explorer.exe Problem

[g0jack]

Windows never states this, but my explorer.exe process likes to shut off by itself and restart by itself. During games, the bottom part of my screen where the taskbar disappears and shows my wallpaper (while the upper part of my screen still displays the game) and it causes major lag and stuff.
I never had this problem until I did close explorer.exe and restart it.
Do I have to format my computer? (>_< too many times in a year I do this)

 

[Kurt`]

Why don't you close it while you're playing the game, then ctrl-alt-del -> new -> task -> "explorer" when you're done? (yes i'm aware you can't do this for all games)

 

[Kaination]

Also, how much ram do you have?

Your ram might not be able to handle it.

 

[g0jack]

256, 1 stick
I was hoping for an upgrade this Christmas, but it was not to be

 

[Killface]

What games are you playing, what kind of processor do you have (be specific), how many programs do you have opened in the background, what kind of video card do you have???? I need some specs in order to help you out man...

 

[|Overlord|]

Go get a decent 2x512 Memory kit, that's all I can say .

 

[Kurt`]

Any of you guys ever consider that it could be a software issue and not a hardware one??????????????? shocking revelation!

"ram can't handle it", uh, in theory windows xp needs 128 megs of ram to run (and by run I mean "walk"), being short on ram = paging file rape, not randomly restarting executables

Unfortuntely, there's no clear cut way to determine if your explorer.exe has been modified (by say, norton/zonealarm or even a rootkit), if you have system restore enabled, try a jump backwards (after backing up all your files naturally), if it's still causing issues, you're probably better off doing a clean install again

 

[|Overlord|]

Any of you guys ever consider that it could be a software issue and not a hardware one??????????????? shocking revelation!

"ram can't handle it", uh, in theory windows xp needs 128 megs of ram to run (and by run I mean "walk"), being short on ram = paging file rape, not randomly restarting executables

Unfortuntely, there's no clear cut way to determine if your explorer.exe has been modified (by say, norton/zonealarm or even a rootkit), if you have system restore enabled, try a jump backwards (after backing up all your files naturally), if it's still causing issues, you're probably better off doing a clean install again

Yes, but more memory for him will see him have more performance more then anything, other then the lag he would be having now no matter what the situation.

I'd just do a reformat to be honest as I personally couldn't be screwed solving the problem in this case. Just backup all your stuff & then reformat.

 

[Killface]

That is true overlord, but he is trying to figure out why explorer is restarting every so often, he doesnt need more performance, or atleast thats not what he was looking for.

@Kurt - well, it just came natural to me that It was a hardware failure or something like that, but you are right, im almost positive that its a software problem now that I think of it.

@Gojack - I'm sorry man, i cant be of much help. I know more about hardware than software, your gonna have to talk to someone else for software issues. All I can say is go run a virus scan or a spyware scan, it would be a virus more than spyware, but check, just to be sure.

Hope I was of help...

 

[|Overlord|]

You haven't tried overclocking your pc have you? I had a friend who messed with his memory timings & did some overclocking and he ended up rooting his windows install. He would have to manualy start explorer via the task manger each time untill he reformatted.

I'd try finding a bios update for your mainboard to see if that makes your system stbale, however this is mroe likely a problem with windows and no matter what way you look at it, it will msot likely end up in you wanting to do a reformat to solve this problem. So get your stuff backed up and reformat.

Or, even though I myself have not tried this at all, but you could boot up your pc with the XP cd & chose to repair the partition windows is on. The cd would copy the files again and you could boot into your current windows setup and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[g0jack]

Right.... I'll try that.
I've run anti-virus, adware, spyware, and a registry editor and doesn't seem to have fixed the problem. I'm definitely getting more memory for the sake of getting new games, and also will probably reformat my computer if the aforementioned way doesn't work
As for Walmart:
2.4 Ghz Pentium 4
256 MB RAM
128 MB ATI Radeon 9250
Only programs open in the background are Xfire and Antivirus
Games I'm playing are Half Life and its various mods, Half Life 2, and CS Source.

 

[|Overlord|]

You might also wanna get youself a new gfx card. Radeon 9250 cards are low end. You should try getting yourself a decent midrange card such as a Geforce 6600gt based card if your going to buy more games (I'd imagine you'd be playying games such as quake4 & F.E.A.R?). Upgrade your system to 1gig of memory, decent 2x512 kits can be had cheaply these days. Or if you can afford to get 2gig, it might be an idea as games are starting to get more memory intensive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220040-Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory - Retail $235
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579-CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory - Retail $179
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440-CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit ... - Retail $81

There are a few good memory kits for you.

 

[Killface]

Hold it overlord, lets get his computer running stable first, the last thing he has to worry about is upgrading his computer.

Now, you said that you have done all sorts of scans and a registry fixer, So it can't be malicious code.

It can't be a hardware problem, as Kurt said. Not unless your hardware was damaged in some way, but I doubt thats the case.

The only other thing I can think of is your copy of Windows is damaged or corrupt in some way, I would do what Overlord PREVIOUSLY said and insert the XP disk and do a system repair.

This same Issue came up with me, only it wasnt Windows explorer, but it turned out to be spyware and viruses rewriting files on my computer.

Hopefully this helps you out a bit and Smith wont have to Interfere (i want to help someone on my own for once, ). Im trying to stay as far away from the thought of reformatting, and save you the hassle of backing up data and rewriting it.

 

[|Overlord|]

How big is your hdd? I would reccomend incase you run into problems with your os, or if your'e someone that does a fresh install of xp let's say every 9-12months (usual time frame for me, if not more). I would reccomend that you find a program that will allow you to partition your drive (such as partition magic). That way you could split your hdd into two drives, one for windows & apps, and the other for games, large media files etc.

 

[Killface]

or we could wait until he gets his first issue fixed THEN get him partitioned and upgraded.

 

[Barney's Soul]

If exploer.exe has problems, then your windows files are curropted. Reformat.
If you are formatting a lot then you need to be more carfel with what you download. Also make you get firewall and anti-virus.

 

[|Overlord|]

If exploer.exe has problems, then your windows files are curropted. Reformat.
If you are formatting a lot then you need to be more carfel with what you download. Also make you get firewall and anti-virus.

Since he only has 256mb of memory, It's gonna chew the crap out of his resources unless he get's atleast 512mb or 1gb, 1gb obviously being better as he is a gamer and wanting to paly newer games like F.E.A.R witch is a resource hungry game.

How much time do you have untill explorer.exe starts going insane on you?.

 

[g0jack]

I'd say intervals of 5 minutes. Hang on, I'm so sleepeh but I'll time it tomorrow and edit this post.

 

[Killface]

Since he only has 256mb of memory, It's gonna chew the crap out of his resources unless he get's atleast 512mb or 1gb, 1gb obviously being better as he is a gamer and wanting to paly newer games like F.E.A.R witch is a resource hungry game.

How much time do you have untill explorer.exe starts going insane on you?.

Dude, he's gonna be fine with 256mb of ram. Any computer can run stable with 256, hell my friend has 128mb of ram and he is running stable. It's probably something he deleted or a virus or something, actually it could be anything. You ask Smith, Cuc, or anyone else, 256 will run XP fine, im doing it right now on my other compy.

And what are you talkin about anyway? whats gonna chew up his memory, explorer?

 

[|Overlord|]

Dude, he's gonna be fine with 256mb of ram. Any computer can run stable with 256, hell my friend has 128mb of ram and he is running stable. It's probably something he deleted or a virus or something, actually it could be anything. You ask Smith, Cuc, or anyone else, 256 will run XP fine, im doing it right now on my other compy.

And what are you talkin about anyway? whats gonna chew up his memory, explorer?

Youv'e missinturpreted what I am sayying.

If he was to use a antivrius program, such as norton or anotehr soulution out there that you pay for it would end up chewing on his memory quite a bit. Free antivirus prgrams such as AVG or antivir would be good in this case. It's common knowlege to know that Anti-virus programs such as norton love to munch away at your system resources. (That's what I am referring too).

Yes, XP runs fine with 256mb of memory but considering he is doing gaming and that he is wanting to get more memory then he'll benifit from upgrading his memory. I currently have 2 p3 933 setups running with 256mb of memory with xp running fine, but they are only guest pcs for lans, & given that apps & games these days are getting resource hungry it may be a good idea for him to head into getting more memory.

As to the problem with your windows install, Iv'e probably just though of everything you can possibly do in my previous posts in this thread. If nothing else can save it then reformat, & back up your stuff.