W2k Explorer hangs, can't open My documents, My computers, etc>why???

[LastWords]

If someone can answer this one, i will be most surprised.

Spec: Windows 2000 Pro SP2, IE 5.5 SP2.

Righty, everytime I try to open my documents, network places, my computers, etc; anything that needs explorer the desktop hangs. It hangs for about 5-10 seconds, all the icons disappear ( and the taskbar, etc), and im left with a blank screen. I can't open anything that requires explorer to run unless I go another way around it (i.e. use search for files or folders; this is the only way I can open my documents, network places, and so on).

It's not just happening on my machine either, other people are experiencing the same problem and furthermore it is getting progressively worse. Could it be a corrupted system file? Or some 3rd party software (Icq, cute ftp, ...) that could be conflicting with Explorer?

Any suggestions welcome.

by Lastwords,

Maentwrog (n.Welsh): Celtic word for a computer spelling mistake.

 

[DUBL07]

When this happens, can you do a CTRL+ALT+DELETE to get to task manager? What's the process(es) that is taking up all of the system resources while this is happening?

 

[LastWords]

services.exe
lsass.exe
systemidleprocess
iexplorer.exe

These are the ones that look like they are taking up the resources. by Lastwords,

Maentwrog (n.Welsh): Celtic word for a computer spelling mistake.

 

[DUBL07]

More questions...can you use Internet Explorer okay? What video card are you using and what kind of computer??

 

[LastWords]

Internet Explorer (crashes, just doesnt go to urls at times) isnt working that well. Im using an Elsa Gloria two card , 256mb ram, 1g processer Amd.
I think it is entirely a software fault not a hardware problem becuase other people in the office are having the same problem and they have completely different spec machines.
I think it could be down to conflicting software. Not sure what exactly thu..

by Lastwords,

Maentwrog (n.Welsh): Celtic word for a computer spelling mistake.

 

[DUBL07]

Lastwords...

Check out this article from Microsoft. I know you say you have W2K, this applies to NT 4.0, but it may work.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q175232

(you'll have to paste it in your browser).