hi,
sometimes i can't kill a process that crashed.
windows xp doesn't seem to want to kill it. It stops responding, then
I try to kill it using Task Manager. I press the kill process button,
it asks me if I want to kill it, and then nothing happens. I can
repeat the action a few times, but nothing happens.

If I try to shutdown the computer, it won't work either. i have to power it down.

What's the issue here? Is it some kind of orphan process the system lost?

I'm using Windows XP SP2. I didn't find the way to reproduce the bug,
it happens from time to time.

Thank you!

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Request for Question Clarification by livioflores-ga on 21 Dec 2005 06:25 PST

Can you tell us which processes have this strange behaviour?

Thank you.

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Clarification of Question by gobelet-ga on 21 Dec 2005 08:27 PST

It depends. It happened to me mainly on Web Browsers (iexplore.exe,
firefox.exe for example)... It could be msnmsgr.exe too. It happened
on almost every computer I worked on (not often, though).

Here's the exact behaviour:

I start the program. I can use it for hours. Then a conversation
window opens/I click a link (I'm doing an action). The application
freezes. I poke the menu bar, then I get the (Not Responding) addition
in the bar. Then, I click on close. It tells me that the program has
hanged, then asks me if I want to cancel, or Terminate the application
(sorry about the wording, I'm using a French copy of Windows XP). I
click "Terminate", then it doesn't seem to do anything. I open Task
Manager, and I try to kill it from there: nothing.

I can't even shutdown the computer properly. I have to power it down
with the Power switch.

Now, I'm not asking for a solution. It doesn't bug me. I just want to
know why I can't kill this (zombie processes, like in Unix?). Not how.

I hope I clarified this enough ;-)

Thanks!

http://www.xmlsp.com/pview/prcview.htm
http://www.winpatrol.com/ These programs will help identify and stop any process
http://www.hoverdesk.net Use Regseeker from this page it will clean
any orphan programs from your registry

This happens to me about once a week.  When Internet Explorer hangs
and I try to end the process with task manager, nothing happens.

This is what I do:

I terminate dumprep.exe ( under Processes in the Task Manager ) and
then all my Internet Explorer windows close.

I don't know why this happens, but terminating dumprep.exe helps.

I used to kill the unkillable processes on my computer using a tool
named "KillProcess". It is just a small "killprocess.exe" program. You
may get and try it  from
http://www.softtreetech.com/24x7/archive/49.htm

I am unsure of what is causing this problem, but it happens to me
occasionally.  I believe the problem is in dumprep.exe.  When a
program crashes or you kill a task manually, Windows XP launches
dumprep.exe.  It seems dumprep.exe holds the dead program's state to,
in a sense, 'secure the crash scene from contamination'.  Similar to
crime dramas :). dumprep.exe then dumps the program's section of the
memory and such to a crash report file on the hard disk.  Again, like
a crime drama, it's collecting evidence.  dumprep.exe then summarizes
the crash data and offers to send it to Microsoft.  Like sending
evidence to the district attourney. (OK, I think I watch too much CSI
and Law & Order)

Next time this happens, search for dumprep.exe in the Task Manager. 
Kill that process and if the crashed app goes away shortly after that,
then dumprep is likely taking too long.  Thankfully, in all the times
I've killed dumprep.exe, it's never respawned to investigate its own
death.  That could get messy (lol).

If dumprep.exe is holding things up, check the Task Manager to see the
CPU usage of dumprep.exe.  If dumprep.exe seems to be doing something,
wait about ten minutes.  It should clear up and offer to send the
crash data.  If you don't want to send the crash data though, go ahead
and kill dumprep.exe.

If the problem is frequent, as in dumprep taking its time nearly every
time a program crashes, I would do the following:
     1: run "chkdsk C: /F" and answer "yes".
     2: reboot and allow chkdsk to run.
     3: exit all non-system programs, processes and services.
     4: run "defrag C:".
     5: reboot
Then run something that crashes easily to test whether this helped.

Also, turning off Error Reporting should allow dumprep.exe to either
not launch in the first place or exit immediately.  But then you might
have drwatson to deal with, and depending on the system, that could
work better or worse.  However, if you turn off both Error Reporting
and "Notify me when critical errors occur", that should cause both
dumprep and drwatson to stay out of the way.  However, I don't like
using that option because then a crashed program will exit silently
and without logging the crash, making it more difficult to
troubleshoot.

I know this is very in-depth for a comment, and could qualify as an
answer.  The reason I'm not posting this as an answer is that I have
no sources to cite, and I am not entirely certain of my solution.

I hope this helps you.
---linuxmatt[at]gmail[dot]com

Oh and another reason I'm not posting it as an answer is it seems I'm
not authorized :P

Thanks for all those answers. linuxmatt, your answer is really
interesting, and I think that's what's happening. I'm gonna send you
$5 by Paypal, since you're not authorized.

I'm gonna cancel the question afterwards.

Thanks to everyone else too! I appreciate.