Having a BIG problem with a Win2K box.

[rawhunger]

Can anyone give me some advice on this?

This machine that I'm using is running Windows 2000 Pro SP4. One day, I log into the machine, and I get a popup that Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close and if I want to send an error report to MS. Well, I never started up IE to begin with, as I had just logged on, so I thought that was kinda strange. So I'm thinking something is hosed, so I go to the Control Panel to see if someone installed something they shouldn't have (the PC is used by many people). I go thru the start menu to Control Panel... next thing I see is another error, this time with explorer.exe crashing on me. Same thing happens if I try to go to My Computer, or go to My Documents...

Anyone have a clue what is happening and what i should do?

 

[franklin97355]

possible memory failure or corrupt files on HD.

 

[htmlman]

I would suggest that if you have ad ware removing software to update it and scan the machine. If not google for a free program called As_Aware SE. Download it, install and scan your computer. If it is a malware problem it will find it and you can remove problems.

 

[htmlman]

typo AdAware SE

 

[rawhunger]

htmlman:

I have AdAware installed on the machine and scanned for malware (found a bunch of stuff *boggles*), but the problem persists. I really don't want to re-install Win2000 on this box again if I don't have to...

 

[htmlman]

Since you ran an ad ware scan then a pop up blocker is the way to go.
You can install Google tool bar to stop the pop ups. It has other features as well. It will block pop ups and you can spell check with it when on line, use the search as a calculator, etc. If pop up is the only problem then a pop up blocker is what I would suggest.

 

[jimp56]

try the IEfix utility:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/IEFIX.htm

 

[rawhunger]

htmlman: There is a popup blocker installed on that system... but I don't think it's a problem with spyware, although I could be wrong.

jimp56: I tried that IEFix utility. No change... I'm still getting an error.

 

[htmlman]

Does this happen with any user account or just the one? If it is just the one then I would say it is a corrupt user account. If it happens to all accounts on the machine then it could be a corrupt system file. You might be able to fix the problem by using Sfc /scannow in the run line. Be sure to have the installation disk handy. If it finds a problem in the system files it will need it to replace them.

 

[wolluf]

You could try a repair reinstall (takes as long as install - but leaves apps, data & (most) settings intact):-

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;292175&Product=win2000

best done with a SP4 version on the install CD - you can create one if you don't have one - eg,

http://www.3iii.dk/computer/W2Kboot.htm

or

http://www.msfn.org/articles.php?action=show&showarticle=49

You'll need to visit windows update for the patches since SP4 (I think you can include these on the install CD - certainly can for XP - as well as SP4)