XP dying?, unable to access my network places

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob

Hi, over the past week I have noticed more and more problems occurring
on my computer. Today I managed to sort out an error which was causing
the my computer folder to take about a minute to display correctly but I
still have many more to sort out. One of the problems that is giving me
the greatest grief is not being able to open my network places. If I
try to open it is simple doesn't, some times it will cause and error in
explorer.exe and then cause Dr Watson to error as well while other times
it won’t do anything but still not open. I have checked event viewer
and it hasn't reported any information that I can use to track this
down. So does anyone know what could be causing the problem of me not
being able to access my network places and if it would be simpler and
easier to just reformat? (something I don't want to do as i only did a
format at the beginning of the year and don't want to have to be doing
another one 6 months later).

Thanks
 
Bob said:
Hi, over the past week I have noticed more and more problems occurring
on my computer. Today I managed to sort out an error which was causing
the my computer folder to take about a minute to display correctly but I
still have many more to sort out. One of the problems that is giving me
the greatest grief is not being able to open my network places. If I
try to open it is simple doesn't, some times it will cause and error in
explorer.exe and then cause Dr Watson to error as well while other times
it won’t do anything but still not open. I have checked event viewer
and it hasn't reported any information that I can use to track this
down. So does anyone know what could be causing the problem of me not
being able to access my network places and if it would be simpler and
easier to just reformat? (something I don't want to do as i only did a
format at the beginning of the year and don't want to have to be doing
another one 6 months later).
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, except for knowing that "more and more problems" have been
occurring on your computer, including Network Places, we don't know
anything about the machine's hardware or software. So giving you focused
troubleshooting is impossible. Please go to this link to see what details
you need to include in your next newsgroup post:

http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

In the meantime, here are general malware removal steps (always a good idea
to do unless you absolutely know you're clean) and general hardware
troubleshooting steps:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Troubleshooting

Malke
 
My system is Windows XP pro sp2 fully updates. No spyware virus or
anything else of that nature. Its a P4 3.0ghz, 1Gb ram, 120gb ide main
hdd with 320gb sata secondary hdd. I have two NIC, one wireless and one
Ethernet, Ethernet is disabled at the moment because it causes conflicts
in games as the games don’t know which NIC to choose from. As for more
details about the problem I can give you this error message.

Explorer.EXE - Application Error
The instruction at "0x7c911fbe" reference memory at "0x00000003". The
memory could not be "read". Click ok to terminate the program.

Event Viewer reports this error which seems to occur at the same time I
try and access my network places.

DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is
disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. "
attempting to start the service StiSvc with arguments "" in order to run
the server:
{A1F4E726-8CF1-11D1-BF92-0060081ED811}

Dr Watson doesn't report anything and event viewer mentions nothing
about explorer crashing. That’s all the info I can give you.
 
Bob said:
My system is Windows XP pro sp2 fully updates. No spyware virus or
anything else of that nature. Its a P4 3.0ghz, 1Gb ram, 120gb ide
main
hdd with 320gb sata secondary hdd. I have two NIC, one wireless and
one Ethernet, Ethernet is disabled at the moment because it causes
conflicts
in games as the games don’t know which NIC to choose from. As for
more details about the problem I can give you this error message.

Explorer.EXE - Application Error
The instruction at "0x7c911fbe" reference memory at "0x00000003". The
memory could not be "read". Click ok to terminate the program.

Event Viewer reports this error which seems to occur at the same time
I try and access my network places.

DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is
disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. "
attempting to start the service StiSvc with arguments "" in order to
run the server:
{A1F4E726-8CF1-11D1-BF92-0060081ED811}

Dr Watson doesn't report anything and event viewer mentions nothing
about explorer crashing. That’s all the info I can give you.
Click to expand...

The DCOM error is probably not causing the lockups. Explorer.exe is the
operating system's graphical user interface. I would definitely do
hardware troubleshooting, starting with heat, RAM, and give a good look
at the video card to make sure it isn't overheating. Here are the
general hardware troubleshooting steps again:

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

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke
 
I will blow this computer out tomorrow as its one of the last in the
house than hasn't had a clean. It's the middle of winter here so things
are nice and cool so over heating shouldn't be a problem. Even though
you suspect overheating why does the explore crash only occur when i try
to access my network places? I still play games and all my other daily
activities that are more resource intensive then opening my network
places which would show an over heating problem or hardware malfunction
over simply opening my network places.
 
Bob said:
I will blow this computer out tomorrow as its one of the last in the
house than hasn't had a clean. It's the middle of winter here so
things
are nice and cool so over heating shouldn't be a problem. Even though
you suspect overheating why does the explore crash only occur when i
try
to access my network places? I still play games and all my other
daily activities that are more resource intensive then opening my
network places which would show an over heating problem or hardware
malfunction over simply opening my network places.
Click to expand...

Maybe your NIC is going. Maybe the RAM is flaky and only gives issues
when a particular register is accessed. There's no way for me to know.
Just as there was no way for me to know it's winter where you are and
overheating probably isn't an issue. That's why the troubleshooting
steps I gave you are called "general". Maybe it isn't hardware at all.
Again, there isn't any way for me to guess since I can't see your
machine and you don't have a particular error message with a clear-cut
known solution. Therefore, you have to troubleshoot and troubleshooting
is a logical, deductive process starting at the base and moving up.

What changed between the time things worked and the time they didn't?

Malke
 
Well I have finally gotten around to blowing out the computer (had to
wait for the rain to clear) and besides bring down the temps by about 10
degrees Celsius (always a good thing) nothing else has happened. I
still can’t access my network places; I am inclined to believe that this
isn’t a hardware problem as nothing else seems to be effected. Do you
have any other ideas about what might be causing this problem and how to
solve it?
 
Bob said:
Well I have finally gotten around to blowing out the computer (had to
wait for the rain to clear) and besides bring down the temps by about
10
degrees Celsius (always a good thing) nothing else has happened. I
still can’t access my network places; I am inclined to believe that
this
isn’t a hardware problem as nothing else seems to be effected. Do you
have any other ideas about what might be causing this problem and how
to solve it?
Click to expand...

Because I don't have any error messages or clues from your Event Viewer
and because I don't know anything about your computer and/or your
network I can't give you focused troubleshooting. The only suggestions
I can give you are general ones to help you focus your own
troubleshooting:

1. What changed between the time things worked and the time they didn't?
2. Look in Event Viewer for clues.
3. Make sure all computers on the network are completely
virus/malware-free:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
4. Do general hardware troubleshooting starting with network components:
a. cables
b. NICs
c. routers/switches

Malke
 
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