Media Player and IE problems with file ntdll.dll

[Ausatco]

Time for some help from the gurus again, if I may be so bold.

Machine is a 2.6gig P4, 512meg ram, heaps of HDD space, XP Home SP 1 fully updated.
[list=1][*]Media Player 9 plays my local files ok, but when I try on line content it says in the status bar Connecting to media ... and after a short time I get a dialogue that says "Sorry, Media Player has encountered a problem and has to close...".[*]Internet Explorer 6 SP 1 fully updated - ditto when accessing on-line content.[/list=1]

When I click on the link at the bottom of these dialogues I get these dialogues respectively which point to a problem with ntdll.dll.

I can't find a specific fix in the MS knowledgebase, but that's not definitive, 'cos last time I couldn't find an answer there ORAC found it for me

I did a repair system files according to this MSKB article to no effect.

Before I go on to do an in-place reinstall of XP as per the article's next step (it seems a bit drastic), does anyone have any clues or simpler fixes I might try?

Thanks

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

Ntdll is a core component of WinXP. Here are the details on the file. Make sure yours matches:

22-May-2003 21:46 5.1.2600.1221 654,336 Ntdll.dll with SP1 (Time is in UTC.)

You could try replacing the file. If that does not do the trick, you could try a Repair with the WinXP CD before you do a clean install of WinXP on top of itself.

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

TCS
Yes, I tried it with my firewall (Zone Alarm Plus) deactivated. Same result.

Richard,
I seem to have a later version. I assume it came from one of the many MS hotfixes post SP1. I don't know when this one arrived, and I can't associate a download or software install event with my problem. Only that I tried to listen to an internet radio station the other day and it didn't work, but I hadn't tried on-line media for some time, so the damage could have been done any time in the last few weeks - it used to work.

I don't believe I can easily replace the file, because I tried to back it up and replace it with one downloaded from www.dll-files.com. I was not allowed access to the file as it was always in use by XP, even in Safe mode with a command prompt. The system drive is NTFS, so I can't trick it with access through DOS.

Cheers

AA

[Ausatco]

No, I don't, TCS. I can see how to add or edit one, so what should the settings be for NLS PATH?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

I would try a Repair with the WinXP CD and if that does not work, then do a clean install of WinXP on top of itself.

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

I have learned a little about the Recovery Console and that it give DOS-like access to an NTFS system partition. It doesn't volunteer access to other NTFS partitions though. Is there a work-around for that? - just in case!!!

TCS,

The trouble is that this functionality screwed up sometime in the last couple or three months, but I don't know exactly when. So I don't know which restore point to roll back to.

Obviously, if I haven't noticed the problem for that period of time then it can't be too serious for me. But I do have visiting family from time to time and they will notice that it doesn't work - and I don't like having a system that I know is crippled.

In the vague period in which the functionality ceased I've dome many MS hotfixes, installed a few apps, done a few tweaks, etc. I can live with losing them during a repair, but I'm trying to find a fix with the least negative impact.

Thanks for the tips and the last link. I think you and Richard have set my course...

But if anyone thinks of anything else, I'd be glad to hear it.

AA

Edited to correct "Repair Console" to "Recovery Console". Sorry about that, Chief.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

Time to give up the sinking ship. Go ahead and do either the Repair (not to be confused with Recovery Console) or a fresh install of WinXP on top of itself.

From what you just stated in your last post, it is well overdue.

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

Yeah, I think you're right, Richard.

Funny, though, I have two machines (laptop and desktop), networked, both P4, 512MB Ram, heaps of disk space, XP Home SP1 fully updated.

Both systems reinstalled in July after crashes - I stuffed the laptop through ignorance, now much wiser. Can't believe how stupid I was!!!. The HDD in the desktop died with a physical failure within 36 hours of the laptop failure. You wouldn't read about it! Point is, neither installation is very old.

And they both have this same ntdll.dll problem. There has to be a link there, but I can't pin it down.

So I'm backing up each to a partition on the other and will do as you suggest, one machine at a time.

I've been letting these machines report their problems to MS. I bet that soon after I've been through these two OS repairs/rebuilds, chance will dictate that a fix will appear in the MS knowledge base.

Who asked if I'm paranoid, and why do they want to know!

Cheers

AA

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

If both machines are giving the same ntdll.dll error, there has to be a connection. There is a common program that is trashing your OS.

If you do a fresh install this time, load the absolute minimum on your Desktop computer. See of you can get it to error. If not, then install some more software and see if you can get it to error, etc. Once you think you found the culprit, uninstall the offending program on your Notebook to see if it ends the errors on that computer.

I just want to see if you can find the common problem and see if it solves the issue on the second computer too.

Make sure you get all the latest drivers and patches for all software off the net.

Take Care,

Richard

[Ausatco]

Richard, TCS, thanks for your replies.

I haven't got onto this repair yet. As fobotsco knows, and probably you too, there's this magic list stuck on the fridge. Just as you get to the end of the tasks thereon, it suddenly grows again. It re-grew recently

How do they do it

Cheers

AA

[Ausatco]

I finally found the time to sit down and nut this thing out.

Richard, you were right, as you usually are! There were two common programs that were causing the problem but I was able to resolve it without in-place OS re-installs, etc.

I run Zone Alarm on both computers and had slightly different advanced configurations on them. I also run Webwasher, my ad blocker of choice, on both.

After a bit of research here and tweaking Zone Alarm on both machines, I had WMP working on one but not the other. It was then I noticed that Webwasher was not running on the one where WMP was working. When I unloaded Webwasher (as distinct from just switching it off) off the other machine - presto, WMP worked on that one too. The IE misbehaviour with on-line multimedia content was also fixed.

I'm sure it's just a configuration issue between Webwasher/IE/WMP, and I'll chase that up at a later date.

In the meantime I'm just happy to have the problem resolved without having to rebuild OSes. Thanks for the tips, folks.

BTW, I found the link while browsing MS's WMP discussion group. I think Zach, whose website the link points to, is an MS staffer specialising in WMP.

AA

Edit: 5 hours, a bite of dinner and a glass or two of good Aussie red later, have fixed the Webwasher configuration. Yeehaa!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Ausatco,

I am glad to hear you fixed the problem.

Take Care,

Richard