[Techtalk] OT but I'm desperate.... Windows....!

[Michelle Howson]

Poppy was wonderful and sent me some instructions offlist for a few
things...  intriguing results, so posting back onlist now (and I really DO
need to get that spell-checker back online...grrrr)

> >IOW, it sounds, oddly, like your printer is read only. Or something like
> >that. Can you print to file with the same driver and/or set up a dummy
> >printer (port=FILE)??  Just thoughts.... Hope this helps :)
>
> Dummy printer?  guh?  Sorry this has gone almost completely over my
> head.  Yet it does sound like something I should try.  Can you give me a
> leettle more...?
>
>Sure :)
>Go into your printers screen, and set up a new printer (as basic as
>possible... the one I use for troubleshooting at work is the HP LaserJet
>III, but the LJ 4 should be comparable as long as it's a 4 and not like
>a 4L or something extra)

--snip some instructions--

>Because it's a
>different print driver, it may actually give you some idea of whether
>it's all printers or just yours. =)

Ok - I did all that, no problems.  Used the LJ III, even set it to default
printer so I didn't have to worry about forgetting to chose the "right"
printer.  Then I set to some testing...
1- tried a 1pg excel spread sheet (the one I tried the other day) and it
went through fine.
2- jumping in the deep end and tried a 32pg PDF.  BSOD as it was processing
pg 7 or 8, thereabouts.  And I mean that initial processing that Acrobat
does, before printing starts.  Called spooling?  I don't know enough...
reboot...
3- tried a 9pg PDF.  Worked.
4- tried a 12pg Word doc (similar to one that crashed last week).  Worked.
5- went back to the 32pg PDF.  Got to pg 12 and crashed.
reboot, and here I am back again.

The BSOD's varied slightly from the one I got the other night - the last 0*
number in the first string (original was 0*629B53E8).  In try number 2 it
was 627D7E88, and try no 5 62652A68.  Not sure how important those are, but
it's all that was noticably different.

So.  Could it just be that document?  Or is it the size of the
document?  That's one that crashed back before I did my big reinstall 3
weeks ago, still under XP.  Or is this definitely something else, relating
to the printer/driver etc?  Anyone want to have a guess...?  :)

> >(reference: http://www.osr.com/ntinsider/1997/bsod/bsod.htm)
>
> I had a different BSOD last night, unrelated to printing.  I'm pretty
>sure
> it's because of the doctored version of Kazaa I'm using, as it threw up
>an
> error just before the crash.  That time it was IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.  I
> went and tried to read about it at that website, but again, it mostly
>went
> over my head. If anyone can translate it into medium-techie I'd
>appreciate
> it.  Can be offlist if you'd prefer.
>
--snip stuff about IRQs--  (thanks, Poppy, I did know some of it, but
you've filled in some essential gaps for me)

>The IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD message essentially means that the
>Interrupt chip tried to pass a message to the CPU from Device X using an
>interrupt that's supposed to be device Y. Since it caused a BSOD rather
>than a recoverable error message, it sounds like it's more serious than
>your average device incompatibility.
>
>IRQ conflicts you should be able to check out in device manager. If you
>need a list of default IRQs in most Windows systems, let me know, I'm
>pretty sure I have one around here somewhere.

I've known about the issue of conflicts for a while, so always keep an eye
on them as I'm installing new hardware - so there are none.  But since it's
definitely an IRQ thing, I'm wondering about whether it was related to my
kazaa-only crash.  Kazaa would only have been using my ethernet card by way
of my 'net access, so where else could an IRQ issue have become
involved....?  I probably jumped to the wrong conclusion and it was
something else causing that crash.  Possibly sound-related, as I have known
problems with my sound card.  *grumbles*  Can't wait for my first summer
salary pack, so I can get that new card...!  Where's a good list of
linux-supported sound hardware to be found?  Somewhere on the RH site if
I remember correctly....  (sorry, I keep going off on tangents :p )

>
>At least, I think I've got that right. It's 2 AM here, and I just got
>in, so I'm quite possibly misinterpreting what I'm reading.

Ok, wow, thank you SO much.  Hope you're sleeping well!

>
>--Poppy
>
>
>--
>Poppy,				  sylph at cyber-dyne.com
>Friend of the Penguin
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