Major incompatibility between PG Full & ATI Contro Panel

Discussion in 'ProcessGuard' started by skbaltimore, Apr 24, 2005.

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  1. skbaltimore

    skbaltimore Registered Member

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    Just an FYI: I ran into a MAJOR issue (i.e. STOP CODE ERROR) when trying to access the ATI Control Panel for my Raedon 7500 vid card to adjust some of my monitor settings, even with PG in "Learn" mode. After a lot of experimentation (and a couple of Power Quest Drive Image full restores) I boiled the problem down to the "Protect Physical Memory" button being checked. When that was unchecked, no problem. When it WAS checked....BIG problem:

    STOP: 0X000000IE 0XC0000005, 0x 80455688, 0x000000080, 0x 000000 15 K_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED Address 80455688 base at 804000000 Date Stamp 42258bd8.

    I have no idea if this is PG's problem or ATI's problem. But it definitely became MY problem. Hopefully, this post will help PG determine what is at issue here and either correct it or contact ATI so they can correct it. In any case, I suggest that anyone with an ATI Raedon 7500 video card UNCHECK the "Protect Physical Memory" button before trying to access the ATI Control Panel.

    sk
     
  2. rickontheweb

    rickontheweb Registered Member

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    Myself and others have noted that here as well. On my system, although I don't have your exact video chipset you'll need to make a choice.

    If you are using the ATI control panel version (not the newer .net required Control Center which is different can of worms), rundll32.exe needs to be given the ability to install drivers/services and access to physical memory or you'll crash at the Options tab. If you try to enter the ATI Control Panel in learning mode, PG appears (just guessing) to temporarily prevent the physical memory access and you'll crash before PG gets a chance to really learn that it is needed. Usually this is only evident on my system when you click on the Options panel in ATI Control Panel.

    I am not comfortable giving rundll32.exe the ability to install drivers/services and allow physical memory access.

    So you have a choice to make it work, give rundll32.exe both those abilities or give it neither. If you give rundll32.exe neither ability, the ATI Control Panel opens normally, PG will flash that some drivers and services were prevented from installing, but I simply ignore it because the Control Panel features I use operate normally without it.

    Hope that helps with your situation...
     
  3. skbaltimore

    skbaltimore Registered Member

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    Fortunately or unfortunately, I've got the .net version, so I imagine then, from what you said, that that's a different can of worms. For the time being, the way I've chosen to work around it when I need to enter the ATI Control Center, which isn't really that often, is to just temporarily unclick the "Protect Physical Memory" box, then recheck it when I'm done. I can't imagine that very much could happen to my system while being in that "unchecked" mode temporarily. But if there are any other options that make more sense I'm open.

    sk
     
  4. rickontheweb

    rickontheweb Registered Member

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    I'm not sure if it's the same "rundll32.exe" issue with the .net control center version since I don't want .net on my machine, so I can't really try it.

    Try doing a search on ATI on this forum, it has been discussed here before, you might find a better workaround that's not as annoying.
     
  5. skbaltimore

    skbaltimore Registered Member

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    Well, I'm not against .net, but MAN....as soon as I finish this, I'm uninstalling that resource hog ACE cti.exe (aka the Catalyst Control Center) and opting for the "old fashioned" whatever ATI control center. Yeeeesh...what a piece of dooooooooookie! Once I've got that crap uninstalled, I'll try again to see if I can apply what you suggested above. Thanks for your input. But I'm confused. At first, it seemed as if you were saying that unless rundll32.exe got both permissions, it would crash at the options stage of ATI control panel. (the non-.net version). But then it seemed as if you said that as long as both requests were denied, PG would throw out a warning but it could be safely ignored. Obviously, I missed something that connects the two.
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2005
  6. rickontheweb

    rickontheweb Registered Member

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    If you install the normal ATI Control Panel, when you go to Display Properties, Settings tab, Advanced button and the ATI control panel opens, if you have install drivers/service enabled for rundll32.exe, but not access to physical memory, you'll bluescreen when you hit the Options tab in the ATI control panel.

    If rundll32.exe has neither option allowed, PG will prevent driver installation (warning you that rundll32 tried to install a driver/service) and no bluescreen.

    So either give rundll32.exe both abilities or neither ability.
     
  7. skbaltimore

    skbaltimore Registered Member

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    Clear. Thanks. It worked exactly the way you said. I opted to enable neither one, and the only thing that occurred was the warning about rundll32.exe not being able to install a driver. My only question is what does that mean in real world terms? Is that warning in any way serious in this case? If it's not a problem, I'll leave it just like that.
     
  8. rickontheweb

    rickontheweb Registered Member

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    Well you can always give rundll32.exe both rights and see what gets loaded.

    I think I remember that if you give rundll32.exe install drivers and physical memory access that when you hit the options tab, one or two atixxx.xxx type programs will appear in task manager and stay active even after closing the ATI Control Panel. When you reboot, they'll be gone (so are they really necessary?), until you enter the ATI Control Panel again. What do they do? I don't know, waste memory resources and CPU cycles is about all I can notice.

    I use the ATI Control Panel to changes settings on my dual monitor setup, change color profiles, set Direct3D and OpenGL to optimal performance (not a gamer) and it all seems to work fine without whatever those extra drivers are. All the tabs I normally use in there work fine without them.

    But you may use it for other things or use other features of the video drivers. If you notice something isn't working give rundll32.exe those two rights, go back in, let the drivers load and see if that allows the functionality you are looking for to work. I'm sure they do something, just not anything I am missing.
     
  9. Infinity

    Infinity Registered Member

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    same here: no matter what I do: I need to disable the protection of pg when installing ATI, and then again I receive 2-3 bsods...even with rundll.exe giving full access to all...
     
  10. rickontheweb

    rickontheweb Registered Member

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    I always turn PG protection off when I install/upgrade my ATI video drivers. I don't turn off my other security apps however as I want to control startup entries, scan for malware and monitor registry changes.

    That and installing Windows Updates from MS (maybe unnecessary - just a precaution) are the only time PG protection is disabled here. I leave it on during other software installations however with no ill affect. Video drivers operate at a real funky level in the OS and I think they use a lot of undocumented techniques to tweak performance since competition is so intense. The ATI installation programs seem to do much more than the standard "run of the mill" software install since it involves your display drivers, one of the most crucial system elements of your OS.

    So I turn off PG during ATI installs. It's just easier that way. But I never get bluescreens after the install when I turn it back on.
     
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