Windows Explorer crashing

[Gisli]

I'm hoping that someone can give me some ideas on how to fix this computer problem.

A few days ago, my wife's computer started behaving strangely. Every time she does anything that touches Windows Explorer, it gives a popup saying "Windows Explorer has stopped working." It also offers to check online for a solution. Of course, since Internet Explorer is tied to Windows Explorer, that doesn't work. She can't browse for files, or other basic things. Applications (including Firefox) open fine.

I've tried to google for this. I have found two possible explanations.

(1) A virus. That is highly unlikely in this case, for a couple of reasons. First, I can find no evidence of one in the computer, and second, she doesn't do things that would give one opportunity to get into the computer.

(2) Some sort of software update broke the system. The recommendation is to use msconfig to launch the system restore utility. I did this, reverting to a state a couple of days before the problem started. This changed nothing, though it does claim to have reverted past a couple of system software installs.

I can boot fine in safe mode, the problem goes away. I've tried turning various services on and off. But can't figure out what triggers this.

Any ideas?

[Aoann]

When was her last windows update?

[Gisli]

As I said, we reverted to a time before that. Yes, a windows update is a likely cause of the problem. But restoring to the state prior didn't fix the problem.

[Aoann]

Is she running vista or xp?

[Isak]

Mmm.... outside of reinstalling, the best way to find out why explorer is crashing would be to open up the event viewer(In administration tools in the control panel), cause the crash a couple times and see what you are getting for errors. Probably won't give you anything obvious but would be at least a good place to start a search on a fix.

[Gisli]

I should have mentioned that this is Vista.

It is saying that Windows Explorer crashes in module ntdll.dll. I have downloaded a copy of this, but I'm having trouble figuring out where it goes. Has anyone heard of this? Actually, I doubt replacing that .dll will fix anything, I expect that some program is calling it wrong, rather than it being broken.

[Drakhon]

That file should be in C:\Windows\System32\. However, as you said, just replacing it is unlikely to fix the issue. The best place to get it would be your Vista disc, but it's possible that that file has been updated since the disc was made. Of course, that's a possibility no matter where you get it unless you can be certain that it's from a system at the exact same update point as your wife's.

While you already tried reverting to a previous restore point, I would try at least a couple others (at earlier dates than the one you already did). Sometimes it's not as easy as just picking one before the trouble started and you have to try a few.

If that still doesn't work, there are a number of things I would start with to rule things out:

1. Virus Scan - based on your post, it seems that you've already done this. What software are you using, out of curiosity?

2. Spyware Scans - I like a combination of Spybot and Ad-Aware.

3. Cleaning - I use an application called CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner). It will clear out a lot of junk including cookies, which you may or may not want to clean. As long as you have all your usernames and passwords that you use on sites where you use "remember me", it'll just mean entering them again one time.

4. Chkdsk - "chkdsk /r c:" would be the command to type in the command window. This will fix file errors as well as search for bad sectors and recover what it can from them. This mostly just to see if any files were corrupted. As we want to scan the OS partition, this will involve a reboot because that partition cannot be locked when Windows is running.

5. Defrag - it generally takes an large amount of fragmentation before you start seeing actual program errors due to it (rather than just slowness), but it's worth doing anyway.

You may or may not have done these already, I don't know. If there are any that you haven't, do them (preferably in the order listed) and let us know if the situation improves at all.

[Gisli]

1. Virus Scan - based on your post, it seems that you've already done this. What software are you using, out of curiosity?

AVG

2. Spyware Scans - I like a combination of Spybot and Ad-Aware.

I'm almost certain she ran both of those the night before last, trying to find out hte problem.

3. Cleaning - I use an application called CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner). It will clear out a lot of junk including cookies, which you may or may not want to clean. As long as you have all your usernames and passwords that you use on sites where you use "remember me", it'll just mean entering them again one time.

Didn't try that. Probably should have. Same with the defrag'ing. What I've resorted to now is a re-install of Windows.

[Drakhon]

That'll work and Vista is better at it than XP.

[Gramel]

I'm not sure if Vista has System file checker, but give it a shot. Start, Run, type CMD, hit ok. Type SFC /Scannow Let it do it's thing. Hopefully this tool is still in vista.

[Drakhon]

Hopefully this tool is still in vista.

It is, but it looks like he went ahead and reinstalled. That can be a good thing on its own anyway, though not as good as a format.

[Jalec]

Personally fixing an issue in ntdll.dll is a lost cause. Last ditch on it is generally to do an in-place upgrade(some call it a repair install) from your origional media. This should maintain all applications currently installed(since the registry is not corrupt) but you will lose all Hotfixes and service packs back to what your installation media has.

[Greenmind]

If you haven't done so yet, try booting into safe mode and disabling all the addons for IE7. I had a user experiencing the same problem and it ended up being an addon that wasn't compatible with a recent security update.

[Gisli]

Thanks for the help, everyone!

I think I did a repair install (I can't remember anymore) in the middle of all this, but it didn't work.

So I did a full re-install of Windows from the original disk. Its a pain in the neck because I have to reinstall all the user software. But the user data are not lost, at least.

In the midst of all the research I did on this, I came across some comments about how Vista (and windows in general) has a "half life" and every time you touch it there's a risk that the entire thing will collapse. I've got to agree that this is a valid way to look at it. Every time Microsoft pushes an automatic update, you take a risk that the update process will ruin your system (never mind what the update itself might do). I so wish Windows would go away entirely, to be replaced by Linux. If it weren't that games pretty much only run in Windows, I'd be there already on my home machines. There is no "real" software that I use anymore that doesn't have a better Linux implementation. End of blowing off steam.

[Drakhon]

Ah, but then you have to wonder which distribution to use... ;)

There are a lot of things I like about it, but Linux isn't without its problems (other than the smaller user/gaming base). I'm having a problem with our cluster at work right now, in fact, where some nodes hard lock with no error messages or other indication of cause of any kind.

[Cillbo]

At the risk of turning this into the Linux thread, I just need to toss my two cents in. I started using Linux shorty after I purchased a copy of Windows ME. Linux is just plain better than windows in many areas. Now, if only the game developers would switch to OpenGL. :)


Ah, but then you have to wonder which distribution to use... ;)

That's half the fun!

[Greenmind]

If Windows went away Linux would become the target of hackers and such and would suffer for just as many problems. The reason Linux is seemingly free of this stuff isn't necessarily because it's not succeptible to them but because there just aren't enough "home" users running Linux to make hacking it an effective use of time. Also, linux users tend to know more about computers and overall avoiding this stuff.

That being said, I've been managing ~200 Windows machines for over 8 years and I have had very few problems with NT, 2000, XP, and Vista that weren't caused by poorly written software. (ME was an abomination that should never have existed). My current work machine is a Windows Vista machine and it's over a year old, full of software I've bought and downloaded, it gets automatic updates, and has given me very few problems.

I'm not a pro-windows/anti-linux guy. I just hate to see a good operating system which is built around the needs of literally millions of users wanting to do nearly everything be compared to an equally good operating system which caters to a select few power users in an unfair way...