system reset?

[Ned]

Occasionally, when I'm using Windows Explorer, my screen
will go blank, except for the desktop picture I happen to
be using. All icons and the task bar at the bottom
disappear for about 2-3 sec., then all come back. Windows
Explorer is gone, and I have to "re-select" it, usually
without any more problems. Don't know the best way to
fix, or even what is causing this, OS is WindowsXP Home
ed., with all the latest updates as of a week ago. Thanks
in advance

 

[Malke]

Occasionally, when I'm using Windows Explorer, my screen
will go blank, except for the desktop picture I happen to
be using. All icons and the task bar at the bottom
disappear for about 2-3 sec., then all come back. Windows
Explorer is gone, and I have to "re-select" it, usually
without any more problems. Don't know the best way to
fix, or even what is causing this, OS is WindowsXP Home
ed., with all the latest updates as of a week ago. Thanks
in advance

You mean Internet Explorer has closed? It sounds like something is
crashing. First, look in Event Viewer (in the Administrative Tools
applet in Control Panel) for clues. Here are some generic
troubleshooting steps:

1) Scan with current antivirus ("current" means a version not later than
2002 but using updated virus definitions); 2) remove spyware with
Spybot Search & Destroy (www.security.kolla.de) and Ad-aware
(www.lavasoftusa.com) - note that it is a good idea to do virus/spyware
scans in Safe Mode; 3) delete temporary and Temporary Internet Files;
4) stop unnecessary services/programs from starting with Windows - see
www.blackviper.com for services info and www.pacs-portal.co.uk
startup_index.htm for programs info - 5) look in Event Viewer for
clues.

Post back for more help. Include your system specs and what you've done
to troubleshoot the problem.

Malke

 

[Rick Friedman]

I am also having this problem. Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer)
will apparently crash with no error message. My desktop icons and the
task bar will disappear for a few seconds. Then, they will come back.
However, not all the System Tray icons return. Task manager seems to
show those processes as still running but their icons are gone from the
system tray.

This seems to happen most often when accessing the Start menu and also
when opening a folder.

I'm also running Windows XP Home. 256MB ram, 30GB drive, Athlon K6
processor. I've done complete virus scans (using Norton Antivirus and
AVG). Both scans are negative.

Rick

 

[Bill]

open control panel, administrative tools, event viewer and look in the
application and syatem sections, you should find an entry that will most
likely say something along the lines of "the shell has terminated
unexpectedly and restarted" and you'll see explorer.exe mentioned somewhere.
this might give you (or someone that reads binary) a clue as to what's going
on.

HTH
--

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----


You mean Internet Explorer has closed? It sounds like something is
crashing. First, look in Event Viewer (in the Administrative Tools
applet in Control Panel) for clues. Here are some generic
troubleshooting steps:

1) Scan with current antivirus ("current" means a version not later than
2002 but using updated virus definitions); 2) remove spyware with
Spybot Search & Destroy (www.security.kolla.de) and Ad- aware
(www.lavasoftusa.com) - note that it is a good idea to do virus/spyware
scans in Safe Mode; 3) delete temporary and Temporary Internet Files;
4) stop unnecessary services/programs from starting with Windows - see
www.blackviper.com for services info and www.pacs- portal.co.uk
startup_index.htm for programs info - 5) look in Event Viewer for
clues.

Post back for more help. Include your system specs and what you've done
to troubleshoot the problem.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
.
Malke,

I run SPYBOT as well as ZoneAlarm (newer, but the problem
existed before installed). Use AVG antivirus software
also, and its current and no viruses in system.
System is as follows: Althlon 1900+XP,MOBO is ABIT KR7A-
133 Non-RAID, 768MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4600 video,
dual HD's with C partitioned as C/F/G and operate with
NTFS, and D is slave and operates with FAT32. OS is
Windows XP Home.
At various times I've deleted temp internet files, but
not sure if that has made a difference.
I've NOT looked at the Event Viewer yet, but will as soon
as it happens again, and I'll get back to you with
results.
I'm fairly comfortable with computers, so I'm with you so
far. Thanks, Ned

 

[Alex Nichol]

Occasionally, when I'm using Windows Explorer, my screen
will go blank, except for the desktop picture I happen to
be using. All icons and the task bar at the bottom
disappear for about 2-3 sec., then all come back. Windows
Explorer is gone, and I have to "re-select" it, usually
without any more problems

Windows explorer (explorer.exe) is more than just what you see as that -
it is the whole desktop shell of Windows, so if it crashes you lose the
desktop, until such time as it re-loads. You may then find that some of
the 'tray' icons from programs, by the clock, do not re-appear.

Trouble is, it is very difficult to see why it should crash: but
sometimes it does, usually less drastically. I would suggest doing a
refresh of system files, in case it has been damaged. Put the CD in the
drive, exit the autorun, and then go to Start - Run and run
SFC /SCANNOW

 

[R. McCarty]

To help "Isolate" the problem, you change a Registry Key to
make XP run Explorer in a separate process.

Click Start, Run, (Type) Regedit and navigate to the following
key....
[Hkey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanc
ed]

Click into the Right Pane and scroll until you find the follow sub-key
SeparateProcess

Right click on the name and choose modify, then change the 0 to 1.

(If the sub-key does not exist, Click New [as type Dword], name it
as shown above and modify it's value to a 1.
This may or may not help, as Alex said Explorer crashes are very
difficult to isolate.