Random Explorer Crash

[Stormlifter]

Alright, so I get random Explorer crashes, no big deal, that's windows. Could be cause my laptop runs hot, but whatever, that's not the point right now.

If I don't respond to the window and I just keep it out of sight, I can keep using my computer with NO problems. I wonder if we could just write a program that suppresses the explorer crashes. Seems to have NO effect on my computer until I actually click on it, then it crashes my start menu and my icons in the systray go away.

 

[Javelin3o4]

you could try running the system file checker utillity which will require the windows disk.

just open the "run" command and type in sfc /scannow

 

[Sieravor]

Alternatively you could check the event viewer and see exactly what is causing explorer to crash. More often than not it'll tell you what the faulting module is, or what program happens to be using explorer at the time of the crash. Doing a search for the error code on google often times will result in a solution.

 

[GreNME]

Alright, so I get random Explorer crashes, no big deal, that's windows. Could be cause my laptop runs hot, but whatever, that's not the point right now.

I already know what the problem is: that pesky PEBKAC virus going around.

Identification: 10T

 

[odoe]

Man has a point. Now, as you said, let's forget that issue. If clicking the notice crashes your explorer, well then, don't click it. Keep doing it the way you are doing it. But I'd be more concerned on what piece of hardware is going to fail first from the heat.

However, maybe the heat is unrelated. Maybe it's some dying ram or something. Event viewer as mentioned can help you track that down.

Suppressing the warning doesn't make the problem go away though. Out of sight, out of mind

 

[Stormlifter]

Well I think it would make the problem go away, since there are no other symptoms, I'm fine if something is causing the explorer to crash, I don't need that crap anyways. I'm going to try a shell replacement and see how ti goes. I was just curious about the fact that the process can crash, but if I don't respond, then it won't actually crash i can keep using it.

 

[GreNME]

Well, if Windows (and all operating systems) worked the way you wanted them to work, then perhaps you would have more relevance in your assessment of the symptoms. Unfortunately for you, though, this is not the case.

From your very brief and detail-sparse description, I can tell you with authority that one of two things is happening:

1. You have a hardware problem that is causing Explorer to crash.

2. You have software on your system that hooks into Explorer that does so poorly and is causing problems.

That's pretty much it. The rest of the work is figuring out which of those two it is, and then narrowing down which hardware or software is getting in the way. Not relying on the event logging is severely limiting any amount of help someone here is going to be able to give you.

If you are convinced it has little or nothing to do with hardware, then uninstall any software that has obvious hooks into Explorer: compression tools, burning software, encryption/decryption tools, media players (iTunes, RealPlayer, etc). There are others but those are the most common items that may or may not be contributing to the problem. See if the problem persists.

Well I think it would make the problem go away, since there are no other symptoms, I'm fine if something is causing the explorer to crash, I don't need that crap anyways.

Wrong. No symptoms that you can see. If you turned on verbose logging, you would be able to see more. I guarantee it.

I'm going to try a shell replacement and see how ti goes.

And if the replacement has no problems, that is your first definitive clue that it's a software hook causing the problem.

I was just curious about the fact that the process can crash, but if I don't respond, then it won't actually crash i can keep using it.

What you are seeing is the result of process priority and how the process works in the first place. If you don't have the window in focus in lieu of another process, then you have lowered the priority of that window in the queue for system resources. Clicking on it places that window on top of the queue, thus displaying the problem. I can't really tell you why you're curious, but what you are seeing is pretty elementary in terms of handling multiple separate processes by an operating system-- the process typically doesn't experience a problem until it is required to do something (before that, it has only a 'started' or 'not started' state).

Also, please keep in mind that having a Windows Explorer file explorer window open is not the end-all-be-all of the Explorer process. Every window you have open on your desktop is using the main Explorer process, while the file explorer windows are subprocesses of the main instance of Explorer. If it was Explorer failing on you, you would be having trouble opening almost everything.

Before we go any further, though, answer me this: are you wanting to troubleshoot and identify the problem, or are you looking for a way to work around it?