grid raises the ColumnDragStarted when the column drag started and ColumnDropped upon dropping the column. The following code shows how to track the column and drag and drop in these events.
Code Listing 8: AJAX Grid Drag and Drop
view sourceprint?01.function pageLoad()
02.{
03.
_grid = $find('grid');
04.
_grid.add_columnDragStart(columnDragStart);
05.
_grid.add_columnDropped(columnDropped);
06.}
07.
08.function columnDragStart(sender, e)
09.{
10.
alert(e.get_column().headerText); // the event passes the column reference
11.}
12.
13.function columnDropped(sender, e)
14.{
15.
// this event also passes the column reference with old and new index
16.
alert(e.get_column().headerText);
17.
alert(e.get_oldIndex());
18.
alert(e.get_newIndex());
19.}
We can also use the built-in ProfileService to persist the columns position, so that in the next visit the columns positioning is same as the user left it in the last visit.
Summary
Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX is great platform to develop web application but currently it is lacking of Client Side Components especially which works with data. Although you will find 30+ controls in ASP.NET Ajax ToolKit but most of them are mainly extender, which extends existing server side ASP.NET Controls. Certainly we can develop these kinds of controls to enrich it.
This happens everytime.
I have tried everything and nothing seems to be working, any ideas please?
My system specs are:
Windows XP Professional
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU
2.40ghz
2.00gb ram
Geforce 8800 GTS
i have made some progress on this, i have a creative soundcard and have been readiong these forums for a solution, it now launches when i disable the sound card, which is great becuase it works, but rubbish as i have no sound.
I have tried searching for the adi_oal.dll but cant find it anywhere on my comp, i am on Windows XP, any idea where it is?
I am dealing with a problem in datagrid. Sometimes when I select or drag the datagrid column I get an error message saying "Index out of range exception". Can someone help me in explaining the reason for that error.Thanks in advance
hi friend //this code for fill datagrid withhelp of dataset
dbDataSet = new DataSet();
dbDataSet = function();
datagrid.DataSource = dbDataSet;
dtgGodown.TableStyles.Clear();
DataGridTableStyle dtgTs = new DataGridTableStyle();
dtgTs.MappingName = "tablename";
datagrid.TableStyles.Add(dtgTs);
int nGridRowCount = dbDataSet.Tables[0].Rows.Count;
if(nGridRowCount != 0)
{
datagrid.NavigateTo(0,"tablename");
datagrid.Select(0);
datagrid.TableStyles["tablename"].SelectionBackColor = Color.Gainsboro;
datagrid.TableStyles["tablename"].SelectionForeColor = Color.Red;
datagrid.TableStyles["tablename"].GridColumnStyles["fieldname..."].Width = 162;
datagrid.TableStyles["tablename"].GridColumnStyles["fieldname.."].Width = 0;
}
/////////////////////////////
clickevent
/////////////////////
if (nGridRowCount != 0)
{
strFlag = "Edit";
lable.Text = datagrid[datagrid.CurrentCell.RowNumber,1 ].ToString();
txtbox.Text = datagrid[datagrid.CurrentCell.RowNumber, 0].ToString();
}
To trap the record that is being accessed in a DataGrid Web server control, you use the DataKeys collection of DataGrid on an ItemCommand event, and then pass the ItemIndex property as a key to the DataKey collection. When you click a link to move to the next page (or to a new page) in the DataGrid, you may receive the following error message:
When you click a link to move to the next page (or to a new page) in the DataGrid, the ItemCommand event is invoked. The value of the ItemIndex property is -1 in the ItemCommand event. You may receive an error when you pass the ItemIndex property as a key to retrieve the value from the DataKey collection because the DataKey collection is zero bound.
private void DataGrid1_ItemCommand(object source, System.Web.UI.WebControls.DataGridCommandEventArgs e){ // If Not navigating to Next Page, show the CategoryID in the text box. if (e.Item.ItemIndex > -1) { // Get the CategoryID of the Row Selected in the DataGrid. TextBox1.Text = DataGrid1.DataKeys[e.Item.ItemIndex].ToString(); }}http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813832
ASP.NET Ajax Grid and Pager
Introduction
This article will show you how to create an AJAX Grid and a generic pager, which mimics the built-in GridView control on the client side.
Features
The Control(s) Provides:
Able to bind to any web service call that returns an array.
A GridView like API on the client side.
Able to AutoGenerate Columns based upon the dataSource.
Support for Sorting and Paging where developer can spawn his/her own logic.
Full VS Design Time Support.
Supports Column Drag and Drop.
Compatible with all major browsers including IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari.
Prerequiste
This is not a beginner’s guide. If you are new to ASP.NET AJAX or not familiar with Client-Centric or Server-Centric Development model, I strongly recommend you visit http://ajax.asp.net. To run the solution you must have:
Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Web Developer.
Latest Version (v1.0) of ASP.NET AJAX.
SQL Server 2005 (At least Express Edition) for running the sample.
Northwind Database (You can download the sql script from here).
Background
ASP.NET AJAX is a great platform to develop rich user experience web applications. The most amazing part is that it replaces the traditional page postback refresh model. We can easily add an UpdatePanel (A Part of Server Centric Development model) in the updatable part of a page to remove the regular page postback. But the problem with an UpdatePanel is that it not only returns the updated data but also returns the HTML tags of that updated part. This is not an issue if you are developing small or mid size applications where performance and network bandwidth is not a concern. However if you are developing a large system where performance and network bandwidth matters, then definitely you want to send only the updated data without the unnecessary HTML tags.
When developing a database application it is a common requirement to show data in a tabular format with sorting and paging. ASP.NET has two first class controls for this purpose, the DataGrid and the GridView. But the problem with these controls there is no object model in the client side, which we can utilize with JavaScript. There is no way we can call a Web Service or Server side method and bind the result with it in the client side. Developers often have to write reparative DHTML code to render the tabular data.
The AJAX Grid
The provided AJAX Grid solves the above problem. Developer can easily bind the result of a Web Service or Server Side method calls in the client side. It also exposes a similar API like DataGrid/GridView in client side that most of the ASP.NET developers are already familiar with.
Data Binding
When binding data we set the DataSource of the target control and call the DataBind() method. The same steps are required for the AJAX Grid. The following lines show the Suppliers table records from the Northwind database.
Code Listing 1: JavaScript
view sourceprint?01.
02.function pageLoad()
03.{
04.
var grid = $find('grid'); // Get the reference of the Client Side Component
05.
DataService.GetAllSupplier
06.
(
07.
function(suppliers)
08.
{
09.
grid.set_dataSource(suppliers);
10.
grid.dataBind();
11.
}
12.
);
13.}
Code Listing 2: AJAX
view sourceprint?1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Figure 1: Output
This is a simple page, which uses a ScriptManager with a WebService reference and an AJAX Grid. In the pageLoad() (A special event which is fired by the ASP.NET AJAX Library every time the page is loaded) event we are getting the reference of the AJAX Grid by using the $find method (A shortcut method to find the Client Side Component, please do not confuse Client Side Component with regular DOM element, to get a DOM element reference use $get) statements and then we are setting the dataSource that the web service call returns and finally calls the dataBind() method. As you can see, the output is the same as we would set up a DataGrid/GridView with the default setting.
Styling
The above example shows the data in a plain vanilla style, certainly we do not want show the data in this way rather we would like to add some styling property. AJAX Grid similarly exposes CssClass, HeaderCssClass, RowCssClass, AlternatingRowCssClass and SelectedRowCssClass to do the same styling as the DataGid/GridView controls. Once we apply these styles the above example output looks like the following.
Figure 2: Output with Styles
The Supplier.aspx of the attached sample has full source code of the above two examples.
The Column Collection
When showing the tabular data we certainly like to add more control such as hiding a column, showing a different header text, alignment, allow sorting, setting column width etc. In AJAX Grid we can easily define the column collection in declarative model like the following:
Code Listing 3: AJAX Grid with Columns
view sourceprint?01.
03.SortOrderAscendingImage="Images/up.gif" SortOrderDescendingImage="Images/dn.gif">
04.
05.
Nowrap="True"/>
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
Nowrap="True"/>
13.
14.
15.
16.
The AJAX Gird Column contains the following important properties:
HeaderText: Same as in the DataGrid/GridView.
DataField: Same as in the DataGrid/GridView.
Sortable: If true, the header text will be displayed as a hyperlink instead of text.
SortField: Must be specified if SortField is different from DataField.
FormatString: Same as in the DataGrid/GridView.
Sorting
The AJAX Grid also supports sorting in the same way as the DataGrid/GridView control. When a column header is clicked it raises the Sort event, which we have to subscribe. To show the current sort order we have to set the SortOrderAscendingImage and SortOrderDescendingImage property of AJAX Grid. In order to get the current sort column and order we can check the SortColumn and SortOrder property. The following shows how to add sorting support in the AJAX Grid which shows the Customers table of Northwind database.
Code Listing 4: AJAX Grid with Columns
view sourceprint?01.function pageLoad()
02.{
03.
// Getting the reference of the Client Components and
04.
// attaching the event handlers
05.
_grid = $find('grid');
06.
_grid.add_sort(sorted);
07.}
08.
09.function sorted(sender, e)
10.{
11.
// Set the SortColum and SortOrder of the Grid so
12.
// that it can properly render current sort column and
13.
// and the associated image
14.
15.
_grid.set_sortColumn(e.get_sortColumn());
16.
_grid.set_sortOrder(e.get_sortOrder());
17.
18.
// Here we can call the WebService with the new SortColumn and SortOrder
19.}
Figure 3: AJAX Grid Sorted
The Customer.aspx of the attached sample has the full source code of the sorting example.
Selecting/Deleting Rows
To show the Select and Delete link like in the DataGrid/GridView we have set the ShowSelectLink and ShowDeleteLink property to true. Once a row is selected it will raise the SelectedIndexChange event. The same thing happens when the delete link is clicked; it raises the RowDelete event. Both of these events pass the CommandName and CommandArgument but for this the DataKeyName must to be set. For example if we set the DataKeyName to the primary key of a table in these events it will have the primary key value as CommandArgument. You can also select a row by using the SelectedIndex property or the Select() method. To deselect a row use the ResetSelection() method.
The RowDataBound Event
In the RowDataBound event we can do some special processing before the data is bound. For example when showing the Products table of Northwind database we can change the background color to red that Unit in Stock is less than 10. Another example could be that our Web Service returns the Product's CategoryID but we want to show the category name instead of that CategoryID. These kinds of changes can be done in this event. This event passes the binding row and the current data item that it is binding. The following shows how to bind this event and do the special processing.
Code Listing 5: RowDataBound
view sourceprint?01.function pageLoad()
02.{
03.
// Getting the reference of the Client Components
04.
// and attaching the event handlers
05.
_grid = $find('grid');
06.
_grid.add_rowDataBound(rowDataBound);
07.}
08.
09.function rowDataBound(sender, e)
10.{
11.
var product = e.get_dataItem();
12.
13.
var tdCategory = e.get_tableRow().cells[2];
14.
var categoryName = getCategoryName(product.CategoryID);
15.
tdCategory.innerHTML = categoryName;
16.
17.
var tdUnitsInStock = e.get_tableRow().cells[5];
18.
if (product.UnitsInStock < 10)
19.
{
20.
tdUnitsInStock.style.backgroundColor = '#ff0000';
21.
}
22.}
Figure 4: RowDataBound
The Product.aspx of the attached sample has the full source code of the RowDataBound event example.
Paging
When working with large tables we often required to use paging. Although the DataGrid/GridView has built-in support for paging they are pretty much useless. Most developers often refuse to use the built-in functionality and use their own custom logic which usually takes a start index, page size and other additional parameters and in turn returns only the paged records with the total number of records. The sample DataService.asmx contains some of the methods (GetCustomerList, GetProductList) which contain the custom paging logic. Usually a Pager shows the page numbers, next/previous, first/last page links. The following shows how to implement a pager control.
Code Listing 6: AJAX Grid Pager JavaScript
view sourceprint?01.function pageLoad()
02.{
03.
// Getting the reference of the Client Components
04.
// and attaching the event handlers
05.
06.
_grid = $find('grid');
07.
_grid.add_sort(sorted);
08.
09.
_pager = $find('pager');
10.
_pager.add_pageChange(pageChanged);
11.
12.
//Getting the reference of the DOM elements
13.
_message = $get('message');
14.
15.
loadCustomers();
16.}
17.
18.function sorted(sender, e)
19.{
20.
// Set the SortColum and SortOrder of the Grid so that
21.
// it can properly render current sort column
22.
// and the associated image
23.
24.
_grid.set_sortColumn(e.get_sortColumn());
25.
_grid.set_sortOrder(e.get_sortOrder());
26.
27.
// need to reset the current page as sorting has been changed
28.
_pager.set_currentPage(1);
29.
30.
loadCustomers();
31.}
32.
33.function pageChanged(sender, e)
34.{
35.
// Set the new page as current page
36.
_pager.set_currentPage(e.get_newPage());
37.
loadCustomers();
38.}
39.
40.function loadCustomers()
41.{
42.
// Calculating the startindex
43.
var startIndex = ((_pager.get_currentPage()-1) * _pager.get_rowPerPage());
44.
45.
// Need to convert the sortoder which our WS can understand
46.
// This needs to be on one line. Its been wrapped to display better in this article.
47.
var sortOrder = (_grid.get_sortOrder() == Ajax.Controls.GridSortOrder.Descending)
48.
? 'DESC' : 'ASC';
49.
50.
_message.innerHTML = "
";
51.
_message.innerHTML += "
";
52.
_message.innerHTML += "Loading Customers...
"; 51.
_message.innerHTML += "
"; 52.
_message.innerHTML += "Loading Customers...
53.
_message.style.display = "";
54.
55.
DataService.GetCustomerList
56.
(
57.
startIndex,
58.
_pager.get_rowPerPage(),
59.
_grid.get_sortColumn(),
60.
sortOrder,
61.
function(pagedResult)
62.
{
63.
var total = 0;
64.
var customers = null;
65.
66.
if (pagedResult != null)
67.
{
68.
total = pagedResult.Total;
69.
customers = pagedResult.Rows;
70.
}
71.
72.
_grid.set_dataSource(customers);
73.
_grid.dataBind();
74.
75.
_pager.set_rowCount(total);
76.
77.
_message.innerHTML = '';
78.
_message.style.display = 'none';
79.
},
80.
function(exception)
81.
{
82.
_message.innerHTML = '' + exception.get_message() + '';
83.
}
84.
);
85.}
Code Listing 7: AJAX Grid Pager ASPX
view sourceprint?01.
Figure 5: AJAX Grid Pager
The followings are some of the important properties of the AJAX Pager:
ShowInfo: When true, shows the info such as Page 1 of 10. The default value is false.
ShowFirstAndLast: When true, shows the first and last Link. The default value is true.
FirstText: The text which will be displayed as link for the first page. The Default value is <<
LastText: The text which will be displayed as link for the last page. The Default value is >>
ShowPreviousAndNext: When true, shows the Previous and Next Link. The default value is false.
ShowNumbers: When true, shows the page numbers as link. The default value is true.
RowPerPage: The Number of row that each page contains. The default value is 10.
CurrentPage: The currentpage that the pager is showing.
HideOnSinglePage: The control will not be rendered if it founds there is only one page.
ShowTip: When true, a tooltip will appears on hovering on any of the links.
InfoCssClass: Styling property for the info part.
CurrentPageCssClass: Styling property for the current page.
OtherPageCssClass: Styling property for other pages.
The AJAX Pager contains only one event PageChange that the developers have to subscribe to load the new page data. I have excluded the Pager from the Grid so that it can be utilize in with other controls that show tabular data.
Both the Customer.aspx and Product.aspx of the attached sample has full source code of the Paging example.
Drag and Drop
Drag and Drop is an essential part of any Rich Web Application and thus it has become a common feature for Web 2.0 applications. Certianly Pageflakes is one of the best candidates for utlizing drag and drop. The Ajax Grid has built-in support for column drag and drap. Just set the AllowDragAndDrop property for any Column to true and it will be drag and dropable. The following screenshot shows the implemented version of a drag and drop in the Customers table of the Northwind database:
Figure 5: AJAX Grid Drag and Drop
The Ajax Grid raises the ColumnDragStarted when the column drag started and ColumnDropped upon dropping the column. The following code shows how to track the column and drag and drop in these events.
Code Listing 8: AJAX Grid Drag and Drop
view sourceprint?01.function pageLoad()
02.{
03.
_grid = $find('grid');
04.
_grid.add_columnDragStart(columnDragStart);
05.
_grid.add_columnDropped(columnDropped);
06.}
07.
08.function columnDragStart(sender, e)
09.{
10.
alert(e.get_column().headerText); // the event passes the column reference
11.}
12.
13.function columnDropped(sender, e)
14.{
15.
// this event also passes the column reference with old and new index
16.
alert(e.get_column().headerText);
17.
alert(e.get_oldIndex());
18.
alert(e.get_newIndex());
19.}
We can also use the built-in ProfileService to persist the columns position, so that in the next visit the columns positioning is same as the user left it in the last visit.
Summary
Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX is great platform to develop web application but currently it is lacking of Client Side Components especially which works with data. Although you will find 30+ controls in ASP.NET Ajax ToolKit but most of them are mainly extender, which extends existing server side ASP.NET Controls. Certainly we can develop these kinds of controls to enrich it.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Input Not Supported
I spent some time today preparing my old HP to network with my new P4. I removed the old DSL modem and an IDE controller card. I blew out the dust (not much surprisingly). I installed a NIC (D-link). I put the CDRW that had been on the IDE Controller as Slave (and jumpered it as Slave) on the same cable with the DVD. I closed it up and tried to boot.
It did POST, checked RAM and so on, then the WinME boot screen flashed and went to a blinking cursor. After a few seconds, the cursor gave way to a completely black background and a white box in the middle with the note above: "Input Not Supported". Windows continued to boot and apparently was fully booted into Windoze which I found when I got into Safe Mode and watched Scandisk run because I had shut down the power without doing Shutdown, since I couldn't see it.
I have no trouble booting into Safe Mode and I figured it had something to do with the monitor being different than the one I had been using so I went into Device Manager and eventually removed all monitor references (there were about 6 which I thought made it more likely this was the problem). It made no difference and still didn't do any better once I got the correct driver installed. By this time I was using Ctrl-Alt-Delete to reboot, so I didn't have to worry about corrupting the hard drive. I went back into Safe Mode and removed all but one Display Adapter, no joy. I went in again and removed the remaining one and Windoze put one back as I rebooted. Still no joy. I removed the NIC and still no joy.
At this point the computer is on and the "Input Not Supported" is dominating the screen.
The computer is an HP custom with 700Mhz AMD slot A. It has a 15 gig Maxtor hard drive, a DVD, CDRW, Nvidia video and a sound card (nothing fancy). At this point, there are no peripherals attached and the NIC is removed.
I would appreciate any ideas for how to proceed next....
Input not supported
reducing the refresh rate of the monitor in advanced settings of display properties? IS the refresh rate to high for the monitor your using?
right click desktop/properties/settings/advanced/monitor ( well you know this but for the other people)
I had left the HP on with the "Input Not Supported" screen while I was doing other things including reading my messages here. After Variable's suggestion I went over to see what I could do with it and found that my screen saver was running merrily away in very good resolution. I moved the mouse and went back to "Input Not Supported". GRRRRR....
I may end up having to reinstall Windoze, but I would really rather avoid that for the moment. After I get everything set up on this computer the way I want, I plan to do that anyway, but I want to transfer some things first. I also would really like to just figure out what the heck is going on.
What I have done now: I tried the advanced settings and they simply said that the information is unknown since it was in Safe Mode. I tried changing settings on the monitor itself and used Reset. It is lining up the picture better with the Autoconfig, but it isn't showing me Windoze in Normal Mode. I disabled almost everything in msconfig and no joy. Right now it is sitting in Safe Mode and I will experiment some more before bed, but I am not sure what else I can do. I am going to look at Device Manager again to see if I missed anything there.
I just went in and found out the highest resolution on my graphics card is 1024 x 768 and the acer monitor is set to 1440 x 900! There is a CD with the acer and I had that in the drive but with no video I couldn't ask my computer to go get it unless it was doing it automatically.
Will the CD give my computer 1440 x 900 resolution? Is it worth trying to get this monitor to work with my computer seeing as how I am not running Vista?
The problem is that your hertz rate is set to 75 and your acer monitor doesn't support that. Go into the dispaly settings and change the hertz rate to 60. Fixed my a couple of minutes ago
What this means is that there are indeed monitors just for Vista, this is so because it has to do with DRM and Copyright issues..
Vista has special software that "Talks to" software in these Monitors.
Also you need a suitable Video Card that will "Drive" the 19" Monitor. These MUST be installed, as should any "Monitor" Drivers too.
As said, there are "Drivers" for Monitors too, if a CD came with the monitor this must be installed also.
It may say The input not supported but that may simply be, that at the present Video Card settings for the "Size & Depth" are incorrect for the Monitor.
Try booting into "Safe Mode" F8, and set the Monitor for say 800x600x16 bit color. Reboot & if it come up with a picture, when at ya desktop ya can then adjust the screen resolution for your optimal size and color depth, by right clicking and selecting "Properties" from Menu.
All I can say is WOW! I have been using my pc with my monitor for months and I was installing a new printer and must have wiggled something loose, and all I was getting out of my monitor was "INPUT NOT SUPPORTED." So I came to this forum, and low and behold, if you DO NOT have another monitor to hook up to your PC, please do this in the sequence I have listed as this was my fix
1. Power down PC (you will have to do a cold/hard shut down by pressing the power button as you cannot see your desktop due to this message).
2. Unplug monitor from the power strip *and* from the back of the monitor itself, freeing the cord completely
3. Plug power cord into monitor *FIRST*
4. Plug power cord into the power strip
5. Turn on monitor power *FIRST*
6. Turn on power to PC
This *hopefully* will get you up and going. If not, then you will need to try to get another monitor to adjust the display settings (60 hz and 1440 x 900 @ 32 bit). You can get to this by (I have Vista):
1. Left click mouse anywhere on desktop
2. Go to properties
3. Go to display settings
Once you have completed this (again, hopefully with an extra monitor you have somewhere so you are able to see what you are doing) then do the entire sequence up above again by shutting down, unplugging power cord completely to monitor, then powering monitor on first before PC, this is a hugely important step. I really hope this helps someone. I have spent the past 3 hours wanting to yank my hair out!
1. check the power cords- make sure all are snug.
2. check and make sure no pins are bent in the cord to the computer
3. make sure that the monitor is not in auto-power save. Or in auto off mode. For example- is the light amber or green.
4. finally, make sure that your settings on your computer are not set to power off your monitor- as in a blank screen saver, power save or hibernate
It did POST, checked RAM and so on, then the WinME boot screen flashed and went to a blinking cursor. After a few seconds, the cursor gave way to a completely black background and a white box in the middle with the note above: "Input Not Supported". Windows continued to boot and apparently was fully booted into Windoze which I found when I got into Safe Mode and watched Scandisk run because I had shut down the power without doing Shutdown, since I couldn't see it.
I have no trouble booting into Safe Mode and I figured it had something to do with the monitor being different than the one I had been using so I went into Device Manager and eventually removed all monitor references (there were about 6 which I thought made it more likely this was the problem). It made no difference and still didn't do any better once I got the correct driver installed. By this time I was using Ctrl-Alt-Delete to reboot, so I didn't have to worry about corrupting the hard drive. I went back into Safe Mode and removed all but one Display Adapter, no joy. I went in again and removed the remaining one and Windoze put one back as I rebooted. Still no joy. I removed the NIC and still no joy.
At this point the computer is on and the "Input Not Supported" is dominating the screen.
The computer is an HP custom with 700Mhz AMD slot A. It has a 15 gig Maxtor hard drive, a DVD, CDRW, Nvidia video and a sound card (nothing fancy). At this point, there are no peripherals attached and the NIC is removed.
I would appreciate any ideas for how to proceed next....
Input not supported
reducing the refresh rate of the monitor in advanced settings of display properties? IS the refresh rate to high for the monitor your using?
right click desktop/properties/settings/advanced/monitor ( well you know this but for the other people)
I had left the HP on with the "Input Not Supported" screen while I was doing other things including reading my messages here. After Variable's suggestion I went over to see what I could do with it and found that my screen saver was running merrily away in very good resolution. I moved the mouse and went back to "Input Not Supported". GRRRRR....
I may end up having to reinstall Windoze, but I would really rather avoid that for the moment. After I get everything set up on this computer the way I want, I plan to do that anyway, but I want to transfer some things first. I also would really like to just figure out what the heck is going on.
What I have done now: I tried the advanced settings and they simply said that the information is unknown since it was in Safe Mode. I tried changing settings on the monitor itself and used Reset. It is lining up the picture better with the Autoconfig, but it isn't showing me Windoze in Normal Mode. I disabled almost everything in msconfig and no joy. Right now it is sitting in Safe Mode and I will experiment some more before bed, but I am not sure what else I can do. I am going to look at Device Manager again to see if I missed anything there.
I just went in and found out the highest resolution on my graphics card is 1024 x 768 and the acer monitor is set to 1440 x 900! There is a CD with the acer and I had that in the drive but with no video I couldn't ask my computer to go get it unless it was doing it automatically.
Will the CD give my computer 1440 x 900 resolution? Is it worth trying to get this monitor to work with my computer seeing as how I am not running Vista?
The problem is that your hertz rate is set to 75 and your acer monitor doesn't support that. Go into the dispaly settings and change the hertz rate to 60. Fixed my a couple of minutes ago
What this means is that there are indeed monitors just for Vista, this is so because it has to do with DRM and Copyright issues..
Vista has special software that "Talks to" software in these Monitors.
Also you need a suitable Video Card that will "Drive" the 19" Monitor. These MUST be installed, as should any "Monitor" Drivers too.
As said, there are "Drivers" for Monitors too, if a CD came with the monitor this must be installed also.
It may say The input not supported but that may simply be, that at the present Video Card settings for the "Size & Depth" are incorrect for the Monitor.
Try booting into "Safe Mode" F8, and set the Monitor for say 800x600x16 bit color. Reboot & if it come up with a picture, when at ya desktop ya can then adjust the screen resolution for your optimal size and color depth, by right clicking and selecting "Properties" from Menu.
All I can say is WOW! I have been using my pc with my monitor for months and I was installing a new printer and must have wiggled something loose, and all I was getting out of my monitor was "INPUT NOT SUPPORTED." So I came to this forum, and low and behold, if you DO NOT have another monitor to hook up to your PC, please do this in the sequence I have listed as this was my fix
1. Power down PC (you will have to do a cold/hard shut down by pressing the power button as you cannot see your desktop due to this message).
2. Unplug monitor from the power strip *and* from the back of the monitor itself, freeing the cord completely
3. Plug power cord into monitor *FIRST*
4. Plug power cord into the power strip
5. Turn on monitor power *FIRST*
6. Turn on power to PC
This *hopefully* will get you up and going. If not, then you will need to try to get another monitor to adjust the display settings (60 hz and 1440 x 900 @ 32 bit). You can get to this by (I have Vista):
1. Left click mouse anywhere on desktop
2. Go to properties
3. Go to display settings
Once you have completed this (again, hopefully with an extra monitor you have somewhere so you are able to see what you are doing) then do the entire sequence up above again by shutting down, unplugging power cord completely to monitor, then powering monitor on first before PC, this is a hugely important step. I really hope this helps someone. I have spent the past 3 hours wanting to yank my hair out!
1. check the power cords- make sure all are snug.
2. check and make sure no pins are bent in the cord to the computer
3. make sure that the monitor is not in auto-power save. Or in auto off mode. For example- is the light amber or green.
4. finally, make sure that your settings on your computer are not set to power off your monitor- as in a blank screen saver, power save or hibernate
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Blue screen of windows xp not starting
Do you know what is the Windows blue screen of death, and how to go about fixing it? Most probably you are having the blue screen on your computer often, and looking for a simple solution. Well, my computer was in a very similar situation some time ago, and I was really nervous because I thought I had to get a new computer. This article will discuss the several reasons why a computer can start showing the blue screen of death, and how I managed to easily cure my computer.
1. How To Fix Your Computer?
The reason why your computer is showing the blue screen is because of errors in the registry. To clean this area of the computer, you will need to download a cleaner software. It is not encouraged that you attempt to fix your registry yourself because it can be very dangerous. After downloading a cleaning software myself, I have managed to restore and fix my computer in about ten minutes.
2. Why Does The Blue Screen Of Death Occur?
When you install software and new programs in your computer, new entries and other changes will be made on your registry. As more and more entries pile up, some of them may become infected with spyware, or go missing because the system does not always restore them. As a result, when the programs that use the entries need to run, your computer may suddenly process very slowly, or worse, the blue screen of death happens. All these problems can be cured with a registry cleaner.
The amount of changes to your registry is dependent on the user's amount of usage of the computer. A newly purchased computer will usually run very quickly, but after a few months, users find that their computer's processing speed may start to slow down. This is the effect of a poorly maintained registry.
3. What Will A Registry Cleaner Do, And Where Do I Get One?
The software that I used managed to detect all the errors and missing entries in my registry (using their free scan), and fix all the errors in 10 minutes. Once the scan and fix was completed, my computer no longer encountered the blue screen of death, and its processing speed has also improved. To download the top rated software that I used, you can visit my website link at the end of this article to find out more.
Even after running the scan and fix on your computer, you should still look to run a weekly maintenance of your computer. Schedule your software to run a scan and fix every week, and get rid of the Windows blue screen of death now!
Are you looking to fix the Windows XP Blue Screen Of Death? Read the author's review of the Best Registry Cleaners on the market now at http://www.review-best.com/registry-cleaner.htm and completely clean up your computer registry in 2 minutes!
1. How To Fix Your Computer?
The reason why your computer is showing the blue screen is because of errors in the registry. To clean this area of the computer, you will need to download a cleaner software. It is not encouraged that you attempt to fix your registry yourself because it can be very dangerous. After downloading a cleaning software myself, I have managed to restore and fix my computer in about ten minutes.
2. Why Does The Blue Screen Of Death Occur?
When you install software and new programs in your computer, new entries and other changes will be made on your registry. As more and more entries pile up, some of them may become infected with spyware, or go missing because the system does not always restore them. As a result, when the programs that use the entries need to run, your computer may suddenly process very slowly, or worse, the blue screen of death happens. All these problems can be cured with a registry cleaner.
The amount of changes to your registry is dependent on the user's amount of usage of the computer. A newly purchased computer will usually run very quickly, but after a few months, users find that their computer's processing speed may start to slow down. This is the effect of a poorly maintained registry.
3. What Will A Registry Cleaner Do, And Where Do I Get One?
The software that I used managed to detect all the errors and missing entries in my registry (using their free scan), and fix all the errors in 10 minutes. Once the scan and fix was completed, my computer no longer encountered the blue screen of death, and its processing speed has also improved. To download the top rated software that I used, you can visit my website link at the end of this article to find out more.
Even after running the scan and fix on your computer, you should still look to run a weekly maintenance of your computer. Schedule your software to run a scan and fix every week, and get rid of the Windows blue screen of death now!
Are you looking to fix the Windows XP Blue Screen Of Death? Read the author's review of the Best Registry Cleaners on the market now at http://www.review-best.com/registry-cleaner.htm and completely clean up your computer registry in 2 minutes!
Using Windows XP Device Driver Rollback Beats BSOD
The things in an operating system that I think are cool usually are not what get the press coverage or the cheers at the demonstrations. The things that get me excited are those that make me more productive.
I love operating systems and enjoy writing about them, but let's get something straight—the OS is just a tool, OK? I know, that is sacrilege. But there it is—some folks are wowed by the new visual design of Windows XP and I think that's great. Others are wowed by the new digital media support—wonderful for them. What really gets me excited about Windows XP is that it is going to work better. I am especially thrilled that it is more reliable.
One of the most important reliability improvements is Device Driver Rollback. This feature lets you quickly and easily recover when you install the new driver for your cool device, and it turns out to be not such a hot idea after all. We all know the scenario, because we've all been caught by it in the past. You install a new driver—either for a device you've had for quite a while, or for a new one. And when you reboot your system you get the dreaded Blue Screen of Death and you can't boot at all. Or you boot OK, but your machine becomes flaky. It crashes in the middle of something you've done a hundred times before, or it just seems unstable.
Well, Windows XP finally gives you the tools to recover from these problems, and it actually makes it easy. Let's look at the two situations separately, since they're a bit different.
New Driver and Blue Screen of Death
If you've ever installed a new driver or program on your machine, and encountered the Blue Screen of Death when you reboot, you know how painful and time consuming it can be. At the very least, you face a couple of hours restoring the system from the backup you made. You did do a backup, right? Of course you did—everyone does, especially just before they install something new. And if you believe that, I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you. Cheap.
What really gets me excited about Windows XP is that it is going to work better.
Anyway, in Windows XP, you can recover from the Blue Screen of Death and it shouldn't take more than a few minutes.
Since the introduction of Windows NT, there has been a Last Known Good configuration option. In some cases, booting to the Last Known Good configuration allowed you to recover an unbootable system. But in Windows XP, the system's ability to recover has been substantially improved with the addition of Device Driver Rollback. If your system won't boot, restart your computer and when you see the message Please select the operating system to start, press F8. You'll see a menu of choices to try. The two you're most likely to need are Safe Mode and Last Known Good. If you've just installed a device driver and can't boot your machine, choose Last Known Good and the system will automatically restore the previous version of the device driver. Continue booting and your system should be fine.
As for that bum driver—well, you'll probably need to talk to the tech support folks at the company that provided it. Chances are they've seen the problem before and know what the workaround is. Meanwhile, you've got a system that boots and that you can use while it gets sorted out.
Top of page
New Driver Causes Instability
While a new driver can cause a system to be unable to boot, it really doesn't happen that often. A more common scenario is that a new driver causes the system to become unstable. This can take a lot of different forms—sudden crashes, certain operations cause a failure, programs stop responding, and so forth. Or the device may fail to start. In the past, fixing the problem could be a pain, but with Windows XP, it's really easy. The Properties page for the device now has a new button—Roll Back Driver.
Top of page
Rolling Back a Questionable Device Driver
Getting back to the previous driver for any device is really easy. While there are a lot of ways to get to the properties for a particular device, here's one way. (This assumes you have your Control Panel set to the new Category View in Windows XP.)
1.
Click on Start and select Control Panel.
2.
Click on Performance and Maintenance.
3.
Click on See basic information about your computer to bring up the System Properties dialog.
4.
Click on the Hardware tab.
5.
Click on the Device Manager button to bring up the Device Manager.
6.
Right-click on the problem device and select Properties. If the device is not working, it will likely appear with a red X in the middle of the icon, as shown below.
7.
Click on the Driver tab and then click Roll Back Driver. Accept as appropriate and required. If a system reboot is required, your computer will prompt you.
Top of page
Single Level Rollback
One important consideration with device driver rollback that you'll want to keep in mind—it's only a single level deep. So if a particular driver is suspect, you should roll back to the original drivers before you try to install a new one to fix the problem. This has always been a good practice anyway, but it's now much easier to implement.
I love operating systems and enjoy writing about them, but let's get something straight—the OS is just a tool, OK? I know, that is sacrilege. But there it is—some folks are wowed by the new visual design of Windows XP and I think that's great. Others are wowed by the new digital media support—wonderful for them. What really gets me excited about Windows XP is that it is going to work better. I am especially thrilled that it is more reliable.
One of the most important reliability improvements is Device Driver Rollback. This feature lets you quickly and easily recover when you install the new driver for your cool device, and it turns out to be not such a hot idea after all. We all know the scenario, because we've all been caught by it in the past. You install a new driver—either for a device you've had for quite a while, or for a new one. And when you reboot your system you get the dreaded Blue Screen of Death and you can't boot at all. Or you boot OK, but your machine becomes flaky. It crashes in the middle of something you've done a hundred times before, or it just seems unstable.
Well, Windows XP finally gives you the tools to recover from these problems, and it actually makes it easy. Let's look at the two situations separately, since they're a bit different.
New Driver and Blue Screen of Death
If you've ever installed a new driver or program on your machine, and encountered the Blue Screen of Death when you reboot, you know how painful and time consuming it can be. At the very least, you face a couple of hours restoring the system from the backup you made. You did do a backup, right? Of course you did—everyone does, especially just before they install something new. And if you believe that, I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you. Cheap.
What really gets me excited about Windows XP is that it is going to work better.
Anyway, in Windows XP, you can recover from the Blue Screen of Death and it shouldn't take more than a few minutes.
Since the introduction of Windows NT, there has been a Last Known Good configuration option. In some cases, booting to the Last Known Good configuration allowed you to recover an unbootable system. But in Windows XP, the system's ability to recover has been substantially improved with the addition of Device Driver Rollback. If your system won't boot, restart your computer and when you see the message Please select the operating system to start, press F8. You'll see a menu of choices to try. The two you're most likely to need are Safe Mode and Last Known Good. If you've just installed a device driver and can't boot your machine, choose Last Known Good and the system will automatically restore the previous version of the device driver. Continue booting and your system should be fine.
As for that bum driver—well, you'll probably need to talk to the tech support folks at the company that provided it. Chances are they've seen the problem before and know what the workaround is. Meanwhile, you've got a system that boots and that you can use while it gets sorted out.
Top of page
New Driver Causes Instability
While a new driver can cause a system to be unable to boot, it really doesn't happen that often. A more common scenario is that a new driver causes the system to become unstable. This can take a lot of different forms—sudden crashes, certain operations cause a failure, programs stop responding, and so forth. Or the device may fail to start. In the past, fixing the problem could be a pain, but with Windows XP, it's really easy. The Properties page for the device now has a new button—Roll Back Driver.
Top of page
Rolling Back a Questionable Device Driver
Getting back to the previous driver for any device is really easy. While there are a lot of ways to get to the properties for a particular device, here's one way. (This assumes you have your Control Panel set to the new Category View in Windows XP.)
1.
Click on Start and select Control Panel.
2.
Click on Performance and Maintenance.
3.
Click on See basic information about your computer to bring up the System Properties dialog.
4.
Click on the Hardware tab.
5.
Click on the Device Manager button to bring up the Device Manager.
6.
Right-click on the problem device and select Properties. If the device is not working, it will likely appear with a red X in the middle of the icon, as shown below.
7.
Click on the Driver tab and then click Roll Back Driver. Accept as appropriate and required. If a system reboot is required, your computer will prompt you.
Top of page
Single Level Rollback
One important consideration with device driver rollback that you'll want to keep in mind—it's only a single level deep. So if a particular driver is suspect, you should roll back to the original drivers before you try to install a new one to fix the problem. This has always been a good practice anyway, but it's now much easier to implement.
BLUE SCREEN, UNABLE TO BOOT AFTER WINDOWS XP UPDATE
I updated 11 windows xp updates today from Microsoft.com and restarted my pc like it asked me to. (There has definitely been absolutely NO CHANGE in my computer software or hardware installation apart from this updates)
From then on, Windows cannot restart again! It is stopping at the blue screen with the following message:
A problem has been detected and windows has been shutdown to prevent damage to your computer.
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Technical Information:
STOP: 0x00000050 (0x80097004, 0x00000001, 0x80515103, 0x00000000).
I tried all kinds of restarting option namely, safe modes etc. but everything is returning to the blue screen.
I hope Microsoft technical support has an answer as to how to resolve this problem.
Please respond if anyone has an answer.
We have found that there is only one patch that requires un-installation to resolve the blue screen issue. KB977165 is the patch in question, the other patches do not seem to cause the blue screen behaviour and do not need to be uninstalled.
With that in mind, here's the updated solution steps:
1. Boot from your Windows XP CD or DVD and start the recovery console (see this Microsoft article for help with this step)
Once you are in the Repair Screen..
2. Type this command: CHDIR $NtUninstallKB977165$\spuninst
3. Type this command: BATCH spuninst.txt
4. When complete, type this command: exit
IMPORTANT: If you are able to uninstall the patch and get back into Windows, in order to stay protected you can use the following automated solution which secures your PC against the vulnerabilities that are resolved with KB977165 until you can successfully get the update installed without the blue screens.
Please see the link below for the article describing the vulnerability that is fixed with KB977165 and how you can get protected without installing the actual KB update:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979682
I also wanted to thank maxyimus for the great thread, and LThibx for their participation as well!
From then on, Windows cannot restart again! It is stopping at the blue screen with the following message:
A problem has been detected and windows has been shutdown to prevent damage to your computer.
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Technical Information:
STOP: 0x00000050 (0x80097004, 0x00000001, 0x80515103, 0x00000000).
I tried all kinds of restarting option namely, safe modes etc. but everything is returning to the blue screen.
I hope Microsoft technical support has an answer as to how to resolve this problem.
Please respond if anyone has an answer.
We have found that there is only one patch that requires un-installation to resolve the blue screen issue. KB977165 is the patch in question, the other patches do not seem to cause the blue screen behaviour and do not need to be uninstalled.
With that in mind, here's the updated solution steps:
1. Boot from your Windows XP CD or DVD and start the recovery console (see this Microsoft article for help with this step)
Once you are in the Repair Screen..
2. Type this command: CHDIR $NtUninstallKB977165$\spuninst
3. Type this command: BATCH spuninst.txt
4. When complete, type this command: exit
IMPORTANT: If you are able to uninstall the patch and get back into Windows, in order to stay protected you can use the following automated solution which secures your PC against the vulnerabilities that are resolved with KB977165 until you can successfully get the update installed without the blue screens.
Please see the link below for the article describing the vulnerability that is fixed with KB977165 and how you can get protected without installing the actual KB update:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979682
I also wanted to thank maxyimus for the great thread, and LThibx for their participation as well!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Program starts and then disappears
Hi,
All of a sudden some programs start and go away, some others won't even
start.
As an example: I start "Gspot v2.70a", it starts and the progress bar starts
moving to the end; and then Gspot closes.
Some others programs will not even start, I've uninstalled them all and
reinstalled them. I click on the shortcut that the install-program put on
the desktop, nothing!
I click on the *.exe itself, nothing. I start it as an administrator....
same thing, nothing. They do NOT appear in Taskmanager.
Anybody able to solve this mistery? I would surely appreciate it.
Many thanks and greetings from
have one program like that; it opens and closes so fast I can see nothing;
it happens to be WTMKM.exe which is a Macro Key Manager for my graphics
tablet. Still trying to figure out why it won't stay.
However, I use Gspot v2.70a and it opens and stays open and works
Program Starts Then Disappears
All of a sudden some programs start and go away, some others won't even start. As an example: I start "Gspot v2.70a", it starts and the progress bar starts moving to the end; and then Gspot closes. Some others programs will not even start, I've uninstalled them all and reinstalled them. I click on the shortcut that the install-program put on the desktop, nothing! I click on the *.exe itself, nothing. I start it as an administrator....same thing, nothing. They do NOT appear in Taskmanager. Anybody able to solve this mistery?
Job Starts Quickly Disappears With Nothing Printed We need to run one of our large 16bit Visual Basic 3.0 applications on Vista Ultimate (32bit) while we rewrite the app in VB .Net. So far I have been able to install the VB3 app, and even the VB3 dev, on Vista and with a few small changes all runs well except for printing from the VB app. We use the VB PrintForm command to print a screen image from the app. All works well under Windows XP but under Vista nothing prints. Watching the Print Queue for the default printer, a job starts then quickly disappears from the queue with nothing printed.
The VB3 app can see the printer and the printer properties OK using Printer Setup (Common Dialog VBX). Printing works fine from Word 2003 and other 32 bit apps on the PC. I have tried several printers, all work OK under Vista except for the 16 bit apps. I have tried running the app as Admin and changing compatibilty properties. Does Vista support any printing from 16 bit apps?
Downloaded Program: Motions, Then Disappears I have Vista Home Premium and Office 2007 Ultimate. Recently, I've noticed that when I go to save a downloaded program, it goes through the motions, then disappears. Also, when I go to save a document in Office 2007, it also goes through the motions, then disappears. Does anyone know how to fix this issue? I save a lot of documents in my profession, so I can't afford to not be able to.
A Program Starts Together With Windows, But Is Not In StartUp I installed on my brand new Windows Vista PC an unnecessary program (D-Link Monitor, but it is not important). The program is not needed and also it didn't install properly. Now when I start my PC, the program starts up displaying several messages to inform me that it cannot
work.
I had a look in StartUp - it is not there. I tried to uninstall it to no avail.
How/where else can start of this program be triggered? And how to make it not to start?
System Starts Registry Cleaner Program
Vista Home Premium 64-bit Since I started using a registry cleaner program (Advanced SystemCare Professional), I've noticed that every once in a while the system will go through two startups. The first startup begins normally, but then after the Welcome screen there's a pause of several seconds. Then a window pops up in the upper left corner of my screen that says "setting up personalized settings" followed by "msiexec /fuo {product ID} /qn". There's a second window that appears right after that but it disappears before I can read it. The system then goes through what appears to be a normal shutdown, and then immediately restarts a second time, and from that point on everything seems fine.
This doesn't happen at every startup. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Advanced SystemCare, but I can't pinpoint the cause. The anomaly disappears if I disable all of ASC's automated functions. It's not a critical problem, but it has aroused my curiosity. I'd welcome any insights anyone can offer.
All of a sudden some programs start and go away, some others won't even
start.
As an example: I start "Gspot v2.70a", it starts and the progress bar starts
moving to the end; and then Gspot closes.
Some others programs will not even start, I've uninstalled them all and
reinstalled them. I click on the shortcut that the install-program put on
the desktop, nothing!
I click on the *.exe itself, nothing. I start it as an administrator....
same thing, nothing. They do NOT appear in Taskmanager.
Anybody able to solve this mistery? I would surely appreciate it.
Many thanks and greetings from
have one program like that; it opens and closes so fast I can see nothing;
it happens to be WTMKM.exe which is a Macro Key Manager for my graphics
tablet. Still trying to figure out why it won't stay.
However, I use Gspot v2.70a and it opens and stays open and works
Program Starts Then Disappears
All of a sudden some programs start and go away, some others won't even start. As an example: I start "Gspot v2.70a", it starts and the progress bar starts moving to the end; and then Gspot closes. Some others programs will not even start, I've uninstalled them all and reinstalled them. I click on the shortcut that the install-program put on the desktop, nothing! I click on the *.exe itself, nothing. I start it as an administrator....same thing, nothing. They do NOT appear in Taskmanager. Anybody able to solve this mistery?
Job Starts Quickly Disappears With Nothing Printed We need to run one of our large 16bit Visual Basic 3.0 applications on Vista Ultimate (32bit) while we rewrite the app in VB .Net. So far I have been able to install the VB3 app, and even the VB3 dev, on Vista and with a few small changes all runs well except for printing from the VB app. We use the VB PrintForm command to print a screen image from the app. All works well under Windows XP but under Vista nothing prints. Watching the Print Queue for the default printer, a job starts then quickly disappears from the queue with nothing printed.
The VB3 app can see the printer and the printer properties OK using Printer Setup (Common Dialog VBX). Printing works fine from Word 2003 and other 32 bit apps on the PC. I have tried several printers, all work OK under Vista except for the 16 bit apps. I have tried running the app as Admin and changing compatibilty properties. Does Vista support any printing from 16 bit apps?
Downloaded Program: Motions, Then Disappears I have Vista Home Premium and Office 2007 Ultimate. Recently, I've noticed that when I go to save a downloaded program, it goes through the motions, then disappears. Also, when I go to save a document in Office 2007, it also goes through the motions, then disappears. Does anyone know how to fix this issue? I save a lot of documents in my profession, so I can't afford to not be able to.
A Program Starts Together With Windows, But Is Not In StartUp I installed on my brand new Windows Vista PC an unnecessary program (D-Link Monitor, but it is not important). The program is not needed and also it didn't install properly. Now when I start my PC, the program starts up displaying several messages to inform me that it cannot
work.
I had a look in StartUp - it is not there. I tried to uninstall it to no avail.
How/where else can start of this program be triggered? And how to make it not to start?
System Starts Registry Cleaner Program
Vista Home Premium 64-bit Since I started using a registry cleaner program (Advanced SystemCare Professional), I've noticed that every once in a while the system will go through two startups. The first startup begins normally, but then after the Welcome screen there's a pause of several seconds. Then a window pops up in the upper left corner of my screen that says "setting up personalized settings" followed by "msiexec /fuo {product ID} /qn". There's a second window that appears right after that but it disappears before I can read it. The system then goes through what appears to be a normal shutdown, and then immediately restarts a second time, and from that point on everything seems fine.
This doesn't happen at every startup. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Advanced SystemCare, but I can't pinpoint the cause. The anomaly disappears if I disable all of ASC's automated functions. It's not a critical problem, but it has aroused my curiosity. I'd welcome any insights anyone can offer.
What you don’t know about your files can hurt your business
A large portion of most companies’ data is unstructured, as users are continuously creating or modifying Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. These files are used for tracking time and expenses, project management, budgeting, business analysis and planning and much
The Hype Has Parted – It's Time to Make a Move While the 'Clouds' are Within Sight
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NTBackup Drive Verify Messages
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Does it start with a CIO?
Unified Communication is not another plug-in product but rather a multi-level integration process that involves re-engineering and alignment of applications into business processes to eventually produce a unified user experience, enhance...
Spot Every Fish and Fish Every Spot with FishID
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IRVINE, CA - MEDL Mobile, Inc., the company that turns great ideas into great mobile apps and the creator of TreeID, Dr. Jason Siniscalchi are at it again - with an iPhone app on the Apple App Store that allows you to spot every fish and fish every spot to find the best catch.
How to Promote Your Business Using PowerPoint
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A hard time has fallen on the earth. The financial storm from Wall Street this September has been changing the whole world. Yet along with big changes are always enormous chances.
How to recover sql 2000 sa password
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Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is a full-featured relational database management system that offers a variety of administrative tools to ease the burdens of database development, maintenance and administration. It operates in one of two authentication modes: Windows Authentication...
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The Internet – it’s hard to think of life without it. But many parents these days may argue that when it comes to their kids, life with it may be more challenging than living without it. As our lives becomes more connected to the online world, keeping up with the risks...
Steps to Follow if MS Access File Giving Fatal System Error Instead of Opening
Written by Laren Hits : 446
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MS Office Access is a highly reliable database management system that enables users to create tables, queries, reports and forms. It allows users to import and export information in different formats and can be linked to data for running queries and creating reports. But with...
UC deployment in Hospitality: Why, How & What!
Written by Asheesh Pandia Hits : 1928
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The Motivation: Admittedly, the economy that follows UC deployment is considerably attractive and that is exactly why more and more Hotels and businesses pertaining to Travel & Hospitality consider Unified Communications today. The same is well evident from the current market...
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UC gets sociable!
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Navigating Through Cloud Computing
Why Is Magento A Popular E-Commerce Platform?
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Character Education A Victim of Recession
axigen bingo business casino data security digital email email server facebook gao gao tek healthcare hf hf rfid reader internet iphone ipod kodak lf linux mac mail mailserver marketing messaging microsoft mobile network online casino reader rfid rfid reader security seo server social networking software storage text to speech uhf uhf rfid reader usb vasco virtualization vmware voip windows wireless
The Hype Has Parted – It's Time to Make a Move While the 'Clouds' are Within Sight
Written by David Cottingham Hits : 240
Monday, 25 October 2010 23:32
Hype is a marketer’s dream and an IT person’s nightmare. While it helps generate excitement and a got-to-have-it mindset for the purchaser, it often blinds us and obscures reality in the process. “Cloud Computing” is one of the latest hyped technologies, but that’s...
NTBackup Drive Verify Messages
Written by larendaniel Hits : 106
Thursday, 21 October 2010 03:43
Not necessarily, but the drive verify messages that Microsoft NTBackup utility generates after you complete the backup process sometimes indicate that the backup file (.bkf file) is corrupt. When running any server version of Windows, you can see these verify errors in the...
How to eliminate 'no text converter' error while opening PowerPoint presentation
Written by Laren Daniel Hits : 521
Sunday, 26 September 2010 23:27
PowerPoint is one of the vital applications which comes packed in Microsoft Office suite. Used extensively by teachers, marketing professionals, students, trainers worldwide, this application incorporates a host of highly useful features. The presence of advanced features ensure...
Unified Communications (UC) Deployment – an insight
Written by Asheesh Pandia Hits : 2350
Monday, 20 September 2010 06:13
Does it start with a CIO?
Unified Communication is not another plug-in product but rather a multi-level integration process that involves re-engineering and alignment of applications into business processes to eventually produce a unified user experience, enhance...
Spot Every Fish and Fish Every Spot with FishID
Written by Rob Shoesmith Hits : 530
Friday, 17 September 2010 03:16
IRVINE, CA - MEDL Mobile, Inc., the company that turns great ideas into great mobile apps and the creator of TreeID, Dr. Jason Siniscalchi are at it again - with an iPhone app on the Apple App Store that allows you to spot every fish and fish every spot to find the best catch.
How to Promote Your Business Using PowerPoint
Written by computer Hits : 240
Friday, 22 October 2010 00:01
A hard time has fallen on the earth. The financial storm from Wall Street this September has been changing the whole world. Yet along with big changes are always enormous chances.
How to recover sql 2000 sa password
Written by killytu Hits : 148
Monday, 18 October 2010 21:38
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is a full-featured relational database management system that offers a variety of administrative tools to ease the burdens of database development, maintenance and administration. It operates in one of two authentication modes: Windows Authentication...
Keeping Kids CyberSafe
Written by Geoffrey Arone Hits : 1323
Thursday, 23 September 2010 04:08
The Internet – it’s hard to think of life without it. But many parents these days may argue that when it comes to their kids, life with it may be more challenging than living without it. As our lives becomes more connected to the online world, keeping up with the risks...
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Written by Laren Hits : 446
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MS Office Access is a highly reliable database management system that enables users to create tables, queries, reports and forms. It allows users to import and export information in different formats and can be linked to data for running queries and creating reports. But with...
UC deployment in Hospitality: Why, How & What!
Written by Asheesh Pandia Hits : 1928
Thursday, 16 September 2010 04:03
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More Articles...
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How to address workbook corruption in Excel 2007
Character Education A Victim of Recession
axigen bingo business casino data security digital email email server facebook gao gao tek healthcare hf hf rfid reader internet iphone ipod kodak lf linux mac mail mailserver marketing messaging microsoft mobile network online casino reader rfid rfid reader security seo server social networking software storage text to speech uhf uhf rfid reader usb vasco virtualization vmware voip windows wireless
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Adsense and Google
Some months ago Google announce about Make a date with data in Google Analytics. It means you can integrate your Adsense with your Analytics account.
Google Analytics is tools to analyze your site visitor. You can check how many visitor, where they come from, and what keyword visitor found your site. It's complete free analyze tool for you site. You can improve you site with data from analytic. You can learn why people prefer this page rather then homepage.
Intergrating adsense with analityc means you can see how much you can earn for each page on your site. You can learn why this page can give more earning then another page.
How to Integrate Adsense with Analytics
1. Log-in to Google AdSense and you should see a link "Integrate your AdSense account with Google Analytics". Click the link.
2. You will see a bunch of code snippets which you are asked to insert into your pages where you run AdSense and Analytics. You need to place this code above your AdSense and your Analytics code on the page. It is not necessary to insert this code onto your primary domain you defined for the linking. (You can access the code later on from Google Analytics, by clicking "Edit AdSense linking settings" on the overview page.)
3. Now google will check your site and wait until it actives.
4. If it has been actived, log-in to Google Analytics. Select your site, click Content -> AdSense. You should see the revenues for the last time period as well as the top pages when it comes to ad revenues. Click on "Add to Dashboard" for both the AdSense Overview page as well as the "Top AdSense Content" page.
5. You now have the info on your dashboard.
Why Click is Higher Then the Impression
When I check report on Adsense sometimes I found that Click is higher then Impression. In other word CTR is more then 100%. Is it normal and how it can be happened?
In my opinion there are 2 reasons why it can be happened.
1. User open link on adsense on new windows/tab.
2. Someone use program or script that will click every link on adsense code.
3. Google has a problem with their system.
Does it save?
What I’ve gotten is CTR about 200% with small click and impression. I never gotten higher click that will make CTR above 100%. Until now I still can earn money from adsense. I assume that it’s save. But if you found your click and impression is higher and make CTR above 100% please report this problem to Adsense.
It’s to keep your account from be banned by Google Adsense.
at 2:03 PM Posted by Hardhono 0 comments Links to this post
Thursday, July 23, 2009
How to Receive Payment Using Western Union
Labels: news, tips
I've received adsense payment using western union for several times. What I like to use western union is fast and free to receive money. I can get money only one day after google release my payment. It so fast then using check which usually take 3-4 weeks to receive money.
In order to receive money using western union you need to change payment option to western union. Here is step by step
1. Sign in at www.google.com/adsense.
2. Click My Account tab.
3. Click the 'edit' link adjacent to the 'Payment Details' header.
4. Select the Western Union Quick Cash radio button.
5. Click 'Continue'.
6. Click 'Save Changes' to save your payment type.
For your information western union is only available on some country. Make sure that your country is include on the list before you change payment option from check to western union.
You need to submit your name that same as your identify card. This name will be used to pick up money from western union agent
That's all. Just wait until next payment.
On next payment you will see link on payment issue. Click or open the link and you will get MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number) number for western union. Google Adsense also provide how to pick up money on that issued payment page. Use the number to pick up money from your local western union agent. It shuold free to pick up money at western union agent.
One Click for Big Dollar
Labels: news
I am surprise when I checked adsense report last day. I got $5.22 for one click. This is amazing for me because it don't happen to me before. I know this can be happened for every adsense publisher. Even maybe they can get higher commission for one click.
I don't optimize content for earning huge commission on every single click like that. I also don't have secret how to do that. There is no key or secret about this. It just comes from what we call high paying keyword. And maybe my site topic is also high paying keyword too.
But you can't just depend on creating site with high paying keyword only. For example you create blog with topic mesothelioma and posting that related with mesothelioma. You will not suddenly get high commission for every single click. You need update your blog regularly with your own good content and promote it.
It's lucky for me to get $5.22 for one click. But I hope I can get this again
Google Analytics is tools to analyze your site visitor. You can check how many visitor, where they come from, and what keyword visitor found your site. It's complete free analyze tool for you site. You can improve you site with data from analytic. You can learn why people prefer this page rather then homepage.
Intergrating adsense with analityc means you can see how much you can earn for each page on your site. You can learn why this page can give more earning then another page.
How to Integrate Adsense with Analytics
1. Log-in to Google AdSense and you should see a link "Integrate your AdSense account with Google Analytics". Click the link.
2. You will see a bunch of code snippets which you are asked to insert into your pages where you run AdSense and Analytics. You need to place this code above your AdSense and your Analytics code on the page. It is not necessary to insert this code onto your primary domain you defined for the linking. (You can access the code later on from Google Analytics, by clicking "Edit AdSense linking settings" on the overview page.)
3. Now google will check your site and wait until it actives.
4. If it has been actived, log-in to Google Analytics. Select your site, click Content -> AdSense. You should see the revenues for the last time period as well as the top pages when it comes to ad revenues. Click on "Add to Dashboard" for both the AdSense Overview page as well as the "Top AdSense Content" page.
5. You now have the info on your dashboard.
Why Click is Higher Then the Impression
When I check report on Adsense sometimes I found that Click is higher then Impression. In other word CTR is more then 100%. Is it normal and how it can be happened?
In my opinion there are 2 reasons why it can be happened.
1. User open link on adsense on new windows/tab.
2. Someone use program or script that will click every link on adsense code.
3. Google has a problem with their system.
Does it save?
What I’ve gotten is CTR about 200% with small click and impression. I never gotten higher click that will make CTR above 100%. Until now I still can earn money from adsense. I assume that it’s save. But if you found your click and impression is higher and make CTR above 100% please report this problem to Adsense.
It’s to keep your account from be banned by Google Adsense.
at 2:03 PM Posted by Hardhono 0 comments Links to this post
Thursday, July 23, 2009
How to Receive Payment Using Western Union
Labels: news, tips
I've received adsense payment using western union for several times. What I like to use western union is fast and free to receive money. I can get money only one day after google release my payment. It so fast then using check which usually take 3-4 weeks to receive money.
In order to receive money using western union you need to change payment option to western union. Here is step by step
1. Sign in at www.google.com/adsense.
2. Click My Account tab.
3. Click the 'edit' link adjacent to the 'Payment Details' header.
4. Select the Western Union Quick Cash radio button.
5. Click 'Continue'.
6. Click 'Save Changes' to save your payment type.
For your information western union is only available on some country. Make sure that your country is include on the list before you change payment option from check to western union.
You need to submit your name that same as your identify card. This name will be used to pick up money from western union agent
That's all. Just wait until next payment.
On next payment you will see link on payment issue. Click or open the link and you will get MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number) number for western union. Google Adsense also provide how to pick up money on that issued payment page. Use the number to pick up money from your local western union agent. It shuold free to pick up money at western union agent.
One Click for Big Dollar
Labels: news
I am surprise when I checked adsense report last day. I got $5.22 for one click. This is amazing for me because it don't happen to me before. I know this can be happened for every adsense publisher. Even maybe they can get higher commission for one click.
I don't optimize content for earning huge commission on every single click like that. I also don't have secret how to do that. There is no key or secret about this. It just comes from what we call high paying keyword. And maybe my site topic is also high paying keyword too.
But you can't just depend on creating site with high paying keyword only. For example you create blog with topic mesothelioma and posting that related with mesothelioma. You will not suddenly get high commission for every single click. You need update your blog regularly with your own good content and promote it.
It's lucky for me to get $5.22 for one click. But I hope I can get this again
Google Buzz - Social Networking Website
The Click article for this week is brought to you by Hayley Underwood, my soon to be wife, so that she can tell you about Google Buzz; a new social networking application that she has been getting to grips with.
“
Google Buzz is an extension of the Google Mail service offered by Google which the Internet giants hope will lure users away from alternative services such as Facebook.
Google Mail initially created shockwaves when first introduced as they offered a huge 1GB of storage space for messages and attachments compared to most of its competitors who at the time offered a feeble 2 to 4MB. Today they offer a huge 7GB as standard however times have moved on and alternative providers such as Yahoo Mail and Hotmail also now offer an almost unlimited amount of storage space free of charge.
Despite not having the advantage over the competition in this respect any longer, Google Gmail continues to be a popular service due to its ability to integrate well with other e-mail accounts and the way in which it allows you to manage your messages. As an example, Gmail groups together messages that are of the same subject, making them part of a conversation file. In this way you can manage large number of e-mails grouped into the same conversation quickly and easily so that deleting or achieving them doesn’t cause a headache.
Google Gmail is free to use and paid for by advertising however the adverts are very small, non-intrusive and are targeted so that they are more relevant to subject matter that you might find of interest. There are no large graphic adverts and no pop-up or pop-under adverts to clutter your browser.
“
Google Buzz is an extension of the Google Mail service offered by Google which the Internet giants hope will lure users away from alternative services such as Facebook.
Google Mail initially created shockwaves when first introduced as they offered a huge 1GB of storage space for messages and attachments compared to most of its competitors who at the time offered a feeble 2 to 4MB. Today they offer a huge 7GB as standard however times have moved on and alternative providers such as Yahoo Mail and Hotmail also now offer an almost unlimited amount of storage space free of charge.
Despite not having the advantage over the competition in this respect any longer, Google Gmail continues to be a popular service due to its ability to integrate well with other e-mail accounts and the way in which it allows you to manage your messages. As an example, Gmail groups together messages that are of the same subject, making them part of a conversation file. In this way you can manage large number of e-mails grouped into the same conversation quickly and easily so that deleting or achieving them doesn’t cause a headache.
Google Gmail is free to use and paid for by advertising however the adverts are very small, non-intrusive and are targeted so that they are more relevant to subject matter that you might find of interest. There are no large graphic adverts and no pop-up or pop-under adverts to clutter your browser.
WINDOWS XP Shutdown and Restart TroubleShooting
“With its rock-solid foundation and ground-breaking new features, Windows XP Professional won’t quit working, even when your workday is done.” — Microsoft
(Did they know what they were saying?)
Shutdown problems in Windows XP can be caused by many factors, just like earlier versions of Windows. These included: a damaged exit sound file; incorrectly configured, damaged, or incompatible hardware; conflicting programs, or an incompatible, damaged, or conflicting device driver.
For a step-by-step troubleshooting method that applies to all versions of Windows 9x, see the generic Windows Shutdown Troubleshooter. Some of its steps may be found to apply to Windows XP as well, though many will not.
Windows XP shutdown issues mostly center around a very few issues, especially legacy hardware and software compatibility issues.
Currently, the leading cause of Windows XP shutdown problems is hardware incompatibility, including driver issues. These are detailed below where known. However, it is impossible to list every possible hardware or driver issue individually. My best advice is: Check all drivers for all hardware devices to ensure that they are the current best for Windows XP.
REBOOT INSTEAD OF SHUTDOWN
Most Win XP shutdown problems reported thus far have been that it reboots when shutdown is attempted. This may be a global symptom emerging from several distinct causes, because, by default, XP executes an automatic restart in the event of a system failure. Therefore, more or less anything compromising the operating system during the shutdown process could force this reboot.
Disabling the “restart on system failure” feature may permit the exact cause to be isolated: Right-click on My Computer, click Properties, click the Advanced tab. Under “Startup & Recovery,” click Settings. Under “System Failure,” uncheck the box in front of “Automatically restart.”
Here are some things that have produced this reboot-instead-of-shutdown symptom:
By now, the Roxio/Adeptec Easy CD / Direct CD software is well documented as being the major cause of this undesirable shutdown behavior. SOLUTION: Roxio has released new drivers (here) to solve this problem in both the Platinum and Basic editions of Easy CD Creator 5. As expected, at least half of the Win XP shutdown problems went away with the release of these patches.
One warning about this patch comes from correspondent Bert Smith: Be sure to read the directions! “Roxio Easy CD Creator Platinum 5.0 can be a real hassle to get working under Win XP,” Bert wrote, “and there is the risk of your computer not booting if you blindly go ahead and install it without first consulting the Roxio Web site.” Bert also mentioned that Roxio’s “Take Two” backup program (normally part of Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum) is uninstalled when the Roxio patch is applied.
Direct CD. Many Easy CD users (but not all) found that installing Easy CD 5.0 does not cause the shutdown problem, provided they do not install the Direct CD component.
UDFRINST. Several people solved this reboot-on-shutdown problem by deleting the UDFRINST file. This file is part of the Roxio CD-RW software for systems not using Direct CD.
CDRALW2K.SYS. Correspondent Larry Blumette identified the CDRALW2K.SYS file (version 1.0.0.1048) as the Roxio file causing his shutdown problems and error conditions. When he deleted or renamed this one file, his problems went away. (Of course, you lose your CD functionality that way, too.)
Video Pack 5. Roxio’s Video Pack 5 causes the same problem because it contains includes the main parts of Easy CD 5. SOLUTION: Uninstall Video Pack 5 and also delete CDRALW2K.SYS (Tip from Christian Männchen). However, this solution may also have the side-effect of disabling access to your CD or DVD drive. SOLUTION TO THE SIDE-EFFECT: Apply one of the repair methods in MSKB Article 270008, Code 31 Messages Occur After Removing Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.02c in Windows 2000 (Tip from Peter Kingsley).
Whether or not APM is enabled makes a difference — but the effect could go two ways. Some users report that XP reboots on shutdown if APM is enabled, but shuts Windows down just fine if APM is disabled. Other users report exactly the opposite behavior. According to Jack Dunne, this is similar to a known Windows 2000 problem. The issue seems related to the computer’s specific hardware or BIOS — so, as with all NT operating systems, stick to the Hardware Compatibility List where possible.
USB Connections As can be seen from remarks in the Misc. Hardware Issues section below, several different USB-related issues can impact shutdown. One of the most concrete examples was a “reboot on shutdown” problem contributed by correspondent Rick Bross. If his several USB devices (PDA cradle, flash card reader, etc) were plugged into the motherboard’s USB ports, his computer would reboot on an attempted shutdown; but when, instead, he plugged them into an external USB 2.0 hub, shutdown went just fine. (This was with Win XP Professional SP1 on a Supermicro X5DAE dual Xeon motherboard. The same devices plugged into an Asus A7M-266D dual AMD 2000MP system on the same OS worked without problem.)
“Wake on” power settings Power-management settings that have the computer “wake” on LAN, USB, modem, or (for that matter) probably anything else may also trigger a restart after shutdown. Correspondent Simon Wei provided this tip after a friend of his found an old old Logitech USB mouse would trigger “wake on USB” after every Windows shutdown. Their solution was to remove that particular mouse and all worked fine. The principle is much more far-reaching than this one example.
Hidden “wake on” power settings If you have an Ethernet card integrated into your motherboard, you may have hidden “wake on” settings that are harder to find. Site visitor Jim Porter found that his Asus P5GDC-V Deluxe motherboard had a “wake on” setting in Device Manager | Properties | Advanced rather than in the BIOS or Power Management settings. (The Asus P5AD2 and P5GD2 boards have this also.)
Y-SB3 Logitech Internet Keyboard can also cause this problem. If you use it as a simple generic keyboard, there’s no problem; but, if you install the Key Commander software that drives the special Internet functions, Win XP will restart instead of shut down. Unfortunately, Logitech has decided that they will not be updating this driver for this keyboard. (Tip from Jan K. Haak.)
Logitech MouseWare 8.6. Windows reboots when shutdown is attempted. The software caused a BSOD with KBDCLASS.SYS. Removing the software solved the BSOD the problem. (Tip from Pablo Cheng.) MouseWare 9.0 and 9.1 also have been linked to reboot-instead-of-shutdown in Win XP. Removing the software resolves the problem. (Tip from Aswin Kindts, Greg Williams, and others)
Webstar DPX USB cable modem. In the one case known to me, the problem was solved by switching the modem’s connector from the USB 1.1 port on the motherboard to the USB 2.0 PCI card. (The modem was provided by Telewest Broadband, manufactured by Scientific Atlanta.) (Tip from Ann L. Goonan.)
SHUTDOWN HANGS ON “SAVING YOUR SETTINGS”
During shutdown or reboot, Win XP may hang (stop responding) at the “saving your settings” screen. During such a hang, there is no response to Ctrl+Alt+Del; the mouse may or may not work. The problem may be intermittent.
This is a known bug in Windows XP, for which Microsoft has a supported fix. To learn how to get this patch, see MSKB 307274, “Windows XP Stops Responding (Hangs) During Windows Shutdown.” The necessary patch is included in Windows XP Service Pack 1, and also is now available on the Windows Update site under “Recommended Updates” for Win XP Professional, titled “Restarting Windows XP.” However, to find it, you may need to reconfigure how Windows Update appears for you, by enabling the Windows Update Catalog as follows: At the Windows Update page, click Personalize Windows Update at the left, and then Enable the Windows Update Catalog. Save your settings. This adds the Windows Update Catalog link in the left box. Click this link, then click Find updates for Microsoft Windows systems. Pick Windows XP in the drop-down list, click Search, take Recommended Updates, and find the “Restarting Windows XP” patch which references Q307274.
As a workaround, newsgroup correspondent “lou” resolved this problem by dismantling the Windows XP logon Welcome screen. In the Control Panel, click User Accounts, then click “Change the way users log on or off.” Uncheck the box that says “Use the Welcome screen.” This removes the initial logon screen with individual icons for each user and, instead, pops up the classic logon prompt that requires each user to type a user name and password.
SBLive: DEVLDR32.EXE PROBLEMS
In the early days of Win ME, one of the biggest culprits for shutdown issue was the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live. History repeated itself in the Beta phase of Win XP. SOLUTION: The SBLive drivers in the released version of Win XP solved the shutdown problem for most (but not all) SBLive users.
Here’s the commonly reported problem scenario people encountered: On attempting shutdown, nothing at all appears to happen for a prolonged period of time. Eventually, an “End Task” window appears, wanting to terminate DEVLDR32.EXE. No matter what one does, one ultimately is locked out of shutting down other than by a power switch shutoff. (NOTE: This problem exists with the SBLive in Windows 2000 also.)
You may have to do a couple of extra steps to get rid of old files so that the new drivers will install correctly (especially if you installed the final version of Win XP on top of one of the Beta versions), or to remove troublesome support software. Correspondent Sean Caldwell summarized his steps: Shutdown Windows. Remove the Creative card. Reboot in Safe Mode. In the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder, delete the DEVLDR file. Fully shutdown the computer before rebooting.
Some users report that the DEVLDR problem continues to plague them even with the new drivers. If installing the new drivers doesn’t solve your shutdown problem, try these solutions:
Correspondent Martin Sladek wrote: “I’ve run into the very same problem with SBLive Value drivers. The problem was so severe I ran without the software all together. Since then, SBLive 5.1 came out, and I had installed the 5.1 version of the software in Windows 2000 Pro. I’ve not had a single problem since.”
But updating your drivers in Win XP may not be as easy as one would hope. Some problems especially appear where multiple users are enabled on the system and one switches between users during a single Windows session. There may be numerous files with the same name (but different version numbers!) variously located in the I386, SYSTEM32, and SYSTEM32\REINSTALLBACKUPS\0000 folders. These may conflict with each other. If you rename DEVLDR32 (ver 1.0.0.22) in SYSTEM32, another one will replace it. (First, you need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del and end DEVLDR in Task Manager). But if you use DEVLDR32 (ver 1.0.0.17) from the I386 folder, this problem doesn’t occur. Reboot when finished to reinaugurate the disabled service. (Tip from Terence Shortt, aka tbone8200 on dellTalk.)
MISC. HARDWARE ISSUES
In addition to hardware issues mentioned under other specialized topics on this page, many users have written identifying specific hardware as at the root of the Windows XP shutdown issue. Here’s what they have reported:
CD-ROM DRIVE: Samsung 24x. Correspondent Y. Leroux has identified the culprit in his shutdown problem, but doesn’t yet have a permanent solution. If his Samsung CD-ROM drive is empty, Win XP hangs on shutdown. To work around the problem, he either leaves a CD-ROM in the drive, or leaves the drive door open. He wanted to share this tip with others (thanks, Y.). Does anyone have a permanent solution for this one?
DVD-RW DRIVE: Pioneer DVR-106 or DVR-108. Correspondent L. Frankenberg traced his shutdown problem to this hardware. Correspondent Bob Berberick found the same for the DVR-108, and reported that a firmware update for the DVR-108 now available from Pioneer resolved his problem. It would probably be worth trying the firmware update for the DVR-106 as well, though I have no reports from anyone as to whether this solves the shutdown problem.
MODEMS: Intel Ambient HaM Modem. Causes Win XP to hang at shutdown. Previously, this was only resolved by disabling the modem. SOLUTION: Intel subsequently issued updated drivers that resolve this issue. They can be downloaded here. (Tip from Mark Gillespie.) However, a new problem with the Ambient Ham was introduced in Windows XP SP1, detailed below.
NOTE: The same problem has been reported for the Creatix V.90 Ham PCI Modem. Correspondent Gert Verheyen wrote that Creatix has an updated driver and, more importantly, detailed instructions about manual removal of the old one and installation of the new one. Go to the Creatix support page and click on V.90 HAM (internal) at right. The removal of the old driver first seems to have been the critical detail.
MODEMS: Billion BIPAC PCI Passive ISDN-card. Reboot instead of shutdown issue conjoined with BSOD error message STOP 0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL in file SERIAL.SYS. Previously, this was only resolved by disabling the Billion ISDN card. SOLUTION: Billion has now released a new driver 3.24 that solves this problem, available here. (Tip from Leo Foederer.)
MOTHERBOARDS: Asus P2B-F, P2B-VM, or P2L97. Causes a shutdown problem because Win XP Setup doesn’t enable ACPI by default. SOLUTION: Manually enable ACPI during a Win XP install or reinstall. Correspondent Bill Anderson (based on a solution by “Willy”) gave a lengthy description of how to do this, edited a little for space reasons. (Thanks also to correspondents Ward from Belgium & Tony Gray.)
Boot the computer from the Win XP CD-ROM.
Win XP Setup says it’s checking hardware. Soon after, at the bottom of the screen, it offers the opportunity to press F5. (If offered the chance to press F6, press F5 instead! – Tip from Mick Stone) Do this at once, and cross your fingers! [Various users report difficulty with this. Apparently, sometimes it works; sometimes not. It may be in the timing of exactly when you press the key. You may have to try repeatedly, or try pressing F5 and F6 repeatedly. – JAE] When successful, you’ll see a two-paragraph instruction that begins, “To specify additional SCSI or other mass storage devices.” Press to brings up a small window that appears to contain only two options, but, in fact, contains more (use the arrow keys to scroll up). If this windows doesn’t appear at this point, you need to start over and do more pressing of F5!
When the small window does appear, use the up-arrow to choose “Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).” (It’s the third from the top of the list.)
Next, you may see that two-paragraph SCSI/mass storage instruction again. If so, press. Many drivers will load, then you should see the Win XP installation screen. If you are running this after Win XP is already installed, choose the Repair option.
MOUSE: Logitech. If you have a Logitech mouse, and an outdated version of the MouseWare software installed, you may receive the following error message on a blue screen at shutdown: STOP 0x000000D1, (0x0000002b, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0xEEEE1b01) IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Kbdclass.sys. SOLUTION: Update the Logitech MouseWare software. (Reference & more information: MSKB 810980.)
VIDEO CARDS: Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 and all other video cards based on the Kyro II video chip. Causes restart and shutdown issues (or, in some cases, only restart issues) until the video adapter is removed. SOLUTION: New XP-specific drivers are now available from Hercules. At present, they remain uncertified (PowerVR, who makes the Kyro II chip, is working on that), but they reportedly work just fine. Download the Kyro II drivers here. (Tip from MS-MVP Don Lebow.)
USB Devices. If you have one or more USB devices attached to your computer, you may receive the following error message on a blue screen at shutdown: Stop 0x000000D1 (0x00000040, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0xfc96a9dc). SOLUTION: Upgrade to the latest Win XP service pack. (Reference & more information: MSKB 317326.)
USB: Keyboard or Mouse + Selective Suspend. Some USB input devices (such as a USB keyboard or mouse) do not support the Selective Suspend power management feature. When these devices are used with Selective Suspend turned on, the computer may hang during shutdown, or otherwise not shutdown correctly. WORK-AROUND: Disable power management for your USB hub: Open Device Manager (click Start, click Run, type DEVMGMT.MSC, click OK). Double-click to expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Double-click USB Root Hub. Click Power Management. Uncheck the box “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.” OK your way out. NOTE: Doing this may significantly reduce laptop battery life. (Reference & more information: MSKB 315664.)
USB: Lexar Media Combo Digital Film Reader (USB). There is a problem with the SAUSB.SYS file, apparently part of the Win98 SE driver set for this device, retained during an upgrade to Win XP. Deleting the file solved the problem. The newer version 4.3 SAUSB.SYS driver from Lexar’s Web site works perfectly, and does not cause a shutdown problem. (Tip from correspondent Eric Brown.) Though one correspondent reported that the even newer version 4.5 driver (SAUSBI.SYS) also can be used in Win XP , Lexar says this driver doesn’t work on XP. One correspondent has confirmed that this matches his experience in trying (unsuccessfully) to use 4.5 on both Widows 2000 and XP.
“STOP” ERROR MESSAGES AT SHUTDOWN
Some users, when attempting either to shutdown or restart Win XP, get an error message similar to the following: STOP 0x0000009F: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
Stop Messages literally means that Windows has stopped. (Which isn’t the same as saying it has shutdown!) See Knowledge Base Links: STOP MESSAGES for much more information that the brief remarks below. Most Stop Messages indicate hardware issues; some are caused by troublesome software or a system service problem. The links page just mentioned provides a 10-step approach to troubleshooting STOP Messages in general, then itemized analysis on the most common of these. (STOP messages are identified by an 8-digit hexadecimal number, but also commonly written in a shorthand notation; e.g., a STOP 0x0000000A may also be written Stop 0xA.)
Here are a few that may affect Win XP shutdown and restart. Stop 0x9F and Stop 0x8E are two of the most common of these at shutdown, and generally point to a bad driver. Stop 0x7B on restarting means Win XP lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process, due to a bad device driver, boot sector virus, resource conflict, boot volume corruption, or other problem listed here. Stop 0xC000021A can when on restart after a system administrator has modified permissions so that the SYSTEM account no longer has adequate permissions to access system files and folders.
MS-MVP Jim Pickering advises the following as one approach to these problems: Restart the computer. Press F8 during the restart and select “ Last Known Good Configuration.” If you catch the problem when it first occurs (meaning you likely have installed only one or two drivers or new service), this will return you to a previous working condition. System Restore provides an alternate approach, especially if you need to go back further than the last known good configuration, and Device Manager provides a tool for rolling back to an earlier driver.
SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW
If it appears that Win XP is not shutting down, give it some time. Some users report a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Generally, this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted. It also may have something to do with particular hardware. If you experience this problem, be sure to close all running programs before attempting shutdown and see if this solves your problem. If so, then you can determine, by trial and error, which program(s) are involved.
Newsgroup correspondent “Sarah” provided one specific solution for this. In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services, stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box.) Many other newsgroup participants quickly confirmed that this solved this “extremely slow shutdown” problem for them (it’s the most successful solution for this problem to date). According to correspondent Gan Ming Teik, downloading and installing the new version 23.11 Nvidia driver also solves this problem.
Correspondent Ron Spruell found that disabling the Terminal Services service reduced his shutdown time from over 2 minutes (hanging at the “Windows is shutting down” screen) to about 10 seconds. To disable Terminal Services, follow the steps in the prior paragraph for launching SERVICES.MSC. Please note that Terminal Services is required in Windows XP for running Remote Assistance, Fast User Switching, and (in XP Pro) Remote Desktop.
Correspondent Graeme J.W. Smith reported a more obscure cause of slow shutdown: In Win XP Professional, the Group Policy Editor has a security option to clear the pagefile at system shutdown. The same setting also forces the hibernation file to be wiped at shutdown. These processes take long enough that users may think that shutdown has hung. To change the setting, click Start | Run, type GPEDIT.MSC, click OK. Drill down to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options. In the right pane, find “Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile.” NOTE: Since someone actually has to have set this policy, the problem will be pretty rare, but is worth mentioning. However, Forum participant “roadrunner” reported that the personal security app Privacy Eraser automatically enables “Clear virtual memory pagefile,” and, therefore, may be the cause of a slow shutdown.
The Gear Software Security Service (GEARSEC.EXE), which enables iTunes for Windows to read and burn CDs, has been reported by many users to cause Windows XP to hang at the “Windows is shutting down” screen for as long as 20-30 seconds. WORK-AROUND: Stop the service prior to shutdown. One way to to this (suggested by “Thornburgh”) is to create a batch file with the one line net stop gearsecurity. You can either launch this batch file manually, or (in Win XP Professional) use GPEDIT.MSC) to specify this batch file as the shutdown script (under Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Scripts | Shutdown). Gear Software’s forum has a thread on this issue here. (Tip from correspondent “Andy”)
MS-MVP Gary Thorn discovered that the Event Log can slow down Win XP shutdown. Disabling event logging removed the slowdown. If this works for you, then the real troubleshooting begins: finding out, by trial and error, what item that is being logged is causing the actual slowdown. (In Gary’s case, the Telephony service was causing the problem.) To disable the Event Log, launch the Services console as detailed in No. 2 above, and disable Event Log (right-click on Event Log, click Properties, under Startup Type select “Disabled”).
In a domain environment, don’t forget to check any logoff scripts you are pushing. These can be a source of slow or hanging shutdown processes. Site visitor Tony Barkdull, for example, found that an enforced logoff script caused show shutdown for laptops that were off-site. He solved it be creating a logoff script on the local machines that deletes the Active Directory logoff group policy after it runs so that the logoff scripts are absent while a user is off-site, but are repopulated when they return. — A related cause of slow shutdowns is offline synchronization of data, which is increasingly common with mobile computing, but is usually much more obvious to the end-user.
POWERDOWN ISSUES
“Powerdown issues” are quite distinctive from “shutdown issues.” I define a shutdown problem as one wherein Windows doesn’t make it at least to the “OK to shut off your computer” screen. If Windows gets that far, or farther, then it has shut down correctly. However, the computer may not powerdown correctly after that. This is a different problem, and I encourage people reporting these issues to make a clear distinction in their labeling.
When Windows XP won’t powerdown automatically, the APM/NT Legacy Power Node may not be enabled. To enable this, right-click on the My Computer icon, click Properties | Hardware | Device Manager | View. Check the box labeled “Show Hidden Devices.” If it’s available on your computer, there will be a red X on the APM/NT Legacy Node. Try enabling it and see if this resolves the powerdown problem (Tip from Terri Stratton). Or, to check the other side of the APM/ACPI coin, open the Power Options applet in Control Panel. If there is an APM tab, make sure the “Enable Advanced Power Management Support” box is checked. (MSKB 313290)
This should resolve the powerdown issue in most cases. However, other factors can sometimes interfere with correct powerdown functioning. In that case, consider the following tips:
Try some of the solutions on my Shutdown & Restart Shortcuts page. If you really have a hardware inability to powerdown, these won’t solve it; but for some other underlying causes of powerdown failures, they just might.
If you change the default power settings in the BIOS, it can lead to a powerdown problem. Restoring all BIOS power settings to default will likely fix it. (Tip from Kelly Theriot)
Sometimes, not all appropriate Registry settings are made when you enable all the right power management settings in Windows. You can force the critical Registry setting with the “ShutNTdown” Registry patch. Please follow sensible Registry editing protocol. Backup your Registry before the change (or run System Restore to create a restore point). After installing it, test Windows shutdown. If the fix doesn’t work for you, remove it by restoring the Registry to its prior state. (For those who want more background information, the fix provided by this patch is based on information contained in MS Knowledge Base article 155117 for Windows NT 4.0.)
On some hardware, power management features simply don’t work right. This is exceedingly rare on Windows XP when compared to any earlier version of Windows but, on some machines, especially if no BIOS upgrade is available, there seems no conclusion to reach except, “Yes, you’re right, it doesn’t work, so don’t use that feature.” Accordingly, several correspondents have noted that their Win XP computers will not powerdown correctly unless they have Turn Off Monitor, Turn Off Hard Disks, and System Standby all set to “Never” in Control Panel | Power Options. (Tip from Dan Mitchell & others)
How old is your power supply? Correspondent Andrew Walsh had a computer that wouldn’t power down after a Win XP shutdown until he replaced the power supply that was a few years old. Presto! His problem was gone.
Correspondent “Snake” restored powerdown functioning by disabling his CD-ROM’s AutoRun feature. The fastest way to do this is with the “Disable AutoRun” Registry patch that you can download here.
If you have Office XP installed, the culprit may be CTFMON.EXE. This module provides the Alternate Language Bar and provides text input service support for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, keyboard, translation, and other alternative user input technologies. When you close all Office programs, this module stays active. Removing it can cause serious problems with your Office XP products, but you can effectively disable it by setting the installation state to Not Available in Office XP Setup. This isn’t as easy as it sounds though — several steps are involved. For full instructions, plus more information on the file and its function, see What Is CTFMON and What Does It Do? (Tip from Jay Jones)
VIA Apollo Pro 133 motherboards have a “USB Keyboard support” BIOS setting that can interfere with proper power management function if it is enabled — especially with respect to preventing powerdown during attempted shutdown, and also preventing the computer from waking from Stand-by. SOLUTION: Disable it. This was originally reported on the Chaintech 6ATA2, and confirmed on other VIA Apollo Pro 133 boards. (Tips from “Zef,” The Netherlands, & Robert Lin)
Toshiba laptop (model not specified). Problems of Windows XP not powering off nor going into standyby were solved by uninstalling (then reinstalling) the Toshiba Power Saver software and Toshiba Hotkey for Display Devices. After doing this and a reboot, the problem was gone. (Tip from David Flitterman)
NEW PROBLEMS INTRODUCED BY SERVICE PACK 1 (SP1)
Some new shutdown and powerdown issues have arisen in Windows XP SP1. Here are the ones I know about:
HIBERNATION/STANDY PROBLEM WITH NERO SOFTWARE. If you have Nero CD-burning software (versions 5.0-5.5) installed on your computer, and invoke Standby or Hibernation modes more than once in a Windows session, the computer will hang on the “Preparing to...” screen and not go into Standby or Hibernation. SOLUTION: Uninstall Nero completely, and keep your eyes open for a new version of the program down the road. (Reference: MSKB 331506.)
WITH SP1, DON’T REMOVE SCSI ADAPTER WHILE IN STANDBY. Service Pack 1 for Windows XP introduced a new (but pleasingly rare) shutdown problem: If you remove certain kinds of SCSI adapter while the computer is in Standby, the computer may not shut down properly. There is a “hot fix” for this available from Microsoft. (Reference: MSKB 330172.)
SP1 + AMBIENT HAM MODEM + POSSIBLE IRQ ISSUE. Site visitor Mike Redman wrote that, after installing SP1, his computer would hang on the shutdown screen. Neither the mouse nor Ctrl+Alt+Del would respond. Either uninstalling SP1 or removing his Intel Ambient Ham 50.sys (unsigned driver) internal modem would solve the problem. FINAL SOLUTION: Moving the modem from PCI slot 4 to slot 5 and reinstalling the drivers. He wrote, ”This may be an IRQ problem which SP1 was supposed to fix.”
NEW PROBLEMS INTRODUCED BY SERVICE PACK 2 (SP2)
Some new issues have arisen in Windows XP SP2. Here are the ones I know about:
AUTOMATIC WINDOWS UPDATE INSTALLATION. Windows XP SP2 checks at shutdown for any Windows Updates have been downloaded and not installed, then offers to install them as part of the shutdown process. Understandably, this can cause a very slow shutdown on that one occassion and, if something goes wrong, can even hang shutdown completely. To see if your shutdown problem is caused by this issue, look for error 0x80248011 in any of the Windows Update log files, particularly %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\ReportingEvents.log. If present, this indicates a corrupt local metadata store for Windows Update. SOLUTION: Click Start, click Run, type SERVICES.MSC, click OK. Stop the Automatic Updates service. Rename the c:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder to c:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.old. Restart the Automatic Updates service. (Tip from MS-MVP Bill Castner.)
REBOOT ON SHUTDOWN WITH HARDWARE-ENFORCE DATA EXECUTION PREVENTION. If your computer uses hardware-enforced DEP, as the 64-bit AMD processors do, and you installed hardware that requires the MPEGPORT.SYS driver, there is a conflict. At shutdown, the driver tries to run from the same memory space DEP monitors. A 0xFC Stop message occurs. If your computer is set to automatically reboot on a system failure, it will simply reboot instead. The solution is a new driver. Microsoft provides a work-around in MSKB 878474.
OTHER KNOWN ISSUES & HINTS...
BIOS UPGRADE. As with every new operating system that comes along — especially one that is as much of a “step up” as Windows XP is from Windows 9x — the recommendation is made to be sure your BIOS is updated. Many people have reported that this has solved their shutdown problems (and had other advantages) with Win XP, just as it has in earlier versions of Windows.
“ShutNTdown” REGISTRY PATCH. Download the “ShutNTdown” Registry patch mentioned above under powerdown issues. Please follow sensible Registry editing protocol. Backup your Registry before the change (e.g, run System Restore to create a restore point). After installing, test Windows shutdown. If the fix doesn’t work for you, remove it by restoring the Registry to its prior state. This is not the appropriate shutdown fix for most machines, but does help some users with Windows shutdown problems, and not just with powerdown issues as one might suspect.
UNSIGNED DEVICE DRIVERS. Some users have found that Windows XP won’t shutdown properly if unsigned device drivers are used. This is simply a variation of the broader device driver issue: Hardware manufactures have not yet released all necessary device drivers for Win XP. This will continue to be a problem for the next few months; it already has been reduced to a very minor cause of Win XP shutdown problems.
SIGNED DEVICE DRIVERS ON TOP OF UNSIGNED ONES. Good advice on a variation of the above comes from correspondent Attila Szabadkai. For his SBLive 1024 sound card he had originally installed non-XP drivers, then updated these with digitally signed XP drivers downloaded from Creative Labs. Result: He got a 0x0A Stop Message at shutdown. SOLUTION: He removed all drivers, and put back only the digitally signed one.
PROGRAMS HANG / BECOME UNRESPONSIVE. Sometimes programs don’t close down correctly, or hang for some other reason during the Windows shutdown process. This freezes up, or at least significantly delays, Windows shutdown. For example, a few people have reported an error message that EXPLORER.EXE has become unresponsive during shutdown when they have used Win XP’s native CD-burning capabilities during that Windows session. If Windows is hanging because it can’t force a program to terminate, one solution is to disable the automatic end task logic (AutoEndTask). Use this registry patch to force that setting change. (Be sure to back up the Registry first.)
PACE INTERLOK ANTI-PIRACY SOFTWARE. According to the MS Knowledge Base article Computer Hangs During Shutdown Because of Resource Conflict, PACE InterLok anti-piracy software installs a driver (TPKD.SYS) that uses the same IRQ as the Standard Floppy Disk Controller device. This can cause Win XP to hang at a blank screen (with mouse and keyboard nonresponsive) when you try to shutdown or restart. Additional symptoms may be that the floppy drive doesn’t show in My Computer; the Standard Floppy Disk Controller device in Device Manager may display the error status “This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)”; and/or when trying to shutdown from Safe Mode you get the error message, STOP 0x0000009F Driver_Power_State_Failure. The solution is to get the updated TPKD.SYS file from PACE.
QUICK-SWITCHING USER ACCOUNTS. One reported quirk affecting shutdown is the three-account shuffle. Windows XP gives the ability to rapidly bounce between user accounts, with Win+L. If at least three user accounts exist, and you quick-switch through all three, and then log off all three in reverse order — “backing out” in an orderly way — then the machine may hang on shutdown. There may be other variations of account shuffling that cause this, but this one, clear example was provided by newsgroup correspondent John Ward. Microsoft has now identified something similar as a bug, in MSKB 320008, “You May Not Be Able to Shut Down Your Windows XP Computer.” The situation they describe is that only one user is logged on, quick-switching is used, and “Windows is under heavy stress.” A supported patch is available; see the article for details.
USING SHUTDOWN SCRIPTS & 802.1x AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL. This combination can cause Win XP to take in excess of 10 minutes to shutdown normally. (IEEE 802.1x is an authentication standard for both wireless networks and wired Ethernet networks.) Here’s how the dominoes fall: The 802.1x authentication protocol stops after the user logs off. Shutdown scripts run after the user logs off. If the script is on a network share and the connection is no longer available (since authentication has terminated), the script can’t run. The default time-out for shutdown scripts is 10 minutes. So the computer sits there 10 minutes before continuing with its shutdown. (Reference: MSKB 311787.)
MISMATCHED RAM. Correspondent Morten Bech reported that a combination of PC-100 and PC-133 RAM was the source of his shutdown problem. When he resolved the mismatch (by removing the PC-100 RAM), he also resolved the shutdown problem. A general reminder of a great general tip: You will get the best results if all RAM in a particular computer matches in all respects!
CHANGE NTFS TO FAT32? MOVE THE PAGEFILE? Correspondent “Curiefleas” wrote that his reboot-on-shutdown problem was solved when he used a third party partitioning program to convert his NTFS partition to FAT32. It isn’t clear why this would be the case, but the tip was worth passing along. In a possibly related vein, other correspondents have reported a shutdown problem in XP either being caused by, or resolved by, relocating the pagefile! Is there some common issue involving substantial moving of the hard drive’s contents? These two hints intrigued me in light of a seemingly dissociated shutdown problem reportedly occurring in Win ME only immediately after a defrag. These all may be unrelated to each other — or not. I list them here as part of the ongoing data collection.
SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS IN WINDOWS NT/2000. In researching known causes of shutdown problems in earlier versions of NT-family operating systems, most of what I found referred to problems that were resolved in later versions. There is no reason to suspect their recurrence. For example, there were quite a few shutdown issues identified in NT 3.x that didn’t survive to NT 4.0. Very predictable causes were involved most often, especially difficulty with some 16-bit applications or specific hardware incompatibilities. Very few shutdown failure scenarios are documented for Windows 2000. All that I found were conflicts with specific software, specific hardware, or drivers. While these three frame a wide set of possibilities, they are sufficiently narrow to be very encouraging when joined with what we are seeing with Win XP. If approved compatible hardware and software are used, including XP-specific drivers, we see almost no shutdown problems at all. If other hardware or software is used... well, that gives us a starting place to focus our investigations.
SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS IN WINDOWS 9x. As stated at the beginning, I recommend that, if nothing above resolves your Win XP shutdown problem, try those troubleshooting steps that have worked for Windows 9x operating systems to help us establish a track record of exactly what does and does not apply, from that protocol, to the emergent scenarios in Windows XP.
(Did they know what they were saying?)
Shutdown problems in Windows XP can be caused by many factors, just like earlier versions of Windows. These included: a damaged exit sound file; incorrectly configured, damaged, or incompatible hardware; conflicting programs, or an incompatible, damaged, or conflicting device driver.
For a step-by-step troubleshooting method that applies to all versions of Windows 9x, see the generic Windows Shutdown Troubleshooter. Some of its steps may be found to apply to Windows XP as well, though many will not.
Windows XP shutdown issues mostly center around a very few issues, especially legacy hardware and software compatibility issues.
Currently, the leading cause of Windows XP shutdown problems is hardware incompatibility, including driver issues. These are detailed below where known. However, it is impossible to list every possible hardware or driver issue individually. My best advice is: Check all drivers for all hardware devices to ensure that they are the current best for Windows XP.
REBOOT INSTEAD OF SHUTDOWN
Most Win XP shutdown problems reported thus far have been that it reboots when shutdown is attempted. This may be a global symptom emerging from several distinct causes, because, by default, XP executes an automatic restart in the event of a system failure. Therefore, more or less anything compromising the operating system during the shutdown process could force this reboot.
Disabling the “restart on system failure” feature may permit the exact cause to be isolated: Right-click on My Computer, click Properties, click the Advanced tab. Under “Startup & Recovery,” click Settings. Under “System Failure,” uncheck the box in front of “Automatically restart.”
Here are some things that have produced this reboot-instead-of-shutdown symptom:
By now, the Roxio/Adeptec Easy CD / Direct CD software is well documented as being the major cause of this undesirable shutdown behavior. SOLUTION: Roxio has released new drivers (here) to solve this problem in both the Platinum and Basic editions of Easy CD Creator 5. As expected, at least half of the Win XP shutdown problems went away with the release of these patches.
One warning about this patch comes from correspondent Bert Smith: Be sure to read the directions! “Roxio Easy CD Creator Platinum 5.0 can be a real hassle to get working under Win XP,” Bert wrote, “and there is the risk of your computer not booting if you blindly go ahead and install it without first consulting the Roxio Web site.” Bert also mentioned that Roxio’s “Take Two” backup program (normally part of Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum) is uninstalled when the Roxio patch is applied.
Direct CD. Many Easy CD users (but not all) found that installing Easy CD 5.0 does not cause the shutdown problem, provided they do not install the Direct CD component.
UDFRINST. Several people solved this reboot-on-shutdown problem by deleting the UDFRINST file. This file is part of the Roxio CD-RW software for systems not using Direct CD.
CDRALW2K.SYS. Correspondent Larry Blumette identified the CDRALW2K.SYS file (version 1.0.0.1048) as the Roxio file causing his shutdown problems and error conditions. When he deleted or renamed this one file, his problems went away. (Of course, you lose your CD functionality that way, too.)
Video Pack 5. Roxio’s Video Pack 5 causes the same problem because it contains includes the main parts of Easy CD 5. SOLUTION: Uninstall Video Pack 5 and also delete CDRALW2K.SYS (Tip from Christian Männchen). However, this solution may also have the side-effect of disabling access to your CD or DVD drive. SOLUTION TO THE SIDE-EFFECT: Apply one of the repair methods in MSKB Article 270008, Code 31 Messages Occur After Removing Adaptec Easy CD Creator 4.02c in Windows 2000 (Tip from Peter Kingsley).
Whether or not APM is enabled makes a difference — but the effect could go two ways. Some users report that XP reboots on shutdown if APM is enabled, but shuts Windows down just fine if APM is disabled. Other users report exactly the opposite behavior. According to Jack Dunne, this is similar to a known Windows 2000 problem. The issue seems related to the computer’s specific hardware or BIOS — so, as with all NT operating systems, stick to the Hardware Compatibility List where possible.
USB Connections As can be seen from remarks in the Misc. Hardware Issues section below, several different USB-related issues can impact shutdown. One of the most concrete examples was a “reboot on shutdown” problem contributed by correspondent Rick Bross. If his several USB devices (PDA cradle, flash card reader, etc) were plugged into the motherboard’s USB ports, his computer would reboot on an attempted shutdown; but when, instead, he plugged them into an external USB 2.0 hub, shutdown went just fine. (This was with Win XP Professional SP1 on a Supermicro X5DAE dual Xeon motherboard. The same devices plugged into an Asus A7M-266D dual AMD 2000MP system on the same OS worked without problem.)
“Wake on” power settings Power-management settings that have the computer “wake” on LAN, USB, modem, or (for that matter) probably anything else may also trigger a restart after shutdown. Correspondent Simon Wei provided this tip after a friend of his found an old old Logitech USB mouse would trigger “wake on USB” after every Windows shutdown. Their solution was to remove that particular mouse and all worked fine. The principle is much more far-reaching than this one example.
Hidden “wake on” power settings If you have an Ethernet card integrated into your motherboard, you may have hidden “wake on” settings that are harder to find. Site visitor Jim Porter found that his Asus P5GDC-V Deluxe motherboard had a “wake on” setting in Device Manager | Properties | Advanced rather than in the BIOS or Power Management settings. (The Asus P5AD2 and P5GD2 boards have this also.)
Y-SB3 Logitech Internet Keyboard can also cause this problem. If you use it as a simple generic keyboard, there’s no problem; but, if you install the Key Commander software that drives the special Internet functions, Win XP will restart instead of shut down. Unfortunately, Logitech has decided that they will not be updating this driver for this keyboard. (Tip from Jan K. Haak.)
Logitech MouseWare 8.6. Windows reboots when shutdown is attempted. The software caused a BSOD with KBDCLASS.SYS. Removing the software solved the BSOD the problem. (Tip from Pablo Cheng.) MouseWare 9.0 and 9.1 also have been linked to reboot-instead-of-shutdown in Win XP. Removing the software resolves the problem. (Tip from Aswin Kindts, Greg Williams, and others)
Webstar DPX USB cable modem. In the one case known to me, the problem was solved by switching the modem’s connector from the USB 1.1 port on the motherboard to the USB 2.0 PCI card. (The modem was provided by Telewest Broadband, manufactured by Scientific Atlanta.) (Tip from Ann L. Goonan.)
SHUTDOWN HANGS ON “SAVING YOUR SETTINGS”
During shutdown or reboot, Win XP may hang (stop responding) at the “saving your settings” screen. During such a hang, there is no response to Ctrl+Alt+Del; the mouse may or may not work. The problem may be intermittent.
This is a known bug in Windows XP, for which Microsoft has a supported fix. To learn how to get this patch, see MSKB 307274, “Windows XP Stops Responding (Hangs) During Windows Shutdown.” The necessary patch is included in Windows XP Service Pack 1, and also is now available on the Windows Update site under “Recommended Updates” for Win XP Professional, titled “Restarting Windows XP.” However, to find it, you may need to reconfigure how Windows Update appears for you, by enabling the Windows Update Catalog as follows: At the Windows Update page, click Personalize Windows Update at the left, and then Enable the Windows Update Catalog. Save your settings. This adds the Windows Update Catalog link in the left box. Click this link, then click Find updates for Microsoft Windows systems. Pick Windows XP in the drop-down list, click Search, take Recommended Updates, and find the “Restarting Windows XP” patch which references Q307274.
As a workaround, newsgroup correspondent “lou” resolved this problem by dismantling the Windows XP logon Welcome screen. In the Control Panel, click User Accounts, then click “Change the way users log on or off.” Uncheck the box that says “Use the Welcome screen.” This removes the initial logon screen with individual icons for each user and, instead, pops up the classic logon prompt that requires each user to type a user name and password.
SBLive: DEVLDR32.EXE PROBLEMS
In the early days of Win ME, one of the biggest culprits for shutdown issue was the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live. History repeated itself in the Beta phase of Win XP. SOLUTION: The SBLive drivers in the released version of Win XP solved the shutdown problem for most (but not all) SBLive users.
Here’s the commonly reported problem scenario people encountered: On attempting shutdown, nothing at all appears to happen for a prolonged period of time. Eventually, an “End Task” window appears, wanting to terminate DEVLDR32.EXE. No matter what one does, one ultimately is locked out of shutting down other than by a power switch shutoff. (NOTE: This problem exists with the SBLive in Windows 2000 also.)
You may have to do a couple of extra steps to get rid of old files so that the new drivers will install correctly (especially if you installed the final version of Win XP on top of one of the Beta versions), or to remove troublesome support software. Correspondent Sean Caldwell summarized his steps: Shutdown Windows. Remove the Creative card. Reboot in Safe Mode. In the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder, delete the DEVLDR file. Fully shutdown the computer before rebooting.
Some users report that the DEVLDR problem continues to plague them even with the new drivers. If installing the new drivers doesn’t solve your shutdown problem, try these solutions:
Correspondent Martin Sladek wrote: “I’ve run into the very same problem with SBLive Value drivers. The problem was so severe I ran without the software all together. Since then, SBLive 5.1 came out, and I had installed the 5.1 version of the software in Windows 2000 Pro. I’ve not had a single problem since.”
But updating your drivers in Win XP may not be as easy as one would hope. Some problems especially appear where multiple users are enabled on the system and one switches between users during a single Windows session. There may be numerous files with the same name (but different version numbers!) variously located in the I386, SYSTEM32, and SYSTEM32\REINSTALLBACKUPS\0000 folders. These may conflict with each other. If you rename DEVLDR32 (ver 1.0.0.22) in SYSTEM32, another one will replace it. (First, you need to press Ctrl+Alt+Del and end DEVLDR in Task Manager). But if you use DEVLDR32 (ver 1.0.0.17) from the I386 folder, this problem doesn’t occur. Reboot when finished to reinaugurate the disabled service. (Tip from Terence Shortt, aka tbone8200 on dellTalk.)
MISC. HARDWARE ISSUES
In addition to hardware issues mentioned under other specialized topics on this page, many users have written identifying specific hardware as at the root of the Windows XP shutdown issue. Here’s what they have reported:
CD-ROM DRIVE: Samsung 24x. Correspondent Y. Leroux has identified the culprit in his shutdown problem, but doesn’t yet have a permanent solution. If his Samsung CD-ROM drive is empty, Win XP hangs on shutdown. To work around the problem, he either leaves a CD-ROM in the drive, or leaves the drive door open. He wanted to share this tip with others (thanks, Y.). Does anyone have a permanent solution for this one?
DVD-RW DRIVE: Pioneer DVR-106 or DVR-108. Correspondent L. Frankenberg traced his shutdown problem to this hardware. Correspondent Bob Berberick found the same for the DVR-108, and reported that a firmware update for the DVR-108 now available from Pioneer resolved his problem. It would probably be worth trying the firmware update for the DVR-106 as well, though I have no reports from anyone as to whether this solves the shutdown problem.
MODEMS: Intel Ambient HaM Modem. Causes Win XP to hang at shutdown. Previously, this was only resolved by disabling the modem. SOLUTION: Intel subsequently issued updated drivers that resolve this issue. They can be downloaded here. (Tip from Mark Gillespie.) However, a new problem with the Ambient Ham was introduced in Windows XP SP1, detailed below.
NOTE: The same problem has been reported for the Creatix V.90 Ham PCI Modem. Correspondent Gert Verheyen wrote that Creatix has an updated driver and, more importantly, detailed instructions about manual removal of the old one and installation of the new one. Go to the Creatix support page and click on V.90 HAM (internal) at right. The removal of the old driver first seems to have been the critical detail.
MODEMS: Billion BIPAC PCI Passive ISDN-card. Reboot instead of shutdown issue conjoined with BSOD error message STOP 0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL in file SERIAL.SYS. Previously, this was only resolved by disabling the Billion ISDN card. SOLUTION: Billion has now released a new driver 3.24 that solves this problem, available here. (Tip from Leo Foederer.)
MOTHERBOARDS: Asus P2B-F, P2B-VM, or P2L97. Causes a shutdown problem because Win XP Setup doesn’t enable ACPI by default. SOLUTION: Manually enable ACPI during a Win XP install or reinstall. Correspondent Bill Anderson (based on a solution by “Willy”) gave a lengthy description of how to do this, edited a little for space reasons. (Thanks also to correspondents Ward from Belgium & Tony Gray.)
Boot the computer from the Win XP CD-ROM.
Win XP Setup says it’s checking hardware. Soon after, at the bottom of the screen, it offers the opportunity to press F5. (If offered the chance to press F6, press F5 instead! – Tip from Mick Stone) Do this at once, and cross your fingers! [Various users report difficulty with this. Apparently, sometimes it works; sometimes not. It may be in the timing of exactly when you press the key. You may have to try repeatedly, or try pressing F5 and F6 repeatedly. – JAE] When successful, you’ll see a two-paragraph instruction that begins, “To specify additional SCSI or other mass storage devices.” Press
When the small window does appear, use the up-arrow to choose “Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI).” (It’s the third from the top of the list.)
Next, you may see that two-paragraph SCSI/mass storage instruction again. If so, press
MOUSE: Logitech. If you have a Logitech mouse, and an outdated version of the MouseWare software installed, you may receive the following error message on a blue screen at shutdown: STOP 0x000000D1, (0x0000002b, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0xEEEE1b01) IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Kbdclass.sys. SOLUTION: Update the Logitech MouseWare software. (Reference & more information: MSKB 810980.)
VIDEO CARDS: Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 and all other video cards based on the Kyro II video chip. Causes restart and shutdown issues (or, in some cases, only restart issues) until the video adapter is removed. SOLUTION: New XP-specific drivers are now available from Hercules. At present, they remain uncertified (PowerVR, who makes the Kyro II chip, is working on that), but they reportedly work just fine. Download the Kyro II drivers here. (Tip from MS-MVP Don Lebow.)
USB Devices. If you have one or more USB devices attached to your computer, you may receive the following error message on a blue screen at shutdown: Stop 0x000000D1 (0x00000040, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0xfc96a9dc). SOLUTION: Upgrade to the latest Win XP service pack. (Reference & more information: MSKB 317326.)
USB: Keyboard or Mouse + Selective Suspend. Some USB input devices (such as a USB keyboard or mouse) do not support the Selective Suspend power management feature. When these devices are used with Selective Suspend turned on, the computer may hang during shutdown, or otherwise not shutdown correctly. WORK-AROUND: Disable power management for your USB hub: Open Device Manager (click Start, click Run, type DEVMGMT.MSC, click OK). Double-click to expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Double-click USB Root Hub. Click Power Management. Uncheck the box “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.” OK your way out. NOTE: Doing this may significantly reduce laptop battery life. (Reference & more information: MSKB 315664.)
USB: Lexar Media Combo Digital Film Reader (USB). There is a problem with the SAUSB.SYS file, apparently part of the Win98 SE driver set for this device, retained during an upgrade to Win XP. Deleting the file solved the problem. The newer version 4.3 SAUSB.SYS driver from Lexar’s Web site works perfectly, and does not cause a shutdown problem. (Tip from correspondent Eric Brown.) Though one correspondent reported that the even newer version 4.5 driver (SAUSBI.SYS) also can be used in Win XP , Lexar says this driver doesn’t work on XP. One correspondent has confirmed that this matches his experience in trying (unsuccessfully) to use 4.5 on both Widows 2000 and XP.
“STOP” ERROR MESSAGES AT SHUTDOWN
Some users, when attempting either to shutdown or restart Win XP, get an error message similar to the following: STOP 0x0000009F: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
Stop Messages literally means that Windows has stopped. (Which isn’t the same as saying it has shutdown!) See Knowledge Base Links: STOP MESSAGES for much more information that the brief remarks below. Most Stop Messages indicate hardware issues; some are caused by troublesome software or a system service problem. The links page just mentioned provides a 10-step approach to troubleshooting STOP Messages in general, then itemized analysis on the most common of these. (STOP messages are identified by an 8-digit hexadecimal number, but also commonly written in a shorthand notation; e.g., a STOP 0x0000000A may also be written Stop 0xA.)
Here are a few that may affect Win XP shutdown and restart. Stop 0x9F and Stop 0x8E are two of the most common of these at shutdown, and generally point to a bad driver. Stop 0x7B on restarting means Win XP lost access to the system partition or boot volume during the startup process, due to a bad device driver, boot sector virus, resource conflict, boot volume corruption, or other problem listed here. Stop 0xC000021A can when on restart after a system administrator has modified permissions so that the SYSTEM account no longer has adequate permissions to access system files and folders.
MS-MVP Jim Pickering advises the following as one approach to these problems: Restart the computer. Press F8 during the restart and select “ Last Known Good Configuration.” If you catch the problem when it first occurs (meaning you likely have installed only one or two drivers or new service), this will return you to a previous working condition. System Restore provides an alternate approach, especially if you need to go back further than the last known good configuration, and Device Manager provides a tool for rolling back to an earlier driver.
SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW
If it appears that Win XP is not shutting down, give it some time. Some users report a minute or longer for shutdown to visibly start. Generally, this is a consequence of software that is running when shutdown is attempted. It also may have something to do with particular hardware. If you experience this problem, be sure to close all running programs before attempting shutdown and see if this solves your problem. If so, then you can determine, by trial and error, which program(s) are involved.
Newsgroup correspondent “Sarah” provided one specific solution for this. In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services, stop the Nvidia Driver Helper service. (You can also get this by launching SERVICES.MSC from a Run box.) Many other newsgroup participants quickly confirmed that this solved this “extremely slow shutdown” problem for them (it’s the most successful solution for this problem to date). According to correspondent Gan Ming Teik, downloading and installing the new version 23.11 Nvidia driver also solves this problem.
Correspondent Ron Spruell found that disabling the Terminal Services service reduced his shutdown time from over 2 minutes (hanging at the “Windows is shutting down” screen) to about 10 seconds. To disable Terminal Services, follow the steps in the prior paragraph for launching SERVICES.MSC. Please note that Terminal Services is required in Windows XP for running Remote Assistance, Fast User Switching, and (in XP Pro) Remote Desktop.
Correspondent Graeme J.W. Smith reported a more obscure cause of slow shutdown: In Win XP Professional, the Group Policy Editor has a security option to clear the pagefile at system shutdown. The same setting also forces the hibernation file to be wiped at shutdown. These processes take long enough that users may think that shutdown has hung. To change the setting, click Start | Run, type GPEDIT.MSC, click OK. Drill down to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options. In the right pane, find “Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile.” NOTE: Since someone actually has to have set this policy, the problem will be pretty rare, but is worth mentioning. However, Forum participant “roadrunner” reported that the personal security app Privacy Eraser automatically enables “Clear virtual memory pagefile,” and, therefore, may be the cause of a slow shutdown.
The Gear Software Security Service (GEARSEC.EXE), which enables iTunes for Windows to read and burn CDs, has been reported by many users to cause Windows XP to hang at the “Windows is shutting down” screen for as long as 20-30 seconds. WORK-AROUND: Stop the service prior to shutdown. One way to to this (suggested by “Thornburgh”) is to create a batch file with the one line net stop gearsecurity. You can either launch this batch file manually, or (in Win XP Professional) use GPEDIT.MSC) to specify this batch file as the shutdown script (under Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Scripts | Shutdown). Gear Software’s forum has a thread on this issue here. (Tip from correspondent “Andy”)
MS-MVP Gary Thorn discovered that the Event Log can slow down Win XP shutdown. Disabling event logging removed the slowdown. If this works for you, then the real troubleshooting begins: finding out, by trial and error, what item that is being logged is causing the actual slowdown. (In Gary’s case, the Telephony service was causing the problem.) To disable the Event Log, launch the Services console as detailed in No. 2 above, and disable Event Log (right-click on Event Log, click Properties, under Startup Type select “Disabled”).
In a domain environment, don’t forget to check any logoff scripts you are pushing. These can be a source of slow or hanging shutdown processes. Site visitor Tony Barkdull, for example, found that an enforced logoff script caused show shutdown for laptops that were off-site. He solved it be creating a logoff script on the local machines that deletes the Active Directory logoff group policy after it runs so that the logoff scripts are absent while a user is off-site, but are repopulated when they return. — A related cause of slow shutdowns is offline synchronization of data, which is increasingly common with mobile computing, but is usually much more obvious to the end-user.
POWERDOWN ISSUES
“Powerdown issues” are quite distinctive from “shutdown issues.” I define a shutdown problem as one wherein Windows doesn’t make it at least to the “OK to shut off your computer” screen. If Windows gets that far, or farther, then it has shut down correctly. However, the computer may not powerdown correctly after that. This is a different problem, and I encourage people reporting these issues to make a clear distinction in their labeling.
When Windows XP won’t powerdown automatically, the APM/NT Legacy Power Node may not be enabled. To enable this, right-click on the My Computer icon, click Properties | Hardware | Device Manager | View. Check the box labeled “Show Hidden Devices.” If it’s available on your computer, there will be a red X on the APM/NT Legacy Node. Try enabling it and see if this resolves the powerdown problem (Tip from Terri Stratton). Or, to check the other side of the APM/ACPI coin, open the Power Options applet in Control Panel. If there is an APM tab, make sure the “Enable Advanced Power Management Support” box is checked. (MSKB 313290)
This should resolve the powerdown issue in most cases. However, other factors can sometimes interfere with correct powerdown functioning. In that case, consider the following tips:
Try some of the solutions on my Shutdown & Restart Shortcuts page. If you really have a hardware inability to powerdown, these won’t solve it; but for some other underlying causes of powerdown failures, they just might.
If you change the default power settings in the BIOS, it can lead to a powerdown problem. Restoring all BIOS power settings to default will likely fix it. (Tip from Kelly Theriot)
Sometimes, not all appropriate Registry settings are made when you enable all the right power management settings in Windows. You can force the critical Registry setting with the “ShutNTdown” Registry patch. Please follow sensible Registry editing protocol. Backup your Registry before the change (or run System Restore to create a restore point). After installing it, test Windows shutdown. If the fix doesn’t work for you, remove it by restoring the Registry to its prior state. (For those who want more background information, the fix provided by this patch is based on information contained in MS Knowledge Base article 155117 for Windows NT 4.0.)
On some hardware, power management features simply don’t work right. This is exceedingly rare on Windows XP when compared to any earlier version of Windows but, on some machines, especially if no BIOS upgrade is available, there seems no conclusion to reach except, “Yes, you’re right, it doesn’t work, so don’t use that feature.” Accordingly, several correspondents have noted that their Win XP computers will not powerdown correctly unless they have Turn Off Monitor, Turn Off Hard Disks, and System Standby all set to “Never” in Control Panel | Power Options. (Tip from Dan Mitchell & others)
How old is your power supply? Correspondent Andrew Walsh had a computer that wouldn’t power down after a Win XP shutdown until he replaced the power supply that was a few years old. Presto! His problem was gone.
Correspondent “Snake” restored powerdown functioning by disabling his CD-ROM’s AutoRun feature. The fastest way to do this is with the “Disable AutoRun” Registry patch that you can download here.
If you have Office XP installed, the culprit may be CTFMON.EXE. This module provides the Alternate Language Bar and provides text input service support for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, keyboard, translation, and other alternative user input technologies. When you close all Office programs, this module stays active. Removing it can cause serious problems with your Office XP products, but you can effectively disable it by setting the installation state to Not Available in Office XP Setup. This isn’t as easy as it sounds though — several steps are involved. For full instructions, plus more information on the file and its function, see What Is CTFMON and What Does It Do? (Tip from Jay Jones)
VIA Apollo Pro 133 motherboards have a “USB Keyboard support” BIOS setting that can interfere with proper power management function if it is enabled — especially with respect to preventing powerdown during attempted shutdown, and also preventing the computer from waking from Stand-by. SOLUTION: Disable it. This was originally reported on the Chaintech 6ATA2, and confirmed on other VIA Apollo Pro 133 boards. (Tips from “Zef,” The Netherlands, & Robert Lin)
Toshiba laptop (model not specified). Problems of Windows XP not powering off nor going into standyby were solved by uninstalling (then reinstalling) the Toshiba Power Saver software and Toshiba Hotkey for Display Devices. After doing this and a reboot, the problem was gone. (Tip from David Flitterman)
NEW PROBLEMS INTRODUCED BY SERVICE PACK 1 (SP1)
Some new shutdown and powerdown issues have arisen in Windows XP SP1. Here are the ones I know about:
HIBERNATION/STANDY PROBLEM WITH NERO SOFTWARE. If you have Nero CD-burning software (versions 5.0-5.5) installed on your computer, and invoke Standby or Hibernation modes more than once in a Windows session, the computer will hang on the “Preparing to...” screen and not go into Standby or Hibernation. SOLUTION: Uninstall Nero completely, and keep your eyes open for a new version of the program down the road. (Reference: MSKB 331506.)
WITH SP1, DON’T REMOVE SCSI ADAPTER WHILE IN STANDBY. Service Pack 1 for Windows XP introduced a new (but pleasingly rare) shutdown problem: If you remove certain kinds of SCSI adapter while the computer is in Standby, the computer may not shut down properly. There is a “hot fix” for this available from Microsoft. (Reference: MSKB 330172.)
SP1 + AMBIENT HAM MODEM + POSSIBLE IRQ ISSUE. Site visitor Mike Redman wrote that, after installing SP1, his computer would hang on the shutdown screen. Neither the mouse nor Ctrl+Alt+Del would respond. Either uninstalling SP1 or removing his Intel Ambient Ham 50.sys (unsigned driver) internal modem would solve the problem. FINAL SOLUTION: Moving the modem from PCI slot 4 to slot 5 and reinstalling the drivers. He wrote, ”This may be an IRQ problem which SP1 was supposed to fix.”
NEW PROBLEMS INTRODUCED BY SERVICE PACK 2 (SP2)
Some new issues have arisen in Windows XP SP2. Here are the ones I know about:
AUTOMATIC WINDOWS UPDATE INSTALLATION. Windows XP SP2 checks at shutdown for any Windows Updates have been downloaded and not installed, then offers to install them as part of the shutdown process. Understandably, this can cause a very slow shutdown on that one occassion and, if something goes wrong, can even hang shutdown completely. To see if your shutdown problem is caused by this issue, look for error 0x80248011 in any of the Windows Update log files, particularly %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\ReportingEvents.log. If present, this indicates a corrupt local metadata store for Windows Update. SOLUTION: Click Start, click Run, type SERVICES.MSC, click OK. Stop the Automatic Updates service. Rename the c:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder to c:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.old. Restart the Automatic Updates service. (Tip from MS-MVP Bill Castner.)
REBOOT ON SHUTDOWN WITH HARDWARE-ENFORCE DATA EXECUTION PREVENTION. If your computer uses hardware-enforced DEP, as the 64-bit AMD processors do, and you installed hardware that requires the MPEGPORT.SYS driver, there is a conflict. At shutdown, the driver tries to run from the same memory space DEP monitors. A 0xFC Stop message occurs. If your computer is set to automatically reboot on a system failure, it will simply reboot instead. The solution is a new driver. Microsoft provides a work-around in MSKB 878474.
OTHER KNOWN ISSUES & HINTS...
BIOS UPGRADE. As with every new operating system that comes along — especially one that is as much of a “step up” as Windows XP is from Windows 9x — the recommendation is made to be sure your BIOS is updated. Many people have reported that this has solved their shutdown problems (and had other advantages) with Win XP, just as it has in earlier versions of Windows.
“ShutNTdown” REGISTRY PATCH. Download the “ShutNTdown” Registry patch mentioned above under powerdown issues. Please follow sensible Registry editing protocol. Backup your Registry before the change (e.g, run System Restore to create a restore point). After installing, test Windows shutdown. If the fix doesn’t work for you, remove it by restoring the Registry to its prior state. This is not the appropriate shutdown fix for most machines, but does help some users with Windows shutdown problems, and not just with powerdown issues as one might suspect.
UNSIGNED DEVICE DRIVERS. Some users have found that Windows XP won’t shutdown properly if unsigned device drivers are used. This is simply a variation of the broader device driver issue: Hardware manufactures have not yet released all necessary device drivers for Win XP. This will continue to be a problem for the next few months; it already has been reduced to a very minor cause of Win XP shutdown problems.
SIGNED DEVICE DRIVERS ON TOP OF UNSIGNED ONES. Good advice on a variation of the above comes from correspondent Attila Szabadkai. For his SBLive 1024 sound card he had originally installed non-XP drivers, then updated these with digitally signed XP drivers downloaded from Creative Labs. Result: He got a 0x0A Stop Message at shutdown. SOLUTION: He removed all drivers, and put back only the digitally signed one.
PROGRAMS HANG / BECOME UNRESPONSIVE. Sometimes programs don’t close down correctly, or hang for some other reason during the Windows shutdown process. This freezes up, or at least significantly delays, Windows shutdown. For example, a few people have reported an error message that EXPLORER.EXE has become unresponsive during shutdown when they have used Win XP’s native CD-burning capabilities during that Windows session. If Windows is hanging because it can’t force a program to terminate, one solution is to disable the automatic end task logic (AutoEndTask). Use this registry patch to force that setting change. (Be sure to back up the Registry first.)
PACE INTERLOK ANTI-PIRACY SOFTWARE. According to the MS Knowledge Base article Computer Hangs During Shutdown Because of Resource Conflict, PACE InterLok anti-piracy software installs a driver (TPKD.SYS) that uses the same IRQ as the Standard Floppy Disk Controller device. This can cause Win XP to hang at a blank screen (with mouse and keyboard nonresponsive) when you try to shutdown or restart. Additional symptoms may be that the floppy drive doesn’t show in My Computer; the Standard Floppy Disk Controller device in Device Manager may display the error status “This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)”; and/or when trying to shutdown from Safe Mode you get the error message, STOP 0x0000009F Driver_Power_State_Failure. The solution is to get the updated TPKD.SYS file from PACE.
QUICK-SWITCHING USER ACCOUNTS. One reported quirk affecting shutdown is the three-account shuffle. Windows XP gives the ability to rapidly bounce between user accounts, with Win+L. If at least three user accounts exist, and you quick-switch through all three, and then log off all three in reverse order — “backing out” in an orderly way — then the machine may hang on shutdown. There may be other variations of account shuffling that cause this, but this one, clear example was provided by newsgroup correspondent John Ward. Microsoft has now identified something similar as a bug, in MSKB 320008, “You May Not Be Able to Shut Down Your Windows XP Computer.” The situation they describe is that only one user is logged on, quick-switching is used, and “Windows is under heavy stress.” A supported patch is available; see the article for details.
USING SHUTDOWN SCRIPTS & 802.1x AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL. This combination can cause Win XP to take in excess of 10 minutes to shutdown normally. (IEEE 802.1x is an authentication standard for both wireless networks and wired Ethernet networks.) Here’s how the dominoes fall: The 802.1x authentication protocol stops after the user logs off. Shutdown scripts run after the user logs off. If the script is on a network share and the connection is no longer available (since authentication has terminated), the script can’t run. The default time-out for shutdown scripts is 10 minutes. So the computer sits there 10 minutes before continuing with its shutdown. (Reference: MSKB 311787.)
MISMATCHED RAM. Correspondent Morten Bech reported that a combination of PC-100 and PC-133 RAM was the source of his shutdown problem. When he resolved the mismatch (by removing the PC-100 RAM), he also resolved the shutdown problem. A general reminder of a great general tip: You will get the best results if all RAM in a particular computer matches in all respects!
CHANGE NTFS TO FAT32? MOVE THE PAGEFILE? Correspondent “Curiefleas” wrote that his reboot-on-shutdown problem was solved when he used a third party partitioning program to convert his NTFS partition to FAT32. It isn’t clear why this would be the case, but the tip was worth passing along. In a possibly related vein, other correspondents have reported a shutdown problem in XP either being caused by, or resolved by, relocating the pagefile! Is there some common issue involving substantial moving of the hard drive’s contents? These two hints intrigued me in light of a seemingly dissociated shutdown problem reportedly occurring in Win ME only immediately after a defrag. These all may be unrelated to each other — or not. I list them here as part of the ongoing data collection.
SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS IN WINDOWS NT/2000. In researching known causes of shutdown problems in earlier versions of NT-family operating systems, most of what I found referred to problems that were resolved in later versions. There is no reason to suspect their recurrence. For example, there were quite a few shutdown issues identified in NT 3.x that didn’t survive to NT 4.0. Very predictable causes were involved most often, especially difficulty with some 16-bit applications or specific hardware incompatibilities. Very few shutdown failure scenarios are documented for Windows 2000. All that I found were conflicts with specific software, specific hardware, or drivers. While these three frame a wide set of possibilities, they are sufficiently narrow to be very encouraging when joined with what we are seeing with Win XP. If approved compatible hardware and software are used, including XP-specific drivers, we see almost no shutdown problems at all. If other hardware or software is used... well, that gives us a starting place to focus our investigations.
SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS IN WINDOWS 9x. As stated at the beginning, I recommend that, if nothing above resolves your Win XP shutdown problem, try those troubleshooting steps that have worked for Windows 9x operating systems to help us establish a track record of exactly what does and does not apply, from that protocol, to the emergent scenarios in Windows XP.
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