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#1
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
I'm running WinXPPro and I walked up to my computer this morning and I had an
automatic update pop-up window on my desktop out of nowhere. or at least it aPPeaReD to be that I have my computer set to notify me if any new updates are available. This particular window had a countdown timer within it. I caught it before it counted down to zero and chose "restart later". I continued to get ready for work and by the time i returned to my pc it had just shutdown to restart. Now... Once it restarted, it gets to the "Checking NVRAM" screen... and it's now STUCK THERE!!! Never had this problem before. I have 2 XP OS's loaded on my machine and not able to access either one. (on 2 different partitions) - - - - I've taken out the CMOS battery, I've cleared CMOS using the jumper, I've tried to get to the start up options to choose "Last good known" BUT, Pressing F8 does absolutely nothing now and even though i have reset it to boot from my CD drive first, so I can attempt to boot off of my XP disk for a repair... it still goes thru the normal bootup until it gets to freezing at NVRAM. I'm on my other desktop (HOPING) that it won't happen to this one out of nowhere as well!! Uh... HELP... ANYBODY!!!!! THANX N ADVANCE. Wayne B. |
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#2
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on your computer.
Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the latest signatures and run a full scan. If you don't have comprehensive anti-malware software, that's like driving a car without seats belts or air bags. Either way, you're eventually going to get hammered. Install comprehensive anti-malware software and learn how to use its features. A 'comprehensive' solution scans for all types of malicious software in the background, on demand and on schedule. For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online scanners, such as: Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner) Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan) Download HijackThis from www.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and temerc.com -- but not here. Within a day, sometimes within an hour, you'll have one-on-one step-by-step advice from a security expert on cleaning up any infestations—or you'll have a clean bill of health from the volunteer expert. Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want to show the computer to a professional. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est CmosDriver wrote: I'm running WinXPPro and I walked up to my computer this morning and I had an automatic update pop-up window on my desktop out of nowhere. or at least it aPPeaReD to be that I have my computer set to notify me if any new updates are available. This particular window had a countdown timer within it. I caught it before it counted down to zero and chose "restart later". I continued to get ready for work and by the time i returned to my pc it had just shutdown to restart. Now... Once it restarted, it gets to the "Checking NVRAM" screen... and it's now STUCK THERE!!! Never had this problem before. I have 2 XP OS's loaded on my machine and not able to access either one. (on 2 different partitions) - - - - I've taken out the CMOS battery, I've cleared CMOS using the jumper, I've tried to get to the start up options to choose "Last good known" BUT, Pressing F8 does absolutely nothing now and even though i have reset it to boot from my CD drive first, so I can attempt to boot off of my XP disk for a repair... it still goes thru the normal bootup until it gets to freezing at NVRAM. I'm on my other desktop (HOPING) that it won't happen to this one out of nowhere as well!! Uh... HELP... ANYBODY!!!!! THANX N ADVANCE. Wayne B. |
#3
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
I forgot to add that I have McAfee... Fully updated (automatic downloads).
Regularly scan with Adaware and Spybot along with Registry Booster. And as I formentioned in my 1st post.... I'm not able to boot into windows at all so I wouldn't be able to download anything at this point. "Leonard Grey" wrote: Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on your computer. Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the latest signatures and run a full scan. If you don't have comprehensive anti-malware software, that's like driving a car without seats belts or air bags. Either way, you're eventually going to get hammered. Install comprehensive anti-malware software and learn how to use its features. A 'comprehensive' solution scans for all types of malicious software in the background, on demand and on schedule. For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online scanners, such as: Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner) Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan) Download HijackThis from www.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and temerc.com -- but not here. Within a day, sometimes within an hour, you'll have one-on-one step-by-step advice from a security expert on cleaning up any infestations—or you'll have a clean bill of health from the volunteer expert. Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want to show the computer to a professional. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est |
#4
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
Your call. But, FWIW:
Some people like McAfee, some hate it. But the fact is - as I mentioned - no one product can do it all. Ad-Aware and Spybot (S & D) are consistently rated near the bottom for effectiveness in test after test. Plus, if you want to use a second product for on-demand scans, they need to look for all types of malware. Registry Booster - like all registry cleaners - is a waste of time. And a registry cleaner doesn't protect you against malware. I really hope there's no malware on your machine. All I have to go on is your description. And you described malware. I hope I'm wrong. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est CmosDriver wrote: I forgot to add that I have McAfee... Fully updated (automatic downloads). Regularly scan with Adaware and Spybot along with Registry Booster. And as I formentioned in my 1st post.... I'm not able to boot into windows at all so I wouldn't be able to download anything at this point. "Leonard Grey" wrote: Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on your computer. Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the latest signatures and run a full scan. If you don't have comprehensive anti-malware software, that's like driving a car without seats belts or air bags. Either way, you're eventually going to get hammered. Install comprehensive anti-malware software and learn how to use its features. A 'comprehensive' solution scans for all types of malicious software in the background, on demand and on schedule. For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online scanners, such as: Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner) Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan) Download HijackThis from www.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and temerc.com -- but not here. Within a day, sometimes within an hour, you'll have one-on-one step-by-step advice from a security expert on cleaning up any infestations—or you'll have a clean bill of health from the volunteer expert. Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want to show the computer to a professional. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est |
#5
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
On Nov 13, 3:07 am, Leonard Grey wrote:
Your call. But, FWIW: Some people like McAfee, some hate it. But the fact is - as I mentioned - no one product can do it all. Ad-Aware and Spybot (S & D) are consistently rated near the bottom for effectiveness in test after test. Plus, if you want to use a second product for on-demand scans, they need to look for all types of malware. Registry Booster - like all registry cleaners - is a waste of time. And a registry cleaner doesn't protect you against malware. I really hope there's no malware on your machine. All I have to go on is your description. And you described malware. I hope I'm wrong. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est CmosDriver wrote: I forgot to add that I have McAfee... Fully updated (automatic downloads). Regularly scan with Adaware and Spybot along with Registry Booster. And as I formentioned in my 1st post.... I'm not able to boot into windows at all so I wouldn't be able to download anything at this point. "Leonard Grey" wrote: Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on your computer. Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the latest signatures and run a full scan. If you don't have comprehensive anti-malware software, that's like driving a car without seats belts or air bags. Either way, you're eventually going to get hammered. Install comprehensive anti-malware software and learn how to use its features. A 'comprehensive' solution scans for all types of malicious software in the background, on demand and on schedule. For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online scanners, such as: Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner) Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan) Download HijackThis fromwww.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and temerc.com -- but not here. Within a day, sometimes within an hour, you'll have one-on-one step-by-step advice from a security expert on cleaning up any infestations—or you'll have a clean bill of health from the volunteer expert. Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want to show the computer to a professional. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est Leonard, you should really read his post. He has said twice that he cannot boot the computer as far as windows, so an esoteric discussion on the merits of various anti-malware products is not a lot of help. Yes he may have malware on there, but I doubt if that is the cause of this issue. It sounds more like he has a hardware / driver error. I would be inclined to try removing and reseating your memory and try a reboot each time. Alister |
#6
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
"Alister" wrote in message ... On Nov 13, 3:07 am, Leonard Grey wrote: Your call. But, FWIW: Some people like McAfee, some hate it. But the fact is - as I mentioned - no one product can do it all. Ad-Aware and Spybot (S & D) are consistently rated near the bottom for effectiveness in test after test. Plus, if you want to use a second product for on-demand scans, they need to look for all types of malware. Registry Booster - like all registry cleaners - is a waste of time. And a registry cleaner doesn't protect you against malware. I really hope there's no malware on your machine. All I have to go on is your description. And you described malware. I hope I'm wrong. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est CmosDriver wrote: I forgot to add that I have McAfee... Fully updated (automatic downloads). Regularly scan with Adaware and Spybot along with Registry Booster. And as I formentioned in my 1st post.... I'm not able to boot into windows at all so I wouldn't be able to download anything at this point. "Leonard Grey" wrote: Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on your computer. Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the latest signatures and run a full scan. If you don't have comprehensive anti-malware software, that's like driving a car without seats belts or air bags. Either way, you're eventually going to get hammered. Install comprehensive anti-malware software and learn how to use its features. A 'comprehensive' solution scans for all types of malicious software in the background, on demand and on schedule. For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online scanners, such as: Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner) Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan) Download HijackThis fromwww.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and temerc.com -- but not here. Within a day, sometimes within an hour, you'll have one-on-one step-by-step advice from a security expert on cleaning up any infestations—or you'll have a clean bill of health from the volunteer expert. Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want to show the computer to a professional. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est Leonard, you should really read his post. He has said twice that he cannot boot the computer as far as windows, so an esoteric discussion on the merits of various anti-malware products is not a lot of help. Yes he may have malware on there, but I doubt if that is the cause of this issue. It sounds more like he has a hardware / driver error. I would be inclined to try removing and reseating your memory and try a reboot each time. Alister ================================ NVRAM = Non Volatile RAM. Only the BIOS needs such a device. These days, the BIOS and its assorted assistants are soldered in place. The only thing you can replace (short of replacing the whole motherboard) is the battery. My belief is that replacing the motherboard is the OP's only option, but I would certainly take the machine to a professional repair place before replacing the motherboard. Jim |
#7
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
On Nov 13, 3:10 pm, "Jim" wrote:
"Alister" wrote in message ... On Nov 13, 3:07 am, Leonard Grey wrote: Your call. But, FWIW: Some people like McAfee, some hate it. But the fact is - as I mentioned - no one product can do it all. Ad-Aware and Spybot (S & D) are consistently rated near the bottom for effectiveness in test after test. Plus, if you want to use a second product for on-demand scans, they need to look for all types of malware.. Registry Booster - like all registry cleaners - is a waste of time. And a registry cleaner doesn't protect you against malware. I really hope there's no malware on your machine. All I have to go on is your description. And you described malware. I hope I'm wrong. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est CmosDriver wrote: I forgot to add that I have McAfee... Fully updated (automatic downloads). Regularly scan with Adaware and Spybot along with Registry Booster. And as I formentioned in my 1st post.... I'm not able to boot into windows at all so I wouldn't be able to download anything at this point. "Leonard Grey" wrote: Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on your computer. Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the latest signatures and run a full scan. If you don't have comprehensive anti-malware software, that's like driving a car without seats belts or air bags. Either way, you're eventually going to get hammered. Install comprehensive anti-malware software and learn how to use its features. A 'comprehensive' solution scans for all types of malicious software in the background, on demand and on schedule. For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online scanners, such as: Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner) Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan) Download HijackThis fromwww.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and temerc.com -- but not here. Within a day, sometimes within an hour, you'll have one-on-one step-by-step advice from a security expert on cleaning up any infestations—or you'll have a clean bill of health from the volunteer expert. Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want to show the computer to a professional. --- Leonard Grey Errare Humanum Est Leonard, you should really read his post. He has said twice that he cannot boot the computer as far as windows, so an esoteric discussion on the merits of various anti-malware products is not a lot of help. Yes he may have malware on there, but I doubt if that is the cause of this issue. It sounds more like he has a hardware / driver error. I would be inclined to try removing and reseating your memory and try a reboot each time. Alister ================================ NVRAM = Non Volatile RAM. Only the BIOS needs such a device. These days, the BIOS and its assorted assistants are soldered in place. The only thing you can replace (short of replacing the whole motherboard) is the battery.. My belief is that replacing the motherboard is the OP's only option, but I would certainly take the machine to a professional repair place before replacing the motherboard. Jim Yep, I would try a few things first though - hence removing the memory - if the motherboard is ok it should complain with no memory in it - beeps etc Alister |
#8
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
On Nov 13, 12:18 am, CmosDriver
wrote: I'm running WinXPPro and I walked up to my computer this morning and I had an automatic update pop-up window on my desktop out of nowhere. or at least it aPPeaReD to be that I have my computer set to notify me if any new updates are available. This particular window had a countdown timer within it. I caught it before it counted down to zero and chose "restart later". I continued to get ready for work and by the time i returned to my pc it had just shutdown to restart. Now... Once it restarted, it gets to the "Checking NVRAM" screen... and it's now STUCK THERE!!! Never had this problem before. I have 2 XP OS's loaded on my machine and not able to access either one. (on 2 different partitions) - - - - I've taken out the CMOS battery, I've cleared CMOS using the jumper, I've tried to get to the start up options to choose "Last good known" BUT, Pressing F8 does absolutely nothing now and even though i have reset it to boot from my CD drive first, so I can attempt to boot off of my XP disk for a repair... it still goes thru the normal bootup until it gets to freezing at NVRAM. I'm on my other desktop (HOPING) that it won't happen to this one out of nowhere as well!! Uh... HELP... ANYBODY!!!!! THANX N ADVANCE. Wayne B. CmosDriver can you get as far as the BIOS setup screen? Alister |
#9
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
Yes, that's about the only thing that it will let me do right now. That's how
I was able to reset the bootup order once I had cleared the CMOS. CmosDriver can you get as far as the BIOS setup screen? Alister |
#10
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
Hi Jim,
I tried reseating both sticks seperately and together... No Luck. CmosDriver Leonard, you should really read his post. He has said twice that he cannot boot the computer as far as windows, so an esoteric discussion on the merits of various anti-malware products is not a lot of help. Yes he may have malware on there, but I doubt if that is the cause of this issue. It sounds more like he has a hardware / driver error. I would be inclined to try removing and reseating your memory and try a reboot each time. Alister ================================ NVRAM = Non Volatile RAM. Only the BIOS needs such a device. These days, the BIOS and its assorted assistants are soldered in place. The only thing you can replace (short of replacing the whole motherboard) is the battery. My belief is that replacing the motherboard is the OP's only option, but I would certainly take the machine to a professional repair place before replacing the motherboard. Jim |
#11
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
On Nov 13, 7:44 pm, CmosDriver
wrote: Yes, that's about the only thing that it will let me do right now. That's how I was able to reset the bootup order once I had cleared the CMOS. CmosDriver can you get as far as the BIOS setup screen? Alister Well that is encouraging, as it should mean the motherboard and processor are working. From the BIOS can the PC identify your hard drives and CD / DVD drive (s) correctly? You don't say whether your hard drive is SATA or IDE but it could be that the driver is the issue. Does your hard drive spin up and does the drive light flash whilst the machine is booting? If you are happy rooting around inside the machine, try booting it with the hard drive cable disconnected from the motherboard header - see if it complains about not finding a fixed disk. Did you try booting the machine with no memory installed? and did it beep at you if you did? The point of these suggestions is to see just how far through the boot process it is getting in order to narrow down the fault. Let me know the results of these attempts. Alister. |
#12
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
Well that is encouraging, as it should mean the motherboard and processor are working. From the BIOS can the PC identify your hard drives and CD / DVD drive (s) correctly? You don't say whether your hard drive is SATA or IDE but it could be that the driver is the issue. Does your hard drive spin up and does the drive light flash whilst the machine is booting? If you are happy rooting around inside the machine, try booting it with the hard drive cable disconnected from the motherboard header - see if it complains about not finding a fixed disk. Did you try booting the machine with no memory installed? and did it beep at you if you did? The point of these suggestions is to see just how far through the boot process it is getting in order to narrow down the fault. Let me know the results of these attempts. Alister. Within the BIOS and the bootup screens both identify all drives correctly. I have 2 SATA drives and 2cd/dvd drives connected. - - Beeps came in loud and clear once i rebooted w/o the RAM installed. (actually one continuous beep)- - Both drives spin normal and drive led flashes. - - When I disconnect the HDs i get... "Reboot and select proper boot device......" At that point I left them disconnected and since I have only 1 IDE connection on my mobo I connected my 40gig Maxtor along w/my cd/dvd drive on that one channel to see if It would allow me to load XP on a completely different HD, but it still stopped when it got to NVRAM. I was able to boot off of the XP cd while NO HDs were connected, BUT... it couldn't finish. It stalled midway in the process. |
#13
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
On Nov 13, 10:12 pm, CmosDriver
wrote: Well that is encouraging, as it should mean the motherboard and processor are working. From the BIOS can the PC identify your hard drives and CD / DVD drive (s) correctly? You don't say whether your hard drive is SATA or IDE but it could be that the driver is the issue. Does your hard drive spin up and does the drive light flash whilst the machine is booting? If you are happy rooting around inside the machine, try booting it with the hard drive cable disconnected from the motherboard header - see if it complains about not finding a fixed disk. Did you try booting the machine with no memory installed? and did it beep at you if you did? The point of these suggestions is to see just how far through the boot process it is getting in order to narrow down the fault. Let me know the results of these attempts. Alister. Within the BIOS and the bootup screens both identify all drives correctly. I have 2 SATA drives and 2cd/dvd drives connected. - - Beeps came in loud and clear once i rebooted w/o the RAM installed. (actually one continuous beep)- - Both drives spin normal and drive led flashes. - - When I disconnect the HDs i get... "Reboot and select proper boot device......" At that point I left them disconnected and since I have only 1 IDE connection on my mobo I connected my 40gig Maxtor along w/my cd/dvd drive on that one channel to see if It would allow me to load XP on a completely different HD, but it still stopped when it got to NVRAM. I was able to boot off of the XP cd while NO HDs were connected, BUT... it couldn't finish. It stalled midway in the process. Hi Wayne, Well that is progress of a sort :-) Couple of things to point out: Firstly, when the computer is showing the "Checking NVRAM" message, what it is doing is comparing the list of hardware it stored last time it booted, with what it can find connected - thus it will normally say Update Success or something similar when it has finished doing that. Now because you reset the CMOS that list is probably blank. The second thing is that a lot of SATA motherboards won't ignore a SATA channel if it is enabled in the BIOS unlike IDE where they are always enabled but it just ignores them if nothing is found. If your SATA channels are enabled, it expects to find something on them and throws its toys out of the pram if it can't find any. Could you disconnect all your drives, and go into the BIOS and disable your SATA channels, and then just connect your Maxtor as Primary master on the IDE with no CD / DVD drives and try a reboot. What we are trying to do is get it to successfully pass the "Checking NVRAM" stage. Did you say there was an OS on the Maxtor or is it blank? I think your problem is possibly the SATA connections - could be a faulty mobo still but lets rule out that it's not just your drives. Alister |
#14
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
From: Leonard Grey
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 Time: 22:07:36 Ad-Aware and Spybot (S & D) are consistently rated near the bottom for effectiveness in test after test. Hmmm. Can you point us to instances where people have said that? -- Ian |
#15
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STUCK On "Checking NVRAM"
Alister,
I went to "OnChip S-ATA Controller" and "disabled" within the BIOS. The Maxtor HD has no OS on it and got the same results (NVRAM) when I tried to run just the HD and the XP disk. It totally bypasses the cd drive, it's not even looking at it. - - - I may be offbase w/my suspicions but I have never seen a "Windows Update pop up window" w/a countdown timer in it. I don't know how, but I believe something had to have crept onto my computer. Are you or anyone else out there familiar wthat sort of window from Microsoft pertaining to updates?? Hi Wayne, Well that is progress of a sort :-) Couple of things to point out: Firstly, when the computer is showing the "Checking NVRAM" message, what it is doing is comparing the list of hardware it stored last time it booted, with what it can find connected - thus it will normally say Update Success or something similar when it has finished doing that. Now because you reset the CMOS that list is probably blank. The second thing is that a lot of SATA motherboards won't ignore a SATA channel if it is enabled in the BIOS unlike IDE where they are always enabled but it just ignores them if nothing is found. If your SATA channels are enabled, it expects to find something on them and throws its toys out of the pram if it can't find any. Could you disconnect all your drives, and go into the BIOS and disable your SATA channels, and then just connect your Maxtor as Primary master on the IDE with no CD / DVD drives and try a reboot. What we are trying to do is get it to successfully pass the "Checking NVRAM" stage. Did you say there was an OS on the Maxtor or is it blank? I think your problem is possibly the SATA connections - could be a faulty mobo still but lets rule out that it's not just your drives. Alister |
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