windows explorer hangs

Is the CD still in the drive when Windows tries to reboot? Try taking it out.

Nope. All is fine until I put the CD in. Then, if I run "Live ubuntu" or
just browse the disk (i.e. it is something with the disk) the issue happens.
Once I reboot (using the power button) all is well until the next session
with the ubuntu disk. This is a disk sent to me from ubuntu.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of
Jeremy Visser
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:45 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: [Support #1909]: Re: windows explorer hangs

Support request #1909 on Ubuntu changed:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/1909

Comment:
Is the CD still in the drive when Windows tries to reboot? Try taking it
out.

On Wed, 2006-09-27 at 23:54 +0000, Mike Mc wrote:
> Nope. All is fine until I put the CD in. Then, if I run "Live ubuntu" or
> just browse the disk (i.e. it is something with the disk) the issue happens.
> Once I reboot (using the power button) all is well until the next session
> with the ubuntu disk. This is a disk sent to me from ubuntu.

It all sounds pretty odd. I think you must have a dud or scratched CD.

      * Does it do the same thing in another computer?
      * Can you boot up in the Ubuntu "Live" desktop?
      * Can you install Ubuntu?
      * Can you insert it while in Windows and get the autorun?

Sorry I am asking you to re-answer those questions - my jargon is
slightly different from yours! :)

Interesting questions. In order...

Never tried.
Yes
Probably - got to the partition part and decided to get another drive, but
I've done Linux in the past so while not an expert, not an idiot (I hope)
either.
Not now, but in the past (earlier today) yes.

Important for all. I don't mean to use ubuntu support as a means of
troubleshooting other issues, but in this case I'm just not sure. I tried
Roxio 8 (the worst software package ever) and have had non-ending issues.
Some involved the CD drive, but I've eradicated that package entirely so I
don't think that is the issue. Also, the "Blue Screen" lock-up is only
since ubuntu. Not trying to make things tough but I've heard rumblings via
i-net of similar issues so I don't want to simply let the problem drop. It
is not a hardware issue (for sure) and not a DELL issue (they have spent
hours making sure, bless them). So either there is an issue with ubuntu on
some drives (i-net suggests this could be the case) or something very odd is
going on.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of
Jeremy Visser
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 8:36 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: [Support #1909]: Re: [Support #1909]: RE: [Support #1909]:
Re:windows explorer hangs

Support request #1909 on Ubuntu changed:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/1909

Comment:
On Wed, 2006-09-27 at 23:54 +0000, Mike Mc wrote:
> Nope. All is fine until I put the CD in. Then, if I run "Live ubuntu" or
> just browse the disk (i.e. it is something with the disk) the issue
happens.
> Once I reboot (using the power button) all is well until the next session
> with the ubuntu disk. This is a disk sent to me from ubuntu.

It all sounds pretty odd. I think you must have a dud or scratched CD.

      * Does it do the same thing in another computer?
      * Can you boot up in the Ubuntu "Live" desktop?
      * Can you install Ubuntu?
      * Can you insert it while in Windows and get the autorun?

Sorry I am asking you to re-answer those questions - my jargon is
slightly different from yours! :)

With all due respect I sincerely doubt that this is an Ubuntu problem. Live CD's don't reconfigure your hardware. The whole point of them is to test Linux withot actively touching the installed system. It allows a user to test his or her hardware against a particular distribution without having to commit to installing it.

The fact that you get a blue screen after rebooting is probably purely coincidental. To be sure however, shutdown the the system and leave it off for a while. Make sure that they CD is not the tray.

Next, power on the computer and hit F8 after the initial POST messages, but before the Windows boot up logo appears.

From the menu, choose to boot into Safe Mode.

Once booted, try browsing the system. You should have not problems.

Now shut down windows.

Turn off the system and let it sit for a few minutes.

Power it on again and let it boot into Windows as normal. Try browsing the file system. All should be fine.

Shut down again. Power off. Wait. Start it again. Windows should be back to normal. Since we have conclusively eliminated Linux from the equation at this point, if you are still getting a blue screen, it has to be a Windows issue.

The only other possible issue is that you may have whacked something during the partition phase of your aborted install... but again I doubt that as it gives multiple prompts asking if you are sure before continueing AND you sound like you are competent with Linux.

I would hazard that your problems with Windows are due to spyware and/or malware. I support thousands of students at a local university and 10 out of 10 problems are caused by all the spyware, viruses, and malware that Windows picks up from just browsing the web.

You might consider downloading a copy of HijackThis and using it to examine whether you are infested with malware or not. There are a number of forums that can help examine your hijackthis output logs. Just search Google.

As Dell is not very supportive of Linux in general, I am not surprised that they pointed the finger at Linux. It is much easier than (even after two hours) than trying to walk you through checking for spyware and malware.

I personally think that it is a coincidence, though I could be wrong, that you started having these problems after using a livecd.

I will watch this thread to see what the final outcome is as I am highly curious.

I always suspected that there was a coincidence, but wanted to be sure.
Thanks for all the comments. I am now certain that, as suggested the
problem merely presented itself when I used the ubuntu disk. This is, I
suspect, the first time I've "booted" from a CD and so it makes sense I
would not have seen this before. The problem is either hardware or windows,
or both, but NOT ubuntu (which is totally cool).

My apologies for not investigating further before using this forum, but it
had been suggested to me the problem could be ubuntu. I should have been
suspicious given the source.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of Jim
Jones
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 10:22 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: [Support #1909]: RE: [Support #1909]: Re: [Support #1909]:
RE:[Support #1909]: Re:windows explorer hangs

Support request #1909 on Ubuntu changed:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/1909

Comment:
With all due respect I sincerely doubt that this is an Ubuntu problem. Live
CD's don't reconfigure your hardware. The whole point of them is to test
Linux withot actively touching the installed system. It allows a user to
test his or her hardware against a particular distribution without having to
commit to installing it.

The fact that you get a blue screen after rebooting is probably purely
coincidental. To be sure however, shutdown the the system and leave it off
for a while. Make sure that they CD is not the tray.

Next, power on the computer and hit F8 after the initial POST messages, but
before the Windows boot up logo appears.

>From the menu, choose to boot into Safe Mode.

Once booted, try browsing the system. You should have not problems.

Now shut down windows.

Turn off the system and let it sit for a few minutes.

Power it on again and let it boot into Windows as normal. Try browsing the
file system. All should be fine.

Shut down again. Power off. Wait. Start it again. Windows should be back
to normal. Since we have conclusively eliminated Linux from the equation at
this point, if you are still getting a blue screen, it has to be a Windows
issue.

The only other possible issue is that you may have whacked something during
the partition phase of your aborted install... but again I doubt that as it
gives multiple prompts asking if you are sure before continueing AND you
sound like you are competent with Linux.

I would hazard that your problems with Windows are due to spyware and/or
malware. I support thousands of students at a local university and 10 out
of 10 problems are caused by all the spyware, viruses, and malware that
Windows picks up from just browsing the web.

You might consider downloading a copy of HijackThis and using it to examine
whether you are infested with malware or not. There are a number of forums
that can help examine your hijackthis output logs. Just search Google.

As Dell is not very supportive of Linux in general, I am not surprised that
they pointed the finger at Linux. It is much easier than (even after two
hours) than trying to walk you through checking for spyware and malware.

I personally think that it is a coincidence, though I could be wrong, that
you started having these problems after using a livecd.

I will watch this thread to see what the final outcome is as I am highly
curious.

From your email, it sounds like this is resolved. Please consider closing this ticket as answered.

Thanks

Good Luck

Jim Jones

Problem resolved.

By the way, Mike. I wanted to mention that it is totally fine that you opened a support request. As a community, that's what we are here for... to help.

I just wanted to make sure that we had exhausted the possible parts of the problem before deciding that it was ubuntu. You have been very helpful in troubleshooting the issue and I commend you for that.

I hope the rest of your Ubuntu experience improves. Good luck and welcome.

Jim Jones