RunDDL Problem UPDATED Jan. 6th, 2009

[MrBrightside919]

Do we have any computer experts in the community?...because I really need some help right now...

Here's the deal...

So I started up my computer the other day and I logged on to my section of the computer. Well I get this message that says something is really wrong with something called "RunDDL", which is apparently something tied to the Windows Log On. Well I get this message and there is a button that says Restart, which i'm assuming means restart the computer. Well I didn't have enough time to read the whole message and hit the button at the same time and the screen just went black. After the black screen, the DREADED blue screen of death popped up that says something I can't quite make out because the message is cut off by the edge of the screen.

Actually, before this happened, I got to log into my section of the computer and I got a message that my windows update was turned off and when I went to turn it back on and I got a message that said something was wrong with RunDDL and it couldn't turn the updates back on. After that, the DREADED blue screen popped up with the same message I got that I talked about above.

Now, I can get back on my computer if anyone needs the specific messages i've been getting, but I am not so sure I can get into anything to fix any programs. I'll have to check again.

Any GENERAL help is much appreciated. As I said before, if anyone needs anything SPECIFIC, let me know and i'll go check...

(Just for the record, i'm on a laptop right now and the problem computer is my desktop).

 

[Jaythulhu]

Boot your computer, hit F8 repeatedly during the boot sequence until a text menu offering a bunch of options including "Safe Mode" appears, select safe mode, wait for it to load, then run spyware/maleware/antivirus apps. I suggest superantispyware (all one word) and kaspersky or avg anti-virus.

Do full systems scans, and let them heal / quarantine / delete anything the find.

Reboot, try to log in to windows. If ya can't, or still get errors, then reboot back into safe mode and do a system restore using a restore point made a day or two ago. Let it do its thing, then boot back into safe mode and run the malware/virus scans again.

If that doesn't fix the probs, let me know. Ya may have to format/reinstall.

 

[Gxas]

Do you have enough memory to run your OS? I've always found adding RAM fixes blue screen problems almost instantly.

 

[MrBrightside919]

Do you have enough memory to run your OS? I've always found adding RAM fixes blue screen problems almost instantly.

We just got our RAM upgraded to 1 Gig (cuz we didn't have that much)

 

[Jaythulhu]

Hmmm, using winxp?

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Have you installed any programs lately? I installed Linux once and Linux decided it would install itself in the System 32 file. That computer had to be ghosted.

 

[Gitsnik]

Have you installed any programs lately? I installed Linux once and Linux decided it would install itself in the System 32 file. That computer had to be ghosted.

Not helpful, and rather bad for the image of those of us who actually use that sort of system.

I encountered this about a week ago with a client who had (somehow) gotten half their files wiped. Yes, do all the virus checks, *definitely* check the RAM (dodgy RAM is fully 50% of issues I encounter in a month), and if all else fails, snaffle the .dll files in question (write them down carefully hey) and copy them onto your dying machine. (Edit: Grab them from a working machine of same installation - XP to XP or Vista to Vista).

Standard Disclaimer: You don't know me, I don't know you, this is all at face value and I'm not responsible for anything that goes wrong. TAKE BACKUPS.

 

[superbleeder12]

rundll.exe is a windows core file used to link DLL files (IIRC).

It is on every windows based machine, which malicious software programmers can use to their advantage. your rundll.exe file should be in C:\Windows\System32 (not sure, not on my windows box) and it has a few registry entries. that is for the real one

for any other instances of rundll.exe it is more than likely a piece of malicious code.

Possibly, the reason your computer is giving you that error is that a piece of security software, removed the infected file, but not the registry entry, or vice versa. Or the infection could have corrupted your registry.

attempt to boot to safe mode and then do a system restore to before it happened. from safe mode, run all of your AV/AS software.

 

[MrBrightside919]

Hmmm, using winxp?

XP Professional

 

[MrBrightside919]

rundll.exe is a windows core file used to link DLL files (IIRC).

It is on every windows based machine, which malicious software programmers can use to their advantage. your rundll.exe file should be in C:\Windows\System32 (not sure, not on my windows box) and it has a few registry entries. that is for the real one

for any other instances of rundll.exe it is more than likely a piece of malicious code.

Possibly, the reason your computer is giving you that error is that a piece of security software, removed the infected file, but not the registry entry, or vice versa. Or the infection could have corrupted your registry.

attempt to boot to safe mode and then do a system restore to before it happened. from safe mode, run all of your AV/AS software.

I have Mcafee (cuz we get it for free) and i'm scanning for viruses in safe mode. I just did a virus scan yesterday and it turned up with nothing.

 

[superbleeder12]

I have Mcafee (cuz we get it for free) and i'm scanning for viruses in safe mode. I just did a virus scan yesterday and it turned up with nothing.

It can be difficult to find and remove infections in a system once they've injected themselves into the registry or your .dll libraries.

If you have your info backed up, reload windows. cheapest, fastest, easiest way to get a computer running again. My windows machine doesn't have any sort of antivirus or antispyware applications running. If I notice my computer slowing down, I'll just nuke the system. But that's just me.

When it comes to removing infections, it can get somewhat involved. I've noticed that to help other people fix their computers, UBCD4WIN works wonders (ultimate boot cd for windows). If you have an ethernet connection to the internet it works great. It has its own disk based operating system and a bunch of file management applications, editors, and most importantly anti-malware applications.

(edit: McAffee is butt at picking up many infections)

 

[MrBrightside919]

I have Mcafee (cuz we get it for free) and i'm scanning for viruses in safe mode. I just did a virus scan yesterday and it turned up with nothing.

It can be difficult to find and remove infections in a system once they've injected themselves into the registry or your .dll libraries.

If you have your info backed up, reload windows. cheapest, fastest, easiest way to get a computer running again. My windows machine doesn't have any sort of antivirus or antispyware applications running. If I notice my computer slowing down, I'll just nuke the system. But that's just me.

When it comes to removing infections, it can get somewhat involved. I've noticed that to help other people fix their computers, UBCD4WIN works wonders (ultimate boot cd for windows). If you have an ethernet connection to the internet it works great. It has its own disk based operating system and a bunch of file management applications, editors, and most importantly anti-malware applications.

(edit: McAffee is butt at picking up many infections)

Well I can't exactly nuke my system seeing that other people use it too, some more than others. I would have done that in the first place but I didn't.

I dunno if we still have the master boot CD for windows anymore cuz our computer is probably over 4 years old by now i'd expect. I'll have to look for it.

McAffee is ass indeed

 

[Mr0llivand3r]

i've gotten that message many times on my father's computer.

i don't know much about computers, but i think it's a file that's become corrupted.

i would say, get an un-fucked-up copy of that file from someone, then delete the old one and put the new one in its place.

but before you do it, ask someone if i'm right, because i'm probably not

 

[Gxas]

1Gig most likely won't be enough. But definitely do the safe mode trick and try to clear viruses off that way.

 

[Ralackk]

Do you have enough memory to run your OS? I've always found adding RAM fixes blue screen problems almost instantly.

We just got our RAM upgraded to 1 Gig (cuz we didn't have that much)

Did you just put the RAM into your computer when you got that message or have you been able to run the computer with that RAM before the error showed up?

Also if you can boot into windows download and run http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Try a quick scan first and then if that comes up with anything run a full scan with it.

Also the error messages in full would be very helpful in figuring out what is wrong with your system.

 

[MrBrightside919]

Do you have enough memory to run your OS? I've always found adding RAM fixes blue screen problems almost instantly.

We just got our RAM upgraded to 1 Gig (cuz we didn't have that much)

Did you just put the RAM into your computer when you got that message or have you been able to run the computer with that RAM before the error showed up?

Also if you can boot into windows download and run http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Try a quick scan first and then if that comes up with anything run a full scan with it.

Also the error messages in full would be very helpful in figuring out what is wrong with your system.

Ok well i'm gonna have to get back on the computer anyways to see if the safe mode scan worked, so i'll see if that message pops up. I'll be sure to write it down this time...

 

[MrBrightside919]

I wasn't quick enough to write down what the message box said before the blue screen, but I saw that the title bar said "User Interface Error". I noticed that there was a weird space in between the message in the message box, like something was missing. It didn't exactly tell me what was wrong with the User Interface either. That is where the space came into play.

Other than that, I've got the exact message I was given on the blue screen of death. I wrote it down. Here is what it said...

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The Windows Logon Process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of
0xc0000005 (0x000000000 0x00000000).

The System has been Shut Down.


Any thoughts?

 

[perfectimo]

These aren't my thoughts but they seem to be what you need.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;156669

 

[MrBrightside919]

Do you have enough memory to run your OS? I've always found adding RAM fixes blue screen problems almost instantly.

We just got our RAM upgraded to 1 Gig (cuz we didn't have that much)

Did you just put the RAM into your computer when you got that message or have you been able to run the computer with that RAM before the error showed up?

Also if you can boot into windows download and run http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Try a quick scan first and then if that comes up with anything run a full scan with it.

Also the error messages in full would be very helpful in figuring out what is wrong with your system.

I just got the program and ran the scan. I wasn't even 30 seconds into it and I already got over 30 hits. Holy crap indeed...

These aren't my thoughts but they seem to be what you need.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;156669

That seems very helpful. I'm gonna have to look that one over, thanx

 

[Ralackk]

Do you have enough memory to run your OS? I've always found adding RAM fixes blue screen problems almost instantly.

We just got our RAM upgraded to 1 Gig (cuz we didn't have that much)

Did you just put the RAM into your computer when you got that message or have you been able to run the computer with that RAM before the error showed up?

Also if you can boot into windows download and run http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Try a quick scan first and then if that comes up with anything run a full scan with it.

Also the error messages in full would be very helpful in figuring out what is wrong with your system.

I just got the program and ran the scan. I wasn't even 30 seconds into it and I already got over 30 hits. Holy crap indeed...

When the quick scan is done, use it to clean up all the malware/trojans and then run it on a full scan and allow it to complete. Then clean up whatever that comes up with.

I then advise using http://www.pandasecurity.com/activescan/index/ and http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner

They are both online scanners but Between all 3 they should completely clean your computer up if it is a virus/trojan causing the problem. Kaspersky can take a while depending on the amount of files you have on your computer and your internet connection speed but it will be worth it.

Also what web browser are you using?