Hello
Unfortunately, I do not have a solution for you, but I am having the same sorts of problems with my Precision 340 (Windows2000). I have been looking around and it seems that this is a fairly common problem. I have this "debugger" issue at least once every other day, and I experience it with just about every program I run (Word, Excel, IE, Netscape, ProE, SolidWorks, etc). It is a very frustrating problem for me because the only way I can shutdown the program is to pull the power plug out of the back of the computer. Once my computer has started "debugging" the program, I cannot exit the program or reboot until the debugger is finished, which is never. I have tried the advice given in the Start Menu's Help section on editing the registry to basically 'disable' debugging, but this did not work. Every fix I've seen in these forum messages concerning debugger problems appear to deal with Internet Explorer and disabling the debugger within the advanced internet settings. I never went in and modified these settings but when I read that this may be the culprit I went and checked the settings concerning the debugger. Guess what? My settings already were the recommended "Disable script....." and do not "Display a notification...." I'm not sure what the problem is, but I do know that the above "fixes" do not work for me. If you find anything out, please post it. I would greatly appreciate it. If I figure anything out I will do the same.
thanks

I'm just another user of Dell's Precision 340s (we just bought 4 of them) who is having the exact problem that is described by these two messages. We are using Windows 2000 on all of them and Office XP Pro. I'll reiterate that it happens at least every day (an average of 3 times a day if using heavily), on each workstation and it happens with just about any application. With our machines, it happens (in any application) when we are browsing to a file and use the down arrow to obtain the subdirectory/file listings. If we abstain from using the down arrow, and use the "up one level" icon, the problem doesn't seem to happen. I also disabled the debugger in the registry, but this didn't help. I'll also add that most of the software that causes the problem was pre-installed on the workstation when purchased. The only application that causes the problem, but wasn't pre-installed seems to be Autodesk's Land Development Desktop v2i. Please Moderator, HELP!!!! We're wasting valuable time with this problem!

I have 8 Precision 340's (win 2k pro) and am having this problem on only one of them. It's also hangs occasionally on boot, right after the "dell" screen but right before the black & white "Starting Windows" screen.

It's the only one of the 340's that came with the free upgrade to CD-RW (the device is listed as LITE-ON LTR-24102M in device manager.

Also, I reinstalled the OS and the problem didn't occur until after I had upgraded to W2K SP2.

Has anyone found a solution to this yet?  I am suffering (greatly) from this same problem, usually with

SolidWorks 2001Plus.

HELP, PLEASE!!!!!!

I have been receiving this error message also when trying to close a hung application. (Word 2000)

"This program cannot be closed. If it is being debugged, please resume it or close the debugger first."

I used to think that I had a debugger running that was somehow stopping the abort process.

But I searched for and renamed mdm.exe, which is the IE script debugger, and it had no effect on

my problem. I think the real intent of this message is to prevent a B.S.O.D. (I have Windows 2000)

Anyways, the way to solve your real problem is to stop the hangs. I believe I have solved mine at this time.

(It is really solved when it passes the test of time!)

Start finding your problem by going to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Event Viewer.

There are two places to look for errors: System Log and Application Log.

Application log will show you error messages from processes running. Some error messages may be

caused by the computer hang rather that the original problem. Notice the timing sequences to determine this.

System log will show you in particular what happens while you are booting up, as well as what your system

is doing all the time in the background while you are working on it. I found two problems in System log with

my Win2k. First, in the background, my PC was trying, every minute, to contact a non-existant server. This

was caused be Remote Control Software that was tested on my PC by MIS techs two months ago (I am in MIS).

I removed that software. Next, during the boot process, I was getting network client error messages. I had the

latest Novell netware client for Win2k version 4.81 but I had 2 settings that needed adjustment.

Screen print any error messages you get and show them to the appropriatte people, like network messages

to network techs and Ofiice 97/2000/2002 messages to your Office guru.

The network settings appeared to have solved my problem.

Has anyone ever found a solution to this problem? We experience it on our Dimensions with W2K and Office Xp. We thought that the latest Office service pack had fixed it, but it resurfaced after a few weeks. This is frustrating to say the least.

sPh

I too have a similar problem.  I have Windows 2000 machines that hang when using the drop down list.  I was going in the direction that it was a Novell problem (trying to access Novell volumes).  Any success in resolving this issue?

Read this link: http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/2b572.htm

This tells how to fix your issue or may shed some light on your issue.

I, too, have a user with the drop-down selection box problem (using a fully patched Win2k and Office2k on a Dell GX240).  When they use Word sometimes (not all) and select File Open, Word may lock up and they get:

http://web.qx.net/tom/wordfileopen.jpg

Other programs work but you can't start a new instance of Word, either. You can't End Task (EventMgr says Not Responding) and have to completely re-boot the PC.  I've run Office Detect and Repair, renamed normal.dot, etc. and double-checked all network settings -- this user doesn't have Novell client running as some in this thread have mentioned. 

 

I am still experiencing this problem. I do not have Adobe PDF maker nor NAV on this computer. I checked the other diagnostics, but to no avail, since Iam not sure what to look for.

The problem also seems to occur with MS Internet Explorer. Check this out:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/r1034842763

Interestingly enough, I have another Precision 340 machine with W2K on it, and it does not have the problem. This machine is a little newer, but otherwise configured very similarly.

Please, can someone from Dell Tech Support help us track down this problem? What can I do to feed the correct information, and to whom?

TIA for any help!!!

I also have an end-user that is having the exact same problem several times a day; however, it is on an Optiplex GX240.  The problem is exactly as described by the other posts.  This user is not running NAV and is only running Acrobat Reader.  I have run detailed, extensive hardware diagnostics, and have also reinstalled the OS and all applications (with latest patches and drivers), to no avail.  Please help.  The user is tearing his hair out (as am I).

I was reading this thread while experiencing this symptom from an access

database on a cdrom. I managed to get the program and the error message

both to close by first closing the parent window (ie., the cdrom.)

However, the cdrom is still spinning as if it was doing something, and the

only way I can think of to get it to stop is to punch it out.

Howdy folks!  I am an ITtech at my company and have been quite frustrated with this problem on a GX 150.  But no longer...  My solution?  All I did was Service Pack it!  Made sure all programs and operating system was all up to date, downloaded any necessary updates and Bingo!  Been fine ever since!  Hope this helps.

Hello there. Im no expert in these matters (its a lifestyle choice not to be!), but I had this exact problem under Windows 2000 and seem to have fixed it.... (touch wood)

The Symtoms:
Almost, every time I accessed the standard Windows "Look In" dialog box (for example when saving or browsing for documents) from almost any major application the application would hang and I would be unable to close the application because

"the application is being debugged. Please close the debugger first".

This seems to be triggered more frequently by clicking on the white space in the drop down list (as opposed to the arrow on the right hand side)

The problem was infuriating, and made it very difficult to get anything meaningful done, as I had to keep forcing a reboot of the computer. (up to 6 or 7 times a day on average).

The Solution:
I did two things - I'm not exactly sure which one did the trick, but I think (2) was the clincher.

1) Disable Dr Watson by following the instructions to edit the registry given on the Microsoft site: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;188296

2) Change the keyboard. I used to get a Keyboard Failure message appearing on the initial Win2000 boot screen. This (I discovered) was a result of the Dell Keyboard I was using (the one it shipped with) having a USB hub built into it. Essentially, I wasnt using the USB mouse that had shipped with the PC, as this had developed a fault - but was instead using a standard PSII Dell Mouse.

This meant, as far as I can tell, that the PC was constantly searching for the mouse which was not connected to the keyboard USB port. I believe this silent process was in some way causing other processes to be disrupted. (eg the Look In problem). By simply exchanging the  keyboard for a standard one the keyboard failure message disappeared and so did the Look In dialog/debugger problem.

I suppose other harware/drive failures of this kind could theoretically cause the same problem?

Either way, my system has not crashed since.

Hope this helps.

 

We have been having this same application hang problem on Optiplex GX240 machines.  

I have now discovered that if there is a CDROM in the drive, the problem stops happening.

For now we are using the CDROM as a bypass until we get a real solution.