PG 3.2 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

I have uninstalled Process Guard 3.2 but continue to receive a "Cannot Load Mutex 2" error. I cannot even run in Safe Mode. However, I can run in Debug Mode (whatever that really is?). After some time the system stops for s second or two and then resumes. If I run in this mode long enough it locks up.

I found pgaccount.exe and procguard.exe remaining in the Process Guard folder. Attempts to delete them are blocked by the system. Task Manager does not show them running as a process despite a PG symbol and Error showing on the Taskbar as well as the Mutex 2 error.

Added info: Checked Services (Local) under Component Services. Found an entry to start "DiamondCS ProcessGuard Service v3.200". Since I did an uninstall I found this out of place. Tried to disable but access was denied. As mentioned above I could not delete the two EXEs in the Process Guard folder (only items in the folder), nor could I delete the folder. So I renamed the folder and now I do not see the Mutex 2 error. Need to try Safe Mode again after some more testing.

More Info: In the Registry there are 5 references to Process Guard that cannot be erased. They are in different HKEY areas. Tried erase with Reg First Aid and RegEdit. The Local one is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DCSPGSRV Others are similar.

Tried reinstalling 3.2 but it had problems because of the non-erasable entries. Safe Mode still wil not work but "normal" mode does and this is being created on the problem PC. I want to avoid reloading Windows!!
Dick Boley
XP/SP2 all updates installed

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

boleyd, sorry that no one has responded sooner.. it sounds like you did not properly uninstall PG, or, the program did not properly uninstall.. i use build 3.15 and have not installed build 3.2, so..

i am not sure how to remedy the situation.. i was hoping that some "pro" would respond.. i will try to help..

i would suggest this, but there might be other ways of doing things:

1. start your computer in "safe mode".. that way, PG should not be running.. to start your computer in "safe mode", press "F8" as your computer is booting up, and follow the prompts (to start in "safe mode").

2. delete the PG folder in c/program files/ (c/program files/processguard)

3. delete these files in "c/windows/system32":

procguard.dll; pguard.dat; pghash.dat

4. delete the file "procguard.sys" from c/windows/system32/drivers (within the "drivers" folder)

5. remove the PG "startup" regkeys. look in hkey_current_user/software/microsoft/windows/current version/run

you will see the "processguard" regkey, there

and look in

hkey_local_machine/software/microsoft/windows/current version/run

you will see the "pgaccount" regkey, there

another regkey that you could remove (delete) would be

hkey_local_machine/system/currentcontrolset/services/"procguard"



i have seem the "mutex" errors mentioned before, but i have never had them myself.. i believe that they (the "mutex" errors) are related to diamondcs's "TDS-3", the antitrojan program, which has been discontinued.. (you should uninstall that, too, imo..)

reformatting is a "fix-all"-option..

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

There are Manual Uninstall instructions in the PG helpfile.

Why can't you start Windows in Safe Mode? what happens when you try?

This suggests that the driver (procguard.sys) is still active and protecting the ProcessGuard executables. Try re-installing PG, go into the program and turn off protection, then do a normal uninstall (Start menu | Program Files | ProcessGuard | Uninstall)

Best regards,
Wayne

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

Thanks for the suggestions. I have evolved through most of them already. File deletions, registry changes, install/uninstall. The basic problem is focused on the "locking" of the Diamondcs registry entries. The RegEdit progam, and others, cannot delete them. The EXE files in the original PG folder and the SYS file are also locked in some way. I checked properties and no evidence of how. Safe Mode starts but only partially completes the loading of the Windows environment. The Taskbar starts to appear but remains blank in-that no items appear and the system locks. Various programs such as Flight Simulator, Ham Radio, Outlook Express, and Quicken work of for now. The system has been running overnight ok but I believe that I am on "thin ice".

I should note that the error I receive is "Cannot Open Mutex 2". This occurs at soon after I am running applications after re-booting with everything about PG that I am allowed to delete, is deleted. I did a search in the registry using "procguard". Previously I had only used Diamondcs. 14 entries were found but they are locked without permission to change. I checked and my account is set to Administrator. I tried changing Permissions in RegEdit but some entries were blocked in a manner that I could not change anything Those 2 I changed were then deleted. Most remained locked.

There may be other damage to Windows as well but not known right now. PG may be a victim or the cause

Dick

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

maybe the problem is related to a firewall.. try disabling your firewall and then booting into safe mode...

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

Same results with Firewall off. Thanks for the suggestion.

I placed Windows on a different drive the last time I installed it. I now tried deleting all of the old/previous Windows install files. All deleted ok but PGUARD, PGHASH and PROCGuard could not be deleted. I do not know if this is an intent of Diamond or if this is a result of some other issue?? Locking files in a manner that only Bill Gates can delete them is reprehensible. Since I paid for the OS I should be able to delete what I want. However, if I really took the time to look at the license it undoubtedly says that I have no rights to anything that Bill Gates wants kept a secret. In effect I have a limited use lifetime lease.

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error?? Repaired!

Unable to await a sophisticated resolution I did a clean install of Windows XP/SP2. This released the locks on the registry and the files which I immediately deleted. I am up and running again after the usual all day battle with the poorly designed (catered to commercial interests) Windows.

Although I have no precise evidence, the root cause may be the coexistence of the new Windows One Care and PG. I have another PC which had the demo of PG on it. It also had the new Windows One Care. I un-installed the PG Demo and found that several registry entries remained along with some files. Leaving these in place I rebooted and received the looking for Mutex 2 error from Process Guard despite the un-install under the Windows control panel. FORTUNATELY the several residue items were not locked and were deleted with no further evidence of harm on that PC.

I am quite upset with both Diamondcs and Microsoft. Rather than expound on my thoughts I have decided to not install Process Guard on any of my PCs. The risk is much too great. Microsoft "safety" products are now coming out and, while it can be argued that they are not yet "mature", a large company is behind them. Therefore, the service/support/development will far exceed the one or two person companies that are too often plagued with personalities/agendas . I simply will not risk my systems even though the alleged functionality of a product is quite high.

Dick Boley

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

Disagree here. But you're entitled.

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

boleyd,
I'm sorry to hear that you decided to do a reinstall. I've looked back through old data but we've only ever seen one other user report the "Cannot load mutex 2" error, which he resolved simply by uninstalling in Safe Mode. Without being able to physically analyse your system there's not much I can tell you at the moment, but I don't think ProcessGuard was the cause of the problems on your system as they are quite unique, and for example you also had problems in Safe Mode which is quite strange also, and would also indicate that ProcessGuard isn't the problem because the ProcessGuard driver isn't loaded during Safe Mode.

How did you try to uninstall the program? Did you just try to delete the files, or ... ? If you could explain each step you took that would be very helpful, thanks

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

The uninstall was done by envoking the PG uninstall.exe directly. on the problem PC.

On the other PC I used the Windows uninstall which allowed some residue of files and registry entries.

I would place the blame with the combination of the Windows One Care program and PG. The other poster with a Mutex error may also have a combination of elements problem.

I simply cannot afford to go further with the combination. As I said I have opt'd for using the Windows One Care over PG. I fully recognize that PG offers unique capabilities. There are also valid arguments about bugs appearing in Microsoft programs - TRUE. However, they have the ability, with a problem such as this, to go to the OS staff for help. Further, the evolution of functions is less problematic given the breadth of internal testing processes they use. Finally, they have a staff that is of sufficient size that the illness, divorce, injury, etc. of one person does not seriously impact a product. These are my rationale which is probably contrary and will create some emotional responses from the supporters of PG.

Dick Boley

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

dick, you don't have to give up on PG.. i have been using build 3.x for some time, and it does not cause any problems for me..

i have seen where some people have quit using PG because it interfered with some video games that they played, but unless you run into a problem like that, i would not quit using it..

unless PG is interfering with something on your pc, i would try it again, only, use the tried-n-tested build 3.15..

and, if you want to uninstall it, i don't think it would be a problem, just be sure to close ALL of PG's processes (using task manager to close some of them) before running the uninstall.. and then reboot to complete the uninstall..

however, maybe there is something about ms "onecare" that conflicts with PG's uninstall (somehow)..

i looked at "onecare" and i didn't see anything special about it, that is, why anyone would need it..

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

Thanks for the encouragement. I have used a wide variety of sypware, virus, and firewall programs. I end up with a stew of running processes which does not give me a warm feeling. The One Care seems to offer the "possibility" of combining some of these in a more rational, more manageable manner. I fully expect it to not be the equal of individual programs of good quality. However, I do not visit sites such as Warez Crack where you are bound to be contaminated. Also I never open idiotic emails. I do use a separate program called POPFILE to pre-classify messages which Express then filters to specific folders - Inbox or Delete.

Now, I just had another instance of the system exhibiting similar problems. There were no addons loaded - pure XP/SP2. The one thing that did have was a load of the Lexmark printer stuff from their CD. I also had this loaded before. This time a system restore brought the system back to a stable condition but with at least one file being hit. Need to do CHKDSK to see if that will clean it up. Again, in this event Safe Mode would not start. So PG
was not involved. After some time in a pristine setting I will give it another try.

Dick

 

Re: PG 3.3 - Cannot Load Mutex 2 error??

dick, i am sorry to add to this, but you said that you did a "clean" reinstall of win xp, and then deleted the PG files..

if you did a "clean" reinstall of win xp, the harddrive should have been "wiped" when you "formatted" the harddrive, and so there should have not been any PG files to delete..

to do a "clean" reinstall of win xp, you need to boot from the cd-rom drive with the win xp cd, and then format the harddrive etc..

there is also an option of doing a "low-level" format..

 

The "clean install" is my personal term describing that I did not attempt any of the so-called repair proceedures offered by Windows XP when you either boot from the CD or load their setup. I had to boot from the CD twice due to the problems. If clean install was mis-used I apologize.

 

I have now been running PG and Windows One Care for several days without incident. The PG version is 3.15 as I await an official public release of an updated version. The advantage of One Care is that it auto-runs de-fragment at scheduled intervals, is an ant-virus program, and enhances the Windows firewall to block outgoing programs that are not on the exceptions list. Now all of that may be third-rate but my goal is to reduce the number of security programs, and the resulting background programs, to a low level.

In my view the greatest danger is Identity Theft. Clobbering a browser is annoying but ID theft is a disaster. For that reason I look to PG to detect any unusual activity that I have not authorized. If PG matures, more people will use it and it may become a target itself as the evil ones (Bushisim) attempt to dilute its capabilities. I hope that Diamondcs have, or will, take the precautions to keep their code pristine.

I use Lavasoft for spyware since the current Microsoft spyware product is deliberately prevented from analyzing cookies. Unfortunately, they place the Companies commercial relationships before the safety of their customers information.

My original problem has probably been traced to the USB controller not having a proper driver installed. Poking about revealed this in the Device Manager. It is just one of hundreds of "unprogrammed" error conditions existing in Windows. If something is wrong shut it down and inform the customer, in plain language, of the problem. When I see something like Run-time Error 76, with no other info, to me it is a sterling example of a product manager not wanting to spend money for proper error handling. All of this stuff could be made as safe as a Mac if commercial capabilities were not placed ahead of the needs of the customers. Linux and the Mac OS were designed for the user. Windows was designed to support a grand commercial (read profit) scheme to conquer and hold the the world of the Internet.

Dick

 

dick, i am with you 100%

i think microsoft should work towards a new standard for webpages that are more secure.. MS has the clout to bring about such a change..

what you said about ms's "onecare" sounds good.. i did not realize that it had those features.. from what i read, it looked like the only thing that it did was tell you if you were not running a firewall..

i never have liked the ms antispyware program.. it is too funky, for me..

i think registry protection is important, too.. i use "ghost security's" "regdefend".. before i started using "regdefend", i was using diamondcs's "regprot", which can be downloaded from the DCS website, under "products", and is free..

http://www.ghostsecurity.com/

http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=regprot

p.s. if you are not familiar with "regprot", just unzip the file, then paste the folder with all of the files in it into "c/program files". then doubleclick the file that says "administration" to run the regprot control panel. then adjust the settings for it ie "start" and "run at startup".. you can add a shortcut for the regprot control panel to you list of "all programs" (C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs), then you can disable/enable regprot's protection, as desired..

 

Next time you can't delete a locked file, try moving it to a temp folder. You should be able to delete it then.

 

I have a Lexmark X4270 all in one printer, for some strange reason after a couple of hours all three lights come on (Fax, Copy and Scan) and I cant turn it off without turning it off at the powerpoint, this is my third printer in 2 weeks, does anyone know how to fix this?, Are these printers faulty?
Help

 

Hi Emu100.

Does PG block any drivers/services for the printer or spoolsv.exe,memory access even.

 

I had this error a few times (with PG 3.15), normally after installing a firewall, the last one I think was LnS (this was before I started restoring the drives before installing a new/different firewall). I think the problems in my case where the installation of the firewalls TDI drivers. (but I didnt do a lot of checking at the time).
I suppose I could always try and re-produce this.......

 

PG doesn't run in Safe Mode - period.

The best way to fix any problem is to remove it from Safe Mode, do some PC maintenance and the clear PREFETCH trick, and install and follow the setup guidelines. Then you have no problems. I can't find conflicts with programs, even common low level ones like Norton AV..

 

i know someone who recently started having problems with the lights on their printer staying on..

i am thinking that maybe it is a win32.mcafee.gen virus..

 

Hello,
I managed to get this error again (I knew I would with all the different setups I do). The error showed up after I enabled my second NIC card. The cable was connected, but I had the IP settings to "Obtain an IP address automatically", which it could not do (As I use fixed IPs, and the DHCP service is disabled) so the computer stalled for a short time (as it attemped to obtain the IP), then after I managed to open control panel/network connections ... to change the settings, up popped the "Mutex 2" error, and the PG icon was grayed out,... moving the mouse pointer over the PG icon, a little popup stated "error in initialization".

Just thought I would post this for "info" only.

Latest beta working well by the way.

Regards

 

Thought I'd chime in here, as Stem did, with a 'mutex' experience that I had on bootup this morning.

I got the error message "mutex 2 not found" late in the boot sequence and a bit later a popup from PG informing me that 'pgaccount.exe' had not started (etc).

Sure enough, in Task Mgr, pgaccount was not in the list. Why this happened I have no idea. I did not do anything unusual yesterday nor between last night's shutdown and today's boot. I did a reboot, same thing.

I've been running PG since the demise of TDS-3 - which I still have installed and use from time to time. I also run PE & WG, never having a problem with any of them.

I got on the net, Google'd for 'mutex 2' and landed here on poke 1 - good stuff

I did a normal uninstall per instructions, left the hash tables intact, cleared Prefetch, re-installed, solving the problem in about 15-20 minutes. The only thing I lost was the 690-odd attack detections notice, now Zero. Not that this matters, but I liked the flag waving

I'm running XP Pro/SP2 lean & mean w/latest updates on a 6 year old 1.7 Ghz/256MB DDR Ram Intel-based Whitebox.

I do not run 'suites' of any brand, not Norton, McAfee, Microsoft yada yada.

I prefer to pick and chose dedicated utils from companies like DiamondCS building my security layers in a way that allow me considerable flexibilty in their use.

I could have easily got out of this problem by restoring a 2 day old Image Backup (I use BootItNG), but since Wayne and Gavin made the solution absolutely clear and easy here, used their advice instead. This is where these guys have it all over 'the suits', and why I prefer and pursue their solutions

Just my 2 cents worth...

PS - I'm assuming you guys (W & G) don't wear suits - no offence intended if you do

 

I couldn't help thinking as I was reading through this thread that this would have been a good solution to boleyd's earlier woes. And then you posted it

To my thinking, why just have a single partition and rely on Windows restore? At least image the partition to one side so a recovery can be made. Or just have multiple partitions with a second or third 'clone' copy of your working XP partition that can be booted to. That is pretty easy to setup (with programs like BooItNG).
When you get a problem as above, it should be possible to reboot and choose a different partition , and you are back up and working.