Windows Explorer has encountered a problem… (Windows XP)

Topic

New Reply

Half the time, when I access anything from my start menu “my computer”, “my pictures” etc. A message pops up saying “Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close.” When I retry it, it always works the second time. It also happens in certain places on the internet, like message boards, but with a different message “MSN Explorer has experienced an internal error and will have to restart.”
Everything else seems to work okay, and my virus scan is up to date. My computer is only a few months old, and I am a totally computer illiterate, so anyone with advice…dummy it down for me please!

Reply | Quote

Replies

When you see the error pop up, there should be a button that allows you to click for more specific information. Until we know specifically what the underlying error is (which can be revealed this way) it’s impossible to troubleshoot effectively.

Another thing that will be useful is for you to click on Start – Run and enter eventvwr.msc (see the attached screen shot). This will bring up the Windows Event Viewer. On the left hand side of Event Viewer, click on Application and look for red signs on the right. Double click on any of them that you see, and you’ll get details of the error – look for something with EXPLORER.EXE. If you see anything specific, post it here.

Another thing to try is my favorite standby – the System File Checker. Open the “run” dialog as you did above and enter SFC /SCANNOW in the box instead. Have your Windows CD handy. This process will scan all protected system files and replace anything that’s not correct. If you have trouble digesting any of that, post back and let us all know!!

Reply | Quote

Wylly ~

I hope this is okay to ask here…..what are using to get such nice screenshots?

Reply | Quote

Not sure about Mark, but for me the ultimate is Hardcopy

Reply | Quote

Perfect place to ask, Bruce.

I use Microsoft’s Photo Editor, which is an Office component that you must tell setup to install. When I want to capture a single window or dialog box, I press ALT +Print Screen, fire up PHOTOED.EXE and the Paste as a New Image. If there’s a lot of detail I save it as a JPG, if it’s mainly text or blocky colors, I go the GIF route.

If it’s the appearance of the dialog and cursor that you are referring to, it’s a combination of WindowBlinds with the XBox skin and CursorXP, which is a cursor enhanmcement program that works on Win2000 and XP.

Reply | Quote

Mark–Is there a way to install Photo Editor from Office XP from the disc or within
after it has already been installed?

Thanks,

defrag

Reply | Quote

Not Mark, but….
Add/Remove Programs > Microsoft Office > Add or Remove Features >>>>>

Reply | Quote

Lief–Thanks. I hadn’t used this before for Office. Have questions. I have Office XP Pro.
I don’t see a “Small Business” listed as an available box on the Office site. On “Features
to Install” List I have Microsoft Office Document Imaging. I had a Red X for Photo
Editor and the Office Shortcut Bar. What is Small Business or is it possibly sold in UK?
I highlighted Photo Editor and on the drop down Installed on First Use>Update.
Did that install it? What’s difference between Photo Editor and Document Imaging?
Thanks much for steering me here.

defrag

Reply | Quote

I’m a bit too much of a “dummy” to understand much of the information that I was able to dig up. I couldn’t get the SCANNOW to work for me, but the event viewer worked…lots of errors in there!!! I got an Event ID for the error, but not really any information on it. The message read that I could use /AUXSOURCE=flag to find out more info on the error…but I don’t know how to use it or where.

Reply | Quote

[indent]

---

I’m a bit too much of a “dummy” to understand much of the information that I was able to dig up

---

[/indent] Don’t feel bad, the stuff you’re looking at would confuse 95% of the world. Unlike Windows itself, the people who write the error messages aren’t interested in user-friendly.

Can you post the Event ID or IDs and any brief descriptive text? What is useful is the Source, Event ID, and specifics (you can copy and paste text from the event details). AUXSOURCE= isn’t intended for you and I, it’s for software developers who want to know why their program is bombing.

The next time the shell crashes, click on the “More Information” box and see what it has to say.

When you ran the SFC /SCANNOW option, what happened? Anything? Did it just pop up and disappear? Errors?

Reply | Quote

When I try to run SFC/SCANNOW a message comes up saying windows cannot find it, and suggests that I may not be typing it in properly…which may be true Do I just type those exact words in under Run? The most common error that I seem to get…Source: MSN Explorer Error Report Category: None Type: Error Event ID: 1000 Computer: SEANIX-DNT936NQ Description: The description for EVent ID(1000) in Source (MSN Explorer Error Reporting) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE=flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: msn6.rxe,7.0.21.1900,unknown,0.0.0.0,02363b5b.

Reply | Quote

OK, this is a lot more helpful. First things first since you posted twice, I’ll answer both here.

[indent]

---

When I try to run SFC/SCANNOW a message comes up saying windows cannot find it

---

[/indent]Are you putting a space after SFC and before /SCANNOW? They are two separate text strings, and Windows is probably right – you may have typed it in incorrectly.

The problem you’re having appears to be related to MSN Explorer, which is Microsoft’s answer to AOL. You can get around this a few ways – my personal preference would be to uninstall MSN Explorer and not use it. Alternately, you can download the latest version of MSN Explorer and install it. There’s no guarantee that this will cure the problem, but it’s a logical step – making sure you have the latest and greatest.

Hope that helps some – if not, post back. There’s lots of fun things that you can do to fix this beast!

Reply | Quote

First…just have to say thank-you thank-you thank-you!!! I appreciate all your help. I would like to try uninstalling MSN…how do I do that? The SCANNOW worked for me once I typed it with the space, of course. I’m just wondering if it is an MSN problem, it occurs when I access things from the Start menu too. When I tried to access ‘my computer’, I got an error… AppName:explorer.exe AppVer:6.0.2600.0 ModName:unknown ModVer:0.0.0.0 Offset:01bf139e Source:Application Error Category-None Type:Error Event ID:1000 Description: Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2600.0, faulting module unknown, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x01bf139e ummm…doesn’t mean much to me…but maybe it will to you…thanks for sticking with me through this!

Reply | Quote

First…you’re welcome-you’re welcome-you’re welcome!

Wow. Maybe MSN Explorer is just suffering from the same thing everything else on your system is. Sure doesn’t sound healthy.

I suspect that Internet Explorer has a large portion of the responsibility for this problem. Luckily it also has a repair tool that you can run – IF you can get to add/remove programs, that is. I know that it works in XP, but I’ve never tried it and don’t have the facilities to check at the moment. Essentially, though, you go into Add/Remove and then select Internet Explorer, but instead of removing it should present you with a repair option.

I suppose it’s too late to use System Restore and go back to a previous, known good state? As soon as I can validate the steps you need to run the IE repair tool, I’ll post them here.

Reply | Quote

An error popped up as I was posting my last reply, so I copied down some of the information on it…I don’t really know which info you can use…but here is what I have…Error Signature AppName:iexplore.exe App Ver:6.0.2600.0 ModName:ntdll.dll ModVer:5.1.2600.0 offset:00003741 Error Report Contents: Exception Information Code:0xc0000005 Flags:0x00000000 Record:0x0000000000000000 Address:0x0000000077f53741 System Information Windows NT 5.1 Build:2600 CPU Vendor Code:00B20094.30024678-00000001 CPU Version:00000F12 CPU Feature code; 3FEBFBFF CPU AMD Feature Code:009EE850

Reply | Quote

Just for your own reference, here’s what was usful out of that error (and why):

AppName:iexplore.exe – this tells us the name of the program that is generating the error.

App Ver:6.0.2600.0 – this is the programs’ version number. Often newer version of a program will solve issues.

ModName:ntdll.dll – if a program is talking to another software component and has problems, this can identify why.

ModVer:5.1.2600.0 – same as the program version; if the wrong version exists, problems can crop up.

Exception Information Code:0xc0000005 – just this one hexadecimal number can allow identification of the error in Microsoft’s database.

System Information Windows NT 5.1 – tells what the operating system is. 5.1 = Windows XP.

Build: 2600 – If you had applied a service pack, or had a beta version of Windows, this would identify it.

Reply | Quote

Oh, and I just found out how to uninstall MSN so you won’t have to carry me through that one too!

Reply | Quote

> Exception Information Code:0xc0000005 – just this one hexadecimal number can allow identification of
> the error in Microsoft’s database.

For all the difference it makes…

5 is the code for an access violation. This means that something attempted to access a bit of memory that it shouldn’t. Never really very helpful except to the programmer who knows what the bit of code was expecting to find.

StuartR

Reply | Quote

Mark–I’m having a similar type error problem I posted before but maybe not clearly
(got no response). This is it and I tried SFC/SCANNOW and got a momentary
flash but nothing else:
Some file that has an msc42.dll problem was downloaded
that causes IE6 to crash closing all windows and sending
me to the desktop whenever I try to close a window
by clicking the red “X” on the Title Bar. The specific
error is either from event viewer or IE error reporting
dialogue box that:

Faulting application iexplore.exe, version 6.0.2600.0,
faulting module mfc42.dll, version 6.0.8665.0, fault
address 0x00001c65.
0030: 3463666d 6c642e32 2e36206c 36382e30
0040: 302e3536 20746120 7366666f 30207465
0050: 31303030 0d353663 0a
0030: 3463666d 6c642e32 2e36206c 36382e30
0040: 302e3536 20746120 7366666f 30207465
0050: 31303030 0d353663 0a

I also saw that this file was set up in association with
error and when I search it and open it it produces
a notepad full of html gibberish.
C:WINDOWSTEMPWER25.tmp.dir00appcompat.txt

Searched the KB for errors. Didn’t find this one but
did find other mfc42.dll errors that implied certain
apps require it and when it isn’t present you can get
an error referencing it.
As long as I don’t close a window in the browser no
problems. Downloaded three files 2 used before.
I uninstalled 2, a Yahoo file that is damaged may be
problem but I can’t get rid of it–being occupied
by something else is what I get. I know I have
msc42.dll and to make sure I downloaded it from the
web after google search. However, I can’t open it.
I get the open with dialogue box.

Windows crash analysis has no mechanism for me to
manually report it, and has yet to send back any
info to me. Know it stores it on the servers for
MS to see if frequent to address. The microsoft link
in the event error properties goes nowhere.

Am I missing this dll? Is the dll corrupt?
I can’t download a new IE6 and I tried repair IE which
doesn’t seem to exist in XP.

I tried to use the System File Checker. When I put
enter SFC/SCANNOW in the command line or “run” dialogue
box I get a momentary flash only. Was hoping to repair
from the disc.

Tried the Microsoft Recovery Console but couldn’t find
a specific repair command for this. I ran CHKDSK/r
for my “C” drive to locate and repair bad sectors but no
help. Don’t know how to use minidump well and don’t know
if it would elicit helpful information.

I believe a file is conflicting with or in reference
to 42.mscdll. Would really appreciate help. This
lack of ability to close windows in IE without crashing
to the desktop is a real annoyance.

Thanks

defrag

Reply | Quote

Defrag, I replied to this over in the Windows XP board. Could you edit your original post to include the things you’ve tried but didn’t post over there? The details you provided here allowed me to give you a better answer.

Reply | Quote

I’m having the same problems. Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer both pop up with “… has encountered a problem and needs to close.” Here is one error :
Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2600.0, faulting module flt.dll, version 1.0.0.1, fault address 0x000042de.

The other is: Faulting application iexplore.exe, version 6.0.2600.0, faulting module flt.dll, version 1.0.0.1, fault address 0x000042de.

I’ve run the sfc /scannow command and it does something but doesn’t give a report or ask for anything.
When I run eventvwr.msc the two programs that have the red stop sign are Explorer and Internet Explorer.

I can’t seem to find a “repair” option for IE 6.0 nor for the OS which is WinXP -Home
Processor Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.00GHz
Processor Speed 1.95 GHz
Memory (RAM) 256 MB
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Operating System Version 5.1.2600

This is a Dell Dimension 8200. Does anyone know if I get out the system restore disk, if I’ll have to reformat and start from scratch?

Thanks for any help.
Rob from Ohio

Reply | Quote