Help please ,2 problems.....XPw/SP2 & I.E.

[Trooper2]

The first one is my windows XP home/sp2 PC will reboot with no problems but if I turn it off for any length of time it won't start normally. The black screen comes up and gives me the option of "start windows normally".....use last known good configuration" ....."Safe mode w/networking"....."safemode"....Etc.

It takes 20 to 40 attempts alternating between these different modes to get it to start and when it does I get a Microsoft error report that says it's all caused by a bad device driver, yet when I check the drivers in hardware manager nothing has a caution by it.

One of the possible causes given on the black "windows unable to start normally page" is power failure. The PC is 3 years old and just out of warranty:hehe:, but the power failure statement has got me thinking that perhaps it might be the CMOS battery has gone, any thoughts?


Problem 2 every time I open "Internet explorer" the favorites side bar opens and I have to close it manually, then when I open a link in a new window the damn favorites side bar opens with it again.

anyway to get it to close for good until I want it to open, without it opening on it's own?

I scan with Ad-Aware, Spybot and Microsoft Anti-spy daily and Norton 2005 3 times a week, and did a Root kit scan yesterday so I know these aren't Virus Malware problems.

Any help greatly appreciated, Thank You.

[ErnestM]

Could be a problem with your hard drive not writing out all data out of the cache before shutdown. (Your gear may be to quick for your hard drive). Check your log files to see if there are any system messages to that effect. Better yet, as soon as you boot, check your system messages.

ErnestM

[Trooper2]

Thank you for the idea, Ernest.

I'll take a peek, see what I can find in the log files.




make mine a root-beer thou.

[_dobbo_]

Try booting into safe mode and disabling all your device drivers, then reboot into normal mode and see if this helps.

Then re-enable each driver in turn to see whether one of them is the cause.

However, the error message should take you to the MS knowledge base and help you to identify the cause - does this work for you?

[Trooper2]

Thanks for the reply _dobbo_, I do get sent to Microsoft and it says that the problem is caused by a device driver, however when I go into "Device Manager" there are no caution symbols associated with any of the drivers and all say they are functioning properly.

I've been through that 50 times!

Is it possible that one of the device drivers is bad and not showing up in the device manager somehow?

[ErnestM]

Try disabling the cache on your hard drive (set it up for "quick removal" instead of performance - I know it is a fixed HD, but this is the new MS paradigm for disabling cache). After you have cycled the system (it will ask you to reboot when you disable the cache), shut the system down. Let it sit. Start it up. If there are no warnings, then it is cache related. This means that either the hard drive is having trouble keeping up with the shut down speed or that there are other issues. You may wish to contact the manufacturer about upgraded controller software for you HD controllers.

Sometimes defraging will help the hd shut down better.

Also - as your registry grows in size, it takes longer to shut down. Maybe unload some programs that you are not using. What we need is a "trim registry" utility from MS

ErnestM

[_dobbo_]

ErnestM said:

What we need is a "trim registry" utility from MS ErnestM

Here you go:

[Plotloss]

Theres a load on the MS support website about this.

Do you have event messages stating that the user wasnt logged off properly?

If so, its a case of deleting a registry key but I cant remember which one off the top of my head.

[Trooper2]

Thanks, Plotless. No nothing about not being logged off properly, just when I finally get it started it says "Windows has suffered a catastrophic error and was unable to start normally.(or something to that effect).

The error message always points to a faulty device driver, but I can't find one. Like I've said it restarts/reboots just fine , It's only when it's been shut down for a while that it won't start. Thats why I was thinking it might have something to do with the CMOS battery. Thinking perhaps the battery is getting week and is too run down to keep the CMOS up when shut down for a while.

Tonight I'm going to go into Add/Remove programs and get rid of all of the junk that came with the PC that I never use and see if lightening up the registry helps at all. Then after some time I'll try Ernest's suggestion about changing my hard drive settings.

If you think of anything else, please post it up.

[Trooper2]

ErnestM said:

Could be a problem with your hard drive not writing out all data out of the cache before shutdown. (Your gear may be to quick for your hard drive). Check your log files to see if there are any system messages to that effect. Better yet, as soon as you boot, check your system messages. ErnestM

I found a program at Microsoft called "User Profile Hive Un-Loader.exe" that is supposed to force softwares that are still using the registry at shut down to close properly, hopefully it will do the trick.

[Trooper2]

My computer is still hashed, I posted a topic at Mircosoft Experts Zone - Windows XP Newsgroup but so far it's gone un-anwsered. I also just sent an Email to H.P. Support, so it'll be a day or so before I here back. In the mean time do any of the following Errors mean anything to anyone?

1) IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL....0X0000000A

2) STOP: THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER....0X000000EA

3) STOP:.... 0X0000007F


Any clues? ......Thanks.





Edit to add: Just heard back from Hewlett-Packard, They want me to buy a set of recovery Cds, now that it's out of warranty, funny they never suggested that with any of my other problems when it was in warranty and the Cds are free.

My PC came with software for making recovery Cds ....
H.P. Recovery CD Creator and I have burned a set of discs with it, so I replied to the Email, Whats wrong with the ones I made with your software?


2nd Edit: H.P. sent me a reply with a long, detailed, list of instuctions on how to use my recovery discs after I told them in my original Email that the new H.P. printer I bought a few months ago and I believe to be the cause of the current problems isn't working.....

It just keeps getting better and better!

>> Edited by Trooper2 on Tuesday 6th September 09:55

>> Edited by Trooper2 on Tuesday 6th September 11:22