Creating a boot log file

9 Apr 2005 5:19 AM

X_HOBBES

I've just discovered that Win2000 doesn't write the boot log file to disk
until the SMSS.EXE process starts (when it's preparing network connections),
which means that the system needs to boot properly before it writes the log
file. Which genius thought of this bright idea??? The whole point of the
stupid boot log file is to diagnose boot problems. If the log file isn't
written to disk until the near end of boot up, then there's nothing to
diagnose if the system crashes before it boots up all the way. BRILLIANT
mastermind that thought this one through! That's kind of like having a
flight recorder only record flight data once the plane lands safely on the
ground -- pointless!!!

Does anyone know of a way to diagnose bootup problems where the system
freezes before the stupid SMSS.EXE service starts?

X_HOBBES

9 Apr 2005 9:30 AM

Dave Patrick

Post the exact text of any error messages you receive.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"X_HOBBES" wrote:

<snip>

| Does anyone know of a way to diagnose bootup problems where the system
| freezes before the stupid SMSS.EXE service starts?

<snip>

9 Apr 2005 6:30 PM

X_HOBBES

No error messages -- just complete freeze requiring a hard power off of the
system. But since it freezes before the SMSS.EXE service starts, there's no
boot log file -- the boot log is cached to memory until SMSS.EXE starts,
then it gets written to disk.

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"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
news:%23l8UEbOPFHA.244@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Post the exact text of any error messages you receive.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> Microsoft Certified Professional
> Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "X_HOBBES" wrote:
> <snip>
> | Does anyone know of a way to diagnose bootup problems where the system
> | freezes before the stupid SMSS.EXE service starts?
> <snip>
>
>

10 Apr 2005 3:03 AM

Dave Patrick

More than likely some hardware failure.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

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"X_HOBBES" wrote:
| No error messages -- just complete freeze requiring a hard power off of
the
| system. But since it freezes before the SMSS.EXE service starts, there's
no
| boot log file -- the boot log is cached to memory until SMSS.EXE starts,
| then it gets written to disk.

10 Apr 2005 6:28 AM

X_HOBBES

Not quite -- this is one of several other Win2000 HDD's I use on this same
ThinkPad T22. They all work fine except for this one image. Unfortunately,
I need to get this image working. I would love to figure out which device
driver is causing the hangup, as I suspect a bad driver somewhere. But the
problem I'm faced with is that I can't find out at which point it's crashing
because Windows doesn't write the boot log file to disk until it's almost
completely booted up -- again, I think this is a very stupid implementation
of a log file feature. It should write each event to disk as it happens, so
if it stops, you know where it stopped.

So, my question still stands... how can I determine which device driver is
causing the hang up if I can't get a boot log file from windows? I suppose
I could disable every single driver and then turn one on at a time, but that
seems like it would be a bit time consuming.

Anybody have a suggestion?

X_HOBBES

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"Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
news:u1sHWnXPFHA.248@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> More than likely some hardware failure.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> Microsoft Certified Professional
> Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> http://www.microsoft.com/protect
>
> "X_HOBBES" wrote:
> | No error messages -- just complete freeze requiring a hard power off of
> the
> | system. But since it freezes before the SMSS.EXE service starts,
there's
> no
> | boot log file -- the boot log is cached to memory until SMSS.EXE starts,
> | then it gets written to disk.
>
>

10 Apr 2005 9:39 AM

Dave Patrick

Try a safe mode boot.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

Show quoteHide quote

"X_HOBBES" wrote:
| Not quite -- this is one of several other Win2000 HDD's I use on this same
| ThinkPad T22. They all work fine except for this one image.
Unfortunately,
| I need to get this image working. I would love to figure out which device
| driver is causing the hangup, as I suspect a bad driver somewhere. But
the
| problem I'm faced with is that I can't find out at which point it's
crashing
| because Windows doesn't write the boot log file to disk until it's almost
| completely booted up -- again, I think this is a very stupid
implementation
| of a log file feature. It should write each event to disk as it happens,
so
| if it stops, you know where it stopped.
|
| So, my question still stands... how can I determine which device driver is
| causing the hang up if I can't get a boot log file from windows? I
suppose
| I could disable every single driver and then turn one on at a time, but
that
| seems like it would be a bit time consuming.
|
| Anybody have a suggestion?
|
| X_HOBBES

16 Apr 2005 2:10 PM

George Hester

I would try to boot in Safe Mode and see what it says.

--
George Hester
_________________________________

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"X_HOBBES" <x_hob***@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:3-qdnePHgYLHgsXfRVn-rw@comcast.com...
> No error messages -- just complete freeze requiring a hard power off of the
> system. But since it freezes before the SMSS.EXE service starts, there's no
> boot log file -- the boot log is cached to memory until SMSS.EXE starts,
> then it gets written to disk.
>
>
>
> "Dave Patrick" <mail@Nospam.DSPatrick.com> wrote in message
> news:%23l8UEbOPFHA.244@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > Post the exact text of any error messages you receive.
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> >
> > Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
> > Microsoft Certified Professional
> > Microsoft MVP [Windows]
> > http://www.microsoft.com/protect
> >
> > "X_HOBBES" wrote:
> > <snip>
> > | Does anyone know of a way to diagnose bootup problems where the system
> > | freezes before the stupid SMSS.EXE service starts?
> > <snip>
> >
> >
>
>