Author Topic: Way off topic  (Read 6974 times)

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Walker

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Way off topic
« on: November 01, 2003, 03:00:44 PM »
Sorry guy's (Pavel  ;)) . I know this isn't an A-V question, but does anyone know what a "Special Pool" means??

I've had a blue screen which suggested enableing special pool to catch an offending driver before it gets to a crash.

Anyone know how to enable this?

Thanks for any info and sorry if I out of order for posting  :-[

trigger

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Re:Way off topic
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2003, 03:23:57 PM »
Never heard of it, but a google search on "Special pool" and crash reveals this microsoft article. Maybe it is helpfull: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q192/4/86.asp&NoWebContent=1

Peter
« Last Edit: November 01, 2003, 03:24:45 PM by trigger »

Offline Vlk

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Re:Way off topic
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2003, 03:30:56 PM »
Actually not off-topic at all...

Special pool used to be quite a useful debugging aid in the times of Windows NT 3.x-4.x and early days of Win2K. The idea behind it was very simple: to tag each allocated memory block by an identifier so that if a crash occurs, the system may be able to identify who's block it (roughly) is (normally, memory blocks are anonymous).

For more info, please refer to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=188831 . This article also contains instructions on how to turn this feature on.


With the arrival of Win2K, and mainly XP, MS actually gave us a much more powerful weapon to fight device driver failures - the Driver Verifier. To run this tool, type

verifier

to the Run box, and follow the on-screen instructions. While this tool is mainly aimed to developers it can also provide some help to the rest of the world.

Be warned, though -- whenever the Driver Verifier finds something suspicious, it invokes a blue screen! Really. ::)

The bottom line is, don't do this unless you know what you're doing. :)
(so do I understand it correctly that your new hardware has not yet arrived... :o)

Cheers,
Vlk
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

Walker

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Re:Way off topic
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2003, 03:56:20 PM »
Thanks VERY much Peter and Vlk,

That's really interesting stuff (to me anyway  ;) ) and I appreciate the responses.

I'll check out the links and no doubt Vlk my brain will tell me not to try it, but my curiosity ....  :-\  ;) is another thing  ;)

I'm SOooo glad you asked about the new machine Vlk  :P :P :P  how many guesses do you want  >:( ;)

Walker

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Re:Way off topic
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2003, 04:20:32 PM »
Just thought I'd pop back and say thanks once again fellas <joking>

You've managed to do what Pavel has been trying to do for weeks.... keep me off the forums for a few days... (while I digest all this info) <still joking Pavel :)> .

Which great Antartic explorer said.... "I might be gone for some time"  ;) :(

Walker

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Re:Way off topic
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2003, 10:37:17 PM »
Hi guy's,

Finally ploughed through it all and surprisingly understood most of it in the end... I think the alcohol helped  8) .

I can also confirm your 'warning' Vlk. I couldn't resist trying it and I didn't have to wait for a blue screen.... it repeatedly 'booted' into one. By this time I was fed up and drunk and couldn't be bothered to find out what a wps??nt driver was.  :-[

Seriously, thanks for the info guy's.

Walker.

Walker

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Re:Way off topic
« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2003, 06:31:59 PM »
Vlk,

Just as a passing comment  8) ... what does ashMon2.sys do. Verifier didn't seem to like that and when microsoft got hold of the mini-d the reply was... "This error is currently being researched". Obviously I don't think they have picked up loads of avast errors and it's just a general reply, but wondering what the file does?.

Walker.

Offline Vlk

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Re:Way off topic
« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2003, 06:38:10 PM »
Well, aswMon2.sys is the core of the Standard Shield -- this is where it's implemented, actually.

Send me the m-dumps, I'll try to have a look at them...

The Verifier does like aswMon2.sys on our machines, to be frank.... :-\
If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving's not for you.

Walker

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Re:Way off topic
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2003, 06:40:40 PM »
No problem.... I'm always assuming it is this machine  :'( :'( :'(