Windows fails to load Quicken

I posted my problem originally in the other software section. After many hours and back and forth emails with Quicken's tech support, they are convinced that this is a problem with a conflict somewhere in Windows XP. The last message sent to me advised me to contact a Windows professional or MS Customer Support. In hopes that I can try to pull in as much help as possible, I will also post my problem here for the purpose of drawing in the knowledge of this board.

P4 3GHZ
WinXP SP2
1 Gig RAM
80 Gig HD

To be as brief as possible: I have Quicken Deluxe 2005 & 2006. Suddenly, a few weeks ago, my Quicken stopped working. Rather, it will load as a process that I can see in Process Manager as qw.exe, but the program does not load - not even the splash screen.

In safe mode, Quicken loads normally.

One would think the problem was a conflicted process or start-up program. I have tried booting my system with msconfig in the diagnostic mode which closely simulates safe mode. Even then, Quicken fails to load.

I have used Windows Install Clean Up, WinXP Manager (reg clean, smart uninstaller), Regseeker (to seach out Quicken, Intuit, and qw.exe references), Ewido Professional, SpyBot, Ad-Aware, PC Bug Doctor, AntiVir - most recent upadate, Registry Mechanic; I have verified system files and integrity using the native windows util.

I am at a loss at what could be causing the problem. I am convinced it is not an install problem, but a conflict or setting problem somewhere. When Quicken first started failing, I did a system restore and it worked again for a day or two - then it stopped working again and the restore no longer fixes the problem.

I am just looking for advice or troubleshooting tip on where I can find the problem. The only major mods on my computer are that I tweak around with processes, but that is a pretty common thing for XP users and I have never had any trouble with it in the past. I have used a couple of settings that do things like "force .DLL from memory" and have "turned off indexing service ".

I have attempted to clear and/or turn off pre-fetch data.

Here is an excerpt from Quicken tech support email that gives a summary of other steps I have attempted.

Any help or advice for troubleshooting and solving this problem would be an immense favor to me.

 

Ok, there has been some troubleshooting progress. I just need someone who understand the nuts & bolts of boot options to give me some pointers on where to start. If I use msconfig to select a normal start-up, but in boot.ini options choose /SAFEBOOT and dsrepair, then Quicken will load normally. Looking at this option in msconfig, it appears that all services that normally load are loaded (hence ruling out a windows service conflict). It does disable some of my startup programs and does not load Windowsblinds. I have uninstalled WindowsBlinds previously and that did not solve the problem. That I can tell, Spybot and WinPatrol are the only other programs that have not automatically started up. I have tried uninstalling them, as well, in the past while troubleshooting with no results. That leads me to believe there is some other difference in boot or sequence from /SAFEBOOT -> dsrepair and my normal boot.

Perhaps someone that is more familiar with the dsrepair switch might be able to lead me in the right direction as to what is taking place that will not take place in normal boot? I feel like this is as close as I have come to actually fixing this problem. Any help would be appreciated.

TIA!

 

Of all things...

One of the first programs that I suspected causing the problems was Stardock WindowsBlinds. I noticed the problems shortly after installing this program. I had taken steps to uninstall, regclean, etc to get rid of all traces of it. That did not help, so I put it out of mind.

It turns out that it IS a Stardock product that caused the error. IconPacker has a .dll - called iprepair.dll that causes Quicken to fail to load. I finally found this via a google seach. It was buried a year ago on the Quicken fora here.

I could not find that solution in the various searches that I did on that forum - I was just using the wrong keywords I guess. Quicken support did not even identify the problem in the dozens of emails between us.

The good news is the problem is solved. Thanks to all that tried to help.

FYI: I guess other Stardock progs can cause the same error. I run WindowsBlinds with no problem, but I guess other Stardock family progs can lead to the problem. I can do without - tho' I have heard there are work-a-rounds. No thanks.

 

Yeah, I already sent them a follow-up with a link to their own Tech fora. Load off my shoulders. I wish it were elementary. iprepair.dll made for quite a good Moriarty impersonation. I was luckily able to hold on before going over the Reichenbach Falls along with the evil Doctor Iprepair.dll