Explorer Corrupted!?

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

Okay so I have this problem where I see my desktop for about five seconds. Then it switches to the attached image (no start menu or desktop icons).

This is extremely annoying as I can't do very much on the PC and am opening all my files through Firefox. I also can't change the volume in Winamp for some reason.

Will a Recovery Console fix this? I have already run a HijackThis scan, an AdAware scan and an antivirus scan. The most that came up was Tracking Cookies.

Anyone have any other ideas? I was looking for a place to download explorer.exe but can't find it. I've also disabled all the shell extensions since I had a similar problem where My Documents would crash explorer because of thumbnail view and a bad extension. Changing to list view fixed that though.

I've also ran Tune Up Utilities maintenance and registry scanner so I dont know what the problem is.

Some advice or something would be nice...also in Safe Mode it crashes constantly and keeps repeating 'this is Safe Mode blah blah blah click Yes' and never shows the start menu

 

[HazelGod]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record...shitcan Windows. Install Ubuntu. Be happy. :biggrin1:


Failing that, I've always made good use of the Sysinternals tools for Windows, particularly the AutoRuns tool. It shows (and lets you control) everything that starts running when Windows boots up.

Also, if you want to validate your version of Explorer.exe, here are the details from mine (Win XP Pro SP2):

explorer.exe
1033216 bytes
6/13/2007 05:23
MD5 = 97bd6515465659ff8f3b7be375b2ea87

 

[invisibleman]

You should do a System Restore to a previous point and see if that helps.

 

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

I am beginning to think about changing from Windows...

What you don't know is that every time I turn this piece of shit off I have to wait fifteen minutes to turn it back on again, because of another problem which I'm told is a bad video card. (If I don't wait long enough, the PC turns on and the Monitor says No Signal, with no beep errors).

Explorer is using up all the CPU too...

I've looked online and apparently this isn't a virus, its a "bug"...I hope some wise mind has a fix for this. I have stuff that needs to be backed up before I can format or change OS...unless unbuntu can access NTFS file systems?

 

[HazelGod]

I have stuff that needs to be backed up before I can format or change OS...unless unbuntu can access NTFS file systems?

Don't bother with the re-format. Ubuntu can both read and write to NTFS file systems. My system has been setup as a dual-boot for years. Sadly, you cannot play Crysis under Linux. Yet.

 

[Rubenesque]

This problem can be easily fixed with a sledge hammer, a blow torch and a credit card.

That's what I'd do anyway... I'm crap with computers, I start to cry when I get the blue screen of death!

 

[beretta8]

Ubuntu CAN recognize and access NTFS....yay!.....and soooo much more.....
Sounds to me like a clean install of windnuts is in order......yuck! I have a dual boot win64 and ubuntu.........try the live cd of ubuntu you might like it.....

 

[HazelGod]

try the live cd of ubuntu you might like it.

Beretta makes an excellent point...you can download and run Ubuntu off a CDROM without installing anything to your hard drive.

 

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

Okay well it took from my last post until NOW just to do a fucking system restore...and its still playing up!

I'll check out this unbuntu and see what I can do.

Does it read FAT32? Cos my Firewire drive with over 100GB of data on it is FAT32...

Nothing is ever easy

 

[expatjamaica]

Of course it reads FAT32!

 

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

lol okay well I just wondered because some OS's don't...such as MAC which for some reason I thought it was based on?

Anyway I have just been looking in system32 and found some strange application extensions...created today so I've scheduled them to be deleted at the next startup.

Hopefully that will fix it!

Downloading this unbuntu too.

 

[B_Think_Kink]

My old computer did that... it would lock up.. They deleted the whole hard drive and started all over again.. I cried.

 

[Mr. Snakey]

Okay so I have this problem where I see my desktop for about five seconds. Then it switches to the attached image (no start menu or desktop icons).

This is extremely annoying as I can't do very much on the PC and am opening all my files through Firefox. I also can't change the volume in Winamp for some reason.

Will a Recovery Console fix this? I have already run a HijackThis scan, an AdAware scan and an antivirus scan. The most that came up was Tracking Cookies.

Anyone have any other ideas? I was looking for a place to download explorer.exe but can't find it. I've also disabled all the shell extensions since I had a similar problem where My Documents would crash explorer because of thumbnail view and a bad extension. Changing to list view fixed that though.

I've also ran Tune Up Utilities maintenance and registry scanner so I dont know what the problem is.

Some advice or something would be nice...also in Safe Mode it crashes constantly and keeps repeating 'this is Safe Mode blah blah blah click Yes' and never shows the start menu

Going by what little information you gave its hard to say what it is. As a rule of thumb never touch active x controls or shell extentions or windows ex files. You may have deleted something you need. It sounds more like you have overloaded your system. Try do disc clean up and defragment.

 

[Dorian_Gray]

While booting hold down F8 and select safe boot mode. When windows boots it'll bring you to your desktop with only drivers that are necessary to run your hardware. Then follow this.. click start > run > type in "msconfig" then tap enter > a window will appear in a moment. In this window click the startup tab and tell us what is checked. If it's like I think and it's a startup program a system restore point isn't going to fix it.

EDIT: I didn't read about the safe mode not working... sorry

 

[B_ScaredLittleBoy]

Thanks X. I disabled things on msconfig too but to no avail. A format is in order.

 

[dong20]

You do seem to have more than your [fair] share of computer problems SLB, perhaps you should think ... laterally.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

You do seem to have more than your [fair] share of computer problems SLB, perhaps you should think ... laterally.

:biggrin1:

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

'Explorer Corrupted'???
Was it that Ponce guy?
I knew it ... soon as I read his name.

 

[transformer_99]

Yep, dual boot a Linux distro. For web surfing (high risk stuff), Windows has no business being anything more than a local system for Office suite work. If you have a 2nd hdd, simply set that up as the master and your Windows hdd as a slave and use Ubuntu to recover your data. After that you can blow away Windows and reformat the drive.

A guy at work has taken Ubuntu far and away beyond what Vista or OS X can do for eye candy anyway. Granted he's probably ahead of most on the learning curve as a network admin anyway. But 3 months ago he wasn't ready for Linux to replace Windows, That is until Ubuntu 8.04 arrived. He's vowed to get his wife on it. He has a more content look on his face, knowing he'll never have to buy an OS or application ever again. We let our employers worry about keeping up with Microsoft's extortionist tactics. I haven't used Windows on a home system since June 2006 when Ubuntu 6.06 LTS came out. It was raw compared to what it is now, but at that point, it was no worse than XP or even OS X Tiger, so I stayed with it as it made progress. I put it on all my computers except my 12" 867 G4 Powerbook.

Just "You Tube" search for: "ubuntu 8.04 compiz fusion".

Learn a little thru google searches and you'll never have to buy another Microsoft or Apple software title ever again for what you really need a computer for ?

Here's a little something for you Mac people, can you make OS X do this ?

YouTube - Ubuntu 8.04 on my Macbook Compiz Fusion