XP crash after power glitch
Discussion
My son was working with Photoshop at home (opening a file) when we suffered a power glitch for about 1/2 second. The PC didn't like it and powered-off immediately.
It wouldn't power back up initially, but after disconnecting the power completely for a few secs, all came up ok...or so we thought!
Now Photoshop will not open any files to edit and causes the application to hang, and clicking on My Computer results in the 'torch' scanning for drives for so long, I shut the whole thing down out of boredom!
I have run Defrag, I've restored from a previous restore point (and put it back again), run sfc /scannow (this fixed a similar problem about a year ago), and of course scanned for viruses or spyware.
Any ideas before I do a complete restore from backup (I must have had a premenition, as I did a full backup to a second Hard Drive earlier in the day!)
It wouldn't power back up initially, but after disconnecting the power completely for a few secs, all came up ok...or so we thought!
Now Photoshop will not open any files to edit and causes the application to hang, and clicking on My Computer results in the 'torch' scanning for drives for so long, I shut the whole thing down out of boredom!
I have run Defrag, I've restored from a previous restore point (and put it back again), run sfc /scannow (this fixed a similar problem about a year ago), and of course scanned for viruses or spyware.
Any ideas before I do a complete restore from backup (I must have had a premenition, as I did a full backup to a second Hard Drive earlier in the day!)
Does the my computer stuff work straight after you boot IE before you fire you fire up photoshop? If so clean out your temp folder and any other folder that photoshop may store temp files in.
There is a utility called filemon (from sysinternals) that will show you what its trying to access when it hangs.
May also be worth forcing a scandisk if you are running NTFS on the drive.
Do you have more than one user setup? Try another to see if there is something wrong with the profile.
There is a utility called filemon (from sysinternals) that will show you what its trying to access when it hangs.
May also be worth forcing a scandisk if you are running NTFS on the drive.
Do you have more than one user setup? Try another to see if there is something wrong with the profile.
rich-uk said:
Try running CHKDSK C: /R from a command line and reboot. It'll recheck the HDD for bad sectors etc.
It will take a while, don't panic.
(Backup anything of importance and don't blame me if your computer catches fire etc..)
>> Edited by rich-uk on Wednesday 9th November 14:45
Thanks, I'll put that on my list too.
:barndoorshutmode:
I've just ordered a UPS
:/barndoorshutmode:
Well, I've just about run out of ideas.
All checks etc,. as suggested have been run without improvement.
I couldn't run Filemon as I could not get Explorer to expand the folders in order to save the file!
I've even carried out a full restore from a total system backup that I saved onto a second hard drive the morning before the power failure, 'overwriting existing files' - and it still sits for ages when opening My Computer.
As the problem started following a power failure, I have removed/replaced the memory one by one (I have two DIMMs - 1 x 512MB & 1 x 256MB) in case it zapped one of them.
Next thing I'm planning to do is to re-install Windows from CD, and then if all is ok with My Computer, repeat the full restore, but not overwriting existing files. I assume that will load all progs and data, and Service Packs.
Just a thought - I've seen some freeware (sample downloads) for registry cleaners e.g. http://adserver.softwareonline.com/Ad
are these any good?
Also, I've found reference to my problem on http://windowsxp.mvps.org/wiadelay.ht that suggests stopping a service called Windows Image Acquisition.
I can't help thinking that this is just a work-around, after all, I suspect that the WIA service was started for a reason!
>> Edited by chim666 on Wednesday 9th November 21:14
All checks etc,. as suggested have been run without improvement.
I couldn't run Filemon as I could not get Explorer to expand the folders in order to save the file!
I've even carried out a full restore from a total system backup that I saved onto a second hard drive the morning before the power failure, 'overwriting existing files' - and it still sits for ages when opening My Computer.
As the problem started following a power failure, I have removed/replaced the memory one by one (I have two DIMMs - 1 x 512MB & 1 x 256MB) in case it zapped one of them.
Next thing I'm planning to do is to re-install Windows from CD, and then if all is ok with My Computer, repeat the full restore, but not overwriting existing files. I assume that will load all progs and data, and Service Packs.
Just a thought - I've seen some freeware (sample downloads) for registry cleaners e.g. http://adserver.softwareonline.com/Ad
are these any good?
Also, I've found reference to my problem on http://windowsxp.mvps.org/wiadelay.ht that suggests stopping a service called Windows Image Acquisition.
I can't help thinking that this is just a work-around, after all, I suspect that the WIA service was started for a reason!
>> Edited by chim666 on Wednesday 9th November 21:14
I think I may have found a clue - I have found that the WIA (Windows Image Acquiring)service is constantly in a 'starting' state.
Even if I change the mode to 'manual', after a reboot it is still showing 'starting'.
After about four or five minutes, I can stop/disable the service - which is about the same amount of time that it takes for My Computer to respond.
Also, sometimes when closing Windows, I get a window saying that my camera's file transfer program is not responding (maybe this uses the WIA service?).
Edited to add: When I disabled the WIA service, My Computer responded as normal.
If I set it to manual, opening My Computer restarted the service, and the problem came back.
Should I leave the WIA service disabled?
>> Edited by chim666 on Thursday 10th November 10:40
Even if I change the mode to 'manual', after a reboot it is still showing 'starting'.
After about four or five minutes, I can stop/disable the service - which is about the same amount of time that it takes for My Computer to respond.
Also, sometimes when closing Windows, I get a window saying that my camera's file transfer program is not responding (maybe this uses the WIA service?).
Edited to add: When I disabled the WIA service, My Computer responded as normal.
If I set it to manual, opening My Computer restarted the service, and the problem came back.
Should I leave the WIA service disabled?
>> Edited by chim666 on Thursday 10th November 10:40
Well, I have found the culprit - after removing and reinstalling Photoshop, my camera's software and my scanner - I reinstalled each one at a time without improvement, until, finally after installing the scanner, all worked ok. My Computer opens promptly as does Photoshop.
However, the CPU was running at 100% and the WIA service had started.
I stopped the WIA service and the CPU usage dropped right down. Restarted the service again, the CPU initially rose, then dropped to a reasonable level.
My Computer opened ok again, so all looked ok.
But after logging off and logging on again, the CPU was once again at 100% until I stopped and restarted the WIA service again, when it dropped back down.
This happens whether the WIA Service is set to manual or auto start.
However, the CPU was running at 100% and the WIA service had started.
I stopped the WIA service and the CPU usage dropped right down. Restarted the service again, the CPU initially rose, then dropped to a reasonable level.
My Computer opened ok again, so all looked ok.
But after logging off and logging on again, the CPU was once again at 100% until I stopped and restarted the WIA service again, when it dropped back down.
This happens whether the WIA Service is set to manual or auto start.
Thanks Neil - I'll put that tip away together with all my other Windows tips!
After my last post, I ran sfc /scannow with the XP install CD in the drive.
After a reboot (and I know I should be touching wood at this point!) all seems ok.
I have logged off/on as different users several times, and powered off/on a couple of times. CPU usage et al seems to be ok now.
Thanks for your helpful suggestions.
Paul
After my last post, I ran sfc /scannow with the XP install CD in the drive.
After a reboot (and I know I should be touching wood at this point!) all seems ok.
I have logged off/on as different users several times, and powered off/on a couple of times. CPU usage et al seems to be ok now.
Thanks for your helpful suggestions.
Paul
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