Windows Explorer very slow & restarts itself constantly

[Guest]

I have 2 users with the same problem now and I can't figure it out. Maybe
someone here has some ideas.

Environment: XP Pro with SP2 and all updates. Dell Dimension 4600 and 8300,
with plenty of CPU power and RAM. These systems are clean as the proverbial
whistle.

Symptom: Using Windows Explorer is *very* slow to browse certain local
folders. Also, the desktop is frequently reinitialized. Nothing unusual is
logged in the Application or System Event Logs, no errors are displayed, and
apps run fine. It's just Windows Explorer.

What I've done so far: Killed all unnecessary services and tasks including
anti-virus, etc. Scanned with SpyBot, MS Antispyware, AdAware, and Trend
OfficeScan. I did an Install/Repair of XP on one system tonight, and it made
no difference. There are no broken network map drives, and browsing network
drives is fast. When the Explorer slowdown occurs, the explorer.exe task
will show maybe 2-3% CPU utilization during the long "pause", which suggests
Explorer is doing *something* but the question is what. Overall CPU & kernel
utilization remain very low.

The local browsing problem persists no matter what I try. In fact it's so
bad the system is essentially unusable.

Does anyone have any ideas for me? If you need more info, please ask. And
thanks in advance for any assistance.

-dave

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please try the following link:

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

If you don't see any error messages, right click on My Computer, select
Properties and then the Advanced tab. Click on Settings under Startup and
Recovery and disable 'Automatically restart'. Next time your PC reboots,
you should see a Blue Screen. Could you please post the Stop Code from the
BSOD?

 

[Guest]

Hi Will,

When I googled this issue, I found reference to disabling the Automatically
Restart. I checked that on 1 machine tonight, and it's already disabled (the
box is not checked).

I'll do some more detective work Thursday and report back here.

-dave

 

[Rock]

I have 2 users with the same problem now and I can't figure it out. Maybe
someone here has some ideas.

Environment: XP Pro with SP2 and all updates. Dell Dimension 4600 and 8300,
with plenty of CPU power and RAM. These systems are clean as the proverbial
whistle.

Symptom: Using Windows Explorer is *very* slow to browse certain local
folders. Also, the desktop is frequently reinitialized. Nothing unusual is
logged in the Application or System Event Logs, no errors are displayed, and
apps run fine. It's just Windows Explorer.

What I've done so far: Killed all unnecessary services and tasks including
anti-virus, etc. Scanned with SpyBot, MS Antispyware, AdAware, and Trend
OfficeScan. I did an Install/Repair of XP on one system tonight, and it made
no difference. There are no broken network map drives, and browsing network
drives is fast. When the Explorer slowdown occurs, the explorer.exe task
will show maybe 2-3% CPU utilization during the long "pause", which suggests
Explorer is doing *something* but the question is what. Overall CPU & kernel
utilization remain very low.

The local browsing problem persists no matter what I try. In fact it's so
bad the system is essentially unusable.

Does anyone have any ideas for me? If you need more info, please ask. And
thanks in advance for any assistance.

-dave

Try runnin the edit on Kelly's site, line 157, "Prevent Automatic Folder
and Icon Refresh", at http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Read the top of the page for info on running the edit.

 

[Guest]

OK, here's the latest...

This morning I came into the office very early to work on this. I scanned
for viruses, malware, etc. using more utils, found nothing. In desperation,
I replaced the network card in one of the systems, and the problem went away!
After confirming the problem was still happening on the 2nd system, I
replaced its network card too, and the problem also went away.

So at this point I have no idea what it is about those network cards that
was causing the problem, but changing them "solved" it. For the record, one
of the cards is a 3Com 3C2000, the other a Broadcom something or other from
Dell (both gigabit).

The users are happy again. Happy users are productive. The pressure is off
the IT guy to figure this out. Life returns to normal.

-dave

 

[Rock]

OK, here's the latest...

This morning I came into the office very early to work on this. I scanned
for viruses, malware, etc. using more utils, found nothing. In desperation,
I replaced the network card in one of the systems, and the problem went away!
After confirming the problem was still happening on the 2nd system, I
replaced its network card too, and the problem also went away.

So at this point I have no idea what it is about those network cards that
was causing the problem, but changing them "solved" it. For the record, one
of the cards is a 3Com 3C2000, the other a Broadcom something or other from
Dell (both gigabit).

The users are happy again. Happy users are productive. The pressure is off
the IT guy to figure this out. Life returns to normal.

-dave

:

Glad you have it fixed Dave and thanks for posting back the resolution.