The Ramblings of Rob Cooper: Vista

Vista Problem - Debugging "[Application] has stopped working"

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:00:54 GMT

Well, it was bound to happen, and it finally has! I have found something I genuinely do not like in Vista.

While working on some code while studying Code Access Security (CAS). CAS basically allows you/your admin to control what resources .NET code has access to when running. This can be Dialog boxes, the Registry, Printing, Windows Services, Data Access, whatever, it seems pretty complete.

The idea behind the exercise that I was doing was to demo "Imperative" and "Declarative" CAS. "Imperative" checks the permissions before loading the assembly/code, "Declarative" checks the permissions at run-time. So, I create a simple application that will present a FileDialog box to the user prompting to select a file. Nothing flashy. The idea is that initially the application runs OK, I then configure the CLR to restrict access to FileDialog's for the application, then the application should throw an Exception saying "I can't do that".

In XP, the code works exactly as expected, you get a nice dialog box with a big fat red "X" telling you there is a problem. However, in Vista, you do not. You get the ever-so-helpful "[Application] has stopped working" error message (shown to the right):

This is not good, because this means that if an exception occurs outside of my development machine, the user has no information to report back to me! Now, if I click the "Debug" button, it takes me to Visual Studio and gives me the full exception details that I need to know in order to fix it.

I am unsure as to what happens if there is no debugger available on the machine, so I thought I would dig around in the "Problem Reports and Solutions" centre. So I located the crash reports and checked the details:

As you can see from the screen shot, not a lot of information is provided!

So I thought I would check out the settings for "Problem Reports and Solutions", and looking around, all I can see is how to disable the automatic submission, nothing suggesting a way of getting back to the old error dialog in XP. Is was ugly, but informative!

Even disabling the feature all together just creates a simple dialog asking to close or debug!

Does anyone know if this is only occurring because I have Visual Studio installed? I cannot test what will happen without because I only have one Vista machine!

Vista "Unidentified Network" Issue - Revisited! [TOTALLY RESOLVED NOW!]

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 06:36:19 GMT

Well, I am not sure if you guys found my previous post on this, here's some [really] quick history.

Brand new PC, Had for about three days, all working fine, one morning, no Internet, Vista Network and Sharing Centre is telling me I am on an "Unidentified Network". I troubleshoot as much as I can, to no avail. I contact the PC vendor, their tech support is also stumped. I send the PC back, and await a replacement since we both write it off as a hardware failure.

So, yesterday my new PC arrives! I get it set up, everything is running great, I leave it on when I go to bed to allow the drive to defrag (since I had been putting lots of software on etc.). I wake up in the morning, come to my desk, wake the computer up and BAM! "Unidentified Network". I said something that sounded very much like "You gotta be hitting me", I couldn't believe it.

This time was different though, I had a lead :)

So, I get the name and model of my motherboard, its an "Asus P5N32 SLI". So I google "Asus P5N32" LAN Sleep Vista "Unidentified Network". To get some interesting results..

Looks like this motherboard does not like going to sleep. Tried resetting and going into safe mode, disabling the onboard LAN and re-enabling, all to no avail.

I then came across this site - and I came across the best tech support ever - "just pull the plug out". So I did :) Plugged it back in, Vista told me off for not shutting down, back into my desktop, back on the Internet. Problem solved! I repeat: just pull the plug out, while the computer is switched on and running. DO NOT push the power button as it is likely to put the computer to sleep again.

I will play with the settings to see if I can get the computer to sleep without destroying the onboard LAN, but in the mean time, I will be getting on to the vendor to get them to send me a NIC.

I hope this helps you guys. Fun fun fun!

Vista Network Issue - "Unidentified Network" & Loss of Internet Connectivity

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:50:08 GMT

UPDATE 2 : LOCATED AND RESOLVED THE ISSUE ON REPLACEMENT PC READ THIS POST!

UPDATE: See Items in Red under "Next things to try".

Ohhh Windows Vista baby, you were doing so well!

Right, I logged on to my PC yesterday morning to find I had no Internet connectivity. My first port-of-call? The "Network and Sharing Centre" of course! The nice little graphic on the screen there then proceeded to tell me I was on an "Unidentified Network". "Hmmm, that's odd" I thought.

So, I think "lets fix this damn thing". I run the network diagnosis this to fix it, and I am presented with a dialog telling me that I need to reset my router - I don't really believe this, but what the hell, I reset it anyway. Still no Internet.

Weird, so I then fire up the command prompt "cmd.exe" (with admin privileges) and run "ipconfig /all" to have a look at what's going on. I then see I have been assigned an APIPA address. I know this normally happens when there is a problem communicating with the DHCP server on the router. Now, this never fails on my router, so I figured I would fire up the craptop (my crappy laptop) to see if it works. I was able to connect without any issues both wired (using the same wire as on my desktop to check the cable) and wirelessly, as well as refresh my IP address via DHCP with the laptop. Right, this has just got really interesting, because my craptop is running Windows XP.

So theoretically its not an ISP, Router or cable issue. So it has to be something on my Vista desktop. I then think, "ok, maybe Vista is not liking the DHCP configuration, so I disable the DHCP Client (using "services mmc snap-in") and configure a static IP address (using the same network info from the laptop - other than the actual IP of course). I reboot and confirm the IP address information has been set, via "ipconfig /all" - but, you guessed it, still no Internet.

So, I'm starting to get more confused now. Static IP's nearly almost always work, they can just be a pain in the ass to maintain.

I start thinking maybe Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is the issue. I know I had it as an update around the time it all went bad, but I know the Internet has been working fine with it, but I don't care, its not working now, and that's the only change that my system has experienced recently. So, I fired up System Restore (in the "Backup and Restore" Centre), and restored to the point before SP1 was installed. Annnd... No joy (suprise).

I'm now getting increasingly angry and frustrated. I then think that maybe System Restore couldn't replace/fix some of the settings/drivers/lunar alignment/whatever. So I wipe the entire PC and reinstall Vista from scratch. After the setup completes, I know I am back to square one as I have lost everything, but guess what! STILL NO GOD DAMN NETWORK CONNECTIVITY! ARRGGHHHH!

I have tried a few other things following a google of the issue (which showed I am certainly not alone in this)..

So, to summarise:

Things I have tried (to no avail) - mostly in order:

Running the "Diagnose" in Network and Sharing Centre.
Rebooting the computer, TV, toaster, light switches, kettle, flooring, walls, house, UK, Europe, Earth and Solar System.
Assigning a static IP.
DHCP release/renew.
System restore to pre-SP1.
Disabling IPv6.
Clearing the WINSOCK/Ipv4/Ipv6 stacks.
Checking the Router's DHCP configuration by using another (XP) computer on the same network (which worked fine).
Checking the cabling by using the same cable in the above wired test.
Applying the registry fix suggested in the Microsoft Knowledgebase (KB) article 928233.
Disabling the second Network Interface Controller (NIC).
Putting the computer to sleep and waking it up again.
Uninstalling the Network Controllers via device manager and rebooting and letting Vista set them up again.
Updating the Network Drivers.
Leaving and rejoining the workgroup.
Reformat the machine (GOD DAMMIT!).
All of the above post-format.
Praying and asking for an act of God.

My thoughts based on above:

It can't be the router or cable, since both are still working fine with the laptop.
It must be something to do with the desktop.
I cant see how its a configuration issue since I have completely reformatted the machine.
I doubt it's the NIC's because its a week-and-a-half-old computer.

Next things to try (and why):

~~Try a different router. Maybe the NDIS of Vista, or something in Vista has triggered something in the router to reject it and/or Vista has [suddenly] turned against my router (the mutiny!).~~
Was unable to try a different router - seems I am missing a connector for my other router, although I doubt this is the problem anyway, since my laptop is working fine!
~~Try installing XP on the desktop. This will help localise two issues. Is it Vista, or is it the NIC's? If all works fine in XP, then I know its Vista, if not, then I know its likely the NIC's.~~
I am relieved in some ways, since installing XP DID NOT fix the issue (I don't want to give up hope on Vista - I REALLY like it!), looks like this really is a hardware failure. When I try to go into the network adapters properties, it seems to take ages to load to (and XP is VERY fast on this rig). Good news, received email back from vendor to arrange return and replacement.
Pray some more and reset everything again. What? Every little helps right?

Anyone else had the same issue? Did you manage fix it? How?

Speech Recognition and Windows Vista

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:56:07 GMT

I am writing this blog post using the speech recognition function of Windows Vista. Now it is taking some getting used to and I'm having a few problems - but I do not feel this is the speech recognition that is having problems but more that I do not articulate my words well.

One thing I will say (ha) is that I can really see the quality of the speech recognition engine improving as I talk to the machine more.

Points To Note:

You can pretty much command everything! Even in cases where the interface does not recognise commands using tools such as MouseGrid/"show numbers" enables you to overcome this.
It's very easy to open supporting documentation for speech recognition by using the " what can I say" command.
I think they used a speech recognition will greatly improve from my own vocal skills and strongly recommend others doing the same since we all need to talk!
I need a better the quality microphone I am currently using a pretty cheap headset and I feel that it is interfering a lot with speech recognition.

I look forward to doing more use to communicating with the computer and hopefully become a bit more productive!

My Vista Experience Begins..

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:02:17 GMT

And its finally here! My old computer finally packed in, and I have had to invest in a new machine, so I am now running Windows Vista.

My experience so far:

Setup

Installation was a cakewalk. I don't really remember doing much, and was quick. I put the disk in, answered a couple of questions (time zone settings and language springs to mind). The machine carried on doing its stuff, restarted a couple of times, and I was up and running within 15 minutes.. Definitely a much nicer experience over Windows XP (which in turn was much nicer than Windows 98).

First Contact

Once set up, I was presented with the logon screen, I then of course signed in. Windows Update then pops up asking to check for updates, I let it run off and do that (there were about 50 to install). They then installed fine in the background, but one did fall over - my graphics driver. I rebooted to let the other updates set in, tried again and all installed fine. Awesome.

Things I Like So Far...

The interface, I really like it, looks real slick and the extra eye candy really does make the computer much more pleasurable to work with.
Integrated search, I was expecting this to be really sluggish based on previous Windows experiences with this sort of thing, but it works REALLY well.
Overall performance seems a lot better, things seem a lot more responsive and copying a large chunk of my mp3 collection onto the new box seemed to be a lot faster, I know they have made improvements to the file copy algorithms, but I was surprised to see the extent of it!
The revised versions of solitaire and freecell are cool =)

... And Things I Not So Happy With (Sad Face)

Windows Key + I no longer opens IE/Firefox, instead its placed in the "Search" box, there may be a way to disable this, but I not found it yet (not really looked to be honest!).
Due to my delay in installing my graphics drivers, Aero was not enabled by default, and it wasn't immediately obvious on how to get it running. However - I was quickly able to find it by opening the control panel and typing "Aero" into the search box.

I have lots more to look at yet, and I will try to blog as I go, however, I am working from home today and must get back to it =)

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