Macola 7.6.100a Hangs PC on Start-up 2

[Lazarus439]

What would make Macola PWE suddenly start hanging up on start-up on an individual PC? Not only does Macola fail to start, the PC itself is locked up and must be power cycled or hardware reset to regain control.

I have about 10 PCs with Windows 2000 Pro/SP4 plus all patches which have Macola 7.6.100a installed. The server is Windows 2003 Small Business Premium (SQL 2000, SP3a). For no reason I can determine, a PC will simply start locking up when launching Macola PWE while the splash screen is still displayed. I can find no common element such as other programs, different programs, or anything else. Removing and reinstalling the program on the PC does not make any difference.

I'd really appreciate any solutions, suggestions, pointers to other sources, etc. The company no longer has a support contract with Macola, so I can not access their web site.

 

[keain]

If you leave TaskManager open while launching PWE, what process spikes the CPU?

Also, does Progression Explorer respond in the same way?

My initial thoughts are that the user is either accidentally launching multiple instances of PWE, or there might be some spyware loaded, but can't say for certain without knowing more.

 

[Lazarus439]

Thanks for the ideas; unfortunately, whatever it is, these aren't it. When the machine freezes, it does it so quickly that task manager doesn't register anything at all and Progression Explorer locks the machine up the same way as PWE.

It does not appear to be multiple launches of PWE because the problem is not restricted to the specific user. The machine does the same thing when logged with an admin account. Also, when I check the server for open files, there is just one - pwe.exe or macole32.exe. Normally, PWE or Progression Explorer have opened a dozen or more by the time they present a login screen.

I don't think spyware or an virus is implicated because the machine is a fresh install of W2K Pro, with patches, service packs, etc. and Symantec Antivirus Corporate.

The machine freezes almost instantly when the program is launched - only three or four of the status lines scroll through the splash screen before it freezes. Once it does, the machine is completely unresponsive other than answering a ping.

 

[keain]

Here's something that may point us in the right direction.

Try downloading Filemon and Regmon from Microsoft's site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Processesandthreadsutilities.mspx

Play with them on a workstation to get a feel for how they work. Is some ways their sort of like twitch video games, but the PC locking up may play to your advantage because it'll stop filemon and regmon when the problem occurs, instead of you having to stop them manually.

Run Filemon and Regmon on a working computer when a user launches PWE or Macola32. Use that as your control while you look at the logs from the bad machine. Find the point of commonality between the logs (look for the last process called by PWE.exe that both have in common). The entry after that on the good machine is the file/reg key that the bad machine is having a problem with.

 

[stravis]

Are you using Symantec Corporate Antivirus? If so turn off tamper protection completely and this problem will go away after a reboot. This problem crept up with the 10.1 release of Symantect Corporate.

Scott Travis

http://www.infoSpring.net

 

[Lazarus439]

That did the trick! Thanks!!

What still stumps me, though, is why the problem only impacted a few machines. I've got perhaps 10 machines which run Macola, but the problem only appeared on three machines about six months ago and on a fourth one last month. All the machines have SAV 10.1 and are as identical software wise as I can keep them without Ghost. Even the machines themselves are identical Gateways, albeit old ones.

I'm not complaining - far from it - but seemingly random stuff like this bothers me!

Thanks, again!!!