or "How I learnt to stop worrying about bombs & migrate to GNU/Linux"

I've been a Microsoft Windows user for many years - I've grown up with it from using 286's with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 at University.

Time has moved on and GNU/Linux has become more usable, powerful and has some features and applications that make it indispensable as an Operating System today - I find myself using it more and more for certain tasks. Mostly server based, but I've gradually become more impressed with it as a desktop, especially since Ubuntu reached version 6.06 (Dapper Drake)

Now I'm always happy to use the right tool for the job, there's no Windows/Linux fanboy in me. However deciding on GNU/Linux at home is a personal choice due many reasons, including the licensing controversy surrounding Vista, price and DRM amongst others, and I simply don't wish to go with it. Since now 95% of the little gaming I do is now done on consoles (Damn you, Counter-Strike: Source and while I'm writing I'm currently on an Eve Online trial.) as it is the only software area that GNU/Linux can not reproduce as effectively at the moment. I felt it was time to make the move.

The end result I was looking at is total migration to GNU/Linux, at home for every application I use with any Windows applications running under WINE or as a last resort, on a Virtual Machine. I still use Windows at work (where I can control the machine and put whatever applications I wish to use on it anyway).
So I'm now on step 7 and doing quite well thank you. This step-by-step progression is quite a common sense approach, but what is obvious to some people isn't necessarily to others and so I list it here for those that could use a nudge.

OpenVPN is a full-featured SSL VPN solution which can accomodate a wide range of configurations, including remote access, site-to-site VPNs, WiFi security, and enterprise-scale remote access solutions with load balancing, failover, and fine-grained access-controls.

Although originally developed for Linux, OpenVPN is now widely used for providing VPN services for Windows clients. This document describes how we install and configure OpenVPN to work in a Microsoft Windows only environment.

Mesh computers seem to have made their AMD PC's using Intel CPU based Sysprep'ed images. Customer today with a Mesh PC who finally upgraded to Windows Service Pack 2 got this message:-

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer...
Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xFC5CCAF3, 0xFC90F8C0, 0xFC90F5C0)

The symptoms fitted everything on
KnowledgeBase Article 888372 but it seemed their solution didn't work.

Quoted from the Microsoft website it said
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Intelppm"
Change the "Start" Value data box, to 4"

I realised it may be a mistake so I modified it to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Intelppm
So it changed the current controlset rather than a backup one and it did the trick. I guess it was a typo on their part.

 

Update: 02 August 2006

Seems that on May 16, 2006 Microsoft have removed this solution from the Knowledgebase, now simply stating that they do not support this configuration.

Thanks Microsoft. I don't understand though. I don't mind if you put disclaimers stating that this fix might stain your washing blue or kill your puppies and that it wasn't Microsoft's fault in the first place that some 13 year installed your PC while playing with his whatevers... But for the love of all things holy, why remove a potential solution that may help people bring their systems back online??

OK, rant over :)

 

Update: 11th April 2007

Summary of contributed solutions

• "booted up using Bart PE, went in and load the System hive and I can only see the ControlSet001, but I changed the Start value to 4 anyway and restart, and it worked !!!"
• "renamed C:\Windows\system32\drivers\intelppm.sys to intelppm.no-sys and it booted just fine."
• "I was able to finished repairing Windows after i deleted the Intelppm.sys in system32\drivers"
• "it's easier just to rename or delete intelppm.sys from the recovery console."

And I believe the most elegant solution is this one from 5th April 2007 :-

"boot with the Windows CDROM and start the Recovery Console on the interested partition. then type 'disable intelppm' to disable that driver from running. Reboot"

Update: 13th May 2008

Unbelievably it appears that Microsoft have had the same problem with Windows XP Service Pack 3. Another solution has cropped up which I'm actually little annoyed I didn't think of. So if you have an AMD processor and you think you could suffer from this problem (particularly if it is a HP PC!). At the command prompt type:-

sc config intelppm start=disabled

and it should disable the redundant intelppm driver.

Update: 14th May 2008

Another solution. At the command prompt:-

reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Intelppm /v Start /d 4 /t REG_DWORD

Kudos to Jesper Johansson's blog for that little gem, and he seems to be keeping close tabs on the situation and has comprehensive page regarding this issue - I recommended a visit if you are suffering from the Windows XP SP3 0x0000007E blues(creen).

Update: 20th May 2008

Hilarious, almost two years to the day (May 16 2006-May 6 2008) after Microsoft removed the solution from KnowledgeBase Article 888372, the resolution is now back! (and updated to say SP3). I'm guessing they couldn't deal with the potential fallout of n thousand people complaining that their computers won't boot/endlessly rebooting. Or maybe they took my rant seriously! One can only hope :)

Nasty error. First time I've seen a serious Active Directory error in years.

"When you start your domain controller, the screen may go blank, and you may receive the following error message:
LSASS.EXE - System Error, security accounts manager initialization failed because of the following error:
Directory Services cannot start. Error status 0xc00002e1.
Please click OK to shutdown this system and reboot into directory services restore mode, check the event log for more detailed information."

Disable the firewall completely
netsh.exe firewall set opmode mode=disable profile=all