BleepingComputer.com: Event Viewer Importance

First let me say I am not upset, I'm not trying to bad mouth any manufacturer(s)

I bought my Dell XPS 420 Intel 2Duo Core E6850 3.0GHz, 500 GB HD, Vista Home Premium, SB Xtreme, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT, ATI Pro 650 Theater, 3GB RAM, 2 DVD Rom's, IEEE1394, 19 in 1 media reader so I could watch and record TV; create graphics, play games, listen to music, work with photos and go online when I wanted to. Well, that isn't happening just yet. I feel like I'm a "tester" or something for computer problems Probably didn't say that right, sorry.

I think my problem is that I remember when I got my first computer an IBM. I plugged it in and if something went wrong the technician came out and fixed it. That IBM lasted a long time with very few issues. My next computer was a Compaq. Had one small glitch, tech came out replaced the part and after many years I got rid of (it was far too slow) I write this because I know there was a time where I didn't have to spend many hours trying to solve issues or search for answers online. There indeed was a time when one could hook up the computer and go on their way.

Yes, I have been frustrated with this computer (purchased January 2008) because I have been fighting against having to find my own solutions, or I talk to a tech and he's out on the internet searching for the answer to my problem(s) while he has me on the phone. So, I think it's time to stop fighting it and learn more about

Okay. I have many many questions but I won't bombard everyone today and hopefully I can find some answers from all of the wonderful people here.

I've went into the Event Viewer and clicked on system to see what it was all about. There are some such as :
RED EXCLAMATION MARK The RoxMediaDB9 service is marked as an interactive service. However, the system is configured to not allow interactive services. This service may not function properly. Same error for Trend Micro Proxy Service.

WARNING: Windows Servicing identified that package KB936330(Service Pak) is not applicable for this system.

RED EXCLAMATION MARK Error The follwoing boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load: OMCI

WARNING WLAN AutoConfig service has successfully stopped.

WARNING An error was detected on device\Device\CDRom1 during a paging operation (4/11/2008)

How important are these errors? What if anything should be done? Is the event viewer used to help troubleshoot problems? Are these logs used to tell what is really going on with the system?

Thank you for any/all help/suggestions.

Event Viewer is a great tool, but it has to be taken with a grain of salt. Some errors aren't a problem, while others are - determining which is a matter of research and experience.

The first red x error is for Roxio. Are you having any difficulties using it? If not, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you are, then uninstalling Roxio may fix the error. If you want to reinstall it, make sure you get the latest, Vista compatible version from their website (not from the CD).

The Trend error is similar, but as it's a security program you may not notice issues like you'd notice those in Roxio. Depending on which Trend Micro features that you use, this could cause some problems with accessing the web (found this with a google search) - so I'd keep an eye out for web problems and update problems. The uninstall, reinstall the latest version thing should fix this also.

The first warning is just informing you that the hotfix couldn't be installed on your system. I'd suspect a minor issue with Windows Update, but nothing serious unless it starts refusing to install updates

Then next red x seems to relate to a Dell service called OMCI. Do you have a Dell? If so, this article may explain more about it: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&...AA0LCUOgzVl22XA
I'd leave it alone unless it applies to you.

The next warning is that your Wireless LAN service has stopped - not a bad thing if you've stopped it.

The next warning could signify a problem with a CD, the CD drive, or your paging file - or ti could just be a "glitch". Keep an eye on it when you use CD's and see if there's any pattern.

The Event Viewer is one of many tools built into Windows to help troubleshoot problems - but they've all gotta be taken with a grain of salt. For example, I got numerous errors on my CD-ROM in Event Viewer a while ago - so I replaced the CD-ROM and still got the errors. Turns out the CD was bad - and I didn't get those errors with other CD's.

Thank you very much for enlightning me I appreciate it.
["The first red x error is for Roxio. Are you having any difficulties using it? If not, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you are, then uninstalling Roxio may fix the error. If you want to reinstall it, make sure you get the latest, Vista compatible version from their website (not from the CD)."] I had problems last week with it but reinstalled it.


["The next warning is that your Wireless LAN service has stopped - not a bad thing if you've stopped it."]

This one truly is a mystery to me. Before I did the first restore-putting the system back to factory settings per Dell and doing the fresh install per Dell, my Linksys WUSB54GC adapter was working with no problems. Since the restore/fresh install I will click on the little computer icons on toolbar, message box comes up for me to connect to a network, next box comes up for me to choose my network I click on it and onto the Internet I go. Now if I get disconnected from the Internet I have to restart my computer in order for the box to show me what network connections I have. It'll say there are no network connections. Odd huh? I didn't do anything different after the fresh install.

Is this error important? The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID etc. This security permission can be modified using the Component Services admistraive tool. Or this one:

Event 57, volsnap
4/10/08 The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may occur. This one sounds baddddd to me.


Have you heard of Vista having hibernation problems? I've turned mine off because sometimes my system doesn't want to come out of its sleep state. I've been thinking about the possibility that when I was recording TV and it would stop and give me an error that it stopped because of a system malfunction or a power loss it could be linked to hibernation problems. I'm trying real hard to get a clear picture of this, when the computer goes into sleep mode the system uses less power and if there is a slight interruption then the recording would of course stop. There are many shows I record during the week that I don't want to lose so this week end I'm going to turn hibernation back on and try recording to see if my thoughts could be true.

Thank you again for responding.

I don't mean to hijack this thread at all.But my event viewer isn't starting at all!It is set to automatic but it doesn't start by it.The same goes for my Task scheduler,it won't start either.Which is also set to automatic.When I did get Event Viewer to start on a reboot it told me it couldn't be started and forced me to reboot.I had to turn it off because of this.I've got a Dell and I do have Roxio that works with no problems.I didn't even know it was shut off until a couple of days ago.If this needs to be put in it's own thread that's no problem.Thanks for any info on this.