My Vista x64 Ultimate system has been rock stable for 2 years now.
Recently - and it happens more and more often - it started behaving on me...
Here is what happens:

One of the applications currently running freezes (it may be IE 9, Windows
Mail, or even a system utility like Task Manager). I'm unable to close or
even kill it. Within several seconds to one minute, ALL other apps do the
same (i.e. become unresponsive); the mouse cursor permanently changes in the
spinning blue circle - and all I can do is the hard reset!

The only hint is that when it happens (not always - just twice so far) the
screen goes blank, and a single small "FAILURE - Security Options" message
window is displayed, saying:

"Logon process failed to create the security options dialog"

Clicking OK closes it and the screen comes back, but Vista is still dead,
anyway...

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated - this is my mission critical
system!

PS. It didn't start right after any change in hardware, or important
software installation (I have SP2 and am up-to-date).

-Do you have an up-to-date anti-virus?


"Piotr Wozniacki" <p.wozniacki@wp.pl> wrote in message
news:51556991-E491-4280-9D65-EA26FF18C4A7@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> My Vista x64 Ultimate system has been rock stable for 2 years now.
> Recently - and it happens more and more often - it started behaving on
> me... Here is what happens:
>
> One of the applications currently running freezes (it may be IE 9, Windows
> Mail, or even a system utility like Task Manager). I'm unable to close or
> even kill it. Within several seconds to one minute, ALL other apps do the
> same (i.e. become unresponsive); the mouse cursor permanently changes in
> the spinning blue circle - and all I can do is the hard reset!
>
> The only hint is that when it happens (not always - just twice so far) the
> screen goes blank, and a single small "FAILURE - Security Options" message
> window is displayed, saying:
>
> "Logon process failed to create the security options dialog"
>
> Clicking OK closes it and the screen comes back, but Vista is still dead,
> anyway...
>
> Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated - this is my mission critical
> system!
>
> PS. It didn't start right after any change in hardware, or important
> software installation (I have SP2 and am up-to-date).[/color]

"DarkNight" <n/a> wrote in message
news:%23YW5GXeFKHA.4732@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
> -Do you have an up-to-date anti-virus?
>[/color]
Yep - I'm running Avast which self-updates regularly

-I see...... Though it pretty much sounds like a virus to me....

"Piotr Wozniacki" <p.wozniacki@wp.pl> wrote in message
news:OI$KCeeFKHA.4932@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
>
> "DarkNight" <n/a> wrote in message
> news:%23YW5GXeFKHA.4732@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...[color=green]
>> -Do you have an up-to-date anti-virus?
>>[/color]
> Yep - I'm running Avast which self-updates regularly[/color]

"Piotr Wozniacki" <p.wozniacki@wp.pl> wrote in message
news:51556991-E491-4280-9D65-EA26FF18C4A7@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
> My Vista x64 Ultimate system has been rock stable for 2 years now.
> Recently - and it happens more and more often - it started behaving on
> me... Here is what happens:
>
> One of the applications currently running freezes (it may be IE 9,[/color]

? IE 8 that is, but unlikely to be the culprit.
[color=blue]
> Windows Mail, or even a system utility like Task Manager). I'm unable to
> close or even kill it. Within several seconds to one minute, ALL other
> apps do the same (i.e. become unresponsive); the mouse cursor permanently
> changes in the spinning blue circle - and all I can do is the hard reset!
>
> The only hint is that when it happens (not always - just twice so far) the
> screen goes blank, and a single small "FAILURE - Security Options" message
> window is displayed, saying:
>
> "Logon process failed to create the security options dialog"[/color]

Something bad happened, but it doesn't seem to be windows fault. Try to
locate the problem causing program and deal with it accordingly.
If no joy, then you can resort to Safe Mode, S.R. or letting windows fix
itself.
You need the best of luck and hope you have it.

Harry.
[color=blue]
>
> Clicking OK closes it and the screen comes back, but Vista is still dead,
> anyway...
>
> Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated - this is my mission critical
> system!
>
> PS. It didn't start right after any change in hardware, or important
> software installation (I have SP2 and am up-to-date).[/color]

On 2009/08/05 05:12 PM, Piotr Wozniacki wrote:
[color=blue]
> One of the applications currently running freezes (it may be IE 9,
> Windows Mail, or even a system utility like Task Manager). I'm unable to
> close or even kill it. Within several seconds to one minute, ALL other
> apps do the same (i.e. become unresponsive); the mouse cursor
> permanently changes in the spinning blue circle - and all I can do is
> the hard reset![/color]
....[color=blue]
> PS. It didn't start right after any change in hardware, or important
> software installation (I have SP2 and am up-to-date).[/color]

I am also having the same problem, (see my post "Repair/reinstall Vista
64"), but my system freezes a lot faster, (all within 1-10 seconds).

Around the time I updated to SP2, (who in turn caused a lot of other
apps to update), my Vista has been freezing from time to time, (about
once a day).

I flashed the BIOS and it _seems_ to have fixed the problem, (still too
early to be sure).

It might be worth a shot to have a look at your BIOS versions or check
what was updated around the time your problem started.

I also ran a test on the memory and harddrive, (with the manufacturer
software and memtest86), just to be sure.

Simon