Vista Crashes even on clean install

[g1eagle]

Hi all. I restored my PC to the point before I installed AnyDVD. It fixed the lock-ups with Windows Media Center and Windows Media player, but anything I put into the burner that tries to launch an exe (like an installer) crashes. So, i am chatting with Dell....again...right now. Will let you know what happens, if nothing else for the advancement of vista knowledge.

 

[SamuriHL]

Well isn't that a fun time. I hope the tech guy has a script that can help with this one. That definitely goes well beyond AnyDVD as far as problems go. Good luck!!

 

[Webslinger]

Hi all. I restored my PC to the point before I installed AnyDVD. It fixed the lock-ups with Windows Media Center and Windows Media player, but anything I put into the burner that tries to launch an exe (like an installer) crashes. So, i am chatting with Dell....again...right now. Will let you know what happens, if nothing else for the advancement of vista knowledge.

A Lower Filter found is: DRVMCDB

Used by Sonic and Veritas. Yet unknown in which software it is used (possibly backup software). Might be from Nullo.

pxhelp20

Part of Sonic Burning engine, it's made by prassi/veritas and licensed to Sonic. Comes with Winamp, 1click DivxToDVD and (older versoins of) Digion Audio

A Lower Filter found is: DLACDBHM

I'm pretty sure that's from Sonic or Roxio's Drive Letter Access, which is bad, bad, bad.
--

The only thing I can recommend is uninstalling the programs that put those 3 entries in your filters and see if that helps anything.

If I had all those crashes on an XP system, I'd be taking a look at my busmaster drivers, cables on the back of my drives, power supply, my memory, and my graphics card.

 

[James]

AV and security products are having a real hard time with Vista due to the changes made to the kernel. I find that to be a REALLY REALLY good thing and one of the things I love about Vista. It forces developers to stop being lazy and learn to program correctly. (I'm a software engineer so I can get away with a comment like that. ) I'm still not convinced that UAC bring a lot of value to the table. Do I agree with that you that it SHOULDN'T have to be turned off? Yes, it shouldn't. However, in many cases in order to get anything to work correctly, I've found that it needs to. Like I said, even basic drivers don't necessarily install correctly with UAC turned on...and they work perfectly well after it's turned off and the driver is reinstalled. I suspect SP1 will either fix a lot of this or make it worse...after all, we're going to see the Longhorn kernel get integrated in SP1. Won't THAT be fun.

IMHO UAC is broken by design, as you are *still* running under the admin account. It tries to fix problems which should not exist.
If you want security, create a standard user account (not admin!) and use this. To install software, switch to the admin account (without UAC, of course).

 

[SamuriHL]

IMHO UAC is broken by design, as you are *still* running under the admin account. It tries to fix problems which should not exist.
If you want security, create a standard user account (not admin!) and use this. To install software, switch to the admin account (without UAC, of course).

If you want security, know what it is you are running on your machine and only download things that you trust. Security is not a technical solution, it's a user education problem. Now obviously your OS shouldn't be swiss cheese, but, a dialog telling me that something's about to run is NOT going to make me more secure.

As for the standard vs admin users debate, I think Linux has this one locked up. Vista's attempt is mediocre. A standard user is what I have my daughter set to use. She's not had ANY problems since I did that for her(spyware, viruses, unauthorized installed software(GRIN)). I have an admin account on her machine that I use to restrict the things she can and can't do. (She has problems focusing when she's supposed to be doing homework, so, until her grades come up she's restricted from anything non-homework related...sucks to be her. ) This model works well, but, you have to be vigilant about keeping to it. And unfortunately, as I've said before, too many Windows programs out there do not support this model. It's a hard thing to swallow when developers have had admin access in Windows for 20 years and now all of a sudden they can't rely on having it.

We'll get there....slowly. UAC, however, still does not impress me.

 

[g1eagle]

The End of Our Tale of Mystery and Adventure (or is it)

I want to say how much I appreciate all the help everyone has given me on this board. I don't think I have ever encountered such a decent bunch of folks.

I had guessed a while back that AnyDVD wasn't causing this problem but was highlighting the problem because it was the first thing that tried to use the drive each time. I asked for and was given a great deal of advice by the smart people in this forum and tried it all. I learned a lot and was able to speak sensibly to Dell.

On my call to Dell, I was forced to reinstall Windows entirely and--guess what--the problem remained. After all that--after 2.5 days of headache--the Dell person actually said "let's try to switch the SATA cables. this is a common problem with your PC." Common? As in "should have mentioned earlier?"

Anyway, we fooled around with those things to no avail. In the end, they were stumped. I am getting a new PC out of the deal. Yay for that...I guess.

So, to anyone else who is using an XPS 410 and having trouble with AnyDVD, call up Dell and maybe you will get a new PC! :clap:

Now I must sleep...

 

[Webslinger]

After all that--after 2.5 days of headache--the Dell person actually said "let's try to switch the SATA cables. this is a common problem with your PC." Common? As in "should have mentioned earlier?"

lol That's actually the very first thing I mentioned in this thread.

So, to anyone else who is using an XPS 410 and having trouble with AnyDVD, call up Dell and maybe you will get a new PC!

Well, I'm glad they're giving you a new PC, and I'm glad this issue had nothing to do with Anydvd.

 

[zebadee]

Hi
Great news g1eagle. :clap: :agree: