PerfNet Error with HWiNFO 7.12 in Windows XP

[Dave-H]

I recently noticed errors being logged in my Windows XP Application log on every boot.
They are from PerfNet.



I didn't make the connection straight away, but after a lot of head scratching and experimentation, I found that the start of the messages coincided with my update to version 7.12 of HWiNFO.
If I disable it from running on boot, the errors go away.
I haven't been able to find out what error c0000034 actually is, but IIRC it's the good old "access denied" error.
I had noticed that version 7.12 did take a noticeably longer time to run on boot than its predecessors, I don't know if that is significant.
I have a triple boot machine, and there is no evidence of the same issue on Windows 10 (x64) or Windows 98(!)
Strangely, the error only seems to happen if HWiNFO is run at boot.
If I run it after the machine has started up, the error message is not then generated.
Cheers,
Dave.

 

[Martin]

I suspect this might be due to addition of monitoring some performance counters in v7.12. If HWiNFO starts too early and the respective service is not ready, it might be waiting for it to start. Try to add some delay for HWiNFO start if that will solve the issue.

 

[Dave-H]

Thanks for the fast reply Martin!
Yes, that would make sense. The Server service is set to automatic and is running fine, but as you say if it's not up and running before HWiNFO expects it to be, that could well generate that error. It also disappears of course if I disable the PerfNet performance counters, which would be another workaround.
I could of course just go back to the previous version of HWiNFO which didn't have the problem!
Can I just disable the monitoring of the performance counters in HWiNFO 7.12?

 

[Martin]

There is no switch to disable these counters, I'd rather suggest to add a startup delay for HWiNFO.

 

[Dave-H]

Ah right, I just wondered.
Are the new functions the reason why version 7.12 is apparently so much slower starting up than previous versions, at least on XP?
I already have the Startup Delayer program installed for other reasons, so adding HWiNFO to it won't be a problem.

Just one other query, possibly unrelated, what should the start up type of the HWiNFO kernel driver be?
When I was experimenting, I looked at it in Device Manager and it was set to "Demand" type.
I tried removing it and putting it back again as I thought it might be causing the problem, and I just looked again after a few reboots and now it's set to "System" type.
Which type should it be?

 

[Martin]

Does the longer startup happen during boot only and not when you start it manually later?
Driver startup depends on the Persistent Driver option.

 

[Dave-H]

Actually if I stop it and start it manually again, it seems very slow indeed!
There's a good 25 seconds between me running it and the icons appearing in the system tray.
Interesting about the driver, when I first looked Persistent Driver was checked, and the start type was set to "Demand".
I removed it and unchecked Persistent Driver as I wanted to test if the driver was causing the problem.
When I ran the program again, it put the driver back, so I guessed it was needed.
Persistent Driver was still unchecked, so I checked it again. I didn't notice then I'm afraid if the start type had changed, but when I looked again later it was now on "System".
I guess I do want the driver running all the time as it's not a portable installation, so should it be on "System" in that case?

 

[Martin]

Yes, "System".
Can you manually start it again and watch which "Detecting..." phase takes most time?

 

[Dave-H]

OK, it is on "System".
How do I see the Detecting process?

 

[Martin]

You'll probably need to enable the "Show Welcome Screen and Progress" option.

 

[Dave-H]

Ah, thanks!
I'll let you know what happens.

 

[Dave-H]

It seems to load faster in that configuration!
The longest pause is on "Detecting CPU #0".
I have a dual processor system if you remember.
I don't see "Detecting CPU #1", but it may be too quick to register of course!

 

[Dave-H]

Hi again Martin!
I've set Startup Delayer to delay the startup of HWiNFO by 3 seconds, and that seems to have made the error message go away.
With 2 seconds, it still appeared.
I suppose I should investigate why the Server service is taking so long to start that HWiNFO is causing it to throw error messages when it tries to access it, but I guess that's something that's been the case for a very long time, and the latest version of HWiNFO has just brought it to light.
I think I'd rather work with the delay than go back to the previous version of HWiNFO, which seems to be the only alternative.
I wonder if anyone else using XP is seeing the same problem?
As I said, there seems to be no issue on Windows 10 or Windows 98, HWiNFO 7.12 works just as it's always done, and starts just as fast.
It's only on XP that it's slower to start.
Thanks,
Dave.

 

[Martin]

I think it will be hard to get feedback for many users with WinXP nowadays, you might better ask on the Vogons forums

 

[Dave-H]

Yes indeed there can't be many left still using HWiNFO on XP (and even less on 98! )
Thanks for the help as always, at least I now know why the error messages were happening.
Cheers,
Dave.

 

[Dave-H]

Hi again Martin, just a quick note to say that I've now decided a better way to go is to remove the artificial extra delay added to HWiNFO's startup, and simply disable the performance monitoring system on XP completely, as I never actually use it!
I've done that now and removed the startup delay, and I was very pleased to find that version 7.12 now starts as quickly on XP as its predecessors did, so it looks as if the whole problem with the slow startup and the PerfNet error message was being caused by the newly-added interactions between HWiNFO and the performance counters system on XP.
I'll leave it like that now!
Cheers, Dave.