Windows XP SP2 error & Vista upgrade

Hi all

I am getting a windows error. I would like to paste the screenshot but i cant seem to get it below the size that the site allows you to attach with. How do I do this first of all. I know its a noobie Q :D

Thanks

K, I haven't got a reply on the attachment part so I am just going to type out the error.

DATA PROTECTION PREVENTION - MS WINDOWS

WINDOWS HAS CLOSED THE PROGRAM

NAME: WINDOWS XPLORER
PUBLISHER: MS CORP

Only option is to close message which then kills my xplorer and asks to send an error report or not. At this point it kills my explorer.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

OK Cider,

You need to resize your image then zip it.

What version of Windows are we talking here?

What did you do prior to this problem?

Have you tried a "repair" reinstall of Windows?

:)

sounds like a naughty program that is being prevented from running on your system

Windows Xp SP2. I didnt do much prior to this. All I can think of is putting in new Ram and a new DVD writer. Other thank that not much software related. I will try do a "repair" of XP.

Ill keep you guys posted.

Hi Cider,

"A new DVD writer" huh?:idea:

Boot into your BIOS, on the "general settings" page (might be called something different?) you should see: Your hard drives, CD/DVD drives and floppy drives.

Try turning off the DMA mode for the DVD writer. If that doesn't work then turn DMA mode off for everything ;)

I did a repair and it seems to be fine though. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

1 more question. With the virtual memory that you can set, I made my windows partition abit too small so it wont allow me to make it 1.5 and double what my ram is. Would this be a problem. I dont feel like formatting and setting up my drives again.

Thanks.

How much memory does your machine have?
You can also put the pagefile on another disk. It doesn't have to be on C:
You can even create multiple pagefiles..

ok, back to problem 1: It is still showing that particular error whenever I search my file system. I.E double click "My computer" and/or right click start > explore. that error pops uo immediately.

Problem 2: I have 2 gig ram, however I only have 200 MB free space on my windows partition. Yes i know I messed it up with sizing.

Sirdice: I know you can make multiple page files but what would be the benefit of it on a drive other than my windows partition which is C:\.

Thanks

The more RAM you have the less pagefile you need. There is no absolute rule of thumb or ratio. With a gig of RAM I would set the pagefile to 512Mb as it is hardly likely to be used.

You will know soon enough if there is a problem as Windows will give you "out of memory" messages.

;)

K, I made multiple page files so that is sorted.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the first problem I posted besides formatting ...

Here is a screen shot.

Thanks.

Here is the error signature...

EventType : BEX P1 : explorer.exe P2 : 6.0.2900.2180 P3 : 41107ece
P4 : unknown P5 : 0.0.0.0 P6 : 00000000 P7 : 03852860
P8 : c0000005 P9 : 00000008

Have you tried disabling DMA yet?

You only need one pagefile not multiple ones.

How big is your Windows partition?

1. Look for the pagefile in C:\ and delete it.....point to the file on another drive.

2. Look in the C:\ programs folder and uninstall stuff from there and reinstall it onto another partition. Windows defaults to C:\program files\XXXXXX for most installations. That fills your partition up pretty quick.

Back in the days of NT 4.0 we would create partitions for Windows, applications and data............. drives were not very big back then.

The main reason was that the Windows partition was standard and the applications one was department/function specific............ it made builds and restores easier;)

Your gonna have errors till you resize c: or move some stuff off it

recommended 20% of partition size left free

Can you not free up some space..or move stuff to another drive??

You can remove all the SP backup crap in your windows dir
all the files like this
$NtUninstallKB873333$

MLF

Ive practically done everything to try free up space. I install everything on my other drive. What I didn't take into consideration was the windows updates etc. My C:\ is 5GB, which I thought would be enough. But after the updates I cannot get more than 200 MB. I cant format as I don't have place to back up.

I get alot of files created in a folder named "Commin Files" on my C:\ drive. Can I delete the files etc in there? What exactly is this etc?

Okay it is definately a problem with space. Everytime I try browse my C:\ it crashes. Can someone maybe point me to a website what trash files I can delete in my windows folder or whatever to try free up space.

I am using that CCleaner already.

Nihil: Where exactly do I find this page file?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Be very careful deleting stuff......

Heres a good article showing where you can look


http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310312

MLF

The pagefile is usually in the root C:\ but also look in WINNT and System32. If you let Windows decide it defaults to the root directory, but I believe it moves if you set the size manually.

It should be called pagefile.sys or something like that (I am not using XP at the moment) What can happen when you change the rules is the old page file can remain in its old location.

The one to look at is C:\program files\ as that is where all the applications you allowed to default install will be. You may want to move them, but be careful of access paths, they will need to be reset. The best method is uninstall and reinstall.

Don't mess with the "common files" folder. these are files that are shared by more than one application.

:)

Okay after all the drama I installed Vista ultimate and it seems to be working fine.

I give vista a thumbs up. Havent had a blue screen or anything. Runs smoothly.

Thank you to everyone for replying.

2 questions:

1) must I pagefile my drives in vista because default it is set to system managed.

2) any reason why I cannot format my Xp partition?

Thanks.

Quote:

---

Okay after all the drama I installed Vista ultimate and it seems to be working fine.

---

How did you do that? are you dual booting with XP? what partition is Vista on?

Please check out this thread, it now seems pretty relevant to your position.

http://antionline.com/showthread.php?t=275405

It follows on from this one:

http://antionline.com/showthread.php?t=275400


EDIT: I would let Windows take care of the page file until you know something different. I would guess you may want to reduce it after a while.

Hi there Nihil

Thanks for the reply.

Okay, I have 2 hard drives. I partioned each divided into to.

C:\ had XP partition on.

Now on a serperate partition I loaded vista onto that. I am currently on vista. I would like to format my C:\ now to get rid of XP but it wont let me for some reason.

If you need any more information please let me know.

Hi Cider,

Please don't try removing XP or resizing its partition until we have a resolution of Moira's problem. Those are the two threads I referenced to, they are very much current and ongoing.

You may suddenly find that you cannot boot either XP or Vista :eek:

Would I be correct in thinking that you are currently offered a dual boot screen when you power up? If that is so then you are booting to the Windows NTLDR system from your BIOS. This is the system used by Windows prior to Vista; if you remove it you won't boot anything.

;)

Yes I do get a dual booting screen. Ok well Ill check on moiras post and back to this one if anyone can solve the problem ...

Thanks

Cider,

You might like to look at this:

http://lifehacker.com/software/vista...sta-236823.php

It is a free app to multiboot with Vista. I know that it requires Vista to be loaded first, but it might be helpful at some stage?

EDIT: Direct link here:

http://www.vistabootpro.org/index.php

EDIT#2

I didn't ask if you knew which OS was providing the dual boot boot manager. If it is Vista you should see a preliminary screen with options something like:

1. Load Vista (selected by default)
2. Load older Windows Operating System

If that is the case then you are using Vista's boot manager so this should solve your problem.

http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/20...tml&frame=true

If you get something that is different, or specifically mentions Win XP then DON'T TRY THIS. It means that you are using the old BIOS/XP bootloader (NTLDR) and will screw up :eek:

The dualbooting is displayed like this.

1] Load earlier versions of windows
2] MS Vista [default]

Now I know 90 % I can use that last link, just want to double check what you say...

Thanks.

BTW: Can I then delete my XP partition?

That looks good Cider,

You are booting into the Vista bootmanager.

Follow the instructions in the second link I gave to remove XP from the Vista boot manager. Test that it now only boots into Vista (the older versions option should disappear).

Then zap your XP :)

Thank nihil

I have to copy the image from my HDD, Ill do that later this afternoon and let you know how things go.

Thanks again for the help.

OK both times I did the fixmbr and fixboot, it said completed succesfully. However it still wont let me format the partition.

Wierd...

Hi Cider,

This is a bit of a guess, but I have been talking about it with fellow IT types. We have sort of concluded like this:

1. If you load XP or 2000 it will set up the usual MBR/BIOS startup at the beginning of the drive.

2. Vista works differently, and has a different offset, so, when you load it second, it starts after the XP/2000 partition.

3. It won't recognise anything before it on the HDD?

I think that the "official" solution would be to wipe the HDD and load Vista on its own? Because you are using an "image" you are bringing the old XP/2000 luggage with you?

We are looking into this, as there is going to be a fair bit of support work from people who bought a PC around Christmas 2006, and had XP loaded with an upgrade to Vista included in the deal.

A crude solution is to save everything, then wipe the drive and load Vista first;)

Sigh, Saving stuff is the problem though. I could do that. When i pop in the vista CD will I beable to format the XP partition or will it give me hassels?

The original problem was a DEP problem. (DATA PROTECTION PREVENTION - MS WINDOWS)

All you had to do is disable DEP for that one exe.