VERY VERY BAD... Help???!

[kiersten]

I have a feeling that if people do answer users asking for
help here what I'm going to hear is "reinstall xp over
itself", but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask anyways!
heehee.

Okay I didn't load any new software or run any clean up
utils of any kind. I was just going from using my
computer normally 1 day and then booted up the next and:

My XP Pro hyperthreading 2.8ghz 512MB RAM desktop now at
boot up the mouse shows the hourglass and won't let me do
anything like open the start menu.

The only thing to do is ctrl-alt-delete and TASK MANAGER
and lo and BEHOLD:

Explorer.exe is running at about 50%. I have the procnt
util and when I do properties of the only expolorer.exe
available that's cpuing at 50% when I go to the threads
tab only 1 thread is using 99% of the 50% CPU cycles and
it says this:

CSWITCHDELTA IS 6082 and
START ADDRESS IS :

ntdll.dll!RtlPcToFileHeader+0x352

CSWTICHDELTA IS 1 and
START ADDRESS IS:

explorer.exe+0xb644

there are a number of others but that top one's the one
the cpu cycles are going on. Then if I choose the STACK
button of that problematic cpu sucker it opens up to:
0 ntdll.dll+0x8090304
1 SHLWAPI.dll!Ordinal75+0x1b
2 SHLWAPI.dll!PathFileExistsW+0x20
3 SHELL32.dll!Ordinal748+0x459
4 SHELL32.dllSHLoadNonloadedIconOverlayIdentifiers+0x1f67
then 5 onward are just like number 4 with different
numbers after the plus which go down to a step 9

WHen I searched the internet for the SHLoadNonloaded crap
nothing but the definition of the function came up. No
error reports.

Finally the last important thing to note is :

If I KILL THE THREAD ITSELF ONLY DIRECTLY (not
explorer.exe just the ntdll.dll!RtlPcToFileHeader crap
then I get my computer back working like normal and can
access everything from the start menu and run apps and
programs.

Obviously booting your computer each time and having to
kill a specific thread is not an optimal way of living
with a computer though!

Has anyone any POSSIBLE CLUE about this insanity??? I've
run full virus-scans and spyware-scans and before I'm
giving up tonight just ran nortons windows problem scanner
and let it fix some things but upon reboot nothing is any
different.

Can anyone help a GRRL GOING CRAZY??!?!?? PLZ??!? thank
you so much for your precious time in responding!

--Kiersten

(respond here or to : xpcrash-hers(at)sneakemail.com )

 

[Rob Schneider]

The key clue may be that

giving up tonight just ran nortons windows problem scanner
and let it fix some things but upon reboot nothing is any
different.

which implies that you allowed your machine to become virus-infected.
At that point, anything could have happened and your machine has been
compromised. I guess the evidence points to the fact that maybe Norton
was not able to fix completely.

Maybe you need to do a system restore from a time back when it was ok.
Or maybe the machine is now "hosed". Hard to tell from here.

Implement better security practices and avoid viruses.

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

 

[Kelly]

Hi,

I know you stated that you have run some of the same, but run each and every
one of these now:

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;827315

Ad-Aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Spybot
http://tinyurl.com/btf8

CWShredder (Line 313)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Hijack This
http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

Free Online Virus Scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

In the meantime, I will look more into this for you. Good luck!

 

[kiersten]

Hi! Thanks so much for saying you'd investigate this!
wow! Unfortunately the first person that replied doesn't
know norton's programs I think because he said he thought
I caught a virus which I am clearly stating I DID NOT
(after 2 different virus checkers both updated and 3
different spyware checkers -- which are -- in order: NAV,
AVG, ADAWARE, SPYBOT, SPYWARE BLASTER) and that DID NOT
catch any problems. For those that don't know Nortons has
a Windows Problem checker program as part of Norton System
Works that checks for things like bad active-x installs,
bad-pathways in the registry, missing shared dlls, and a
zillion other like kind of things. That program did find
a few registry problems but as that was the last thing I
ran and have been having the problem for hours before this
and the resulting following reboot showed nothing had
changed. That Norton's apps called "WINDOCTOR" always
finds something wrong as I've usually moved a link and it
can't find it's program, but that was the EXTENT of any
problems found.

Since last post I got and ran JV16POWERTOOLS for the
registry checker tools. Although I'm am being a bit
conservative in terms of "fixing" the problems these kinds
of programs find as I've "fixed" myself INTO problems
instead of OUTOF them before. At any rate, upon rebooting,
no differences so far.

Also, I have spent a couple hours at the site:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
and have done everything suggested.

Good News in that though! NOT, MIND YOU,ABOUT the
explorer.exe thread running at 50% cpu - no matter what -
, but about other long-standing issues. I got some great
saved tips for when things are working again to customize
things that have always driven me crazy about windows so
I'm at least kinda excited about that! heehee.
Especially fixing my quicklaunch icons to the order I want
and so they will refresh correctly on the double-wide
taskbar size I like to use so I have 2 lines of them.
They were being screwed up and no matter how many times I
resized the quicklaunch manually it wouldn't save through
a rebooting. It looks like I've got the fixes for that
now no problem! Thank you so much for spreading the word
about this resource you all!

Of course if I end up doing the xp pro over-install of my
current system I wonder how many of those little things
may 'get fixed' too... Anyways, I'll check this thread
again tomorrow to anyone who may have a suggestion about
this.

Holding a small 'thread' (UGH!) of Hope!

--Kiersten

xpcrash-hers(at)sneakemail.com

PS if you haven't heard of the SNEAKEMAIL.COM service go
check them out now! They are awesome guys who do a great
ultra-cheap service for what you get. Create a new email
addy for absolutely everything you do with no extra fuss
or muss in then using it!

 

[kiersten]

Hi! Thanks so much for saying you'd investigate this!
wow! Unfortunately the first person that replied doesn't
know norton's programs I think because he said he thought
I caught a virus which I am clearly stating I DID NOT
(after 2 different virus checkers both updated and 3
different spyware checkers -- which are -- in order: NAV,
AVG, ADAWARE, SPYBOT, SPYWARE BLASTER) and that DID NOT
catch any problems. For those that don't know Nortons has
a Windows Problem checker program as part of Norton System
Works that checks for things like bad active-x installs,
bad-pathways in the registry, missing shared dlls, and a
zillion other like kind of things. That program did find
a few registry problems but as that was the last thing I
ran and have been having the problem for hours before this
and the resulting following reboot showed nothing had
changed. That Norton's apps called "WINDOCTOR" always
finds something wrong as I've usually moved a link and it
can't find it's program, but that was the EXTENT of any
problems found.

Since last post I got and ran JV16POWERTOOLS for the
registry checker tools. Although I'm am being a bit
conservative in terms of "fixing" the problems these kinds
of programs find as I've "fixed" myself INTO problems
instead of OUTOF them before. At any rate, upon rebooting,
no differences so far.

Also, I have spent a couple hours at the site:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
and have done everything suggested.

Good News in that though! NOT, MIND YOU,ABOUT the
explorer.exe thread running at 50% cpu - no matter what -
, but about other long-standing issues. I got some great
saved tips for when things are working again to customize
things that have always driven me crazy about windows so
I'm at least kinda excited about that! heehee.
Especially fixing my quicklaunch icons to the order I want
and so they will refresh correctly on the double-wide
taskbar size I like to use so I have 2 lines of them.
They were being screwed up and no matter how many times I
resized the quicklaunch manually it wouldn't save through
a rebooting. It looks like I've got the fixes for that
now no problem! Thank you so much for spreading the word
about this resource you all!

Of course if I end up doing the xp pro over-install of my
current system I wonder how many of those little things
may 'get fixed' too... Anyways, I'll check this thread
again tomorrow to anyone who may have a suggestion about
this.

Holding a small 'thread' (UGH!) of Hope!

--Kiersten

xpcrash-hers(at)sneakemail.com

PS if you haven't heard of the SNEAKEMAIL.COM service go
check them out now! They are awesome guys who do a great
ultra-cheap service for what you get. Create a new email
addy for absolutely everything you do with no extra fuss
or muss in then using it!

 

[Rob Schneider]

More clues ... has "fixing" of the registry broken things? Any reason
you need these fixes? Just becuase some program says "I'll fix this
for you", does this really mean it means fixing? Because you say your
machine is not working, it clearly is no working. There has to be a
cause. The cause is related to changes--either by you, by "fixing"
programs, or by nefarious programs (virus, spy, etc.). Find the cause.

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

 

[Kelly]

Hi,

Just a note to keep in mind: "Never" put your trust in a program, excluding
all others, including Norton. If this means anything to you, Norton has
never been a part of any of my systems here and never will be. Points to
you though, for not trusting a reg cleaner.

That said, if all of the slates are as clean as you say, I would suggest
running the Startup Tracker from here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_u.htm#xp_util and fine comb the log file.

Good luck and keep your doors open!




Hi! Thanks so much for saying you'd investigate this!
wow! Unfortunately the first person that replied doesn't
know norton's programs I think because he said he thought
I caught a virus which I am clearly stating I DID NOT
(after 2 different virus checkers both updated and 3
different spyware checkers -- which are -- in order: NAV,
AVG, ADAWARE, SPYBOT, SPYWARE BLASTER) and that DID NOT
catch any problems. For those that don't know Nortons has
a Windows Problem checker program as part of Norton System
Works that checks for things like bad active-x installs,
bad-pathways in the registry, missing shared dlls, and a
zillion other like kind of things. That program did find
a few registry problems but as that was the last thing I
ran and have been having the problem for hours before this
and the resulting following reboot showed nothing had
changed. That Norton's apps called "WINDOCTOR" always
finds something wrong as I've usually moved a link and it
can't find it's program, but that was the EXTENT of any
problems found.

Since last post I got and ran JV16POWERTOOLS for the
registry checker tools. Although I'm am being a bit
conservative in terms of "fixing" the problems these kinds
of programs find as I've "fixed" myself INTO problems
instead of OUTOF them before. At any rate, upon rebooting,
no differences so far.

Also, I have spent a couple hours at the site:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
and have done everything suggested.

Good News in that though! NOT, MIND YOU,ABOUT the
explorer.exe thread running at 50% cpu - no matter what -
, but about other long-standing issues. I got some great
saved tips for when things are working again to customize
things that have always driven me crazy about windows so
I'm at least kinda excited about that! heehee.
Especially fixing my quicklaunch icons to the order I want
and so they will refresh correctly on the double-wide
taskbar size I like to use so I have 2 lines of them.
They were being screwed up and no matter how many times I
resized the quicklaunch manually it wouldn't save through
a rebooting. It looks like I've got the fixes for that
now no problem! Thank you so much for spreading the word
about this resource you all!

Of course if I end up doing the xp pro over-install of my
current system I wonder how many of those little things
may 'get fixed' too... Anyways, I'll check this thread
again tomorrow to anyone who may have a suggestion about
this.

Holding a small 'thread' (UGH!) of Hope!

--Kiersten

xpcrash-hers(at)sneakemail.com

PS if you haven't heard of the SNEAKEMAIL.COM service go
check them out now! They are awesome guys who do a great
ultra-cheap service for what you get. Create a new email
addy for absolutely everything you do with no extra fuss
or muss in then using it!

 

[Cerridwen]

Hi,

Just a note to keep in mind: "Never" put your trust in a program,
excluding all others, including Norton. If this means anything to
you, Norton has never been a part of any of my systems here and never
will be. Points to you though, for not trusting a reg cleaner.

That said, if all of the slates are as clean as you say, I would
suggest running the Startup Tracker from here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_u.htm#xp_util and fine comb the
log file.

Good luck and keep your doors open!

Exactly, Kelly - NAV, NU, CS, etc, break more than they fix (if they fix
anything at all!)

 

[Kelly]

Thank You!!! ) And no further comment.

 

[Steve N.]

I have a feeling that if people do answer users asking for
help here what I'm going to hear is "reinstall xp over
itself", but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask anyways!
heehee.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people posting here who give that
"stupid" blanket advice (stupid in the sense that it is a last resort
and may not even fix some problems in and of itself, since a re-install
of that type causes the loss of service packs and critical security
patches possibly leading to other problems for people who don't know to
re-apply them immediately). Kudos to you for not following it!

Sorry, I have no advice to offer that has not already been given. Good
luck and when you do find the fix for Explorer using 50% CPU please post
back to this thread with the details so others may learn along with you.

Steve

 

[Mike]

Kiersten

Reading through your posts, I get the impression that you load more or less
any garbage onto your pc and then expect Norton System Works to fix the
problems.. NSW, in my humble opinion, is one of the worst pieces of garbage
that anybody can install on a computer (or anything Norton).. and yes, many
do suggest a re-install of the OS or a system restore, and maybe it isn't
the answer to all ills.. however, with what some install onto their
computers, it is the only way to overcome severe problems.. I have NEVER had
to use 'system restore' and have only ever had to re-install the OS after
the heads on my primary drive crash landed.. the lesson here is to avoid
gimicky software that makes false claims, the major claim being that it will
enhance your computing experience..

Mike

 

[Steve N.]

the lesson here is to avoid
gimicky software that makes false claims, the major claim being that it will
enhance your computing experience..

Like windows XP?



Steve

 

[Alex Nichol]

Thank You!!! ) And no further comment.

I'll just add one. The 'Guardian' newspaper here runs a rather good
'OnLine' section every Thursday. The last three or four weeks much of
its letters section has been from readers complaining about troubles
associated with Norton 2004

 

[Will Denny]

I've seen those Alex - I'll agree with Kelly - 'no comment'!!

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


| Kelly wrote:
|
| >Thank You!!! ) And no further comment.
|
| I'll just add one. The 'Guardian' newspaper here runs a rather good
| 'OnLine' section every Thursday. The last three or four weeks much of
| its letters section has been from readers complaining about troubles
| associated with Norton 2004
|
|
| --
| Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
| Bournemouth, U.K. (e-mail address removed)8.org (remove the DEL8 bit)

 

[hermes]

Before the MVP (M$ Victim Poster) Hermes responded, Steve N. typed:

Like windows XP?



Steve

Got that right Steve!

--
hermes
DRM sux! Treacherous Computing kills our virtual civil liberties!
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html

Windows XP crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Just remember the people who don't have trouble with a
product rarely write the newspapers and magazines to say its
great. Often trouble is hardware or software conflicts
related to a particular system. On the other hand, I don't
you Norton.

In ten years or so, I may be an MVP, now I'm just a OGC (Old
Geek Curmudgeon)


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


I've seen those Alex - I'll agree with Kelly - 'no
comment'!!

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


message | Kelly wrote:
|
| >Thank You!!! ) And no further comment.
|
| I'll just add one. The 'Guardian' newspaper here runs a
rather good
| 'OnLine' section every Thursday. The last three or four
weeks much of
| its letters section has been from readers complaining
about troubles
| associated with Norton 2004
|
|
| --
| Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
| Bournemouth, U.K. (e-mail address removed)8.org (remove the DEL8
bit)

 

[Cerridwen]

I'll just add one. The 'Guardian' newspaper here runs a rather good
'OnLine' section every Thursday. The last three or four weeks much of
its letters section has been from readers complaining about troubles
associated with Norton 2004

Ditto the Telegraph - it's 'Connected' section has been full of them too.
That's also Thursdays as well, conincidentally.

 

[Shane]

Likewise, Will. Bunch of Grauniad readers, eh?


Shane


I've seen those Alex - I'll agree with Kelly - 'no comment'!!

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User


| Kelly wrote:
|
| >Thank You!!! ) And no further comment.
|
| I'll just add one. The 'Guardian' newspaper here runs a rather good
| 'OnLine' section every Thursday. The last three or four weeks much of
| its letters section has been from readers complaining about troubles
| associated with Norton 2004
|
|
| --
| Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
| Bournemouth, U.K. (e-mail address removed)8.org (remove the DEL8 bit)