dxdiag crashes on dxinput
Joe User
of my machines. DxDiag crashes if I force it to eval DirectInput (on
startup it recognizes that it crashed looking at this last time and asks if
you want to try again or skip that part). If I skip the DirectInput
testing, dxdiag doesn't show a problem with the files and WHQL certification
(on the files panel). If I force it to test the DirectInput setup on
startup, it crashes - with no error message - the window simply closes.
This all has to do with dx 9.0c. I've since downloaded and installed the
SDK for this which gives me the msi installer package which is nice to work
with - but this did not help. I then used the installer package to force a
repair of all dx files - and registry entries - with no improvement. Beyond
this I have nothing unusual on the system for game controllers. I have one
joystick - using the MS default stick with 4 buttons settings... and have
also uninstalled and reinstalled the game controller from the device panel -
still with no improvement. Since dx provides the control panel file,
joy.cpl, and dxdiag crashes, I feel that I have somehow missed something.
At this point, I've run dry for ideas, and could use some constructive
suggestions. Outside of doing an inplace reinstall of XP (which is
complicated by SP2 - not to say I don't like it - SP2 is great) - maybe
there is something a little less risky that I can still try. Please post
here.
-J
Neil Dela Osa (Microsoft)
DirectInput wasn't updated in the various SDK releases since SP2 so the
.dlls on your box should be the version installed by Service Pack2 which has
DirectX 9.0c inbox.
It's possible directx.log in your windows directory has some information
regarding setup errors for the SDK. I can't think of anything off the top
of my head in the SDK that would cause a problem like this.
Here's a few ideas to get you started:
Do you have any input devices connected to your system besides the keyboard
and mouse? If so, does the crashing go away when the device is removed from
the system? Do you have any third party input software (keyboard software,
mouse software, joystick software) installed? If so, What happens when the
software is disabled or removed?
Most devices plug into the USB port so another possibility may be outdated
motherboard chipset drivers for the USB port on the system.
It's a stretch but maybe the direct input .dlls are unregistered. Do you
see any messages in dxdiag indicating DirectInput .dlls are not registered?
"Joe User" <JoeUser@somewhere> wrote in message
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Joe User
- you bet - not much to go on is an understatement !
- WRT updates since SP2 for DirectInput, I agree... but I believe things
like joy.cpl were updated since. Either way, I've since downloaded the SP2
package to try to force a repair of the SP2 install - no improvement - diid
not help
- I like your idea of the log - but first thought there might be a run to
run log for dxdiag - none found. So - I used the command line switches to
try to get it to generate one. No - go - nothing generated. Whatever is
kicking this thing out is aborting it before the run file can be generated
(I've searched the drive for pieces).
- Input devices - yes - I've disconnected and uninstalled/reinstalled the
game port - no help so far. Note that I still use a stick (not often) on
the game port - not a USB game device. My one fear is that there are
drivers for the stick that do not conform to XP standards - yet there is no
way to remove joystick device drivers - aside from the game port itself -
they do not show up in the device tree - and do not have another method to
uninstall. This may not be an issue, however, since removing the stick
appears to have no affect on dxdiag's crashing.
- all files reported by dxdiag (skipping dxinput testing) show up as signed
and final retail. AOK by its measure.
As I said, thanks for the attempt to help. If you have a good idea how to
force a re-install (which I have attempted to do with the SDK msi package) -
that might help please feel free to forward any additional thoughts you may
have. First - I would really like to be able to read an error message for
the cause- nothing that I've found includes one.
-J
"Neil Dela Osa (Microsoft)" <nei...@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:%23ikB0cw...@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
Joshua Smith [MSFT]
I tested DirectInput for about 5 years before I moved on to graphics.
Would you mind trying to run a tool that can in most cases generate a debug
file of the crash? If we can get one generated I can look in it and see what
could be the issue.
To do this download the 32bit Windows debugging tools from
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/ddk/debugging/ . Install the tools. It is
helpful during the install to change the path to something easier like
"c:\debuggers" so there is less typing (and searching for the files) in the
future. Then run the ADPlus.vbs script from the install directory. Here is
how to do that.
1. Click Start -> Run.
2. Type cmd and hit Enter in the Run dialog box.
3. In the Command Window type (without quotes) "cd \debuggers" providing you
changed the path during setup, otherwise change to the directory you
installed to.
4. Type "adplus.vbs -crash -pn dxdiag.exe"
5. Perform the steps you normally do to crash dxdiag.
6. Open the debuggers directory and send me the files in the folder named
"Crash_Mode_Date....."
Here is a link that explains the ADPlus.vbs script if you want more
information on it.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q286/3/50.asp
If you need something explained more don't hesitate to ask. Just remove
"online" from my address.
Joshua Smith
OpenGL Test Lab
Microsoft
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
"Joe User" <JoeUser@somewhere> wrote in message
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Joe User
thanks and great - I am eager to give this a go and expect to post
results (with
any luck) tonight. If you don't see it right away, please look again later.
My one
reservation is dissipating as I am reading up on those tools - namely I am
hoping
there won't be any interoperational issues between it and my VS.Net
install... will see.
- J
"Joshua Smith [MSFT]" <jos...@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:%23dHYsah...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
Joe User
ran and file set is ~200M, compressed abt 53M. Since the newsgroup will
not
likely appreciate these sizes, I'll attempt to forward a compressed version
directly.
In the mean time, will also consider what public ftp servers might work.
-J
"Joshua Smith [MSFT]" <jos...@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:%23dHYsah...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
Joe User
search engines that monitor them...
With the help of Joshua Smith [MSFT] <jos...@online.microsoft.com>, we
quickly discovered the root of the problem. In this case it had to do with
a device from Motorola, an MX240a which is an RF instant messaging unit.
Prior to Joshua's help I had shut down the software for this device thinking
that simply doing that much had taken it off of the system - sufficient to
not suspect it. Well, I deserve an I told you so from MS - sure enough the
base unit needed to be disconnected. In this case the base unit doesn't
readily show up in device manager - with drivers that identify an
association with this device. They are there, however, and disconnecting
does unload additional software I should have realized was there in the
first place. I have since been able to replicate my results both with the
unit DISconnected (where DxDiag would no longer crash) and reconnecting it
(which produced the DxDiag crashes once again). This email is long overdue,
and I will post additional info with an appropriate heading to these groups
soon - just to help those who are debugging similar issues (Direct X issues
with a system that may contain this type of hardware). My thanks to
Microsoft, in this case Joshua who offered his help and support - and never
said I told you so.
- J
"Joe User" <JoeUser@somewhere> wrote in message
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