Utorrent freezing in Vista

[Kaladis]

Hello,

I seem to have a problem with Utorrent freezing in Vista 32-bit with 2 GB of RAM. I'm not saying Utorrent is the cause of this, but I would like to know if this is a common occurance and if there are any remedies. When I go to open the application, it freezes on me a little over 10 seconds later. I can close the program fully from the desktop when Windows asks if I would like to "end the program", but the utorrent process stays and Windows won't let me kill it when this happens. I am also unable to open up another instance of Utorrent since the process is still running in the background. I basically have to wait until it "times out" or whatever it is doing. Any assistance would be appreciated. Here is what I have attempted thus far:

-I did not change any settings within the preferences of Utorrent.

- I have AVG as my antivirus and a full scan turned up nothing. I have also scanned with NOD32 (currently uninstalled), SpyBot, Adaware, and CounterSpy. HijackThis shows no issues either (log submitted below).

- I installed Vista SP1 RC in hopes of resolving the issue, but the problem persisted.

- I do not have any firewalls installed/enabled, but I am behind a Linksys router that is forwarded properly.

- I read the sticky concerning crashes and the only thing that applied to me was that I have a quad core. I tried setting the affinity to 1 core but the problem persisted. LSPFix (to which I am familiar with) showed no signs of problems.

- I tried uninstalling Utorrent and reinstalling it multiple times, but it still freezes on me. I tried with both the stable 1.75 and the 1.8 alpha build.

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2

Scan saved at 5:34:08 PM, on 1/6/2008

Platform: Windows Vista SP1, v.668 (WinNT 6.00.1905)

MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6001.17052)

Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:

C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe

C:\Windows\system32\taskeng.exe

C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE

C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\jusched.exe

C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe

C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG7\avgcc.exe

C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\NMBgMonitor.exe

C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe

C:\Program Files\Eraser\Eraser.exe

C:\Windows\ehome\ehmsas.exe

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\NMIndexStoreSvr.exe

C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmpnscfg.exe

C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\YahooMessenger.exe

C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 2\firefox.exe

C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe

C:\Program Files\Skype\Plugin Manager\skypePM.exe

C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =

O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe -hide

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [sunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\jusched.exe"

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroFilterCheck] C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\NeroCheck.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [P17RunE] RunDll32 P17RunE.dll,RunDLLEntry

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvSvc] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\nvsvc.dll,nvsvcStart

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG7_CC] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgcc.exe /STARTUP

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [bgMonitor_{79662E04-7C6C-4d9f-84C7-88D8A56B10AA}] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\NMBgMonitor.exe"

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ehTray.exe] C:\Windows\ehome\ehTray.exe

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MsnMsgr] "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\MsnMsgr.Exe" /background

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Eraser] C:\Program Files\Eraser\eraser.exe -hide

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [WindowsWelcomeCenter] rundll32.exe oobefldr.dll,ShowWelcomeCenter (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [AVG7_Run] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgw.exe /RUNONCE (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [AVG7_Run] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgw.exe /RUNONCE (User 'SYSTEM')

O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [AVG7_Run] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgw.exe /RUNONCE (User 'Default user')

O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll

O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll

O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{37D14C34-D9B8-4302-9648-61EF0F6299A0}: NameServer = 192.168.1.1

O18 - Protocol: skype4com - {FFC8B962-9B40-4DFF-9458-1830C7DD7F5D} - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\Skype\SKYPE4~1.DLL

O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: Windows DreamScene - {E31004D1-A431-41B8-826F-E902F9D95C81} - C:\Windows\System32\DreamScene.dll

O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe

O23 - Service: AVG7 Alert Manager Server (Avg7Alrt) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgamsvr.exe

O23 - Service: AVG7 Update Service (Avg7UpdSvc) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgupsvc.exe

O23 - Service: Cisco Systems, Inc. VPN Service (CVPND) - Cisco Systems, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Cisco Systems\VPN Client\cvpnd.exe

O23 - Service: Google Updater Service (gusvc) - Google - C:\Program Files\Google\Common\Google Updater\GoogleUpdaterService.exe

O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe

O23 - Service: LightScribeService Direct Disc Labeling Service (LightScribeService) - Hewlett-Packard Company - C:\Program Files\Common Files\LightScribe\LSSrvc.exe

O23 - Service: NMIndexingService - Nero AG - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\NMIndexingService.exe

O23 - Service: PnkBstrA - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\PnkBstrA.exe

--

End of file - 5497 bytes

[jewelisheaven]

Try turning off Nero Scout's indexing, or exclude your download directory.

[Kaladis]

It still freezes after disabling Nero Scout.

[jewelisheaven]

Hmm, Have you tried each of the cores' affinity? There doesn't seem to be much feedback regarding multi-cores... alternatively it's possible some other program is trying to inject into the uT process. Could you go through Ultima's How-To and search for the procedure for Process Explorer. A log created after downloading, running, enabling the lower pane (Ctrl-L), switching to DLL mode (Ctrl-D), clicking on utorrent.exe, and saving the DLL list (Ctrl-A) may divulge that program.

Regarding the rest, yea I looked up O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [P17RunE] RunDll32 P17RunE.dll,RunDLLEntry and that's related to Creative software. Btw, thanks for reading up and investigating on your own a bit first. It means we need to dig a little deeper to find out what's going on

[Kaladis]

Process PID CPU Description Company Name

System Idle Process 0 92.11

Interrupts n/a 0.39 Hardware Interrupts

DPCs n/a 1.16 Deferred Procedure Calls

System 4

smss.exe 452 Windows Session Manager Microsoft Corporation

csrss.exe 524 Client Server Runtime Process Microsoft Corporation

wininit.exe 572 Windows Start-Up Application Microsoft Corporation

services.exe 616 Services and Controller app Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 788 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

ehmsas.exe 2312 Media Center Media Status Aggregator Service Microsoft Corporation

iashost.exe 3500 IAS Host Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 848 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1016 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

audiodg.exe 1172 Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1056 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

dwm.exe 304 Desktop Window Manager Microsoft Corporation

WUDFHost.exe 6068 Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1068 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

taskeng.exe 360 Task Scheduler Engine Microsoft Corporation

taskeng.exe 2464 Task Scheduler Engine Microsoft Corporation

SLsvc.exe 1204 Microsoft Software Licensing Service Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1308 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1416 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

spoolsv.exe 1668 Spooler SubSystem App Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 1696 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

AppleMobileDeviceService.exe 2512 Apple Mobile Device Service Apple, Inc.

avgamsvr.exe 2584 AVG Alert Manager GRISOFT, s.r.o.

avgupsvc.exe 2672 AVG Update Service GRISOFT, s.r.o.

cvpnd.exe 2708 Cisco Systems VPN Client Cisco Systems, Inc.

LSSrvc.exe 2796 Hewlett-Packard Company

PnkBstrA.exe 2920

svchost.exe 2976 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 3008 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

svchost.exe 3060 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

SearchIndexer.exe 3140 Microsoft Windows Search Indexer Microsoft Corporation

SearchProtocolHost.exe 5828 Microsoft Windows Search Protocol Host Microsoft Corporation

SearchFilterHost.exe 4892 Microsoft Windows Search Filter Host Microsoft Corporation

NMIndexingService.exe 3580 Nero Home Nero AG

wmpnetwk.exe 3848 Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service Microsoft Corporation

iPodService.exe 1360 iPodService Module Apple Inc.

svchost.exe 3828 Host Process for Windows Services Microsoft Corporation

lsass.exe 628 Local Security Authority Process Microsoft Corporation

lsm.exe 640 Local Session Manager Service Microsoft Corporation

csrss.exe 584 1.16 Client Server Runtime Process Microsoft Corporation

winlogon.exe 876 Windows Logon Application Microsoft Corporation

explorer.exe 376 Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation

MSASCui.exe 212 Windows Defender User Interface Microsoft Corporation

jusched.exe 656 Java Platform SE binary Sun Microsystems, Inc.

iTunesHelper.exe 2044 iTunesHelper Module Apple Inc.

avgcc.exe 2148 AVG Control Center GRISOFT, s.r.o.

sidebar.exe 2188 Windows Sidebar Microsoft Corporation

ehtray.exe 2212 Media Center Tray Applet Microsoft Corporation

Eraser.exe 2252 Eraser. The Eraser Project

wmpnscfg.exe 3812 Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service Configuration Application Microsoft Corporation

YahooMessenger.exe 2028 Yahoo! Messenger Yahoo! Inc.

firefox.exe 5876 3.47 Firefox Mozilla Corporation

Skype.exe 2580 0.77 Skype. Take a deep breath Skype Technologies S.A.

skypePM.exe 5628 Skype Extras Manager Skype Technologies

iTunes.exe 220 iTunes Apple Inc.

procexp.exe 5920 1.16 Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals

uTorrent.exe 1280

Process: uTorrent.exe Pid: 1280

Name Description Company Name Version

AcGenral.DLL Windows Compatibility DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

AcLayers.dll Windows Compatibility DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

ADVAPI32.dll Advanced Windows 32 Base API Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

apphelp.dll Application Compatibility Client Library Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

CLBCatQ.DLL COM+ Configuration Catalog Microsoft Corporation 2001.12.6931.17052

COMCTL32.dll User Experience Controls Library Microsoft Corporation 6.10.6001.17052

comdlg32.dll Common Dialogs DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

dhcpcsvc.DLL DHCP Client Service Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

dhcpcsvc6.DLL DHCPv6 Client Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

DNSAPI.dll DNS Client API DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

dwmapi.dll Microsoft Desktop Window Manager API Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

FirewallAPI.dll Windows Firewall API Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

GDI32.dll GDI Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

idle.dll Idle Module Yahoo! Inc. 1.00.0000.0002

iertutil.dll Run time utility for Internet Explorer Microsoft Corporation 7.00.6001.17052

IMM32.DLL Multi-User Windows IMM32 API Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

Iphlpapi.dll IP Helper API Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

kernel32.dll Windows NT BASE API Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

locale.nls

locale.nls

LPK.DLL Language Pack Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

MPR.dll Multiple Provider Router DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

MSACM32.dll Microsoft ACM Audio Filter Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

MSCTF.dll MSCTF Server DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

msctf.dll.mui MSCTF Server DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6000.16386

MSVCR71.dll Microsoft® C Runtime Library Microsoft Corporation 7.10.3052.0004

msvcrt.dll Windows NT CRT DLL Microsoft Corporation 7.00.6001.17052

mswsock.dll Microsoft Windows Sockets 2.0 Service Provider Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

napinsp.dll E-mail Naming Shim Provider Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

NETAPI32.dll Net Win32 API DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

NLAapi.dll Network Location Awareness 2 Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

NSI.dll NSI User-mode interface DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

ntdll.dll NT Layer DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

ole32.dll Microsoft OLE for Windows Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

OLEACC.dll Active Accessibility Core Component Microsoft Corporation 4.02.5406.0000

oleaccrc.dll Active Accessibility Resource DLL Microsoft Corporation 4.02.5406.0000

OLEAUT32.dll Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

pnrpnsp.dll PNRP Name Space Provider Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

PROPSYS.dll Microsoft Property System Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

PSAPI.DLL Process Status Helper Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6000.16386

rasadhlp.dll Remote Access AutoDial Helper Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6000.16386

RPCRT4.dll Remote Procedure Call Runtime Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

Secur32.dll Security Support Provider Interface Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

SETUPAPI.dll Windows Setup API Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

setupapi.dll.mui Windows Setup API Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

sfc.dll Windows File Protection Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6000.16386

sfc_os.DLL Windows File Protection Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

SHELL32.dll Windows Shell Common Dll Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

ShimEng.dll Shim Engine DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6000.16386

SHLWAPI.dll Shell Light-weight Utility Library Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

SHUNIMPL.dll Windows Shell Obsolete APIs Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6000.16386

urlmon.dll OLE32 Extensions for Win32 Microsoft Corporation 7.00.6001.17052

USER32.dll Multi-User Windows USER API Client DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

USERENV.dll Userenv Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

USP10.dll Uniscribe Unicode script processor Microsoft Corporation 1.626.6001.17052

uTorrent.exe

UxTheme.dll Microsoft UxTheme Library Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

VERSION.dll Version Checking and File Installation Libraries Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

WINMM.dll MCI API DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

WINNSI.DLL Network Store Information RPC interface Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

winrnr.dll LDAP RnR Provider DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6000.16386

WINSPOOL.DRV Windows Spooler Driver Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

WLDAP32.dll Win32 LDAP API DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

WS2_32.dll Windows Socket 2.0 32-Bit DLL Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

wshtcpip.dll Winsock2 Helper DLL (TL/IPv4) Microsoft Corporation 6.00.6001.17052

[jewelisheaven]

Why does your Yahoo Messenger seek fit to inject this:

idle.dll Idle Module Yahoo! Inc. 1.00.0000.0002

Do you know?

Other than that, heh, yea PunkBuster hasn't been reported to be incompatible. :?

Edit: You didn't mention what affect if any happened when changing your affinity among the 4 cores... looking a bit deeper, after incompatible programs have been removed, the affinity change wasn't needed for some.

[Kaladis]

Why does your Yahoo Messenger seek fit to inject this:

idle.dll Idle Module Yahoo! Inc. 1.00.0000.0002

Do you know?

It's just used to check user's idle status when using the messenger.

You didn't mention what affect if any happened when changing your affinity among the 4 cores... looking a bit deeper, after incompatible programs have been removed, the affinity change wasn't needed for some.

I tested the affinity with each core individually and the freezing still occured.

[jewelisheaven]

Good call, but it may be what is causing the freeze... As an alternative line of questioning, making sure the windows indexer does not try your downloading folder OR by applying the Ctrl-P -> Downloads option "append !ut to incomplete downloads" will verify it is file permissions which is causing the problem.

[Kaladis]

My download folder is on a second hard drive and indexing is turned off on that drive. Killing the yahoo messenger process prevents idle.dll from showing up, but utorrent still froze after I did this. I also killed the explorer process and all the applications listed beneath it in the tree, and started utorrent.exe only to have it freeze up again.

I should mention that I just recently booted into "Safe Mode with Networking" and started utorrent, and it did not freeze on me.

[jewelisheaven]

Woo! Progress, which means it's something I missed or it's more insidious.

Were/Are you able to do a procexp / HJT list to compare what is running in safe mode vs not? Since there isn't a problem there, it suggests one of the background processes is where the underlying problem is. I would double check if turning off unneeded background process can duplicate the non-freeze in normal windows mode. (read as: turn everything off via msconfig, and slowly turn things back on to see when uT no longer functions) Starting with non-vista and non-ms related programs is usually the best idea.