Windows Explorer Driving Me Nuts!

Hey, Folks,

I'm on a Gateway P7805u FX with no overclocking, extra ram or anything else. Until recently, it was running beautifully, and until night before last, was only mildly annoying. That is to say, Internet Explorer would periodically stop working for no apparent reason, requiring me to close it and start it back up.

Over the last few weeks, however, the computer has often run slow enough that I did several (and several kinds of) virus scans to make sure there wasn't something hijacking the system. They've all come up clean, whether they've been online scans, scans from within the system (Nod 32 and Malwarebytes), or through a bootable disc (both Kaspersky and BitDefender).

Night before last, things got completely out of hand: "Windows Explorer has quit working" seemed to be popping up 10 minutes. At that time, I did a complete strip and reinstall of the OS (W7 x64). Things froze up right from the beginning, but it got really bad when I updated Java, so I uninstalled it. I also updated NVidia's latest driver, but don't know if it's had a negative effect or not.

Unfortunately, that hasn't helped. Not only is Windows Explorer prone to quit suddenly, but now it sometimes hangs when I try to open folders. The window opens, but it goes into a "search state", and doesn't show me the files in the folder unless I log off then log back on. That is, if it doesn't freeze to the point where I have to do the five-second sledgehammer to turn off the computer.

Out of desperation, and because the fan seems to me to be running medium high during most of this, I installed GPU-Z and SpeedFan, following the advice of a thread on this forum. At this very moment, with the browser on and nothing else, the GPU temperature is ranging between 48-53C; the CPU numbers are as follows:

GPU: 49C
HD0: (the one that's running) 53C
HD1: 51C
Temp1: 61C
Temp2: 60C
Core 0:53C
Core 1: 53C

These temperatures drop or rise a degree or so every few seconds, but as I freely admit to having no clue of what they signify, I don't know if that’s good or bad.

Any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated; I've googled "Windows Explorer has stopped working and tried several of the suggestions. I even turned off most of the shell extensions using a program called Autorun, since it initially seemed to happen when I messed with the right-click context menus, but it hasn't helped.

So, is something mechanical at fault? Is this something I can remedy with... I can't imagine what? This is my work computer, so I really need some answers as soon as possible.

 

EDIT: Wrong post and wrong site. . The effects of sleep deprivation I suppose.


Looking at your temps, your HD1 temp is a bit worrying. Seems a bit high (about 10C too high). I would look at the SMART data on the drive and determine whether it is failing or not. Also, a memory test would help determine if it was a memory issue. If neither of these are the problem, I would consider it being a driver issue. Did you by chance update drivers before this problem started occurring?

 

had same problem awhile back. turned out to be a bad stick of memory.

 

Also IE haes certain add on's. I had the issue too because the google tool bar would not update. I deinstalled and then installed the new version and all was back to normal. Make sure your add on's, including Java, are current...............

 

my long story short, hard drive was failing

Your story about not able to access a folder sounds just like my hard drive

I was unable to access a folder that had anime in it. So I had to delete the entire folder and thought nothing of it. As I was lurking around notebookreview, I came across a thread about this same problem (I can not remember that thread, I can not find the thread either, hopefully someone else will)

He posted his results and there were some areas that were questionable and the posters told him that his drive was failing. The results he had were also the same as mines.

I immediately transferred all of my info to another drive and RMA the failing drive which was still under warranty

Hope this helps you decide on your next course of action

 

Run chkdsk.

edit: go to command prompt, right click and run as administrator, type "chkdsk"

afterwards run "sfc /scannow" without quotes.

 

try firefox and see if it does the same.

 

I don't think this is a browser issue considering he's having global slowdown + java problems.

 

This

and this.

 

It sounds a lot like bad memory to me but it could be the hard drive. So if he can run chkdsk and memtest86+ it would determine which.

 

I found the thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/564836-hdtune-ultra-dma-crc-error-count-53-counts.html

The error the original poster (highlighted in yellow) was exactly the same error I had.

Eventually, a few days later, the write speed would slow down to a snail (from 1.8 and lower).

 

I had the same issue one time.. as soon as I turned off low disk space checking in the registry on my hard drive explorer decided it wanted to work again... granted this might not work for you but it could shed a little light

 

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
and chkdsk

Doing this will tell us what we need to know.

 

Hi, everyone--and thanks for the prompt and abundant answers. Unfortunately, according to SMART, scannow and the Memory Diagnostic, not only is all well... but when I ran the online version of SMART last night, after many hours of fan running and restarts, everything was either "good" or "very good" (or whatever language it uses to define the notion that the hard drive is fine).

Here is the information from SMART as of about ten minutes ago, right after starting the computer; with the exception of the warning in red, it looked much like this last night:

Raw Read Error Rate 200 0 Very good
4 Spin Up Time 177 2125 Good
1 Start/Stop Count 98 2616 Normal
10 Reallocated Sector Count 200 0 Very good
1 Seek Error Rate 100 0 Normal
1 Power On Hours Count 90 7930 Normal
10 Spin Retry Count 100 0 Very good
10 Calibration Retry Count 100 0 Very good
1 Power Cycle Count 99 1136 Normal
10 Power Off Retract Count 200 194 Very good
0 Load Cycle Count 126 224517 Watch
Warning: Load Cycle Count is below the average limits (147-200).
10 Reallocated Event Count 200 0 Very good
10 Current Pending Sector 200 0 Very good
10 Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count 100 0 Very good
10 Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate 200 0 Very good
10 Write Error Rate 100 0 Very good

With the exception of the one in red (and what does that mean?) everything seems to be more than fine. Likewise, the Memory Test indicated that my sticks are both good--however, that was with the built-in Windows memory test. I'll give a go to MemTest86 shortly. Also, the SpeedFan is still running the extended test; I'll post those results, too. Scannow only commented on the fact that I have Windows Updates deactivated (I install them after I find out what they may or may not crash, thanks to bitter experience), but otherwise, the system was clear. I will give a look at the suggestion about the low disk space checker and see if it helps. Thanks.

One thing that certainly could be a problem, and which I discovered thanks to setting the laptop on the bed prior to getting the carpet cleaned: both of the fans on the bottom of the computer are insanely dusty. I'll be seeing to that shortly, now that I know it, but wonder if that could be at least part of the heat issue.

Will using canned air, which I have on hand, do for clearing out these fans?

 

And you reformatted, right? Wiped and reinstalled windows?

And yes canned air will work.

 

Yes, all of the above... indeed, I actually--dammit, had to close Firefox right in the middle of answering this; got a "Firefox is not responding" notice--I actually reformatted, then deleted the drive, then formatted again and then reloaded the OS. Then I did a clean up of all of the free space with Cyberscrub before adding any other than the programs that don't come with the OS.

Well, the SMART test has another 20% remaining. Once I get the results, I'll turn off the computer, give it a good cleaning and see what there is to see. I did disable the Low Memory Checker.

And here's something interesting... I reloaded (what I assume is) the latest version of Java about 20 minutes ago, as some of the sites I surf regularly were squawking about it. I've been on the computer for, what? most of three hours, now, and the above is the first time Firefox has acted up. I've also been doing a bit of context menu clicking, and haven't had any problems up til now.

I'm beginning to wonder if there might be a connection between Java's latest and this problem. I seem to recall that I'd done an update not long before things got really crazy... but don't make me swear to that. I should also mention that, once the computer warmed up a bit, a second online SMART test showed the Load Cycle Count as "good". Go figure. I know that, at the moment the temperatures on the hard drive are up again...the whole lot are ranging between 49 and 55C, with Temps 1 and 2 at the highest level.


EDIT: Okay, the Extended Test finished while I was doing this... it says "No Error," so I assume my hard drive, etc., are not the problem. I'll be running Memtest86, now...

 

Run memtest86+ (make sure you have the +) and we'll take it from there.

 

Well, the good news is, Memtest86+ found nothing wrong. Likewise, the bad news is, Memtest86+ found nothing wrong.

I did, however, blow out the fans, and no rabbits came hopping out. We'll see what happens next.


EDIT:

Someone on another forum suggested I do a low-level format and wipe the Master Boot Record. Both of these ideas give me the screaming willies, but if it might clear this up, I'm game.

Comments, please?

 

A low level format is done at the factory i.e. Seagate, WD, Hitachi, Samsung, that's the process that sets up the tracks and sectors in the drive. A high level format is what typical users perform on the drive when they format it through Windows.

You can do a zero wipe which basically zeros out your drive which you'll then have to reinstall your OS. You can download a free version of KillDisk which allows you to zero out the drive. Active@ Kill Disk. Hard Drives Eraser. Free Download.

 

Can you give me a rough idea of how long that would take with a 500GB drive? If I start immediately (around 9PM Pacific Time), will I be able to reload my OS before Midnight? I'd really like to get back to my actual work, much as I (honestly) enjoy geeking about with my computer.

Okay, minor geeking, I grant... but it's a little like playing with really complicated word puzzles, something I enjoy. Creating income, however, must necessarily trump this particular form of fun, so I need to get this stuff done and get back to it.

 

Well, after twenty-four hours of no changes "Windows Explorer is not working" or whatever (and I've been doing some pretty intense context menu right-clicking), I'm beginning to think that something suggested here has done the trick. Happily, without having to strip and low-format my drive.

It's still running hotter than I like, but I'm keeping a steady eye on the SpeedFan and GPU-Z stats, and they seem to think all is well.

Thanks, everyone, for your help; I appreciate it as always. And forgive me, please, for my stupid question in the post above. It was late. I had a brain-fart.