Does anyone have similar experience? If i put
EXP=\systemroot\system32\advapi32.dll

ntice loads very slowly and can't load advapi32 symbols. after ntice finishes
loading, the "system" thread uses 99% of the cpu time and the computer
has to be rebooted.

if I don't include that line in winice.dat, everything works fine but i still don't
have the advapi32 symbols therefore I can't set bpx on those functions.

???
EXP=\systemroot\system32\advapi32.dll
How about
EXP=C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\advapi32.dll

I suppose I could try that but they should be the same and I don't see why
one wouldn't work but the other would.

As a general tip with Softice, if you are running a Windows service pack that was not released back when your version of Softice was released, it is quite likely that you need some kind of patch/update/newer version to make it run ok. Patches can sometimes be downloaded from the Compuware website for free anyway.