Windows Explorer Crashes repeatedly ...

[jzr]

For about a month, windows explorer will sporadically just stop responding. A 'task manager - end program' always fixes it, and I can continue. I have not been able to find any correlation between other applications running. I just installed SP2 hoping to fix this error, but it did not. Today I started WinXP from a cold boot, and in less than than 10 minutes, windows explorer had crashed three times, and all I had done was rename two data files. Sometimes, as in ten minutes ago, I did not have explorer open at all, but the entire system started bogging down and becoming very sluggish. I hit ctrl-alt-del to open task manager, and it took almost 5 full minutes to open ... during this time, I also hit the start menu, which opened and froze, until at the end of the five minutes, everything seemed to pop back to normal.

I am running XP Pro, SP2 (plus about 85 fixes), AVG 7.5, SpyBot Search & Destroy, Norton AV (definitions about two months old) ...

Am thinking of either a "repair installation" or a total format and start over (yuck) ...

Any tips or hints would be greatly appreciated !
thanks

 

[xwb]

Is it an AMD or Intel CPU? My son's AMD keeps on crashing in Explorer after SP2 got installed. The Intels appear to be OK.

You could try System Properties/Advanced/Performance Options. Switch off Data Execution Prevention (DEP) on explorer.

 

[jzr]

Yes, it is an AMD, but it was crashing for a few weeks before I installed SP2 ...
I will look for your setting anyway - thanks!

 

[linney]

How does it run in Safe Mode? What about Normal Mode but as a different User?

Are there any clues in the Event Viewer?

Have you checked for any Bios updates or tried setting the Bios to Safe Defaults?

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.

HOW TO: Verify Unsigned Device Drivers in Windows XP

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

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

Troubleshooting Windows Explorer Errors

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/techfiles/explorer-crashes.html

Explorer.exe repeatedly quits unexpectedly in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=883791#appliesto

If you want the highly technical cause of the crash look in the Documents and Settings/ All Users/ Application Data/ Microsoft/ Dr Watson/ Drwtsn32.log

Find the entry that is relevant by date and time to the crash you are investigating. The exact cause of the crash is indicated by "FAULT ->" on the left of page next to line of code causing crash. This, if your as cluey as me, wont tell you much but you can use it to see if it is the same fault all the time, and further up the log you can find what processes and modules are running.

 

[jzr]

Thanks for all the tips ...
I have tried so far ..

no errors on chkdsk

/scannow .. it went through "ok" - about every two minutes, it asked for me to insert the XP disc again ... I believe anything generated by it shows up in the event viewer?

In the event viewer I have 35 errors just for today .. all in the SYSTEM area, and having to do with:
srservice
DCOM
sr
Service Control Manager

tried the link above:
Explorer.exe repeatedly quits unexpectedly in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=883791#appliesto

but it is no longer valid - haven't searched for a new location yet.

I have also spent the last solid two hours in explorer renaming and moving hundreds of files on a data drive - no problems at all.

 

[wolluf]

For about a month... So before this it was ok? What happened about a month ago? Any hardware/software added/removed? Have you tried system restore to before the problem started?

A repair reinstall (mentioned by you and linney) may sort this - But you might like to use a slipstreamed version with SP2 and IE7 included (assuming you're already running both) - and possibly critical updates since SP2 - eg, use something like

http://www.nliteos.com

to do this.

A clean install would almost certainly tell you if you've actually got a bad hardware problem (ie, the install would probably either fail or generate errors). So if you had a spare hard drive you could just try a clean install on that to find out.

 

[jzr]

Around about the time it started, I was having serious space issues on my boot drive - since then i have addded about 6gig to the OS/boot partition. I had added some software for an mp3 player, which I have removed recently, I have also added HP printer software, which I just upgraded to the most recent version from HP this morning.
I have never been able to run system restore on this system since i have XP running on it (3 years ?)
If I try (twice today) I get a msgbox with:
rstrui.exe - application error
The instruction at "0x5c029826" referenced memory at "0x00000000". The memory could not be "read".
I have never been able to figure out that error either.
thanks for your help.

 

[linney]

That MSKB applies to SP2 Release Candidate so it might have been withdrawn as being no longer applicable. The SP2 you installed wasn't a Release Candidate was it, just a dumb thought on my behalf?

SFC leaves a report in the Event Viewer (System).
Event Type: Information
Event Source: Windows File Protection

System Restore Service. Make sure it is set to Automatic and started in your services.

Also check these.

Q310405 - How to Turn On and Turn Off System Restore in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q310/4/05.asp

Turning it on and off sometimes fixes problems.

Q302796 - Troubleshooting System Restore in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q302/7/96.asp

295659 - The Registry Keys and Values for the System Restore Utility

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;295659&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

System Restore for Windows XP

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm

All your errors in the Event Viewer can be further investigated (after your right-click on the error to get the full details) at this site.

http://www.eventid.net/events.asp

Get your Virus Definitions updated if they are over two months old. Or chase up a free scanner like AVG.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/us/frt/0

 

[cpjust]

That's probably why it's nicknamed Windows Exploder. :-D