Tag Archives: January

[RESOLVED] A process that is being terminated stops responding in Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 or Small Business Server 2011

You may find that when you try to terminate a process on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Small Business Server 2011 SBS 2011 that the termination process stops responding.  The main thread of the process becomes blocked and if you analyse the call stack of the process you will see that a thread is blocked in the ntdll!NtReleaseKeyedEvent() function.  This occurs because of a race condition whereby the main thread that is trying to terminate the process also tries to reactivate another thread when the thread released an SRW lock.

This issue can be resolved by installing a hotfix containing an updated Ntdll.dll driver.  You can find the hotfix download link in Microsoft KB 2582203 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2582203

ATI / AMD Catalyst 12.1 Driver

ATI / AMD have released the Catalyst 12.1 preview driver you can obtain the driver from here http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst121Previewdriver.aspx

The AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview includes all of the features found in AMD Catalyst™ 11.12 and also includes all of the latest optimizations found in the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance drivers (AMD Catalyst 11.12 does not include the latest 11.11c optimizations).   It is highly recommended that all gamers use the AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver.

Feature highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver:

AMD HD3D technology support enhancement

  • Enables support for AMD HD3D technology in conjunction with AMD CrossFireX configurations
  • ·         Delivers a new Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a connections – 1080p at 30Hz is now enabled on supported displays.

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Application Profiles

  • AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver enables users to create per application profiles to individually control 3D and CrossFireX settings for Direct3D applications
  • Please be sure to select the “Restore Factory Defaults” option under the Catalyst Control Center Preferences menu before using the new application profiles feature – this ensures there are no compatibility issues between previous drivers and the new AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver with regards to application profiles

AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements – Video UI improvements

  • AMD Catalyst 12.1 Preview driver includes user interface enhancements to simplify adjustment of video color and video quality control.

Performance highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.1 Preview driver (in addition to the AMD Catalyst 11.11c performance driver)

  • Improves performance (10-15%) in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim when Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing is enabled on the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 Series for single GPU and AMD CrossfireX configurations