Re: Event Viewer - "unexpected shutdowns"

Well - all is going as expected - yet another 'unexpected shutdown' - It's 1:55AM Central & I'm overdue for bed, but I will try to record the happening as best as I am able. Before I do, be advised I ran the 'repair' options within the last two weeks a few times by booting from the Vista CD. No problems were reported.

The memory diagnostic tool ran cleanly - as reported during the test and after the reboot - nothing to report.
The attempted chkdsk from the command prompt reported that I did not have the privilege & advised I had to run in 'elevated mode' - I had never heard or read such a term & have been a PC enthusiast since Windows 3.0 from 1990. I Googled 'elevated mode' - got a likely hit to a tech webpage - & almost as soon as the page loaded & I began to navigate - I lost my desktop to a frozen, pretty, & totally blank blue screen. Note: This was uniquely different from the previous shutdowns that froze whatever was open and visible on the desktop - this one erased every graphic, cursor & icon to blue blankness - maybe a little darker plain blue than I customarily set by preference for all my Windows desktops. As usual - I pushed my PC restart button.

I booted into safe mode & opened Event Viewer. I copied a few abbreviated event IDs to paste here for your review. I scheduled a dskchk for the next reboot that will have to wait until after I get some sleep:

Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: 5/9/2009 1:29:35 PM
Event ID: 7001
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: QuietOne
Description:
The DHCP Client service depends on the Ancilliary Function Driver for Winsock service which failed to start because of the following error:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.
(NOTE: Device MGR. always seems to disagree - as do I - since everything I have attached to my PC is functioning)
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Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-EventSystem
Date: 5/9/2009 1:29:00 PM
Event ID: 4609
Task Category: Event System
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: QuietOne
Description:
The COM+ Event System detected a bad return code during its internal processing. HRESULT was 8007043c from line 45 of d:\vistasp1_gdr\com\complus\src\events\tier1\eventsystemobj.cpp. Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services to report this error.
(Note: My PC has two permanent hard drives - neither the slave drive D:\ nor a Vista search reports this file)
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Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM
Date: 5/9/2009 1:28:53 PM
Event ID: 10005
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: QuietOne
Description:
DCOM got error "1084" attempting to start the service ShellHWDetection with arguments "" in order to run the server:
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Log Name: System
Source: EventLog
Date: 5/9/2009 1:28:29 PM
Event ID: 6008
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: QuietOne
Description:
The previous system shutdown at 1:21:55 PM on 5/9/2009 was unexpected.
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Thank you & good morning - Blithe

<.> wrote in message news:eeWgn1S0JHA.3476@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Have you run memory diagnostic (Control Panel in classic mode - Administrative Tools - Memory Diagnostic Tool) also
chkdsk c: /r in a command prompt.

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"Blithe" <invalid@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ekm9P2R0JHA.4736@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My 'unexpected shutdowns' are random and occur -on average- once every session. They vary but usually go by two main scenarios: (1) Vista desktop and mouse cursor freezes - control/alt/delete and keyboard too - the only alternative is to push the PC restart button - or (2) the monitor goes black and Vista reboots on its own.

What's usually happening when these scenarios occur? Well, I ought to keep a log ready to record these events. I'll soon have to try but as a student in a much earlier life - I took such bad lecture notes I could not read them after two class lectures. Here's what I can recall:
1. I think most shutdowns have happened when either beginning to view a video or going to a new web page that pops up a streaming advertisement.
2. I recall one when I opened Windows Mail - but cannot say if I had clicked on anything yet or if mail was downloading at the time. So - it may not be Windows Mail but just the action of opening a new window?

My Internet research indicates these 'unexpected shutdowns' have been frustrating Vista & earlier MS OS users for years. Rather surprisingly, I found no promising suggestions for troubleshooting or remedies - to date. For years the OS of my choice was W2K. If only Vista had W2K's reliability. I rarely - if ever- experienced such ongoing, unexpained W2K events.

Perhaps I've missed some new info that addresses this issue - so that's the primary reason for this posting. Anything?

Thanks - Blithe
PS - I should add that upon rebooting after an unexpected shutdown - Vista asks if Safe Mode is desired during rebooting. I never benefited by going to Safe Mode - except that on the many occasions that I bypassed Safe Mode & choose normal rebooting - I would experience a variety of other issues soon afterwards. So - Safe Mode is probably the best way to go if one's patience permits - even if it avails few if any hints as to the specific shutdown.

[System Summary]
OS Name Microsoft® Windows VistaT Ultimate
Version 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001
System Model: Maximus Extreme (Asus)
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6001.18000"
System Type: x64-based PC
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme CPU Q6850 @ 3.00GHz, 2997 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 0904, 12/18/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 4.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.70 GB
Total Virtual Memory 8.20 GB
Available Virtual Memory 6.82 GB
Page File Space 4.29 GB



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