BurninTest will not load on first (or second) boot

[Comark Corp]

Hello,

Here's a bit of an odd one: When I restore a Ghosted (non-sysprepped) Windows 2000 SP4 OS to a new hard drive, On the first boot Windows will state that it has configured the new hardware (Hard drive) and requires a re-boot. I allow the system to reboot and then attempt to run BurnInTest 5.3 (1026). It will never load properly (I've waited over an hour) The hourglass and taskmanager shows that the program is not responding. Observation of BurnInTest loading first shows all the default devices to be tested, then the device list clears and never returns. If I re-boot the machine again, the BIT will load properly. I've never observed this behavior before. Is there some switch that will force BIT to output a debug log while loading?

This is a IBT IB950EF embedded board: http://www.ibt.ca/v2/items/ib950/index.html
with a T7500 CPU and 1GB of memory.
HD is a 160GB SATA. DVD-ROM is a Sony DW-D22A

Thanks.

[Ian (PassMark)]

To force debug logging in BurnInTest, use the command line parameter "-u". See Help->Other Useful information->Command line parameters.

If V5.3 becomes unresponsive during startup, I would first suspect a problem with WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) data collection which is performed on startup. This can take quite a long time under some circumstances (such as when certain optical drives and USB key drives are attached). You could try turning this off to see if this is the problem, by using the "-w" command line parameter.

You can send a debug file to us at
help [at] passmark [dot] com

Regards,
Ian

[Comark Corp]

To force debug logging in BurnInTest, use the command line parameter "-u". See Help->Other Useful information->Command line parameters.

If V5.3 becomes unresponsive during startup, I would first suspect a problem with WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) data collection which is performed on startup. This can take quite a long time under some circumstances (such as when certain optical drives and USB key drives are attached). You could try turning this off to see if this is the problem, by using the "-w" command line parameter.

Hello Ian, you're right (Trace log below) With a -w switch, the problem goes away. I let BIT run all night, and even after 18 hours was still not responding.

I evaluate motherboards for use in our products all the time, and although my procedure hasn't changed in years, I've never seen this before.

Can you speculate where the problem might lie (BIOS, driver,?) and why the problem goes away on the third boot?

Thanks again.

PassMark BurnInTest Log file - http://www.passmark.com
================================================== ======

BurnInTest V5.3 Pro 1026
Trace detail level: Activity trace 2

*** Unlicensed Shareware Version ***

******************
SYSTEM INFORMATION
******************
Computer Name: TEST-EVAL

Date: 08/01/08 07:52:54
Operating system: Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4 build 2195
Number of CPUs: 1 (2 Core(s)/CPU, 1 Logical(s)/Core)
CPU manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU type: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz
CPU features: MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 DEP PAE
CPU1 speed: 2194.6 MHz
CPU L2 Cache: 4 MB (L3 Cache: 4 MB)
RAM: 502 MB
Video card: (Resolution: 0x0x0)

******************
DETAILED EVENT LOG
******************
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, General, Save Preferences in configuration file: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\PassMark\BurnInTest\LastUsed.bitcfg
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Status, PassMark BurnInTest V5.3 Pro 1026
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Forced Activity 2 trace file
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Commandline: -u
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Create Main Window handler: Entry
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Create Main Window handler: Initialize the toolbar
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Create Main Window handler: Create status Window
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Create Main Window handler: Create scrollbar
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Create Main Window handler: Set timer
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Create Window 1
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Get Video card details
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Set up fonts
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Temperature, DebugTempCount1 5: Selection 0
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Set up brushes
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Set up brushes 2
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Set up Menu
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Load Machine ID
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, Get WMI information
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, WMI: Clear system information
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-01 07:52:54, WMI: Connect to namespace

[Ian (PassMark)]

Jay,

I don't know why it would block indefinitely at this stage.

WMI does collect information from BIOS, so it could be some BIOS initialization. But it could be a range of things.

We have added some more debug logging into a new debug build of BurnInTest that might help shed some light in the problem. I will email it to you.

Regards,
Ian

[Comark Corp]

Hello Ian,

Here's the trace log from 1027. Thanks again.

PassMark BurnInTest Log file - http://www.passmark.com
================================================== ======

BurnInTest V5.3 Pro 1027 DEBUG
Trace detail level: Activity trace 2

*** Unlicensed Shareware Version ***

******************
SYSTEM INFORMATION
******************
Computer Name: TEST-EVAL

Date: 08/04/08 07:26:05
Operating system: Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4 build 2195
Number of CPUs: 1 (2 Core(s)/CPU, 1 Logical(s)/Core)
CPU manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU type: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz
CPU features: MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 DEP PAE
CPU1 speed: 2194.6 MHz
CPU L2 Cache: 4 MB (L3 Cache: 4 MB)
RAM: 502 MB
Video card: (Resolution: 0x0x0)

******************
DETAILED EVENT LOG
******************
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, General, Save Preferences in configuration file: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\PassMark\BurnInTest\LastUsed.bitcfg
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Status, PassMark BurnInTest V5.3 Pro 1027 DEBUG
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Forced Activity 2 trace file
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Commandline: -u
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Create Main Window handler: Entry
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Create Main Window handler: Initialize the toolbar
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Create Main Window handler: Create status Window
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Create Main Window handler: Create scrollbar
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Create Main Window handler: Set timer
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Create Window 1
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Get Video card details
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Set up fonts
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Temperature, DebugTempCount1 5: Selection 0
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Set up brushes
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Set up brushes 2
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Set up Menu
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Load Machine ID
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, Get WMI information
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, WMI: Clear system information
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, WMI: Connect to namespace
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, WMI: ConnectToWMINamespace 1
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, WMI: ConnectToWMINamespace 2
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, WMI: ConnectToWMINamespace 3

[Comark Corp]

LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, WMI: ConnectToWMINamespace 1
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, WMI: ConnectToWMINamespace 2
LOG NOTE: 2008-08-04 07:26:05, WMI: ConnectToWMINamespace 3

I should note that after an hour, if I plug in a USB device, it gets noted in the log right below the last line in the quote above, suggesting that BIT is not really hung.

[Ian (PassMark)]

Jay,

Thanks for the log. I can't tell you why it hangs, so I thought I would give you some information so if you want/need to you can see what your WMI settings are on that system at different stages of rebooting.

The main BurnInTest thread blocks (hangs) on trying to connect to the WMI server. By this stage the thread that monitors and checks the Windows system and application event logs has already been started by this stage and it is not blocked - hence the USB log entry is possible.

The blocking occurs on trying to connect to the WMI server, ConnectServer \\.\root\cimv2

You can check your WMI server settings at, Start->My Computer, Services and Applications, WMI Control, left click, properties. The Advanced tab should show the default namespace for scripting to be root\cimv2.

In any case, from our side we will add a timeout on this connection attempt in the next minor build of BurnInTest. Also, in V6 (under development) of BurnInTest we have grouped this type of data collection into a separate software thread (and we will add the timeout in that thread).

In v5.3 the WMI information used by BurnInTest is the Disk and Optical drives models information in the log, e.g.
******************
SYSTEM INFORMATION
******************
Computer Name: XW6400XP32
...
Disk drive: Model ST3160827AS (Size: 149.0GB)
Disk drive: Model WDC WD800JD-60LSA0 (Size: 74.5GB)
Optical drive: LITE-ON BD B LH-2B1S
...
So, if the WMI collection fails, future builds of V5.3 will not include this information.


Thanks.
Ian