Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) The PC "Help" Thread

You need to know which actual sizes these files have.

And try to use the names of these files in google or whatever to find out what they are about.

About the name not showing in your processes list:
I've never encountered that. It might be fishy, but then again it might be normal. Can someone else comment on this?

Oh, and the 'activity handler' is called 'task manager' in english

About the svchost files you found:
- the last 2 (SMSvcHost.*) aren't a problem, if they don't show up in your running processes list (task manager). As far as I can tell, these are host processes for networking services, but by default they should be disabled. So if you never touched any services, they're probably not going to be in your way.

- the other 4 (actual svchost.exe) are the ones you're looking for. From where I'm standing, your list seems to be 'almost' harmless. There's the one in windows\system32 (which is the one being actively used, so that one is cool), 2 more in service pack data files (which shouldn't be used, and probably aren't), but the latest one can or can't be dangerous.

The safest thing you can do to test, is rename all of them except for the system32 version. If you can rename them (for example, change their extension to .backup or something) without explorer complaining that they're read-only, locked, or in use, then you're 99% absolutely safe. Don't forget to rename them back to the original when you're done testing, though!! Otherwise your future service pack updates might go wrong.

And finally, about the services tutorial:
You might want to start from wikipedia. It gives a basic summary of what services are, and how you can get at them. They also give some links to more information.

Hope this helps . Give a hauler if you need more help or info.

Right, right. I knew that word, just couldn't recall it.



Changeing the names went with no problems. There is two svchost.exe network service running (all of the time IIRC) btw. I doubt they are the one that goes berserk once in a while though.

Interestingly though, I did the same search as before now, but now another file showed up, an SVCHOST.EXE-072604B0.pf (located in C:\Windows\prefetch). Switching name went perfectly. Any comments?



Thank you. You ought to use url tags on the link though (and links in general), as it is now it interpets the dot as part of the link, which makes it link to an "article can't be found" site.

Übereil

The prefetch file showing up is some sort of performance improvement of windows (technical: it remembers in what order segments are loaded, so the same program can be started up faster next time). It's best to leave that alone, as it poses absolutely no threat.

The fact that you can rename those svchost files means that none of them are actually running (apart from the windows\system32 file, of course), and so they aren't harmful.

Conclusion: you're absolutely safe from the svchosts


Right, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

Well, I could rename the one in system32 too...

Now there's only the freezeing problem left... IE the REAL problem...

Übereil

OK, after I reinstalled my GPU-drivers I haven't gotten any freezes, but I have gotten this other weird glitch (probably once a day or something like that). What happens is that my mouse gets stuck in the upper half of the screen. When I try to move it below a point that's roughly one third of the screen it gets transported to the top of the screen again. It stays like this for a few seconds then starts to run like normal again (I think there's a short black out in between, as if the computer refreshes itself before carrying on as normal).

I allso experience really, really short freezes from time to time. Like now, when typeing sometimes the screen stops updateing every letter, and instead does nothing for about a second, then all letters I managed to type in between gets printed at once. This is no big issue (it happens occasionally), but it's not normal either...

Übereil

Yes, interrupt problem. This sounds very much like that.

Either one interrupt is overloaded, or something else is happening ...

Also, make sure that you don't have TWO mouse-drivers loaded ... - someoine I know had this.


If the problem lies with the interrupt, then try to set one fixed to one device in the BIOS.

OK, the freezes are back. I think I'll reinstall Windows this time around. Anything I should do before I do this (apart from backing up files)? And do I have to format my driver before I reinstall windows?

Edit: The freezes starts within five minutes from me starting a game (not the menue, the acual game. In Warcraft this means starting a skirmish or something like that). I've tried with haveing music in the background, and the music continues to run while the game is frozen. After the game's unstuck it seems to go back to running as normal. (But IIRC it will get worse and worse. In a while it won't unstuck at all.)

Alrik mentioned colliding drivers. Where can I check if I have dual drivers installed? Or is it easier to simply reinstall Windows?

Übereil

Normally, you should be able to see it there:

On your "desktop", make a right-click onto your "Computer" symbol, or how it is called.

There go looking out for the hardware section.

There should be something called "Devivce Manager" or so. Use it.

In it, a more or less tree-like structure should be displayed, with small exclamation marks as hints towards collisions (if the system detects them).

Well, apart from the non-existing RAID unit (I don't use RAID anyway) there is this WinXP Promise FastTrak 378 (tm) controller that's marked with an exclamation mark. Apparently, Promise tecnology specialize in SATA-RAID units, so that collision has supposedly been around for a while. Anyway, I couldn't find an update for FT 378 on their homepage.

Anyway, before my OS started it did an inconsistence check on one of my drivers (don't know which one). It seemed to take a while so I decided to do some reading while waiting so I didn't notice the result either. But would this indicate that one of my drivers aren't in the best of health? IIRC I found some error on one of them back when all this started...

Edit: Well, I tried out Warcraft 3 to see if the problems were still there. This usually means playing some single player map for a few minutes, and if the game don't crash it works fine (well, usually it does it's standard one minute freeze and then work normally). It didn't freeze during the first game, so I presumed to playing a Battle.Net game to see if it was gone for got. It froze during the animation to enter battle.net. After that my mouse started working weirdly, it didn't float properly, instead it moved in jerks (IE my mouse had started lagging). Alt+tabbing proved that it seemed to work properly in windows. So, in order to see how long my computer would last I started playing a single player map again (a Tower Defence, since those can take a while). Before I'd chosen all the setting (which takes under one minute) my computer went bananas. First half the screen got covered in white and gray suqares. When I tried to alt+tab (which usually makes it work normally after a minute) all colours went crazy. I tried alt+tabbing again, at which point my computer recided to doing nothing but flash a black screen once every third second. I could move the mouse but nothing else.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I've had simillar problems before with WC3. The difference was that it kept working before, the only problem was some weird glitches. For instance, yellow squares under units and the portraits of units being covered by white squares. All this stopped and went back to normal when I opened Winamp...

Is it time to get a new computer prehaps?

Übereil

No, this still sounds like an Interrupt problem to me - maybe you should take a look at that controller.

If it's only a card, you might perhaps try a new one.

Honestly, that the controller has such an exclamation mark is serious stuff. You should be careful.

Because this controller is probably responsible for your HDs.

My RAID unit being in controll of my non-RAID HD's? I doubt it... Besides, it's been like that for ages and more. I spent about a month ignoreing it, then I crossed the "don't ask me again" window. IIRC that was about a year ago.

Übereil

I also have a controller on my mainboard that supports RAID. However, I switched the RAID functions off. I don't want that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Besides, an exclamation mark is ALWAYS something you shouldn't ignore at all !

Well, I acaully managed to install drivers for the RAID unit (which was a whole lot easier once I got to know they were placed on the MoBo CD ). The problems has once again ceased. For now, at least. We'll see if this is just a short term effect though.

Übereil

Well, it took aproximately two weeks before something strange happened again. I was reading a document in word when all of a sudden my screen started flashing. The mouse turned black, and it looked like parts of the statusbar of a window (placed in the absolute top of the screen) had been thrown to the middle of the screen. The normally white mousepointer was black, and trying to move it meant the screen flashed and it got placed in the middle of the screen again.

Übereil

Sounds like a power failire.

Or circuits as a whole.

Or corrupt video memory.

My guess is your video card is either extremely dusty (causing shortcircuiting here and there) or has seen its better days.

Is your pc located in a room that's dusty (with lots of carpets) or has a high temperature? Is your pc case ventilated enough? Is it standing in an open place where it can 'breathe', or is it placed smack up against a wall with no air-circulation?

I'd say, try to clean your pc (especially your video card), move your pc to a cooler, dust-free location, install a case with decent airflow (and preferably and extra fan or two), and try again.

If that still doesn't work, then your video-card is most likely broken. To be sure, try to get your hands on another video-card to test with. If that one doesn't have any problems, then we know the cause, and you can start saving up for a new one

Sektor, if my video card is broken, then I'll get waaaay more than a new video card... I'm not getting a new AGP-card to give my computer an extra six months of living. But I'll try clean it. Any objections on useing a vacuum cleaner inside of a PC?

Übereil

Compressed air is better for blowing dust off computer parts (preferably outdoors). Vacuum cleaners can produce static electricity, though I've seen people recommend them. If you made sure you are grounded (as usual before doing anything inside a computer) and don't get too close to electrical parts there shouldn't be too much risk (I've used a vacuum to take out dust bunnies in the bottom of the case and get around wires, etc). Clean off fans with a cloth or brush, though; holding a vacuum over one for very long can rev them up quite fast, possibly doing damage (or at least extra wear and tear on the bearings).

Compressed air? What's that/how do you create it?

Übereil