Saturday, March 11, 2006
What's up
Man. Where does the time go?
I haven't posted in ages. Between SAP, side work, family and friends I have had no down-time to speak of in months. Lynnie needs a vacation.
Plaguing my brother and I on a weekly basis are the ongoing computer problems he's been having across multiple machines over the past several months. I can't for the life of me figure out what the hell is going on. Our latest "theory" is faulty power, if you can believe it. I'm running out of guesses.
Each of the three machines we have used at his house demonstrates the same basic problem. All three machines are running Windows XP SP2. The only programs Paul uses regularly are Word, IE and Skype.
The first sign of trouble is always the same. The Virtual Memory Manager informs him that it is increasing his page file. (I always set it up so that Windows manages his virtual memory rather than specifying a size manually.) Windows chugs along increasing the page file and then usually additional error dialogues begin popping up. Often times it is helpcenter.exe that starts generating error after error and you can't close them all. Sometimes he'll get a "Welcome to Internet Explorer" dialogue as if he has just installed IE. It makes no sense at all.
Usually at this point, it is impossible to close all of the error messages. The three-fingered salute won't even work - you can't close all the error dialogues. You close one and another takes its place. Even trying to shut down from within Task Manager doesn't work. You end up having to force the shutdown. (God knows how many garbage files are strewn about his system as a result.)
Three machines each have the same behavior, but only at his house. When I swap out a machine I can never recreate the problem at my place.
No malware or viruses have ever been detected and I always install the latest definitions and run checks regularly whenever I'm there, as does Paul.
So I'm completely stumped. I thought maybe it had something to do with Skype and the VOIP wireless headset he uses with it since the problems started only after he started using them. But uninstalling Skype and removing the headset did nothing.
So if you're reading this and have any suggestions at all, I'd love to hear them.
I haven't posted in ages. Between SAP, side work, family and friends I have had no down-time to speak of in months. Lynnie needs a vacation.
Plaguing my brother and I on a weekly basis are the ongoing computer problems he's been having across multiple machines over the past several months. I can't for the life of me figure out what the hell is going on. Our latest "theory" is faulty power, if you can believe it. I'm running out of guesses.
Each of the three machines we have used at his house demonstrates the same basic problem. All three machines are running Windows XP SP2. The only programs Paul uses regularly are Word, IE and Skype.
The first sign of trouble is always the same. The Virtual Memory Manager informs him that it is increasing his page file. (I always set it up so that Windows manages his virtual memory rather than specifying a size manually.) Windows chugs along increasing the page file and then usually additional error dialogues begin popping up. Often times it is helpcenter.exe that starts generating error after error and you can't close them all. Sometimes he'll get a "Welcome to Internet Explorer" dialogue as if he has just installed IE. It makes no sense at all.
Usually at this point, it is impossible to close all of the error messages. The three-fingered salute won't even work - you can't close all the error dialogues. You close one and another takes its place. Even trying to shut down from within Task Manager doesn't work. You end up having to force the shutdown. (God knows how many garbage files are strewn about his system as a result.)
Three machines each have the same behavior, but only at his house. When I swap out a machine I can never recreate the problem at my place.
No malware or viruses have ever been detected and I always install the latest definitions and run checks regularly whenever I'm there, as does Paul.
So I'm completely stumped. I thought maybe it had something to do with Skype and the VOIP wireless headset he uses with it since the problems started only after he started using them. But uninstalling Skype and removing the headset did nothing.
So if you're reading this and have any suggestions at all, I'd love to hear them.
