Hello Jim,
We solved this for another user (See the posts titled: "explorer starts and
stops over and over at startup"
dated 10/17/2004)
Here is the solution from that thread:
1. Boot into Safe Mode
2. Open Task manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC
3. In Task Manager select File > New Task (Run...)
4. type "cmd" (no quotes) and hit enter to open a command prompt
5. navigate to your %windir% directory (probably c:\windows\)
6. Use this command from the %windir% directory: dir spuninst.exe /s
7. Look for this entry:
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB834707$\spuninst
09/20/2004 04:50 AM 169,984 spuninst.exe
1 File(s) 169,984 bytes
8. Navigate to the correct folder by entering:
C:\>cd C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB834707$\spuninst
9. You will be prompted with:
C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB834707$\spuninst>
10. type "spuninst" (without the quotes) so that it will now look like:
C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB834707$\spuninst>spuninst
11. Click 'next' at the dialog box to confirm uninstalling the patch.
12. reboot
I do NOT recommend continuing to run without this patch. There is (most
likely) a problem somewhere else, and I think the best next step is to
figure out how to make this patch work for you.
I'd start with a thorough virus scan, general system maintenance (kill temp
internet files, cookies, that annoying bit of software you've been meaning
to get rid of for the past few weeks but haven't gotten to, etc), defrag
(twice ~~ not a fix, but definitly beneficial), make sure Office is updated,
make sure anti-virus is updated, etc. etc.... It seems some people had
other problems with this patch that were related to running Zone Alarm and
the Windows based firewall at the same time. I don't know what your
situation is...
After a good bit of housecleaning, I'd apply the cumulative patch again.
Now that you know how to kill it, it's not a problem if it breaks again. If
it works then great, if it does break again, then try each included update
individually. This process would be a wonderful contribution to the
community so that we could (hopefully) nail down EXACTLY which fix is
breaking your systems. Those updates can be found from the links in this
article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=834707
Please let me know if these steps allow you to regain controll of your
system.
If they do not, then perhaps your dead chicken dripped some blood into the
circuitry and you will need to do some more praying. I hear melted candle
wax does wonders for transistors and silicon...
;-)
--
HTH,
=d=
Dana Brash
MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA
(e-mail address removed)