Microsoft KB Archive/923066

= FIX: The program that you try to start in Windows Server 2003 stops responding =

Article ID: 923066

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition

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SYMPTOMS
Consider the following scenario. You try to run a program on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based computer. You notice the program that you try to run may take a long time to start. Specifically, the program appears to stop responding. Then, the program starts responding after a long unresponsive time.

Additionally, if another program is associated with the program that you try to start, the associated program appears to stop responding also. Usually, Windows Explorer (the Explorer.exe program) is an associated program that appears to stop responding.

For example, you start Windows Explorer to locate a text file. Then, you try to open the text file in Notepad. After you double-click the text file, both Windows Explorer and Notepad appear to stop responding. It may take 15 minutes for the programs to start responding again.

This problem occurs even though the CPU usage is not high and the system disk is almost idle.



CAUSE
This problem occurs when the Windows Server 2003-based computer is handling much I/O traffic. For example, this situation may occur when many FTP connections are performing upload and download operations. The upload and download operations may consume I/O resources including Cache Manager. Cache Manager is not disk-based. Therefore, I/O resources may be heavily loaded even though the load on the system disk is small. The high I/O traffic causes the cached disk transfers to increase. These cached disk transfers cause any read requests that are required to start the program to stall. The read requests are delayed until the queue of cached disk transfers are cleared.



Service pack information
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows Server 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

889100 How to obtain the latest service pack for Windows Server 2003

Prerequisites
To apply this hotfix, you must have Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed on the computer. For more information about how to obtain the latest service pack for Windows Server 2003, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

889100 How to obtain the latest service pack for Windows Server 2003

Restart requirement
You must restart your computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information
This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information
The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Windows Server 2003, x64-based versions


STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2.



MORE INFORMATION
For more information about a similar problem that occurs in Windows Server 2003, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

898606 Programs that you open appear to stop responding in Windows Server 2003

Keywords: kbbug kbfix kbqfe kbpubtypekc kbexpertiseinter kbhotfixserver kbwinserv2003presp2fix KB923066

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