Hi all, Since our migration to Windows 7 64-bit we have been experiencing intermittent 'freezing' issues. This is generally when a user connects to our VPN using the Cisco Anyconnect VPN client, however this issue has also risen when a machine has been moved from one network to another. i.e. unplugged from private network then plugged into our corporate network. This issue is very intermittent and only affects approximately 25% of our machines. These affected machines may only exhibit this symptom once a month, or multiple times in a row. The symptom is: User connects to VPN After an unspecified period of time (1 second to 10 minutes) Cannot open new applications. the process appears in Task Manager, but the program never appears on the screen. The cursor will change to the spinning icon for a few seconds though. Already open applications appear to function normally. Mouse and keyboard function normally Cannot disconnect from VPN or shutdown computer System 'unfreezes' if the user kills the svchost.exe -netsvcs process in Task Manager. (The trick being that the user must have Task Manager open before the system freezes, else they cannot open Task Manager to kill svchost) I have contacted Sophos support regarding this issue, but the case was closed with no resolution. Due to the intermittent nature of this issue and the non-technical nature of the staff having this issue, I was not able to provide procmon logs within the case timeframe. I have tested: Disabling the firewall Disabling on-access scanning Disabling BOPS Sophos version 9.x and 10.0 Latest version of Cisco Anyconnect client Fully patched version of Windows 7 SP1 64-bit enterprise Has anyone had any similar issues, or idea's with regard to troubleshooting? Thanks in advance, Jake. :35803

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Windows 7 64-bit freeze/deadlock condition

Hi all,

Since our migration to Windows 7 64-bit we have been experiencing intermittent 'freezing' issues.

This is generally when a user connects to our VPN using the Cisco Anyconnect VPN client, however this issue has also risen when a machine has been moved from one network to another. i.e. unplugged from private network then plugged into our corporate network. This issue is very intermittent and only affects approximately 25% of our machines. These affected machines may only exhibit this symptom once a month, or multiple times in a row.

The symptom is:

User connects to VPN
After an unspecified period of time (1 second to 10 minutes)
Cannot open new applications. the process appears in Task Manager, but the program never appears on the screen. The cursor will change to the spinning icon for a few seconds though.
Already open applications appear to function normally.
Mouse and keyboard function normally
Cannot disconnect from VPN or shutdown computer
System 'unfreezes' if the user kills the svchost.exe -netsvcs process in Task Manager. (The trick being that the user must have Task Manager open before the system freezes, else they cannot open Task Manager to kill svchost)

I have contacted Sophos support regarding this issue, but the case was closed with no resolution. Due to the intermittent nature of this issue and the non-technical nature of the staff having this issue, I was not able to provide procmon logs within the case timeframe.

I have tested:

Disabling the firewall
Disabling on-access scanning
Disabling BOPS
Sophos version 9.x and 10.0
Latest version of Cisco Anyconnect client
Fully patched version of Windows 7 SP1 64-bit enterprise

Has anyone had any similar issues, or idea's with regard to troubleshooting?

Thanks in advance,

Jake.

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0 jak over 12 years ago

Hi,
Best bet would be to crash the computer when in the frozen condition to get a full memory dump. Ideally take out some memory to reduce the size of the file but not that important as they zip quite well. You will need to set the computer up in advance to ensure a full memory dump is written.
Support should be able to analyze the dump and give an explaination into the area of the problem. Ideally you would generate a couple of dumps to confirm they have the same problem.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/hardware/ff545499%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
Should work but if not, you could try:
http://download.sysinternals.com/files/NotMyFault.zip
This will crash the computer also if you can still initialise the crash using the tool, it sounds like you should be able to. Either way it would be worth letting Support know how the crash dump has been initiated but it should be obvious from the dump file.
Regards,
Jak
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0 jak over 12 years ago

Hi,
Best bet would be to crash the computer when in the frozen condition to get a full memory dump. Ideally take out some memory to reduce the size of the file but not that important as they zip quite well. You will need to set the computer up in advance to ensure a full memory dump is written.
Support should be able to analyze the dump and give an explaination into the area of the problem. Ideally you would generate a couple of dumps to confirm they have the same problem.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/hardware/ff545499%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
Should work but if not, you could try:
http://download.sysinternals.com/files/NotMyFault.zip
This will crash the computer also if you can still initialise the crash using the tool, it sounds like you should be able to. Either way it would be worth letting Support know how the crash dump has been initiated but it should be obvious from the dump file.
Regards,
Jak
:35821
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Vote Up 0 Vote Down

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