Parallel Studio 2013 Installation Hangs

John_M_5 · ‎03-12-2013

I can't find a topic anywhere about this and I'm finding it hard to believe I'm the only one. I have Visual Studio Professional 2010 installed on a VERY clean Windows XP Pro SP3 platform. I say VERY clean because I started with a reformatted disk, installed Windows XP Pro with all defaults, allowed MS Update to do its thing till it was done. I've also installed MS Office and did the same thing. I've also Installed Visual Studio in the exact same way; full installation with all defaults. The only non-Microsoft components at this point are the annoying Apple things for iTunes and Safari. Which is more than it probably needs, but they aren't any different than Intel, who is running two mysterious (no documentation can be found) processes for the two network adapters in the laptop.

As I ran the Parallel Studio 2013 installation, I accepted the defaults and let her rip. I came back an hour later to find it hung at cryptic "Package 23 of 47". I'm not sure why it couldn't give even a brief explanation of what the installation was doing, but that's all I have to go on. To restart I had to power off the machine.

Any ideas? There isn't much else I can put on here about the environemnt. Does anyone know:

Where I could find documentation about what each step is doing in the lengthy instalation procedure?
Why this installation would hang at this point?
What the secret sauce is to find a topic about this? I can't believe I'm the only one and searching "Installation hangs" and "hung installation" returns only one topic about segmentation.

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-12-2013

John, I think you need to review how many Windows Updates are Not installed. A '...VERY clean Windows XP Pro SP3 platform...' means for me that some Windows Updates are Not installed and they need to be installed. This is because hundreds, if not thousands, fixes are done after SP3 was released ( in 2007 ) for Windows XP. What is exact version / name of Intel C++ compiler you wanted to install? I'll try to look at what Package 23 is and let you know. Sorry to read about all these problems.

Bernard · ‎03-13-2013

At least in the beggining I would advise you to run Process Explorer and monitor the hung insatalation process.There is possibility of some kind of synchronous wait and or deadlock.Simply copy the call stack from the Process Explorer threads window.

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-13-2013

>>...I'll try to look at what Package 23 is and let you know.... I did a very quick check ( all packages are inside exe modules ) and have not found anything suspicious. Please try to apply Windows Update, then do a new installation or repear the existing one.

John_M_5 · ‎03-13-2013

Thank you for checking for me. I appreciate your effort. To your point, I was running the process explorer during the installation, but unfortunately, the system was hung by the installation so I couldn't glean any information. The mouse wouldn't move. Intel Parallel Studio 2013 is the name of the name of the compiler and the C++ compiler is part of it.

I have been developing software off and on for over 30 years. The dearth of documentation for software and error codes never ceases to amaze me on the Windows and Mac platforms. Another source of disbelief is that the troubleshooting approach is always "just try it again and see if it works." Hope, not analysis. There are no further updates to perform. It's up to date. And, if there was at least reasonable documentation, I'd be able to pick and choose what updates I'd previously applied might make a difference. Without that documentation, how would I know which one could be causing an issue or when in my rebuild I should have installed this? Or, if, as a bare minimum, I could determine which of the many applications and tools was being installed at the cryptic "Package 23" I might be able to skip that for the installation. And, why is it "Package 23" and not "Installing Vtune Amplifier" or something useful? Someone who would be installing this piece of software is a developer, so why wouldn't it give more information such as what is specifically being installed instead of some cryptic package number?

You clearly have access to something that tells you what Package 23 is, so could you tell me where I can see that sort of documentation? Or, if it's an Intel secret, could you tell me what is going on at that point in the installation so I can troubleshoot it. As it is, I'll just have to skip using this entire piece of software because I can't install it.

Again, I do appreciate your help here, and don't take my criticsim of the installation personally. I am criticizing Intel for not properly documenting this procedure so that a developer, like me, can troubleshoot it myself. After all, it's Intel's, Microsoft's, and Apples unwillingness to properly document their software leaves the technician to "just try it" instead of doing some sort of "causal analysis".

John_M_5 · ‎03-13-2013

Oh and BTW. I didn't get one failed Windows Update. Everything installed. I have no failed installation of update errors whatsoever.

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-13-2013

>>...Without that documentation, how would I know which one could be causing an issue... Please try to find a log file which is created by the installer and a couple of last records could help to understand what is wrong. Also, take a look at Windows logs with Event Viewer ( in Administrative Tools ). >>...so could you tell me where I can see that sort of documentation?.. Did you look at Release Notes of the package ( known issues / problems )? Did you try to download the package again? What if it is corrupted? Do you have any Anti-virus software installed and working during the installation? ( Turned it off )

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-13-2013

Sorry, once again... What is exact version / name of Intel C++ compiler you wanted to install?

Bernard · ‎03-14-2013

>>>To your point, I was running the process explorer during the installation, but unfortunately, the system was hung by the installation so I couldn't glean any information>>>

System wide hung could be related to kernel mode activity.In such a case only kernel mode debugging should be applied in order to understand what went wrong with the installation.Sometimes installation could fail because of extensive registry API call count which is implemented in ntoskernel.exe.

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-14-2013

>>...System wide hung could be related to kernel mode activity.In such a case only kernel mode debugging should be >>applied in order to understand... And how is it going to be done? >>...extensive registry API call count which is implemented in ntoskernel.exe... I think it is irrelevant. I can't imaging John will start it and he needs to Do programming, Not debugging.

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-14-2013

John, Could you ask for more help on ( if the problem is still Not resolved ): Forum: Intel® Software Development Products Download, Registration & Licensing Web-link: software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-software-development-products-download-registration-licensing forum, please? I think somebody from Intel installations team should look into it. Thanks in advance.

Bernard · ‎03-14-2013

>>>And how is it going to be done?>>>

On target machine debugging should be enabled with the bcdedit.exe tool.It could ve over serial port or firewire port, usb is not recommended because of special debug usb cable and supporting setting in usb hardware(debug register).Next on the host machine windbg or kd.exe should be running waiting in infinte loop for target boot up.If everything is ok kernel debugger will break into target.Next option will be dumping PCR and PCRB structures on each cpu and looking for exception trap and/or currently running thread.In many cases the current executing thread will be a culprit of the hung system.Where there is so called global system hung you simply cannot troubleshoot without debugger.Regarding software installation troubleshooting Mark Russinovich has written on its blog the excellent guide how to approach such a problem.

Bernard · ‎03-14-2013

>>...extensive registry API call count which is implemented in ntoskernel.exe>>> Sorry my mistake.It should not be perceived by the reader that extensive API call count is the root cause of the installation problem.

Bernard · ‎03-14-2013

Here is the link for software installation troubleshooting , not related to the thread's starter problem.

Link: blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2012/01/05/3473797.aspx

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-15-2013

>>...Another source of disbelief is that the troubleshooting approach is always "just try it again and see if it works." Hope, >>not analysis... John, You have plenty of logs for analysis and take a look at it. On Windows XP platforms Intel C++ compiler should create a log at: C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp and as soon as you found the log upload ( attach) it with a new post.

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-23-2013

This is a follow up. >>As I ran the Parallel Studio 2013 installation, I accepted the defaults and let her rip. I came back an hour later to find >>it hung at cryptic "Package 23 of 47"... I did some investigation and it is Not clear for me which version you've used. So, with Initial Release and Update 2 I did not have any problems. In overall, It took less then 0.5 seconds for the Installer to complete processing with the Package 23 in both cases. Please provide update and thanks in advance.

Bernard · ‎03-24-2013

John, do you still have a system wide hang during Parallel Studio installation?If you do not have such a hang in your case I would advise you to monitor the installation process with Process Monitor which will be reading registry operation related to the installation process.Pay attention to intercepted registry operation when hung package is beign installed.You must isolate the very last registry calls before the package hung.

SergeyKostrov · ‎03-25-2013

>>You have plenty of logs for analysis and take a look at it. On Windows XP platforms Intel C++ compiler should create a log at: >> >>C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp As an example, here are names for different log files used during installation: C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp\ComposerXE2011SP1(2013-03-22_17-05-58).Log C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp\w_ccompxe_ia32_2011.13.371_extract.log C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Local Settings\Temp\RegUpdater.log

Georg_Z_Intel · ‎04-09-2013

Hello, I've talked with our installation engineer and we'd need the following information from you to understand what's wrong: 1. Installation LOG file: %temp%\PSXE2013(….).log (you can send it via private message to me) 2. What Visual Studio* versions are installed on the machine? 3. What other Intel products are installed on the machine? I guess there are none; just to double-check. Thank you for your efforts, Georg Zitzlsberger

SergeyKostrov · ‎04-09-2013

>>... it hung at cryptic "Package 23... Georg, Could you provide some generic information on a content of the Package 23? John was interested to know it...