Start/Explorer Bar Hangs repeatedly

[Taylor Harvey]

The start button and explorer bar continually hang on my
PC. I am running on Windows XP SP 1 with all the latest
updates. This behavior began within the last 2 weeks.
When I look in task manager, no applications are listed
as not responding and no single process is taking an
inordinant amount of processor time. I am able to kill
th explorer process and start it again using the new task
button and the bar will come back and work for a while
and then eventually freeze again. Has anyone else had
this problem or have suggestions on what I might try to
correct it?

Thanks,

Taylor

 

[Bee]

The start button and explorer bar continually hang on my
PC. I am running on Windows XP SP 1 with all the latest
updates. This behavior began within the last 2 weeks.
When I look in task manager, no applications are listed
as not responding and no single process is taking an
inordinant amount of processor time. I am able to kill
th explorer process and start it again using the new task
button and the bar will come back and work for a while
and then eventually freeze again.....

The no showing or no response of Start Menu and/or Desktop Icons and/or
Taskbar (
with/without its own Icons) is a common problem, from what I read. You
might like to try the following solutions in one MVP Kelly Theriot's past
post:

"Very problematic issue in XP. Workarounds in the meantime:

Control/Alt/Delete - When the Windows Task Manager dialog box appears, go
to Processes, find Explorer.exe highlight it and choose End Process.

Keep the task manager open then select the File menu and then New Task
(Run). When the Create New Task dialog box appears, type in Explorer and
press the OK button. Windows Explorer should restart complete with the
Taskbar and Start button.

If still nothing: Go back to the Task Manager/File/New Task and type in
msconfig. On the General Tab choose Expand File. Or type in CMD:
expand x:\i386\explorer.ex_ c:\windows\explorer.exe

Restore Desktop Icons and Taskbar (Line 195)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Hide All or Show All Desktop Icons (Line 172)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Restore the Taskbar to Default Functionality (Line 164)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Taskbar Is Missing When You Log On to Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q318027".