Explorer.exe keeps refreshing 1

[pungohboy]

Ok we have a user that at the end of January started to report issues of her screen refreshing after looking at it, it appeared that explorer.exe was crashing and resetting. It was doing it about every 30seconds to 5 minutes. We did virus and spyware scans all looked fine. However our web log was showing that her computer was going to whatsmyip.com very often, making us think something was installed. So we switched her computer and the whats my ip thing went away but the explorer crash stayed with her. We deleted her AD account and local account on the 2nd computer and after recreating the accounts she still had the same problem and we noticed it started with all users logged into the 2nd machine. We gave her a 3rd machine with XPSP2 completly patched and the problem seemed to be gone until today. she has had the following error every minute from 11:32am today.

Event Type:	Information
Event Source:	Winlogon
Event Category:	None
Event ID:	1002
Date:		3/1/2007
Time:		11:32:43 AM
User:		N/A
Computer:	Badcomputer
Description:
The shell stopped unexpectedly and Explorer.exe was restarted. 
Data:

We are really having a hard time tracking this one down. I searched tektips for the error and came back with a few unresolved OLD issues I searched google and found about the same info. Has anyone had any experience with Explorer.exe just crashing and refreshing?

 

[gpalmer711]

It's nomally down to a bad shell extension. Try using the software from here

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/shellexview.html

Disable the shell extensions one at a time and hopefully you should find the solution.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[linney]

As this error now reproducing faster than rabbits, can you look at trying Safe Mode and see if you get Event ID: 1002 in Safe Mode?

"Has anyone had any experience with Explorer.exe just crashing and refreshing?"

Is it a clue that you are not seeing any Error message on the Desktop itself? Usually Explorer is polite enough to tell you why it crashed, even if the message is meaningless to most of us.

Are any DrWatson logs getting created at the time of the error, I doubt it though?

 

[pungohboy]

Well I booted the machine to safemode and let it run about 10 minutes with no problems. I tried the shel ex view tool and was not able to single out a problem by disabling one at a time. I am now wondering what is different about safe mode vs regular login that would cause the problem to go away. I am getting winlogon errors on the minute every minute now.

 

[linney]

Unfortunately the next step is the hard grind.

310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

HOW TO: Verify Unsigned Device Drivers in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/5/14.asp

Some general things to try.

See if System Restore will get you back to a restore point before your problem with Explorer.

Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right-click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking. Select both boxes.

Run the System File Checker program from the Run Box by typing.....Sfc /Scannow in it and have your XP CD handy.

If they don't work you could try repairing windows by running it over itself. You will lose all your windows updates but your files will be untouched.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp

 

[pungohboy]

Thank you for your quick reply I will not be able to get to that computer till monday so i will read all the articles and let yall know when i get chance to try it. Thanks.

 

[pungohboy]

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I tried doing the clean boot today and with the account I was using I was able to get the refresh to clear up by removing one service. After the user logged in with the same startup options the problem came right back and it is once again refreshing explorer every minute. something must be stuck in her profile causing the problem. Since it has traveled between computers and we did at one point recreate her AD profile but it still came back.

 

[linney]

Perhaps you should login as the actual User and try the Clean Boot method? You may have to temporarily increase her Access Privileges, by the way, if you were to do that (increase her Privileges) does the problem still exist?

I know you have been down this track, or at least part of the way, but can you back up her data, remove this user from the local machine, and the Domain, and recreate her profile, can you remove the local machine from the Domain and rejoin it?

How to enable user environment debug logging in retail builds of Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221833/en-us?FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH#appliesto

811151 - How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811151

Error Message: Windows Cannot Load Your Profile Because It May Be Corrupted (Q318011)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q318/0/11.asp

Copy local profile to domain profile
thread779-822848




This is the clutching at straw section about Explorer constantly refreshing itself.

See if you can get any clues here from these semi-related articles about refreshing in Explorer.



Windows XP Explorer Pane Flickers on Mapped Network Drives

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;816375

Windows XP + Norton AV 2003 + NT Server - Funny things
thread779-471332

Explorer Refresh problems...
thread779-444833

Custom refresh rates
thread779-460114

Explorer automatically refresh! How do I stop it?
thread779-449014

Windows Explorer Folder refresh
thread779-1201213

Screen doesn't refresh
thread779-1006512



You can experiment with this (after backing up Registry).

You can make Windows Explorer constantly refresh and update its files and folder views. Go through the Registry through RegEdit, and navigate through the left-hand pane until you get to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/
CurrentControlSet/control/Update item. In the right-hand pane, click on UpdateMode and select Modify. In the Edit window, change 01 to 00. Exit everything and reboot for this to take effect.


You could also look at your Video driver and see if there is an update available.

 

[pungohboy]

Ok I am at the location where the computer is having the problem. I noticed that the NetALoader.exe even though I disabled it in MSCONFIG it has came back and is running. If I stop it there is no problem. But it keeps comming back. I have removed the service several times and deleted the file but it comes back. I checked other computers on my network and they do not have the service loaded. The service is suposed to be a surf control service but it is not needed. I am trying to find a way to permantly disable the service. I think if i can get it to go away and stay away it would clear the issue up.

 

[pungohboy]

Ok I figgured it out and feel pretty dumb. But what happened was we had surf control Enterprise threat shield set to monitor that computer. Causing the problem with all the computers she had since they had the same name. I removed it from there since we dont use threat shield anyway. I think it is going to be fine now. Thanks for all the suggestions for pointing me on the right track!