Crashes!!!

[Ed Fultz]

I wonder if others are experiencing similar problems? I upgraded from
Windows2000 to WindowsXP. I did this because I needed to be able to work on
our product in an environment similar to some of our customers. Well, since
I did this I get a crash every few days. I, generally, leave my machine
logged into the network and running. I do this so I can get to it quickly
from home. When it crashes it is a black screen with a bunch of diagnostic
information on it and the last line says it is storing a memory dump to
disk. Well, since I don't expect any help from Microsoft on my personal
crash scenario I have begun turning off the machine during this, letting it
sit for a few seconds, and doing a cold restart of the machine.

But, might anyone else be experiencing crashes? I usually have Outlook,
Outlook Express, Visual Studio, Windows Explorer, RealOne Player open.
Then, I might also have Visual SourceSafe and Visual Intercept (change
request software) open. I might even have 2 copies of Visual Studio open.
Some might say this is alot but I never had problems with Windows2000.


--
Edward Fultz
Sr. Software Engineer
Pamet Systems
Acton, Ma
www.pametsystems.com

[Rob Schneider]

Ed Fultz wrote:
> I wonder if others are experiencing similar problems? I upgraded from
> Windows2000 to WindowsXP. I did this because I needed to be able to work on
> our product in an environment similar to some of our customers. Well, since
> I did this I get a crash every few days. I, generally, leave my machine
> logged into the network and running. I do this so I can get to it quickly
> from home. When it crashes it is a black screen with a bunch of diagnostic
> information on it and the last line says it is storing a memory dump to
> disk. Well, since I don't expect any help from Microsoft on my personal
> crash scenario I have begun turning off the machine during this, letting it
> sit for a few seconds, and doing a cold restart of the machine.
>
> But, might anyone else be experiencing crashes? I usually have Outlook,
> Outlook Express, Visual Studio, Windows Explorer, RealOne Player open.
> Then, I might also have Visual SourceSafe and Visual Intercept (change
> request software) open. I might even have 2 copies of Visual Studio open.
> Some might say this is alot but I never had problems with Windows2000.
>
>
> --
> Edward Fultz
> Sr. Software Engineer
> Pamet Systems
> Acton, Ma
> www.pametsystems.com
>
>
I guess I'm a little puzzled. You did this so as to emulate what the
customer has. But, does the customer have Visual Studio, Source Save,
and Visual Intercept running while running your program? Have you
really accomplished your goal?

First I would put XP on a separate machine ... fresh install of XP and
apply all updates. Make that your baseline system for "testing" or at
least checking that it works on XP. If your customer can specify more
exactly what XP means, e.g. other programs running same then emulate that.

Second ... Ideas re crashing machine ... do you mean you get the
proverbial "blue screen". If not, what is the "mesage" or indication
you get to tell you machine is crashed. Have you looked in event log
for any clues? Is your machine suitable with XP (check on Microsoft's
web site for specs)? Did it start after installing any particular piece
of software? Do you have sufficient memory (512 min for what you are
doing, I would think)? Could be a hardware driver?

Others here might have better ideas for how to debug... but in meantime.
Maybe simply reformat the hard disk and go back to Windows 2000 and
make that your develoment enviroinment. May be less expensive to do that
than try to track down the cause of the crash.

I wouldn't think your software is so sensitive to Win2k vs. XP, but you
are the only one to know that and are in control of the installation
procedure.