Fixing Things on Microsoft Windows 2000/XP

Fixing USB Scanners on Windows 2000 & XP

If you've recently added a new USB scanner to your Windows2000/XP system, and have tried just about everything to get it to work (upgrading or downgrading to a different usbscan.sys, updating USB chipset drivers, etc) and you still see the dreaded 'USBSCAN0 not available' here's one last idea: Make sure the Still Image Service is running. Once started, everything should work. Strange how this isn't checked for by scanner software installation packages.


Fixing CSRSS.EXE slowdowns on Windows 2000 & XP

If you've started to notice that CSRSS.EXE is eating up all of your processor time, and even the simple task of dragging your mouse has become lagged, CSRSS.EXE is likely the culprit. The client server service that has become a core part of Windows 2000 and XP is very dependent on the power management scheme set in your control panel. If you set power management to anything except 'Always On', CSRSS.EXE can become plagued and send the system into this unusable state.

To fix this:
Go into the 'Power Options' applet by clicking Start/Control Panel/Power Options.
In the 'Power Schemes' pulldown, select 'Always On'. Click OK. Reboot the system.

Once restarted, your system should perform as it should, CSRSS.EXE should consume less than 5% CPU, and your mouse should once again be responsive.

What creates this havoc? Many computer manufacturers install power management software on notebook and portable devices for your benefit, but these can unknowingly have this effect. Rule of thumb: if you need to save battery on your portable, lower the LCD brightness and set the monitor and hard drive to turn off after 10 minutes of idle time (in the Power Options applet).


Fixing MIDI on Windows 2000 & XP

If you've recently added a new MIDI device and are receiving the 'driver installed but not enabled' or 'driver installed but there is a problem', follow this little procedure to get on track.

1. Uninstall your MIDI driver
2. Pop open your copy of Regedit by clicking the start button, click Run, and then type 'regedit'.
3. In regedit, browse to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32
4. Delete all MIDIx entries from midi to midi9
5. Delete all WAVEx entries from wave to wave9
6. Reboot

Once rebooted, install your MIDI driver and all should be well.


Fixing Logoff Problems on Windows 2000 & XP

If your copy of WindowsXP logs you off as soon as you've logged in, the userinit.exe setting is botched.

Here's a quick-ish fix:

1. Boot on your XP installation CD, and do a full install in a directory named "XPTEMP"
* DO NOT RE-PARTITION, DELETE OR FORMAT YOUR DRIVE *
2. Boot into this new installation and get your internet connection operational.
3. Download and install Resplendence Registrar, a tool that will let you edit offline registry files.
4. Using Registrar, open the registry file 'SOFTWARE' located in your previous WINDOWSXP installation system32\config directory: eg: c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE
5. Browse to the registry key Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Chances are, you do not have the key 'Userinit', and this is the problem.
6. Set the key 'Userinit' to type STRING_SZ with contents 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe' (change to C:\WINNT\system32\userinit.exe as necessary)
7. Exit Resplendence Registrar, saving the registry file when prompted.
8. Reboot, selecting your previous XP installation at the boot menu.

All should be well now. From here you can safely delete the temporary XPTEMP installation from explorer, and the boot menu can be edited from within the SYSTEM control panel applet.