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Thread: Drwtsn.exe Problems.

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    Drwtsn.exe Problems.

    Hi, what exactly is dr.watson (drwtsn.exe) ? because it is essentially at the moment stopping any new games i buy from loading. I think when it runs it then somehow prevents the game, what ever game it may be, from loading up. Quite a weird problem.

    Thanks, Dave.

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    Re: Drwtsn.exe Problems.

    It's a MS application debugging tool. Unlikely that it's causing the problem, rather there's a problem with the application and dr watson is fired up to try and collection the information about why it's not working.

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    Re: Drwtsn.exe Problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    It's a MS application debugging tool. Unlikely that it's causing the problem, rather there's a problem with the application and dr watson is fired up to try and collection the information about why it's not working.
    The games only crash/quite when Dr.Watson runs, it's like when the actual program runs, it actually cause's the game to not load/crash. In this case it is preventing the games from running. I know it is only a info gathering tool, and is usually only a by-product of a separate error that has occurred. However it's very sutler, because eg, a game will load, it's main .exe process will fire up in task manager, and there it will stay, with the game continuing to load, and it's not untill Dr.Watson runs that it will crash. I know it seems odd, but if you could see how it plays out in task manager, you defiantly get the feeling that it Dr Watson that causes the shut down.

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    Re: Drwtsn.exe Problems.

    Maybe it is, but the way to solve it is to fix whatever is causing drwatson to start in the first place. I have it appear sometimes, like when a video file fails to load, and my PC doesn't run properly after that. I can fix it by doing end task on the drwatson.exe and that usually works. Sometimes I need to just reboot though.

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    Question Re: Drwtsn32.exe Problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    Maybe it is, but the way to solve it is to fix whatever is causing drwatson to start in the first place. I have it appear sometimes, like when a video file fails to load, and my PC doesn't run properly after that. I can fix it by doing end task on the drwatson.exe and that usually works. Sometimes I need to just reboot though.
    Yes there is something that is causing the drwtsn32.exe to run, obviously some sort of error or fault with my system, well i can only assume it's the system and not the particular games in question, as it has done it with a few different games, but only new titles, my older games are fine. Now i know that sounds like some sort of classic n00b quote, with only one answer.. "your system is old, get a new one" but for all these games, my system does amply meet the minimum requirements. I have asked about this on other forums and mostly have bee advised to do a combination of disabling drwtsn32.exe from running or just disabling error reporting altogether, but as you say acrobat, i need to find what sort of fault could be causing this, but im at a loss where to start or how to even begin to solve this. Any input would be wellcome.

    ps* i should mention that this is drwtsn32.exe not drwatson.exe, sorry, i only just found out they may be different.

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    Re: Drwtsn.exe Problems.

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    Re: Drwtsn.exe Problems.

    9/10 problems with games are caused by graphics drivers in my experience. Download the latest ones from nVidia/Ati then go to safe mode and uninstall the ones you have. Reboot into windows and install the new ones.

    Next most likely candidate is Sound card drivers, then DirectX version (but this is unlikely as it's actually somewhat stable).

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    Re: Drwtsn32.exe Problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    9/10 problems with games are caused by graphics drivers in my experience. Download the latest ones from nVidia/Ati then go to safe mode and uninstall the ones you have. Reboot into windows and install the new ones.

    Next most likely candidate is Sound card drivers, then DirectX version (but this is unlikely as it's actually somewhat stable).
    Yeah that is what i thought too kalniel, so i updated my video/sound drivers, and direct-x is at 9.0c at present, apparently direct-x 10 is vista only. Also did a system clean, and defrag. Also updated windows to SP3, plus remaining updates there after. Also nothing shows up on hijack-this, avast anti-virus is up-to-date and says system is clean (ish) Not sure what else to do.

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    Re: Drwtsn.exe Problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_07 View Post
    Yes there is something that is causing the drwtsn32.exe to run, obviously some sort of error or fault with my system, well i can only assume it's the system and not the particular games in question, as it has done it with a few different games, but only new titles, my older games are fine.
    Have you ever played the newer games on that PC? Or have they never worked at all on that PC?

    Also, what are the games and what is your system specs? (CPU/Graphics card/RAM). Do you have several gig of free disk space on your main disk? Also do you have any unusual applications or hardware on the PC? Like a graphics tablet or something like that?

    I'm guessing a reinstall of windows would fix it, but that's a bit of a pain so it's more of a last resort. Something else you could do is look at the services running on your PC. Do start-->settings-->control panel-->administrative tools-->services. Then click on the startup tab to sort it, and look at all the ones that start "automatically" and see if there are any weird ones that you don't need. If there is anything in there that you think might cause a problem or you don't need, post them here before disabling them.

    Also, download Adaware and Spybot, update them and run them to make sure you haven't got any spyware that might be messing things up.
    http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php
    http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/
    There are free versions of both so you don't need to pay anything and you don't need to enter your email or anything.

    Another thing you could do is make a note of the time and then try to run a game or whatever and have it crash. Then do start-->settings-->control panel-->administrative tools--> and then Event Viewer and have a look in there. You should hopefully see an entry showing the crash (probably in Application or System tab). And you can click on that for further info, and there are error codes in there that you can cut and paste in to google.

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    Re: Drwtsn32.exe Problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    Have you ever played the newer games on that PC? Or have they never worked at all on that PC?
    Some of the games are >> Lost: the game, Spore and Call of Duty 4, there are others but i can't recall them off hand, of those ones i only managed to get spore to work. The rest just never worked, all with same error, at least i assume it the same error, what i mean is they all have this drwtsn32.exe problem in common

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    Do you have several gig of free disk space on your main disk?
    I have about 20.01gb of free hard disk space.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    Also do you have any unusual applications or hardware on the PC? Like a graphics tablet or something like that?
    I probably have way too much stuff that isn't absolutely critical on here, as regards to applications and on in the background that could conflict, i have Firewall: Zonealarm, Anti-Virus: Avast home 4.8, hard drive/cpu/graphics card temp monitoring system tray apps, system try app for my usb modem, some weird system try icon that i can't seem to get rid of called "safely remove hardware" which is to do with my modem aswell, system tray app called process guard, which acts like a firewall but for program detection instead, then there is just some background process's for my sound card, ati mom.exe thingy, and a whole load of windows related process's all of which i have googled.

    however when i start up a game, i always do a task manager purge, meaning i close down all non-essential process's, and just end up with the windows process's and the firewall, but i switch the firewall to gaming mode, which means it relaxes it's settings abit.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    what is your system specs? (CPU/Graphics card/RAM)
    System Specs:
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    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    Something else you could do is look at the services running on your PC
    Yeah as far as i can see all the start up services seem ok, there are a few that im not entirely savy on tho like: Cryptographic Services, DCOM Server Process Launcher, IPSEC Services, but they seem to be part of windows.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    Also, download Ad aware and Spy bot, update them and run them to make sure you haven't got any spyware that might be messing things up
    Yeah, it's easy to forget about ad aware & SB S&D, but they are important, and rightly so as when i ran spy bot, found a few little nasties which avast missed, anyway spy bot sorted them.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    Another thing you could do is make a note of the time and then try to run a game or whatever and have it crash. Then do start-->settings-->control panel-->administrative tools--> and then Event Viewer and have a look in there. You should hopefully see an entry showing the crash (probably in Application or System tab). And you can click on that for further info, and there are error codes in there that you can cut and paste in to google.
    Yeah this was one of the very first things i tried a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it's same now as it was then, what ever this error is that occurs, it doesn't seem to be recorded in event viewer, which is quite frustrating.
    Last edited by Dave_07; 13-10-2008 at 01:23 AM.

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    Re: Drwtsn32.exe Problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_07 View Post
    of those ones i only managed to get spore to work.
    If Spore works, the others shouldn't be too far behind.
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_07 View Post
    I probably have way too much stuff that isn't absolutely critical on here, as regards to applications and on in the background that could conflict, i have Firewall: Zonealarm, Anti-Virus: Avast home 4.8, hard drive/cpu/graphics card temp monitoring system tray apps, system try app for my usb modem, some weird system try icon that i can't seem to get rid of called "safely remove hardware" which is to do with my modem aswell, system tray app called process guard, which acts like a firewall but for program detection instead, then there is just some background process's for my sound card, ati mom.exe thingy, and a whole load of windows related process's all of which i have googled.

    however when i start up a game, i always do a task manager purge, meaning i close down all non-essential process's, and just end up with the windows process's and the firewall, but i switch the firewall to gaming mode, which means it relaxes it's settings abit.
    My guess is that it's something to do with this.
    Zonealarm and AV software can cause issues with some games, so you could try completely disabling those before playing some of the games. Just remember to put them back on again before using the internet. They are some of the most common ones you have though, so I would be surprised if it is either of them, but it is recommended by most games that you disable background stuff like that.
    The temp monitoring stuff should definitely go, because it's not something that will likely have been tested with games and is just something that could trip the games up.
    The "safely remove hardware" icon usually appears when you plug in an external storage device like a USB pen, or a USB hard drive or something. It basically lets you know that it's connected and before you unplug it, you use that icon and it makes sure any data has been safely transferred so that when you unplug it, it doesn't keep trying to read or write to the disconnected device. It may need to appear for your USB Modem, but I doubt it. I wonder if that could be part of the problem. It might be worth checking about your modem and see if there are any known common problems like that. Also if you use an iPod and iTunes, it could be due to that. It's hard fix this unfortunately and would require a lot of reading. You can go to microsoft.com and type "safely remove hardware" in to their search and get a lot of results. But it's a lot to weed through.
    Process guard / and the other processes could all cause troubles too. And it's also a possibility that none of them cause trouble but removing them is what is causing the problem. I'm assuming you've tried just playing the games with all those things still running in the background?


    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_07 View Post
    Yeah, it's easy to forget about ad aware & SB S&D, but they are important, and rightly so as when i ran spy bot, found a few little nasties which avast missed, anyway spy bot sorted them.
    Avast is just more for viruses and trojans and won't find most (or any) of that spyware stuff. So those little tools are essential. There are certain bits of spyware that will stop a game and when it gets removed, the game will start working again. But if you've run those and the games still don't work then it must be something else.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave_07 View Post
    Yeah this was one of the very first things i tried a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it's same now as it was then, what ever this error is that occurs, it doesn't seem to be recorded in event viewer, which is quite frustrating.
    I'm running out of ideas really. If it was me, I would be focussing on removing some of the background stuff like the temp monitoring and the ati tool, and some of the soundblaster stuff. I find that most of that stuff doesn't need to load when my computer starts, and it's far better to have it not load at all, than have it load and then have to remove it. I would also check whether you are supposed to have that "safely remove hardware" for your modem, and if not, try to fix that. If after all that, the games still didn't work, then I would consider reinstalling XP (assuming you have XP on CD/DVD disk)

    It's not an ideal solution but sometimes it's just worth it. If you don't have much on your PC that you don't have on original CD/DVD's and stuff, then you can just back up your data on to writeable DVD's. Or you could even just buy a second 160 gig hard disk for &#163;28. Just put that in (while the computer is switched off) and when you boot back in to windows, just drag and drop everything you want across, from your current disk to that new one. You can even back up your save games and your bookmarks/favourites from your web browser. So then when you have everything backed up, you can reinstall XP on the main drive again, reinstall your basic stuff like service packs, DirectX, graphics and sound drivers, and then you have a good chance of being able to play your games. And hopefully it will work and then you can just copy your data back off the second hard disk. (Or leave it there).
    This is a bit of a last resort option, but unless anyone else has any ideas, it might be your best bet. Sometimes you can spend more time finding a solution to a problem like this, than just starting again. And there are also advantages from a fresh install, like everything working quickly, and it's a chance to weed out all the stuff from Windows that you don't need.

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    Re: Drwtsn.exe Problems.

    To add the above excellent advice, do try running the full DirectX 9.0c redistributable - MS update it every 2 months or so and running everything from the redist can sometimes help out.

    Disable your sound card (via hardware profiles), AV and Firewall just to see if they have any affect.

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    Re: Drwtsn32.exe Problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    If Spore works, the others shouldn't be too far behind.
    I managed to get sore to work by adjusting it's compatibility to win98/me, which didn't seem to work with the other games.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    My guess is that it's something to do with this.
    Zonealarm and AV software can cause issues with some games, so you could try completely disabling those before playing some of the games. Just remember to put them back on again before using the internet. They are some of the most common ones you have though, so I would be surprised if it is either of them, but it is recommended by most games that you disable background stuff like that.
    The temp monitoring stuff should definitely go, because it's not something that will likely have been tested with games and is just something that could trip the games up.
    The "safely remove hardware" icon usually appears when you plug in an external storage device like a USB pen, or a USB hard drive or something. It basically lets you know that it's connected and before you unplug it, you use that icon and it makes sure any data has been safely transferred so that when you unplug it, it doesn't keep trying to read or write to the disconnected device. It may need to appear for your USB Modem, but I doubt it. I wonder if that could be part of the problem. It might be worth checking about your modem and see if there are any known common problems like that. Also if you use an pod and iTunes, it could be due to that. It's hard fix this unfortunately and would require a lot of reading. You can go to microsoft.com and type "safely remove hardware" in to their search and get a lot of results. But it's a lot to weed through.
    Process guard / and the other processes could all cause troubles too. And it's also a possibility that none of them cause trouble but removing them is what is causing the problem. I'm assuming you've tried just playing the games with all those things still running in the background?
    Yeah usually turn all of the above stuff off, before running games anyway. Just tried running it with just bare bones now, eg only windows process's, unfortunately didn't seem to have an effect, however i did notice that the drwtsn32.exe didn't fire up. Also tried running games with most of above stuff left on, just things like temp monitoring etc turned off.

    The "safely remove hardware" thing seems to be connected to the adsl usb modem, as it refers to it's self as "Safely remove USB ADSL WAN Adapter"

    I also tried running the games with the modem unplugged, just a shot in the dark really, had no effect

    I don't use ipod/itunes, but i do use Creative ZEN Stone/Zen Stone music transfer program, but the zen stone and transfer app are always unplugged/not running when i load games anyway.

    Quote Originally Posted by acrobat View Post
    Or you could even just buy a second 160 gig hard disk for &#163;28. Just put that in (while the computer is switched off) and when you boot back in to windows, just drag and drop everything you want across.
    I did actually seriously consider this, but unfortunately don't have any more drive bays open in my case, and plus anyway like you say it probably would be just better to reinstall windows. I have actually been meaning to reinstall windows for a while, but as i have never done it befor, im abit... scared lol, don't want to mess it up and leave myself with no computer at all. But i have been told that win-xp is relatively easy to install/re-install.

    I guess what im going to do is continue to work on this. At the moment im just waiting for red alert 3 to come out and see it that will work, (god i really hope it works) if not then that will be the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak, i might just have to re-ins windows then, or possibly consider getting a new system altogether. Was actually looking at some new custom systems on a certain web site (not sure if im allowed to mention which one tho) and came so close to just buying a "wish list system" they even said that they could have the system built and ready to ship in under a week lol. If i can get away with just getting RA3 to work i will count myself very lucky indeed.

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    To add the above excellent advice, do try running the full DirectX 9.0c redistributable - MS update it every 2 months or so and running everything from the redist can sometimes help out.
    I assume i would have to uninstall my current installation of direct-x and re-install the redist one ? as i have not heard of this redistributable one ? how is it different to the one i have at present ?

    Anyway, all-tho i haven't found a fixed solution yet, just want to thank everyone for their help, especially kalniel & Acrobat, will be adding a *Thank you* to both of you

    Thanks, Dave.
    Last edited by Dave_07; 14-10-2008 at 07:21 PM.

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