Explorer.exe crashes, computer in endless loop

[Ikke]

Hi everybody,

I've been given a computer which has a problem (Windows 2000, don't know
which servicepack).

As soon as you switch on the computer, it boots, takes you to the login
screen and crashes after you've logged in.

The error I get is "explorer.exe has generated errors and will be closed
etc...', after which Windows 2000 kills explorer.exe, and thus starts again
as if you've logged in again.

This problem occurs even in safe mode - I've let it kill explorer.exe and
create a new one dozens of times, it just keeps on looping.

There are several posts and messages I've found with Google that describe
the same problem, but most of them suggest to uninstall X or delete Y -
which of course is not possible, because I never arrive at a point where I
gain control of the machine!

AFAIK, the machine is virus free, adware free - the owner did not install
any new software/hardware recently. I'm at a loss here as to what the
problem might be.

Does anybody know what could cause this? And more important, how I can fix
the computer?

There's no emergency repair disk for this machine, by the way. I ran
Knoppix and verified the explorer.exe files to be the same as on my
machines.

Thanks in advance!

 

[John7]

As you said the computer was given to you,
maybe it's better to partition and format the disk,
run a disk manufactorer check tool
(just to make sure the disk is OK)
and start from a clean install.

John7

 

[Ikke]

You coud try running cmd (you should be able to launch that via
taskmanager) then use sfc /scannow i have service pack 4 installed on
my w2k box, so i dont know if that will work in no sp, s2 or 3, but
good luck

Well, I ended up reinstalling Windows 2000 over the original install, and
now everything works fine.

Thanks to you and John for your advice.

Ikke