Rundll32 crashes
September 17, 2010 12:04 PM   Subscribe

I have just re-installed Windows Vista, and when trying to change power settings, rundll32 crashes. Help!

Hey all

the problem occurs when I try to open 'Advanced power settings' in 'Power Options', in Control Panel. I'm trying to change the power button on the Start menu to shutdown the computer, rather than put it to sleep.

I've also tried typing powercfg.cpl,1 into the cmd prompt and this brings the same error message:

Runtime error!

Program: C:\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
posted by edbyford to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)
 
Make sure to run all Windows Updates, just in case something's broken that a WU will fix. On the reverse side, if you HAVE run all your Windows updates, maybe one of them broke it. Do a system restore to roll back time by time, then take the updates one at a time.

If nothing else, since it's a fresh reinstall, go for it again.
posted by deezil at 1:29 PM on September 17, 2010


Try a repair process on your PC, just to rule out any corrupt or replaced .dlls. (you can enter repair mode by pressing F8 after the POST and before the Vista splashscreen)

Also, try to see if more detailed information can be found in your event logs. These can be accessed by right-clicking on My Computer and selecting manage (also accessible via the control panel under administrative tools/computer manager)

Post here any additional System or Application log entries you may find.
posted by samsara at 1:32 PM on September 17, 2010


That can often be bad hardware, either a bad hard drive or bad memory.

Why did you have to reinstall Vista?
posted by gjc at 3:11 PM on September 17, 2010


Response by poster: I reinstalled Vista just because the computer was running so slowly, there were no real problems as such. I've gone into the repair process but saw no real option to restore DLLs - and I'd prefer not to wipe it again as I've just got everything installed and updated just how I like it!

What am I looking for the event logs? I can't see any obvious references to a rundll32 error, they're mostly other errors...
posted by edbyford at 1:16 AM on September 18, 2010


rundll32 is not actually what's crashing here. Yeah, it names it in the error message, but all that rundll32 does is exist as a stub executable for directly calling a function in a library. Both executables (.exe) and libraries (.dll) are the same binary format and they both contain executable code, but only executables include a start-up routine so that they can be directly invoked. If you had a function in a library that you wanted to call you'd need a stub executable that would do nothing but load the library and call the function, and that's all that rundll32 is. Control panel files (.cpl) are just DLLs with a different filename, and running a command like "powercfg.cpl,1" is shorthand for running "rundll32 powercfg.cpl,1" The argument to rundll32 consists of a library name and a function name or ordinal to call, in this case it means "load powercfg.cpl and call the function with ordinal 1 (i.e. the first function listed in the export table.)". For the purposes of the process accounting by the kernel, in this situation rundll32.exe is the executable and powercfg.cpl is a loaded library, so if anything in that process crashes the usual action is to report the executable name since it usually allows the best way to identify what process crashed. But in this case it's misleading you because the executable was nothing but a stub.

The short version of all this is that the Control Panel applet for power control (powercfg.cpl) is crashing. There could be a bad driver, or a corrupted setting somewhere, or some other problem. But don't go trying to research crashes in rundll32, because that's like trying to contact the postal worker that delivered a credit card bill that contained errors -- it's not the responsible party.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:17 AM on September 18, 2010


For the event logs, focus mainly on the red or yellow entries that occur at the same time you experience the rundll32 errors. These may point to additional areas of interest to address when troubleshooting.

The repair process will mostly just restore your operating system files (the ones from the CD) to their original factory state. Your installed programs and configurations should stay in tact for the most part....but if they do not, you also have the option of using System Restore to set the system state back to an earlier date.

One other thing: Make sure your drivers are correct, installed, and up to date...mainly your chipset and video drivers. When you look at your device manager (located below the Event Viewer in your computer manager). I'm mentioning chipset drivers for the most part now, since that would be directly tied to power management and any dlls needed to interface to your system's hardware.
posted by samsara at 2:40 PM on September 18, 2010


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