Rpc locator encountered a problem
October 7, 2005 2:42 AM Subscribe
A couple days ago, the company's IT guy did some fiddling/updating to the server and to my (and others) laptops. Now, whenever I try to open a folder or document file, I get a message telling me that "The Rpc Locator encountered a problem and needs to close".
It still lets me open the file, and the computer seems to work fine otherwise. About four of the 15 computers on the network have this problem. Its extremely annoying - how can it be fixed?
It still lets me open the file, and the computer seems to work fine otherwise. About four of the 15 computers on the network have this problem. Its extremely annoying - how can it be fixed?
Response by poster: zerokey, the IT 'group' has no idea what's wrong or what to do about it.
I've rebooted several times, it's had no effect. I am running Windows XP. I would guess that the server runs on Windows too, since all the PCs use windows. It happens with files on the network and with local files. It also happens when I'm offline. I've also run a virus scan, it's come up with nothing. I'm fairly convinced its related to the network somehow though, since the problem popped up on four networked computers almost simultaneously.
posted by Kololo at 4:39 AM on October 7, 2005
I've rebooted several times, it's had no effect. I am running Windows XP. I would guess that the server runs on Windows too, since all the PCs use windows. It happens with files on the network and with local files. It also happens when I'm offline. I've also run a virus scan, it's come up with nothing. I'm fairly convinced its related to the network somehow though, since the problem popped up on four networked computers almost simultaneously.
posted by Kololo at 4:39 AM on October 7, 2005
Kololo writes "zerokey, the IT 'group' has no idea what's wrong or what to do about it. "
Oh...yikes! Sorry for the snarkiness.
Do you know if you are running Service Pack 2? Do you have all of the latest updates? If not, go to Windows Update and make sure you are fully updated to SP2.
That's a first step.
posted by zerokey at 5:00 AM on October 7, 2005
Oh...yikes! Sorry for the snarkiness.
Do you know if you are running Service Pack 2? Do you have all of the latest updates? If not, go to Windows Update and make sure you are fully updated to SP2.
That's a first step.
posted by zerokey at 5:00 AM on October 7, 2005
Is it possible that you were upgraded to SP2 as part of this fix? Googling around brings up a few articles that are related to firewalls. Perhaps the SP2 firewall is self-blocking any attempt to communicate on the network on the specific port that it needs, even when offline, it is blocking communication before it can get onto the non-existent network connection. See if you can turn off the Windows Firewall.
posted by xorowo at 6:09 AM on October 7, 2005
posted by xorowo at 6:09 AM on October 7, 2005
WARNING: POTENTIALLY UNSAFE ADVICE FROM SOMEONE WHO IS NOT AT ALL AN MCSE OR ANYTHING LIKE IT.
Not sure it's a good idea, but you could always try shutting the RPC locator service off entirely. BlackViper's last update to the Windows XP services list suggests that this can be done safely. Looking at the dependencies tab on the properties dialogue for the service in services.msc suggests nothing depends upon it, so it should be safe.
At the very least, I just shut it off on this machine and rebooted fine (and, more importantly, was able to access services.msc and reenable it again).
So, if you're willing to take your life into your hands - and I am not responsible if this locks you out of your machine/domain, formats your computer, sacrifices your firstborn, etc. - then click Start->Run->'services.msc' (sans quotes). Locate the "RPC Locator" service, right-click, "Properties" set to disabled and hit "OK." Cross your fingers, reboot, and see if that solves things.
Maybe backup first, just to be sure.
posted by Ryvar at 6:56 AM on October 7, 2005
Not sure it's a good idea, but you could always try shutting the RPC locator service off entirely. BlackViper's last update to the Windows XP services list suggests that this can be done safely. Looking at the dependencies tab on the properties dialogue for the service in services.msc suggests nothing depends upon it, so it should be safe.
At the very least, I just shut it off on this machine and rebooted fine (and, more importantly, was able to access services.msc and reenable it again).
So, if you're willing to take your life into your hands - and I am not responsible if this locks you out of your machine/domain, formats your computer, sacrifices your firstborn, etc. - then click Start->Run->'services.msc' (sans quotes). Locate the "RPC Locator" service, right-click, "Properties" set to disabled and hit "OK." Cross your fingers, reboot, and see if that solves things.
Maybe backup first, just to be sure.
posted by Ryvar at 6:56 AM on October 7, 2005
Oh, one other thing - MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A WORKING ADMIN ACCOUNT ON THE MACHINE IN QUESTION THAT YOU CAN LOG ONTO WITHOUT BEING ON YOUR WORK'S NETWORK BEFORE YOU DO THIS.
posted by Ryvar at 6:58 AM on October 7, 2005
posted by Ryvar at 6:58 AM on October 7, 2005
One other thing - under no circumstances perform this operation on your server (I'm assuming it's the domain controller).
posted by Ryvar at 7:05 AM on October 7, 2005
posted by Ryvar at 7:05 AM on October 7, 2005
OK, talked to someone more experienced than I am (admin of a network with several thousand machines), turns out shutting RPC locator clientside (and never, ever, ever serverside) is pretty much the last thing to try. Things to try/find out in order:
a) Try using system restore to roll back the laptops. This is the best solution and the most likely to solve things.
b) Are you using Active Directory? If so, that information would be highly relevant to this thread.
c) Is your antivirus up to date? If there was something really wrong with the server, fifteen out of fifteen machines would be down. Instead, you have four. Try running an AV scan.
d) If none of the above works, ensure that you have a working local admin account on the laptops in question, and try disabling the RPC locator service and see if everything works. Doing this can potentially cause other networking problems down the line, but may be worth checking out if you can do so safely. Under no circumstances, ever, should you shutdown RPC locator on the server.
One other thing you might look into is an RPCPing utility from Microsoft, which could help you find out which end the problem resides on.
posted by Ryvar at 7:32 AM on October 7, 2005
a) Try using system restore to roll back the laptops. This is the best solution and the most likely to solve things.
b) Are you using Active Directory? If so, that information would be highly relevant to this thread.
c) Is your antivirus up to date? If there was something really wrong with the server, fifteen out of fifteen machines would be down. Instead, you have four. Try running an AV scan.
d) If none of the above works, ensure that you have a working local admin account on the laptops in question, and try disabling the RPC locator service and see if everything works. Doing this can potentially cause other networking problems down the line, but may be worth checking out if you can do so safely. Under no circumstances, ever, should you shutdown RPC locator on the server.
One other thing you might look into is an RPCPing utility from Microsoft, which could help you find out which end the problem resides on.
posted by Ryvar at 7:32 AM on October 7, 2005
RPC has to do with networking, right?
I'm wondering if the IT guys haven't just enabled server-based profiling, and that there's some network instability that doesn't allow you to always get a good connection to the server to ensure you're getting the most recent files.
Network profiliing used to work really well in an NT 4 environment will NT professional on everyone's desktop. Sure, compared to the sexiness of XP and 2003, life was pretty boring back then. But it was good and solid, nonetheless.
I was just dealing with numerous RPC errors this morning, and eventit.net listed about 20 possible solutions. As it turned out, the network drivers for the machine in question were about 4 years old, and Windows Update didn't seem to care. Only a forced "Update Driver" click in the Hardware window cleaned this up for the user.
posted by thanotopsis at 9:02 AM on October 7, 2005
I'm wondering if the IT guys haven't just enabled server-based profiling, and that there's some network instability that doesn't allow you to always get a good connection to the server to ensure you're getting the most recent files.
Network profiliing used to work really well in an NT 4 environment will NT professional on everyone's desktop. Sure, compared to the sexiness of XP and 2003, life was pretty boring back then. But it was good and solid, nonetheless.
I was just dealing with numerous RPC errors this morning, and eventit.net listed about 20 possible solutions. As it turned out, the network drivers for the machine in question were about 4 years old, and Windows Update didn't seem to care. Only a forced "Update Driver" click in the Hardware window cleaned this up for the user.
posted by thanotopsis at 9:02 AM on October 7, 2005
Um, is our sysadmin working at your place too? This sounds like something he would do, like how he spent all day yesterday rewriting the "student" logon, which then didn't work today at all.... :)
posted by Lynsey at 11:49 PM on October 7, 2005
posted by Lynsey at 11:49 PM on October 7, 2005
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This thread is closed to new comments.
You've provided next to no information here. I'm assuming you are running some version of Windows. Is the server a Windows server? Is this problem happening with local files? Files on the network? Both? Does it happen when you are offline?
Possibly a stupid question: when's the last time you've actually rebooted?
There are several things that can produce such an error. I suggest running a virus and spyware scan, but most of all, talk to your IT group.
posted by zerokey at 4:02 AM on October 7, 2005