Smart Guys: I have an issue with Power Manager...

Hey guys. I just got a piece of backup software to back up my T400 today, and I did something uber stupid before I could get it installed and make a backup.

I pulled the battery out while it was in sleep mode (because I didn't want it to charge it when I plugged it up... only was down to 75% battery)... gah, I just didn't think before I did it for whatever reason.

Anyway, now when I boot up, a screen comes up:

"Windows host process (Rundll32) has stopped working"

So, I went into msconfig and disabled the Thinkpad Power Manager (which runs via rundll32, of course) under startup and it's fine... but I need it to switch my graphics

I've tried reinstalling it, but it's still messed up. I guess I'm gonna have to reinstall Windows Vista to fix it, but I'd really hate that.

I'm running Windows Vista 64-bit, more specifically.


Anyone have any experience and can lend me a hand? I swear I'm gonna make a backup image of this thing immediately when this is resolved so I don't have to worry about messing things up again

 

If you had system restore on you can try using a restore to previous state. Press F8 during the boot process (after BIOS, before Windows load screen). If that doesn't work try reinstalling power manager. If you are still screwed a reinstall of Vista may be necessary.

 

Well, thank you for your advice... but I had turned off system restore to minimize my image size... It's like my stupidity was waiting for the most inopportune moment to strike

I guess if there's no more suggestions before the end of the night, I'll be reloading

 

anyway, I ran it through a debugger... I got this message, it seems pretty meaningful, but at the same time I have no idea what to do to fix it:

"Unhandled exception at 0x77ab03f1 in rundll32.exe 0xC015000F: The activation context being deactivated is not the most recently activated one."

So, if any IBM programmers come in later on... that's a bug to fix in later versions...


For the rest of us, your system is FUBAR'd if it's powered down for whatever reason when it's in sleep mode. So, make regular backups... and don't sleep when you're just plugged into AC with no battery... a power outage will kill power manager permanently.

And be careful of moments of stupidity, like mine

 

i suggest u just get a copy of rundll32 from any friend who is running vista 64-bit version....

 

If this is the route you want to take I can help you out because I run Vista Business 64. Send me a PM and we can work out transferring the files (Skype, FTP, etc).

 

Well, I've already reinstalled, but I appreciate it all the same

I guess some good came out of this... I've installed things a bit better this time (a little less mucking around )