0x0000007b Stop Error When Installing Windows XP

Yeah you read that right – Windows XP.

We’ve been installing some new PCs for a client recently and we needed to install Windows XP (the reasoning behind this is best saved for a separate discussion).

So we inserted the Windows XP installation CD, booted from the disk and waiting while Windows setup loaded. The PC then “blue screened” with the stop error 0x0000007b.

This particular error is “Inaccessible_Boot_Device” and if you do a quick search this is normally pretty straight forward to sort.

In the BIOS look for the AHCI settings, switch to IDE/Legacy/Emulated whichever your BIOS allows and try again.

After saving the settings and trying again all continued as normal.

Windows XP doesn’t support SATA AHCI out of the box as it requires specific drivers which is why changing the mode works. Once the OS is installed you could then install the correct drivers and re-enable AHCI if needed.

A couple of days later the same client asked for another PC where we ran into exactly the same problem.

However, switching from AHCI mode didn’t fix the issue.

It didn’t take long to figure out the main difference between the two PCs was obvious.

The first PC was an INTEL based PC whereas the second one was AMD.

The problem is that Windows setup doesn’t know anything about the AMD chipset. Whereas the generic Intel one provided with the setup routine while running in IDE mode was enough to install Windows.

I downloaded the drivers from the HP website (the PC manufacturer) but was unable to use them during setup (by pressing F6) as it was the chipset driver I needed to load, not a storage device driver.

So how to get around this?

I used a brilliant tool that has been around for ages.

nLite

This tool is for slipstreaming items into the installation CD. Generally this means service packs, hotfixes, etc but the tool also has the capability to add drivers.

You could do all this by hand but the tool makes it very simple and will even burn the CD directly or create an ISO file to use later.

Using my brand new CD i was able to install Windows XP without further issue.

This slipstreaming probably would have solved the same problem on the Intel based PC but it’s probably not worth the extra effort to create a custom install CD if temporarily switching modes works ok.

Screensaver does start with a wireless mouse plugged in

Very strange one today

I took a call a few days ago from a client who “wasn’t asked for her password anymore when she’d been away from her desk”

My initial thought was that her screensaver had been disabled or the password option had been turned off

I logged in and everything was as I’d expected it be

I asked her when it had started happening and if anything had changed and she said she wasn’t sure but thinks it was about the time she got her new wireless mouse

I initially dismissed it and tried one or two other things with little success

I was on site today for another reason so thought I’d take another look

Turns out the screensaver wasn’t starting at all. Hence the reason why it wasn’t asking for a password

It did a quick search and I found this knowledge base article

The screen saver does not start after you install a wireless pointing device

Basically if your using a wireless mouse AND CyberLink PowerDVD or CyberLink PowerCinema it will stop the screensaver from starting

From what I can figure out it’s a piece of software that can used with a remote control so you can pause, rewind DVD’s

The software think the wireless mouse is the remote control so tries to communicate with it (the KB article itself is very vague as to WHY?)

Anyway there are two workarounds and a fix

Workaround 1: Stop the service from running

Workaround 2: Remove PowerDVD (drastic!)

Fix: Use windows update to install the latest “Microsoft HID Non-User Input Data Filter”

To to make sure this was the problem I used MSConfig to figure out which program is was (it was different to the one reported in the article) and I shut it down using Task Manager

After I’d done this the screensaver started ok..WHOOP!

Never seen anything like this before

Was also a spooky coincidence that the mouse she purchased was the exact same one I’ve just picked up to replace the ailing HP mouse that came with my PC

Reset Offline File Cache

About a year ago we did a fileserver migration as the hardware is about to die on the existing server

Everything went well and we got the data across with shares and permissions as they were previously

However, we were told after the event that several users used the offline files feature in XP for when they worked away from the office.

Our move to the new server played havoc with it and even after i found some nice commands to “repoint” the offline files database to a new location (details here) it was still cranky so we thought it best to just started again

However just deleting the offline copies of the files isn’t always enough.

I had a similar issue occur today so thought i’d post about what i did

If offline files is doing weird things you can completely reset the cache

1. In Folder Options, on the Offline Files tab, press CTRL+SHIFT, and then click Delete Files. The following message appears:
The Offline Files cache on the local computer will be re-initialized. Any changes that have not been synchronized with computers on the network will be lost. Any files or folders made available offline will no longer be available offline. A computer restart is required.

Do you wish to re-initialize the cache?
�
2. Click Yes two times to restart the computer.

After you have restarted the computer you’ll have a nice clean offline files database and you can start again. Supporting KB article here

Activate Remote Desktop Remotely

Just a small nugget as i have used this a couple of times but always forget which registry key it is!

If you have a pc your trying to Remote Desktop into but it isn’t enabled, use the remote editing features of regedit to change the following 

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\fDenyTSConnections

Change it from 1 to 0 and your in!

I’ve used this on XP but not Vista yet but the same key exists so i’m guessing it still applies

Create Overlay Failed Error in WinDVD

Just a small tip to pass on

I had a customer who couldn’t play DVD’s on his laptop using WinDVD 

The error was “Create Overlay Failed”

The program suggests lowering the screen resolution

I had a look on the Intervideo support pages and found this

Basically there is a list of three things to try but the first one is usually the cause

The remote desktop sharing feature was enabled on the laptop. I disabled it and DVD playback was enabled!

Rthdcpl.exe – Illegal System DLL Relocation

This has been all over the newsgroups but since this is something i came across today i’ll just post about (also in case I need to remember!)

Had a customer who called to say he’d done a windows update and after rebooted got the following message

Rthdcpl.exe – Illegal System DLL Relocation

The system DLL user32.dll was relocated in memory. The application will not run properly. The relocation occurred because the DLL C:\Windows\System32\Hhctrl.ocx occupied an address range reserved for Windows system DLLs. The vendor supplying the DLL should be contacted for a new DLL.

The problem is to do with an updated version of Hhctrl.ocx (from update 928843 )having the same base address as an updated version of user32.dll (from update 925902)

This problem occurs when you have Realtek HD Audio Control Panel installed. 

The knowledge base article is 935448 and you can download the hotfix directly from here

I installed the hotfix, rebooted the PC and problem solved

Vista vs Mac?

I usually take articles on PC vs Mac (Linux/Unix/etc) with a pinch of salt.

You can usually tell after a few minutes that the author has already decided the winner before conducting the test.

I came across this article on Znet that i think (just my humble opinion) is not a fair test

The article tries to test how easy it is to move all your settings, documents, applications, etc from system to another.

The systems in question are an existing Windows XP installation onto a new Windows Vista installation and for comparision transferring from an existing Mac OS X installation to a new Mac OS X installation.

Sorry that doesn’t work for me.

I’m not saying the guys results are wrong. But i just think the comparison is unfair.

If you were doing XP to XP vs Mac OS X to Mac OS X, fine…

or Vista to Vista vs Mac OS X to Mac OS X, fine as well.

As we all know while Vista and XP have lots of common roots there are lots of differences in there as well.

If you were comparing an XP to Vista transfer with a Mac OS X to Mac OS Leopard (is that right??) then i think thats fair game.

Transferring to a new system is always a PITA so using this argument in the “my mac is better than your pc” (et al) is a pointless excerise. Most people i know (and i’ll be experiencing this in a couple of weeks as my dad has purchased a new PC and ordered his “Vista Express Upgrade”) would just copy/burn their documents of to USB Drive/CD/DVD and reinstall any apps they needed

Not really sure where i’m going with this one so i’ll stop there! :-S

Deploy Local Group Policy Remotely

We have a client who has 20+ remote sites. Each site comprises of a single PC (Windows XP Pro), an ADSL router and firewall.

They wanted to lock the PCs down through group policy but since the PCs aren’t part of the domain didn’t want to send an engineer to each site to setup the local group policy

My suggestion was the following

At head office configure the local group policy of a PC. Then copy the following directory on this PC onto every remote PC and reboot (or run gpupdate)

%systemroot%\system32\GroupPolicy

voila!

The Connected Home

When i first moved into my house i had a romantic view of my “connected home”

I had all sorts of plans and ideas of how my 21st century home would work.

I wanted to have a PC in the living room that would be connected to the television and display pictures, videos and music from another computer acting as a central store where my other devices (laptop, pocket pc) could all receive these media delights

I wanted X10 modules that could control my lights, heating system, even my curtains!

I wanted music being played to follow me around the house

I thought this is actually quite feasible (and after some research it i think i could have done it) but some events in my life took away the main factors to realising my dream….TIME & MONEY

So my plans were put on hold

Fast forward and i actually realised that i have actually put part of this in place without realising

My XBOX 360 sits downstairs in the living room where it recieves images, videos and music from my PC upstairs.

The PC currently dual boots between Windows XP and one of the Vista BETAs

At the weekend i also purchased a set of cordless headphones. The original idea behind this was so that i could play Xbox in the evenings as loud as i like without disturbing my other half or my daughter. The added bonus is that they are FM headphones (as opposed to infrared) so i could listen to music and have it “follow”me around the house.

I know this is cheating a little but the great thing about this i have all this functionality and it didn’t cost me awful lot of money and was setup in no time at all

Now all i need are some freebie X10 modules!