thebigMuh
Game Owner
 SW: KotOR PC
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 30 May 2004 |
 Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 01:23AM |
Summary: The SecuROM update installed with the Mass Effect PC patch 1.01 may cause your Windows Explorer to crash.
Details: I today noticed that my Windows Explorer crashed when I tried to right click an .exe file. Here's an example:
Click Here
I have a German Windows, this basically says that explorer died because exception c0000374 was thrown at 000b015d.
This crash only happened when right clicking on .exe files, no other files were affected. I suspected that a recently installed shell extension was to blame for it. After digging around for a while, I found a handy little utility called "ShellExView" that allows you to inspect all shell extensions that are currently in use. Here's a link: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
After looking at the (very long) list of installed extensions, one jumped out at me:
Click Here
A SecuROM context menu entry for Explorer, used only on .exe files, and modified at precisely the time I installed the Mass Effect patch, how conspicuous.
Sure enough, when I disabled the context menu entry, inspecting exe files in Explorer works just the way it should. When enabling it, it crashes.
Solution: Either don't install the patch, or get the ShellExView utility and disable this shell extension.
Ciao, muh! |
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Vamphaery
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
Jade Empire:SE
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 08 May 2007 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 02:37AM |
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I don't have the crash, however right clicking and selecting properties on executables now takes longer to load up, and switching between the tabs under their properties takes longer as well. This wasn't the case before the patch and only happens on executables. |
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Koroush Ghazi
Game Owner
 NWN 2
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 23 Nov 2006
From: Australia |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 03:49AM |
Good discovery thebigmuh, I too had the explorer crash/restart every time I even highlighted any executable with 'Mass Effect' in it (even when I tried to delete the Bdts DLC file it would crash explorer).
I solved it by running a registry cleaner (RegSupreme), but the solution you provide is better. I just checked my shell extensions using ShellExView and that entry isn't there, so the registry cleaner took care of it.
I'll include a link to this post on page 3 of my Mass Effect Tweak Guide so others experiencing this puzzling problem will know how to fix it 
_________________
Koroush Ghazi
Owner/Author
www.TweakGuides.comEdited By Koroush Ghazi on 07/30/08 03:50 |
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Toragan
Game Owner
 NWN 2
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 05 Mar 2007 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 04:49AM |
Just installed this patch tonight. I start the game up. Everything's fine, Bioware logo comes up and all then around the time the next logo is starting to popup Windows crashes on me everytime at the same place. Big blue screen of death.
I have no idea what's causing this and I tried disabling that shell extension and still get it. I am very frustrated at the moment to say the least. If this is indeed secureRom causing my system to crash then this will be the final EA game I purchase. That's just to much. |
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Furious1964
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
NWN 2
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 19 Jun 2008 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 05:01AM |
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Thanks thebigmuh. Had that crash and I disabled it. Works OK now. |
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hardeep
Game Owner
 SW: KotOR PC
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 22 Dec 2003 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 06:34AM |
Had the same issue and also resolved it using ShellExView.
Checking around it seems that this issue has occured before in other software such as C&C3, (see here) The good news is there is usually a patch released to fix it - I've already had a reply from SecuROM asking for an Analyis Log.
As far as I can tell the reason SecuROM installs a context menu option is to allow Analysis logs to be created to solve errors - a good thing in theory. Somewhat ironically in this case the problem solving tool has caused the problem  Edited By hardeep on 07/30/08 06:35 |
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ZeroPlan
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: HotU
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 25 Jun 2008 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 08:42AM |
I had the same Problem. I was running the securom removal tool once Click Here . Unless it was complaining that it could not remove the whole DRM, the shell extension was gone after that (in ShellexView it was no longer present). After starting Mass Effect once, it was installed again but the failure with right clicking files was gone.
The failure was not only with exe files on my computer, links to exe files on the desktop were also affected.Edited By ZeroPlan on 07/30/08 08:46 |
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Koralis
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
Jade Empire:SE
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
NWN 2: SoZ
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 10 May 2004 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 12:13PM |
Quote: Posted 07/30/08 06:34 (GMT) by hardeep As far as I can tell the reason SecuROM installs a context menu option is to allow Analysis logs to be created to solve errors - a good thing in theory. Somewhat ironically in this case the problem solving tool has caused the problem
No, probably they do it so that they know if you're renaming the protected title so that they can monitor changes to the newly named one.
How incredibly intrusive. |
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KurtPruenner
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
Jade Empire:SE
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 06 Apr 2006
From: Linz, Austria |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 02:03PM |
Quote: Posted 07/30/08 12:13 (GMT) by Koralis
No, probably they do it so that they know if you're renaming the protected title so that they can monitor changes to the newly named one.
How incredibly intrusive.
Try right-clicking on your "MassEffect.exe" - you'll get an entry named something like "Start analysis" (I'm getting a German "Analyse starten" there although I'm running an English Windows XP... W T F?) that'll write an "AnalysisLog.sr0" file to c:\.
That's the file that SecuROM wants you to mail to their support address if you're having problems with it...
But still - why install a crash-prone context menu handler when putting an analysis tool up for download on their website would work just as well and wouldn't do anything until it, say, was actually needed... 
np: Erasure - Ship Of Fools (Orbital Southern Isles Of Holy Beats Mix) (Auntie Aubrey's Excursions Beyond The Call Of Duty (Disc 2))Edited By KurtPruenner on 07/30/08 14:03 |
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Agrilla Derm
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
SW: KotOR PC
Jade Empire:SE
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 19 Oct 2002 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 03:37PM |
There is a simple way to stop that shell extension from running. Open a CMD window and run the command:
regsvr32 /u cmdlineext.dll
This semms to work for me. But I have not testet it extensivly.
note:
If I run RootkitRevealer. Sony's beutiful Securom shows up on my machine as:
HKEY_USERS\<Computer specific key>\Software\SecuROM\License Information*
with a mesage stating that the key contain embeded null's.
Soney's usage of null embeded keys ensures that the registry entries can not be deletet or vieved by the normal means.
I have not verified for sure that this is caused by install of Mass Effect as other games install securom. It is hovever first time I see the nul embedded key show op as the string "License Information*". Usualy the full nul embeded key's name have been:
HKEY_USERS\<Computer specific key>\Software\SecuROM\!CAUTION! NEVER DELETE OR CHANGE ANY KEY*
One can download RootkitRevealer from: Click Here
One can acturly get rid of these keys but I advice not to. Unless you do not want to play mass effect any more. |
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FoggyPunk46
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
NWN 2: MotB
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 06 Dec 2006 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 04:33PM |
Well, I had the same problem and I solved using the software ShellExtView...but I still not able to play Mass Effect 1.01! If I come back to 1.00 it works.
It's the 2nd time I got problems with SecuROM with BioWare's games (the 1st was with Neverwinter Nights 2).
I'm angry  |
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DraxRedd
Game Owner
 NWN
NWN: SoU
NWN: HotU
NWN 2
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 05 Jul 2002 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 04:52PM |
Same problem here. same cause, same fix.
i'm extremely disapointed.
Another glaring example of software protection only annoying legitimate users. congratulations EA!
PS: Thanks for the fix, ShellExView is a real gem !Edited By DraxRedd on 07/30/08 17:00 |
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SketchyDetails
Game Owner
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 30 Jul 2008 |
Posted: Wednesday, 30 July 2008 05:15PM |
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I was having an issue myself, in which I was unable to play the game. THe menu loaded up fine, but when I tried to load a saved game, it either crashed the game, requiring me to kill the process, or crashed my video drivers, disabling my display and requiring a soft reboot. Disabling the shell extension solved the issue. I'd make comments, but I doubt this is the proper thread for a rant. |
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Xavier Kincaid
Game Owner
 SW: KotOR PC
Jade Empire:SE
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 03 May 2008
From: The far side of nowhere |
Posted: Thursday, 31 July 2008 04:26AM |
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Thanks for the heads up. |
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hardeep
Game Owner
SW: KotOR PC
Mass Effect PC
Joined: 22 Dec 2003 |
Posted: Thursday, 31 July 2008 07:46AM |
Hello all.
SecuROM sent me a file link - http://www.securom.com/support/repair.zip - which fixes the issue. It "updates" the context hander to version 1,1,225,0. (I would suggest re-enabling the context handler before applying the patch.)
The generic nature of the link suggests that this is general fix rather than one specific to my system but take care just in case. The file is also date-stamped July 16th again suggesting a general fix/patch.Edited By hardeep on 07/31/08 07:48 |
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