Windows Exlorer has stopped working.....

mooeire

This keeps popping up on my screen and then saying its restarting.. This is happening as soon as i start the my laptop up and then doesnt stop!! Any ideas of what it might be folkes???

cantthinkof1

What version of IE are you running?

Have you tried launching IE with no plug ins? It could be a bad plugin or a bad update.
Perhaps try a system restore

JonathanAnon

What errors do you get on startup? Issues with Windows Explorer can be caused if there are problems with the hard drive.. Can you go to the recovery console and run chkdsk.. ?

I would also plug out any external hard drives, remove any CDs etc etc..

Fysh

mooeire wrote: »

This keeps popping up on my screen and then saying its restarting.. This is happening as soon as i start the my laptop up and then doesnt stop!! Any ideas of what it might be folkes???

A few questions for you:

• What version of Windows are you running?
• What, if any, changes have you made recently? (Eg installing updates, new software, new hardware, etc)
• Have you run any hardware diagnostics?
• What type of laptop are you using?

At a guess, if you're using Vista or 7 it could be a display adapter issue or a RAM issue. Hard to offer more detailed advice without knowing more about the problem though.

mooeire

Fysh wrote: »

A few questions for you:

• What version of Windows are you running?
• What, if any, changes have you made recently? (Eg installing updates, new software, new hardware, etc)
• Have you run any hardware diagnostics?
• What type of laptop are you using?

At a guess, if you're using Vista or 7 it could be a display adapter issue or a RAM issue. Hard to offer more detailed advice without knowing more about the problem though.

Im using windows 7, i recently had a virus and i did a full system scan from help i got on boards and have started using Firefox since then, the box has been popping up the odd time about Internet explorer stopping working but its every minute or so now. I am using a Toshiba Satellite L500-1Dt.. Hope this helps

Fysh

mooeire wrote: »

Im using windows 7, i recently had a virus and i did a full system scan from help i got on boards and have started using Firefox since then, the box has been popping up the odd time about Internet explorer stopping working but its every minute or so now. I am using a Toshiba Satellite L500-1Dt.. Hope this helps

OK, the first thing to clarify is the message you're getting - is it Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer that has the problem?

If it's Windows Explorer, I've seen similar issues with Windows 7 due to bad graphics drivers and memory issues. It probably wouldn't hurt to go to the Toshiba site and check if you're using the most recent driver they've provided. Bear in mind that Toshiba lists graphics drivers as "display drivers". Make sure to check what version of Windows 7 you're using (32-bit or 64-bit) and get the right driver version. You can check this by pressing the Windows key and Pause (usually at the top right of your keyboard) at the same time to bring up the System Properties window.

You can check what graphics driver you're using by right-clicking on your desktop, selecting "Screen Resolution" from the menu, then clicking on Advanced settings. A new window will pop up, with the Adapter tab selected by default - this will tell you what driver your laptop is using, along with the version of the driver.

mooeire

Fysh wrote: »

OK, the first thing to clarify is the message you're getting - is it Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer that has the problem?

If it's Windows Explorer, I've seen similar issues with Windows 7 due to bad graphics drivers and memory issues. It probably wouldn't hurt to go to the Toshiba site and check if you're using the most recent driver they've provided. Bear in mind that Toshiba lists graphics drivers as "display drivers". Make sure to check what version of Windows 7 you're using (32-bit or 64-bit) and get the right driver version. You can check this by pressing the Windows key and Pause (usually at the top right of your keyboard) at the same time to bring up the System Properties window.

You can check what graphics driver you're using by right-clicking on your desktop, selecting "Screen Resolution" from the menu, then clicking on Advanced settings. A new window will pop up, with the Adapter tab selected by default - this will tell you what driver your laptop is using, along with the version of the driver.

Its windows explorer that is popping up and it says im using 64-bit, what should i be looking for exactly on the Toshiba link?? Thanks a lot for your help

Fysh

mooeire wrote: »

Its windows explorer that is popping up and it says im using 64-bit, what should i be looking for exactly on the Toshiba link?? Thanks a lot for your help

Open the link, then select Windows 7 - 64 bit from the "Operating System" dropdown, and Display Driver from the "Driver Type" dropdown. There should only be one driver listed, version 8.15 of an Intel driver. If this isn't what you've got installed, download the driver from Toshiba, install it and restart, then see if you get any improvement.

mooeire

Fysh wrote: »

Open the link, then select Windows 7 - 64 bit from the "Operating System" dropdown, and Display Driver from the "Driver Type" dropdown. There should only be one driver listed, version 8.15 of an Intel driver. If this isn't what you've got installed, download the driver from Toshiba, install it and restart, then see if you get any improvement.

Done all that but still have the same problem!!!

Fysh

You should check the logs and look for an indication of what's causing the problem. Open the Start Menu, right-click on Computer, and select Manage. Go to System Tools > Event Viewer > Windows Logs > System, and look for any warnings or errors with times & dates that match the times when you experience this problem.

You could try freeing up some memory for your graphics card. Open System Properties (Windows key + Pause) and check how much RAM you have installed. Knock, say, 64MB off that amount (or 128MB if you're feeling generous). Go to the Start Menu and type msconfig, then press Enter. Select the "Boot" tab, and click on "Advanced options...". Tick the "Maximum memory" box and type in the amount of memory you want to use. For example, if you've got 4GB installed and you want to leave 128MB free for graphics, you'd type in 3968 (4096-128). Press OK to confirm, then press OK again to close msconfig. You'll be prompted to reboot at this point - restart, and check if the problem persists.

mooeire

Fysh wrote: »

You should check the logs and look for an indication of what's causing the problem. Open the Start Menu, right-click on Computer, and select Manage. Go to System Tools > Event Viewer > Windows Logs > System, and look for any warnings or errors with times & dates that match the times when you experience this problem.

You could try freeing up some memory for your graphics card. Open System Properties (Windows key + Pause) and check how much RAM you have installed. Knock, say, 64MB off that amount (or 128MB if you're feeling generous). Go to the Start Menu and type msconfig, then press Enter. Select the "Boot" tab, and click on "Advanced options...". Tick the "Maximum memory" box and type in the amount of memory you want to use. For example, if you've got 4GB installed and you want to leave 128MB free for graphics, you'd type in 3968 (4096-128). Press OK to confirm, then press OK again to close msconfig. You'll be prompted to reboot at this point - restart, and check if the problem persists.

I freed up some memory as you sugested and tried looking through the systems log but as i cant really remember when it started i dont know around what date to be looking...

Fysh

mooeire wrote: »

I freed up some memory as you sugested and tried looking through the systems log but as i cant really remember when it started i dont know around what date to be looking...

You don't need to pin it down to when it first started - just make a note of the time the next time it happens, then look through the logs and see if there are any errors or warnings at about that time.

mooeire

Fysh wrote: »

You don't need to pin it down to when it first started - just make a note of the time the next time it happens, then look through the logs and see if there are any errors or warnings at about that time.

Cheers ill try that.. Excuse my ignorance

mooeire

Can i delete it and reinstall it??

Fysh

mooeire wrote: »

Can i delete it and reinstall it??

Not exactly - it's a core Windows component so you can't easily remove it because, if it is display-related, what's actually happening is that another component in Windows - dwm.exe - is crashing, and that's what's causing explorer.exe.

If it can't be resolved through driver updates or any other system reconfiguration, you could try either using System Restore to roll back to a time before the problem happened (but you'll need to know when the problem started and what caused it to be able to pick a suitable System Restore point) or you could do an in-place upgrade - if it's a windows component problem, the upgrade should sort it out, but you'd need to reinstall all the drivers from the Toshiba website after finishing.

mooeire

Fysh wrote: »

Not exactly - it's a core Windows component so you can't easily remove it because, if it is display-related, what's actually happening is that another component in Windows - dwm.exe - is crashing, and that's what's causing explorer.exe.

If it can't be resolved through driver updates or any other system reconfiguration, you could try either using System Restore to roll back to a time before the problem happened (but you'll need to know when the problem started and what caused it to be able to pick a suitable System Restore point) or you could do an in-place upgrade - if it's a windows component problem, the upgrade should sort it out, but you'd need to reinstall all the drivers from the Toshiba website after finishing.

Ok would you be able to go through this with me pls.. Need to get it fixed asap...

Fysh

mooeire wrote: »

Ok would you be able to go through this with me pls.. Need to get it fixed asap...

The first thing is to back up any files you want to keep. System Restore shouldn't affect your data, but I prefer to err on the side of caution - so if there are any files on your computer that you don't want to lose, copy them to an external hard drive or burn them to a CD or do whatever you prefer to do for taking backups.

Once you've done that, go through these instructions from Microsoft. Given that you're not sure when the problem started or what has caused it, I'd suggest going for the earliest available restore point.

Bear in mind that by doing this, you'll need to re-run Windows Update and may have to reinstall one or more software packages (which means you'll need the software installation media and the product keys/licence details). Make sure you've got everything you need before you start the Restore process.

mooeire

Fysh wrote: »

The first thing is to back up any files you want to keep. System Restore shouldn't affect your data, but I prefer to err on the side of caution - so if there are any files on your computer that you don't want to lose, copy them to an external hard drive or burn them to a CD or do whatever you prefer to do for taking backups.

Once you've done that, go through these instructions from Microsoft. Given that you're not sure when the problem started or what has caused it, I'd suggest going for the earliest available restore point.

Bear in mind that by doing this, you'll need to re-run Windows Update and may have to reinstall one or more software packages (which means you'll need the software installation media and the product keys/licence details). Make sure you've got everything you need before you start the Restore process.

I have restored to the las available point which was a critical windows update on the 27 september and it still is the same!!! Should i update windows again maybe???

mooeire

Updated windows and still no luck!!!!