The importance of errors

AR5211.sys error

A good friend of mine asked me to check on his laptop today because the system often crashes when machine tries to connect to the wireless network.

When we first met up at a cafe, we turned on the computer and tried to replicate the error... unfortunately (8-O), the computer was fine... no blue screen of death lasting for seconds only....

Since the computer was doing fine, I could not find anything to trouble-shoot about... we bid farewell with my comment... "Next time you want to ask me out, just give me a call cuz there is no need for making out excuses...." lol

Later he came back because, at a different hotspot, the computer crashed again... and, this time, he was able to provide me with the info that "AR5211.sys" was part of the error message appearing on the fleeting screen.

We both did some googling and were able to locate some information about the AR5211.sys blue screen error associated with his D-Link DWL-G630 wireless card. (see link) If my understanding is correct, it was suggested that one should remove the existing driver before installing the newer version of the driver.

In preparation for his arrival, I went to the D-Link website and downloaded drivers for all three versions of DWL-G630 wireless card.

When we met up again, I finally got to see the fleeting blue screen of death... Unlike the other blue screen of death I have seen, this one appears for seconds, shuts down and automatically restarted the computer.

Since the laptop is a bit slow at starting up or when loading profiles, and, it doesn't really give me a chance to disable wireless connection before it crashes, I had to take the wireless card out in order to install the new driver....

After the installation of the new driver was completed, the system required a reboot... thereafter, the blue screen of death appeared no more.

Interestingly, I don't know whether it is my imagination or not, although it is the same wireless card, after the driver was updated, the card seems to have more difficulties receiving the signals from the network we were stealing bandwidth from or to connect to the network.

I eventually was able to connect the laptop to the network and got on to the Interest. I also restarted the machine a few more times to ensure the crashing does not occur again....

One thing we know now is... at least, at that specific crash site, the laptop crashed no more...

Then, my friend asked me this question...

"Why did the computer work fine with some wireless network but crash with others?"

"I am not sure but it might have to do with the protocal" or standards (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n)

I don't know whether that screen will appear again in another hotspot... one thing I learned today is... just because you can't replicate the errors doesn't mean it is false report... lol

SPSS

It was last few weeks when all of sudden, at work, people complained about having trouble installing this software called SPSS.

It was very difficult for me to tell what the problem might be since I myself had not experienced it.

I, then, started this mission of trying to recreate the errors so as to troubleshoot them.

On the first machine, I uninstalled the previous version of the software and tried to install the newer version.

I placed in the installation disk, the installation window appeared, and, I clicked to install the program.

The first time I tried, nothing happened.

I tried one more time, two more time and n+ more times. Nothing happened.

So, to cut the story short, eventually, after I might have restarted the machine many times later, I finally saw this windows installer screen appear briefly and, with its disappearance, no new activity.

Moreover, every time things came to a stall, I could click on the installation window attempting to install the program... only to find the windows installer screen appearing and dissapearing with no new activity.

So, I went through the same old same old repetition many many times... and started to become more and more impatients.

Then, at some point, this new screen appear which prompted me to provide responses...

Just when I was about to do so, I realized that... the second, third, fourth, fifth,... n+ similar screen all started to pop up on the computer... bringing along the error message that another instance of installation has started and I shall cancel the current activity.

So, I went through in total 3 computers to finally come up with the solution for the problem:

Turn off Virus scan software temporarily

Click only once on the "Install SPSS" icon and do nothing until something happens although it might take up to 5-10 minutes.