3dxsrv.exe Error

[libertybmx]

On startup, i get the following error appear:

"3dxsrv.exe. This application has failed to start because SPWINI.dll
was not found.

Re-installing this application may fix the problem"

After the initial install of the drivers, the device worked fine without any problems. Then, when i rebooted, the error appeared.

I have removed all applications relating to this spaceball 4000 from the
machine, and re installed the drivers and it works fine again. If i reboot
the machine, the error appears again. I have removed/re-installed the
drivers a number of times but still receiving the error.

Running Windows XP 32 on the current up to date driver 2.8.2

Any help would be great.

[jwick]

Hello libertybmx,

Spwini.dll is installed into your \Windows\system32 directory by the 3DxWare installer. Use the Windows Explorer to see if is actually there when you get this message. It could be some security software you are running that doesn't like the change to the system32 directory, so it deleting it.

Jim
3Dx Software Development

[libertybmx]

Jim,

I have just looked and it is there.

Previously i looked and the file could not be found.

Just before i looked i completely removed the drivers and reinstalled again. When installing this last time a firewall box came up and i allowed the cookies, when previously i had removed them, as it said it could be mailcious.

This could possibly have fixed the problem. If not, i will let you know on this thread.

Many thanks

[libertybmx]

Jim,

It seems that the fix has worked but now everytime i boot up i get a spyware message coming up about malicious spyware tracking etc.

Any suggestions what this could be. Only related to the spaceball because if i remove the drivers, the message stops appearing??

[jwick]

What spyware software are you using?

[libertybmx]

Agnitum Outpost Firewall

[jwick]

Does it produce a log file that indicates what it complaining about? Perhaps we can tell it to ignore whatever it is. Some of these things are wound up so tight they complain about data being transmitted by USB or serial ports.

[libertybmx]

I am not sure. I started to 'allow once' on startup, but then as soon as the machine is rebooted it would come up again. I would still 'allow once' so i could use the spaceball.

There didnt seem to be an option for allowing allways

[jwick]

Contact them. If they want to know what we are doing that they are complaining about, I'll work with them to figure it out. Let's post the results here so anyone else using this firewall will benefit from the info.

We do occasionally have problems with corporate firewalls even though we are completely local to the machine. Some of them can be set to make sure employees don't copy data off the machine. That sometimes plays havoc with USB devices (they probably have exceptions for devices they recognize like the mouse and keyboard).

Does it identify exactly which software module it is complaining about?

Jim

[libertybmx]

This is the contents of the message box:

A malicious program that has a hidden harmful routine the exploit system vulnerabilities.

Module SPWINI.dll in process Sdxsrv.exe

Objext Name: Spy
Object type: Trojan
Action: Remove/Ignore/Allow Once
Signatures count: 2

[jwick]

spwini.dll is what saves your setttings to the registry (like which configuration you last used with which application). That's probably what it is complaining about. It writes into your private area in HKEY_CURRENT_USER, which is even writable in Vista of all places. This is like writing to your private directory. It should be excludable from complaints.

See what they say.

Jim