Search causes explorer.exe crash

[Guest]

Hello,

I have an end user who has been having an issue. Any time he issues "Search"
(either from Start or within Windows Explorer), he gets an App Error in
explorer.exe. His computer is running XP Pro SP2, with IE 6.

I have run SFC /SCANNOW, which returned a bad signature in vgx.dll - the
System Event Log returned "the file could not be restored to its original,
valid version. Version of bad file is 6.0.2900.3051."

This user is a hardware engineer and his environment changes constantly;
therefore, System Restore is NOT an option. Also, he said he's been having
this issue "for some time now" and his Restore points only go back 2 weeks,
so I am not sure that would even help.

Can anyone suggest any alternate options? I was thinking of attempting to
repair IE but wasn't sure if that would restore the file or not.

 

[Malke]

Hello,

I have an end user who has been having an issue. Any time he issues "Search"
(either from Start or within Windows Explorer), he gets an App Error in
explorer.exe. His computer is running XP Pro SP2, with IE 6.

I have run SFC /SCANNOW, which returned a bad signature in vgx.dll - the
System Event Log returned "the file could not be restored to its original,
valid version. Version of bad file is 6.0.2900.3051."

This user is a hardware engineer and his environment changes constantly;
therefore, System Restore is NOT an option. Also, he said he's been having
this issue "for some time now" and his Restore points only go back 2 weeks,
so I am not sure that would even help.

Can anyone suggest any alternate options? I was thinking of attempting to
repair IE but wasn't sure if that would restore the file or not.

The vgx.dll belongs to the Vector Markup Language. Older versions can be
vulnerable to exploits but that in itself doesn't explain the problem
with Search. Naturally it would be smart to make sure the user's
computer is virus/malware-free but that's just standard troubleshooting.

It is, as you know, very difficult to troubleshoot a problem when
someone says they've been having it for "some time now" and experiences
a lot of changes in their system routinely. It makes the first question
of troubleshooting "what changed between the time things worked and the
time they didn't" basically impossible to answer.

Do you have any more details besides "an App Error"? Anything from the
Event Viewer that might give a clue?
Start>Run>eventvwr.msc [enter]

You can try reinstalling Search but I would see if you can find the
cause first. To reinstall Search, make sure you can see hidden
files/folders and go to the Windows directory and find srchasst.inf.
Right-click it and take "Install". MVP Kelly Theriot has various entries
about Search at her site here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm (click on the "S" and scroll
down to the Search section).

Sorry to not be able to give you a definitive answer but maybe we can
narrow it down if you come up with some more details.


Malke

 

[HeyBub]

Hello,

I have an end user who has been having an issue. Any time he issues
"Search" (either from Start or within Windows Explorer), he gets an
App Error in explorer.exe. His computer is running XP Pro SP2, with
IE 6.

I have run SFC /SCANNOW, which returned a bad signature in vgx.dll -
the System Event Log returned "the file could not be restored to its
original, valid version. Version of bad file is 6.0.2900.3051."

This user is a hardware engineer and his environment changes
constantly; therefore, System Restore is NOT an option. Also, he said
he's been having this issue "for some time now" and his Restore
points only go back 2 weeks, so I am not sure that would even help.

Can anyone suggest any alternate options? I was thinking of
attempting to repair IE but wasn't sure if that would restore the
file or not.

a) Copy vgx.dll from a working system.
b) Blow off SEARCH and install Agent Ransack

 

[Guest]

Thanks Malke,
Yes I agree it is tough to track things down when users don't report issues
when they begin! So far virus/malware scans come back with no infections. The
user had run a CHKDSK prior to reporting the issue and that reported no
errors.

Thanks for the link to Kelly's Korner - I'll check that out.

Meanwhile, Event Viewer shows this as the exlporer.exe error (which I have
not been able to find anything definitive in any Net searches), which appears
immediately after initiating the Search:

Date: 6/1/2007 (the date I was first informed of the issue)
Time: 8:53:55 AM
Type: Error
User: N/A
Computer: <removed>
Source: Application Error
Category: None
Event ID: 1000

Description:
Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, faulting module
unknown, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x00000000.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp

Date: (Bytes)
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74 Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 65 78 70 ure exp
0018: 6c 6f 72 65 72 2e 65 78 lorer.ex
0020: 65 20 36 2e 30 2e 32 39 e 6.0.29
0028: 30 30 2e 32 31 38 30 20 00.2180
0030: 69 6e 20 75 6e 6b 6e 6f in unkno
0038: 77 6e 20 30 2e 30 2e 30 wn 0.0.0
0040: 2e 30 20 61 74 20 6f 66 .0 at of
0048: 66 73 65 74 20 30 30 30 fset 000
0050: 30 30 30 30 30 0d 0a 00000..

Thanks again,
Val

Hello,

I have an end user who has been having an issue. Any time he issues "Search"
(either from Start or within Windows Explorer), he gets an App Error in
explorer.exe. His computer is running XP Pro SP2, with IE 6.

I have run SFC /SCANNOW, which returned a bad signature in vgx.dll - the
System Event Log returned "the file could not be restored to its original,
valid version. Version of bad file is 6.0.2900.3051."

This user is a hardware engineer and his environment changes constantly;
therefore, System Restore is NOT an option. Also, he said he's been having
this issue "for some time now" and his Restore points only go back 2 weeks,
so I am not sure that would even help.

Can anyone suggest any alternate options? I was thinking of attempting to
repair IE but wasn't sure if that would restore the file or not.

The vgx.dll belongs to the Vector Markup Language. Older versions can be
vulnerable to exploits but that in itself doesn't explain the problem
with Search. Naturally it would be smart to make sure the user's
computer is virus/malware-free but that's just standard troubleshooting.

It is, as you know, very difficult to troubleshoot a problem when
someone says they've been having it for "some time now" and experiences
a lot of changes in their system routinely. It makes the first question
of troubleshooting "what changed between the time things worked and the
time they didn't" basically impossible to answer.

Do you have any more details besides "an App Error"? Anything from the
Event Viewer that might give a clue?
Start>Run>eventvwr.msc [enter]

You can try reinstalling Search but I would see if you can find the
cause first. To reinstall Search, make sure you can see hidden
files/folders and go to the Windows directory and find srchasst.inf.
Right-click it and take "Install". MVP Kelly Theriot has various entries
about Search at her site here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm (click on the "S" and scroll
down to the Search section).

Sorry to not be able to give you a definitive answer but maybe we can
narrow it down if you come up with some more details.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[Malke]

Thanks Malke,
Yes I agree it is tough to track things down when users don't report issues
when they begin! So far virus/malware scans come back with no infections. The
user had run a CHKDSK prior to reporting the issue and that reported no
errors.

Thanks for the link to Kelly's Korner - I'll check that out.

Meanwhile, Event Viewer shows this as the exlporer.exe error (which I have
not been able to find anything definitive in any Net searches), which appears
immediately after initiating the Search:

Date: 6/1/2007 (the date I was first informed of the issue)
Time: 8:53:55 AM
Type: Error
User: N/A
Computer: <removed>
Source: Application Error
Category: None
Event ID: 1000

Description:
Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, faulting module
unknown, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x00000000.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp

Date: (Bytes)
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74 Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 65 78 70 ure exp
0018: 6c 6f 72 65 72 2e 65 78 lorer.ex
0020: 65 20 36 2e 30 2e 32 39 e 6.0.29
0028: 30 30 2e 32 31 38 30 20 00.2180
0030: 69 6e 20 75 6e 6b 6e 6f in unkno
0038: 77 6e 20 30 2e 30 2e 30 wn 0.0.0
0040: 2e 30 20 61 74 20 6f 66 .0 at of
0048: 66 73 65 74 20 30 30 30 fset 000
0050: 30 30 30 30 30 0d 0a 00000..

Well, this will be a tricksy one. You might just want to make sure his
data is backed up and then do some hardware testing. I'd start with the
hard drive and then the RAM. This is a pure WAG on my part, mind you.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

If everything else is working OK and nothing is obviously wrong -
software or hardware - a workaround would be to intall Agent Ransack for
searches instead of using the native XP one. Agent Ransack is actually
far superior to XP's Search and it's free.

http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

Obviously if any of the hardware tests come back with failures, you'll
replace those components.

The only other thing I can think of is a Repair Install.

Do post back if you think I can help further and certainly if you figure
out the cause I'd love to know it.

Best of luck,


Malke