GRID causes explorer to crash with ntdll.dll

[j0nx]

I have been troubleshooting a problem for 2 days with my vista install and have narrowed it down to GRID finally after exhausting trial and error. My pc runs great until I install this game and then when you right click on any executable on the desktop or randomly in windows explorer, explorer shuts down with the faulting module as ntdll.dll. Through vista system restore i can reproduce the problem and nail it on GRID every time. As SOON as GRID is installed I get the explorer crashes. I notice that GRID is installing directx as part of its install routine and I am sure that the faulty module is installed then. I do not know if it is the 1.2 patch or the game itself since I do them both together but it is definitely GRID. How can a game FUBAR an entire OS like that?? Aren't there some kinds of checks and balances to prevent this? Is there a fix for this? I am going to try a fresh install of vista this week on a different drive to see what happens but as of right now this game is causing severe damage to my OS. A fix would be mightily appreciated since I see others mentioning the crashing they get when GRID exits with patch 1.1 had ntdll.dll hooks as well.

[electronichead]

1. Is your Vista uptodate?
2. Do you use a cracked exe to play the game?
3. Post your system specifics please, or put them in your sig.

[j0nx]

vista is a fresh install up to date with sp1 and all patches
the game was purchased and is on dvd and no hacked exe
x48 board with e8400, 4850cf, and 700 watt ocz psu.
install grid and say goodbye to explorer with faulting module ntdll.dll. That dll is wreaking havoc on people after they install this game so what gives? What does that dll even do?

[KartAce]

I have Vista and Grid and it's not wreaking havoc on my system. Explorer and everything else works fine despite still getting the crash when exiting Grid.

ntdll.dll is not updated as far as I can tell so I expect its something else causing that module to fault rather than itself.

Do you have Vista Aero turned on? Try turning it off and see if it still happens.

[j0nx]

had already tried that. disabled crossfire, aero, latest patches, etc, etc. The error does not start until grid is installed and doesnt go away until grid is removed. i had grid installed before on old machine with no issues but on this machine it is messing my os up as soon as its installed. i will install a fresh copy of vista some time this week to test it but i know its the game and not the pc because everything else works fine.

[electronichead]

found with google :

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/APPCRASH-ntdll-dll-explorer-exe-Resolved-t201898.html

[crap-a-like]

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=89520

[zBobG]

This problem may be caused by SecuRom which installs a file "CmdLineExt.dll". That file is a 'ShellExtender' in Explorer and is used to get a 'Launch Analysis' menu when right clicking an executable. It is used to obtain diagnostic information to be sent to the SecuRom website. The crash problem can be caused by ANY game that includes SecuRom, including games which may have been uninstalled. The CmdLineExt.dll file may not be uninstalled when a game is uninstalled. This Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer crash problem can occur at any time, whether a game is running or not, because the CmdLineExt.dll file is in effect for ALL executables and not just SecuRom protected games.

For whatever reason (poor coding?) the file may cause Windows or specifically Explorer to crash. There is no problem with the file ntdll.dll which is a Windows core support file, it just happens that the CmdLineExt.dll file causes a problem with the Windows core support files. Please do not mess with the ntdll.dll file or attempt to replace it.

See the post by DEFIANTx (http://community.codemasters.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-297722.html) in another CodeMaster's forum for a possible solution. Scroll down about halfway in that thread to find that post.

The solution simplified:
Find (Search) all copies of the CmdLineExt.dll file, you may find 2 or more copies. Delete any copy of CmdLineExt.dll that you find - see below for more details.

One copy may be in the 'Windows/System32' folder.

One copy may be in the 'Local Settings\Temp' folder in the location below:
(Replace '<user>' with your Windows user name.)

For XP:
"C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Temp"

For Vista:
"C:/Users/<user>/AppData/Local/Temp"

First:
An old version of CmdLineExt.dll may be present which is causing the crashing, replacing that old version may fix the problem. While a game is NOT running, delete all copies of the CmdLineExt.dll file. Then run the game again, a new copy of CmdLineExt.dll will be installed and may fix the crash problem by replacing an old version of the file. After exiting the game try Windows Explorer (or Internet Explorer) again to see if this procedure fixed the problem.

Second, if the above does not work:
As described in the DEFIANTx post, create a zero length dummy CmdLineExt.dll file. Put a copy of the file in the 'Windows/system32' folder and in the 'Local Settings/Temp' or 'Local/Temp' folder (see above for XP/Vista location). Mark both files read-only so that the file will not be replaced by SecuRom. Then try running the game then Explorer to see if that fixed the problem.

Third:
Report the problem to SecuRom. Report the problem anyway, SecuRom is one of the most problematic and unfriendly pieces of software ever forced upon the game user community.

Notes: It is possible that ANY Explorer ShellExtension can cause this crash problem - it is not limited to SecuRom alone. If the above solutions do not work and you are sure that the CmdLineExt.dll has been removed then it is likely that you may have another bad Explorer ShellExtension installed.

ShellExView from NirSoft (http://community.codemasters.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-297722.html) is a nice freeware tool for examining and managing installed Shell Extensions.

[j0nx]

Update: I just installed a fresh copy of vista ultimate on a brand new drive and the same exact thing happened. Explorer crashes AS SOON as grid is installed. The problem IS with grid. I am going to try the directions above and delete that file if i can find it and ill let you guys know but as of now this game has managed to destroy two operating systems and if it werent for the power of system restore then i would be out of luck. Shame on you codemasters. SHAME.

[electronichead]

Update: I just installed a fresh copy of vista ultimate on a brand new drive and the same exact thing happened. Explorer crashes AS SOON as grid is installed. The problem IS with grid. I am going to try the directions above and delete that file if i can find it and ill let you guys know but as of now this game has managed to destroy two operating systems and if it werent for the power of system restore then i would be out of luck. Shame on you codemasters. SHAME.


Listen, puppie : its very easy to blame someone else. Sometimes a certain game needs tweaking (aka exploring). Because you maybe own a super computer still doesn't mean it is able to play all the games. You also need the latest (or the most stable) drivers, keep background processes to a minimum, disable anti-virus, defrag your game folder, decent hardware cooling, .....


I do understand your frustration that your game doesn't run from the first click on, but thats still no valid reason to blame CM. Its meanwhile known that this game can be very hardware/software demanding.

If you still aren't able to run the game after the suggestions done here, you can also try this launcher (http://gridjoint.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=31&func=fileinfo&id=9), and play around with some settings.


Wish you luck, and please post when you are able to run it, and what the solution is for your case.

[j0nx]

With all due respect and I do appreciate your help, the game should work. PERIOD. I have just nailed it down to the 1.2 patch. GRID in its off the DVD form works without issue. The problem is with the patch. Are there different versions of the patch maybe? I grabbed it off fileplanet. The pc is a gigabyte x48 board with an e8400, 4gb of 1066 ddr2 that tested perfect on 10 hours of memtest and a brand new 750gb drive to rule out viruses, etc. I am a systems engineer with over 10 years working on Microsoft servers in enterprise environments so I know my stuff and am no puppie...

I am mulling the idea of installing 1.2 and using shellexview to see the offender but I would bet 10000000 dollars that it comes back as that securerom cmd file and their flawed patch. Fix the patch and get it out. Enough said. I am going to boot to the other drive with my old OS on it and try and repair that install using the techniques above but it's my opinion that this game is dangerous to random users in its current 1.2 form. There are probably many people out there getting explorer crashes right now after installing this patch wondering wtf is going on and weren't able to nail it down to GRID like I was. Codemasters is very much at fault for this whether you choose to accept that or not. Once again, I sincerely appreciate the help folks, even if it was peppered with a bit of attitude that I didn't want to get with it.

[bmaytum]

Off-topic, sorry: All these SecurRom / ntdll.dll crash problems (GRID and some other SecurROMed games, see BluesNews) confirm my prior decision to stay far,far away from VISTA. Although I found out thru my experience with another even crappier copy protection scheme, called StarForce that was installed by World Racing 2 game (fun but very arcadey), that not even XP is immune from Operating System crashes caused by badly written low level copy-protection code.

[zBobG]

My GRID v1.2 just started crashing today and I'm convinced it is the SecuRom version that is included with the v1.2 patch. GRID now randomly crashes while running, usually at the end of a race, and crashes at exit without fail. I also have the Explorer crash symptoms that identify this as a SecuRom problem.

Error at exit details:
Faulting application grid.exe, version 1.2.0.0, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.1.2600.5512, fault address 0x0001b1fa.

I'm going to try the zero length read-only file solution.

[EDIT - a little later]
The zero length read-only file only fixes the Explorer crash problem by disabling the ShellExtension functionality. GRID will not run with this modification because it causes the SecuRom feature to fail. So the result is that if I want to run GRID then I will have to endure Explorer crashes. This is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! Until a patch is provided for GRID I shall have to put this game on the shelf.

I am going to try going back to GRID v1.1 but that's not a good solution either.

It is interesting to note that the developers of the game Mass Effect had this same problem with their latest patch. They have provided a SecuRom update in a repair patch.

[EDIT - I retract the following statement] No, you cannot apply their repair patch to GRID because the SecuRom code is embedded in the game executable and the ME repair patch modifies/replaces the entire game executable.

[EDIT - Apparently the repair patch MAY only repair SecuRom and updates SecuRom to a new version and that fix is all that is required. Note to Codies: Get that repair patch and test it please to determine if it's compatible with GRID. It would be very nice if Codies could provide a repair patch on the Codies website. Users reporting the problem to the SecuRom MAY receive a repair patch but it would be better (and much simpler) if Codies officially provided such a remedy.]

The GRID developers (or the SecuRom developers) could however provide a new patch to fix the current SecuRom problem.

I think this SecuRom problem exists on both XP and Vista. I currently have this crash problem with XP SP3. I wonder if some Windows update has changed something that is now causing the problem. I'm using the same video and audio drivers that I've had for at least one month. I can only say that GRID v1.2 seemed to work until today but I haven't played much in the last month.

[WDA_CZAR]

I get the same problem. Grid work in vista until i patch it thats when i can no longer right click on any .exe file.

[j0nx]

Well I'm sure glad it's not just me so now the usual crowd can't blame it on my pc and not GRID. The problem is with the GRID patch. MS releasing some kind of patch recently may have caused a change but securerrom needs to get off their a$$ and fix this crap most ricky tick. Destroying a customer's os is not cool and they could find themselves in legal trouble for it. It really gets you wondering just what other hooks this game code has in your pc if it's capable of doing this much damage to your system. For now I am running 1.0 but will most likely try 1.1 later tonight. All I can say is thank God for system restore. Without it, codemasters and securerrom would be getting a bill for the time that it took me to rebuild my system. And they wonder why people pirate....

[electronichead]

dunno, but maybe you can get their support :

http://www.securom.com/support.asp

[crap-a-like]

dunno, but maybe you can get their support :

http://www.securom.com/support.asp

Yeah, you better get support for GRID from Securom, since Codemasters wash their hands off of the issue by blaming old drivers and overclocked hardware, instead of focusing on solving the real problem.

[j0nx]

I emailed securerrom with the problem and a link to this thread. Not holding my breath though...

[leadf00t2008]

The ntdll.dll error is a known issue with AMD processors, then you see Intels posting the same issue, so I give up cos mines ok : /

If everthing checks out and your still having probs with securecom, have you tried another DVD drive, yours maybe an older DVD firmware problem.

[electronichead]

I have the Steam version, so i can't check it, but is your dvd player maybe a writer? In the past there has been protections which didn't allow you to play games which were executed in a CD/DVD writer. Dunno how it is with Grid.

[crap-a-like]

The ntdll.dll error is a known issue with AMD processors

is your dvd player maybe a writer?

Irrelevant. Consumers shouldn't need to think about things like these. Fact is, these are the kind of problems that should be solved during developement BEFORE the product is released. Not AFTER.

[zBobG]

The ntdll.dll error detailed in this thread has nothing whatsoever to do with DVD read error issues whatever the cause such as a firmware problem or just a dirty disk for example.

First we assume that GRID was installed successfully. No DVD problem here.

Second we assume that GRID actually runs successfully and that there was no problem with SecuRom reading the DVD drive during the startup disk check.

The latest revisions of SecuRom rarely have trouble with DVD-RW drives. Earlier versions used to disable RW drives in order to prevent users from copying their disks, this is generally no longer true. SecuRom may however complain about certain RAID harddrive setups and may complain about SCSI drives, DVD or harddisk.

@ leadf00t2008, electronichead
In this thread we assume that the DVD drive is functioning as intended.

[j0nx]

Yeah um guys the problem here is not with getting the game to run. The problem is with the 1.2 patch causing windows explorer to crash when you right click executables. The game itself runs fine. Please read the thread before posting.

I have heard from securerom and they gave me a patch to try out but I am in the middle of other things and won't be able to try it until later this weekend.

[j0nx]

I decided to download the 1.2 patch from codemaster's site instead of from fileplanet and had no issues after installing the patch from codemaster's site. There appears to be a corrupt 1.2 patch floating around on some websites that may have gotten leaked early or something. I didn't even have to apply the securerom patch they sent me. I am going to try the patch on my other install of vista on my other drive to verify it but it looks like fileplanet has a bad 1.2 patch or codemasters released an updated 1.2 patch shortly after they released it to the public and some sites didn't get notice? Mystery...

[DEFIANTx]

Just thought I'd pop in to clear a detail about my fix method (If anyone was interested). My fix only works if you choose to use a NOCD method in conjunction with the dummy CmdLineExt.dll file. Otherwise, Securom will fail when you try to run the game.

I run all my games via a NOCD method. Not because I pirate, but because I play several games a day and switching cds all the time is a pain. Plus it keeps them from getting all scratched up. I threw that in there just in case someone needed an excuse...:p

[Barrie]

I've just installed GRID and the 1.2 patch from the codemasters website. After install I get the NTDLL.DLL errors. So I deleted the \windows\system32\cmdlineext.dll file and the errors went away. However, as soon as i ran GRID, GRID reinstalled the file and now the errors are back. So at the moment I have to manually delete the file every time I play GRID. This is unacceptable, so I've e-mailed Codemasters support with full details of the problem the link to this forum thread. I hope they publish a fix asap.

[zBobG]

I had the same problem. I filed a support request directly with SecuRom (SecuRom.com - click on Support tab). Within a day and a half they sent me a link to a replacement GRID executable which completely fixed the Explorer crash problem. Identify the Explorer crash as your primary problem and include a link to this thread (and/or the other thread as well - see below) so they will know exactly what the problem is.

See the other Explorer problem thread (http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=297722&page=2) in this forum and my posts #14, #16 and #18.

Codies may provide the same solution but I found the SecuRom support to be excellently fast.

[IamNobody2]

Ok..I've fixed the problem on my system. I have been getting the crash with ntdll.dll when exiting Grid. What was causing it was my Logitech Momo's drivers. I started the game and had forgot to plug in the momo. Normally it's always plugged in but tonight it was not. I exited Grid and noticed I didn't get the error. So I plugged in the momo and started the game. As soon as I was at the main menu I exited and got the error. It is being caused by the latest version 5.02 gaming software.

What I did to fix it was this:

1) With momo plugged in I opened device manager
2) Uninstalled all drivers for momo under HID devices. There are 4 of them. Logitech momo usb, logitech momo HD and 2 logitech virtual drivers.
3) Unplugged momo
4) Went to add/remove programs and uninstalled the logitech gaming software.
5) Rebooted computer
6) Installed an earlier version of the logitech gaming software (ver 5.01).

After doing this all errors and crashes are gone. I had been wondering about the logitech software because rfactor would crash if it was running. The problem I had in rfactor was I would setup a race and then when rfactor would load the race it would just quit to the desktop.

[gamevirus01]

Ok..I've fixed the problem on my system. I have been getting the crash with ntdll.dll when exiting Grid. What was causing it was my Logitech Momo's drivers. I started the game and had forgot to plug in the momo. Normally it's always plugged in but tonight it was not. I exited Grid and noticed I didn't get the error. So I plugged in the momo and started the game. As soon as I was at the main menu I exited and got the error. It is being caused by the latest version 5.02 gaming software.

What I did to fix it was this:

1) With momo plugged in I opened device manager
2) Uninstalled all drivers for momo under HID devices. There are 4 of them. Logitech momo usb, logitech momo HD and 2 logitech virtual drivers.
3) Unplugged momo
4) Went to add/remove programs and uninstalled the logitech gaming software.
5) Rebooted computer
6) Installed an earlier version of the logitech gaming software (ver 5.01).

After doing this all errors and crashes are gone. I had been wondering about the logitech software because rfactor would crash if it was running. The problem I had in rfactor was I would setup a race and then when rfactor would load the race it would just quit to the desktop.

yes i tried this it worked BUT it is only a TEMPORARY fix ..the next day the error is back :( i have a logitech dual action gamepad

[IamNobody2]

yes i tried this it worked BUT it is only a TEMPORARY fix ..the next day the error is back :( i have a logitech dual action gamepad


Hmmm...thats interesting. The error has not come back since I did the fix. I wonder why it came back on your system. Maybe try an older version then 5.01. Maybe like a 4.xx version?

[gamevirus01]

Hmmm...thats interesting. The error has not come back since I did the fix. I wonder why it came back on your system. Maybe try an older version then 5.01. Maybe like a 4.xx version?
i already tried older logitech gaming software .. the result is the same..it fix the problem for a temporary of time then its back again :(

[Manatoba]

To solve the problem of SecuRom crashing explorer.exe when right-clicking on executable files, you need to download the following file:

http://www.securom.com/support/repair.zip

and run the executable inside, and then reboot your computer.

It should update the CmdLineExt.dll file (e.g. located in /WINDOWS/system32 folder on WinXP, and elsewhere in Vista) from 1.1.224.0 to 1.1.225.0.

You will then need to protect the file by making it READ ONLY (right-click it, select Properties, and on the General tab down the bottom, tick the 'Read-only' box), otherwise it could be replaced the next time you run Grid (and possibly after rebooting).

You should find this solves the problem of Windows explorer crashing out after right-clicking executable files.

(Note that the problem of Grid crashing on exiting the game is not affected by this; that is apparently due to latest Logitech drivers. This fix is for explorer.exe crashing quite often after right-clicking files on your desktop.)

[Not So Big Kev]

Well I downloaded the so-called right patch from the CodeMaters site & explorer still crashes. I uninstalled the old CmdLineExt.dll files first & the only way to completely fix it once & for all is to get one from SecureRom & write Protect it, then put it back into the system,,what a joke!!
Are CodeGuessers ever going to fix this problem?
Like how hard would it be for them to releases a compatible .dll file for this game?
Sure,,it may be a SecureRom file error but CodeMasters where the bright sparks who decided to include it in the game. So how come they didn't pick up the error before the 1.2 patch was released?
They must still use Windows 98 to test their games.

Hard to believe that CodeMasters is such a big Company because the way they support their products & Customers you would think that the whole show was being run from some 13 year old nerds mums back shed.

0 out of 10 StoogeMasters