Exchange 2010 on a windows 2008 keeps rebooting on a Xen 5.5 host

this windows 2008 with Exch2010 is running fine for a number of weeks as a VM inside a Xen 5.5 host.

it started rebooting recently. It appeared related to some windows updates.

upon rebooting, the windows send error report to MS, and check solutions online.

finally it gives a clue about x64 bit cpu clock something, the windows are complaining about device drivers.

think ouside the box, there is another VM running on this host. the performance monitor indicates this XP-VM is using 100% CPU.  turning this 100%-cpu-usage XP-VM off helps the other server VM stay alive.

screen jumpy in a photo edit software

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/252436-33-video-properties-hardware-acceleration

what is windows xp video card acceleration... and combined writing....


a photographer got a bizaare problem with a generic 2GB RAM P4 3.0G PC. the photo appeared jumpy when dragged with mouse in a photo-editing s/w.

tweaked mouse sensitivity, virtual mem, installed xp sp3, no luck.

finnaly tick off video card properties of hardware acceleration & combined writing, it is much smooth now...

the video card is an ATI with 256MB video RAM.

office 2003 SP3 failed to install ....

the user said web page is not showing up properly, virus was present ...

I went down the road to clean up some spyware/trojan, none found ... then started to install office 2003 SP3... ah .. that thew up a weird error... failed to install...

go back to basics, the system logs show the famous error ...like hard drive0\D has a bad cluster...

now do a scan disk ....upon restart, the scandisk confirmed that there are bad clusters on the hard drive...

It bit a surprise because the week before I upgraded the anti-virus, did see error in the system log;...

anyway, use shadowProtect to copy the faulty disk to image file, then restore the file to a new hard drive...

reinstall O2k3 SP3 again, success ....

image a computer hard drives over to another computer

I know some computer will never wake up after the long holiday.

one of a client's important workstation failed to start, the hard drive light seemed always on. from past experience I knew one of the hard drive wasn't starting.

then take an image of another PC (Win-XP) with similar functionality.. well my ShadowProtect IT edition expired Q4 2009. luckily I have a Shadow Protect 3.3 CD. That saved the day. interestingly the local ShadowProect distributor wanted to send a copy of Oct 2009 IT edition. I wonder that will make any difference.

I started the process of elimination, 2 of the 3 internal hard drives not starting properly. ironically this faulty system started perfectly today. but after I run scandisk, the whole thing crashed again.

put in a new hard drive, I have restore the image to to this drive and remaining one. the first shadow protect boot crashed, I have to un-plug the old remianing hard drive from the on-board gigbyte raid controller. then restore the boot-image to the new hard drive.

behold my breath, now the image is successfully copied over. the Win-XP is starting, pop in the motherboard cd to load all the drivers. P4-3.2GHZ, very old PC.

failed attempt to upgrade a Windows 2000 PC

failed attempt to upgrade a Windows 2000 PC ... I hate the word failure to the bone. but i have to face the reality.

upgrading a generic windows 2000 OEM PC (celeron 3.0G with 1GB ram, GA-sis chipset based MB) ... argh ..
Windows XP OEM cd can't do upgrade.
Windows XP VL cd can start the upgrade process, unfortunately, the PC failed to restart in the upgrading process.

tried to use XP w/sp3 cd in the recovery console to revive the installation, the message was there was an upgrade in process.

after all this trying, choice is to install from scratch using XP-OEM. things are easy to install from scratch.

the bigest disappoint is with storagecraft's shadow protect. the IT edition can't image windows 2000 installation from the W2000 gui interface. in a rush trying to finish the work before christmas, booted the PC from IT ed CD, take the image. But can't put the image back, it wont boot.

use pptp join the PC back to the domain, using the same PC name, but have to reset the computer account first in the AD.

bundled util software with lenovo

Lenovo X301, with OZ simcard preloaded with verizon?. huawei vodafone e220 software wont load. it may show up briefly but then disappear. the device manager showed the USB dongle in yellow. I am told the software has to be installed for the the dongle to work. it is the same problem with a Telecom USB stick. But TelstraClear-au's software can be installed and is working.

eventually remove some bundled software for the lenovo like client security manager, think-advange connections manager. then the vodafone software saddenly started to install.

windows security essentials for windows server 2003 / 2008

nope.

the free MS windows security essentials is for windows xp / vista / 7.
it doesn't seem for server.

easy transfer and windows xp

windows xp file&settings transfer wizard can't transfer password.
But W7 (vista ?) easy transfer can do that.

screen switch and domain profile in Windows 7 / vista

screen switch and domain profile in Windows 7 / vista.
ever remember the user switch feature in windows xp home. you can't do in  XP pro as well. but you can do that in XP pro once it is joined to a domain.

well in Windows vista / 7, you can switch logged on profiles/users even if the PC is joined to the domain.

windows xp to Windows 7

x64 bit W7 easy transfer tool wont run on x86 XP. pop in a x86 W7 dvd to run on x32 XP.
x32 bit MS virtual PC won't run on x64 bit W7.
install x64 MS virtual PC, no problem. then install XP mode x32x64 bit setup file

Windows 7 PPTP connection problem with Windows 2003 server

Windows 7 PPTP connection problem with Windows 2003 server. I had pptp connection problem from time to time. All very dreadful. now my windows xp pptp works great. But windows 7 pptp failed. the bizzare thing is that W7 pptp to that windows 2003 ras server was working last night.

temp drive for installing windows 2003 updates

temp drive for installing windows 2003 updates... it occurred to me, windows 2003 ( windows xp) may use the bigger drive (free space) attached to the system when it comes to windows updates. it will use the drive even if it is a USB drive.

outlook 2007 crashing Windows XP PC

it had a sudden crash in outlook 2007. then the PC really slow, then the PC complained about the information store, a quick google search indicated a problem with windows search serivce. update the windows search service to v4. it feels much better.

systeminfo

systeminfo cmd is quite usefull to display windows xp/2003/vista installation date. in vista it can show boot time.