Windows 7 64bit Ultimate strange & severe issues

Hey guys, I am making this post after exhausting a substantial amount of internet research, because I don't want to waste anyone's time.

Here are the issues:

• "The remote procedure call failed and did not execute" when I try to open a folder on my desktop (reboot temp fixes)
• Icons disappearing (either replaced with filetype or white/blank -- except for the recycle bin which is black)
• Windows file previewer not working
• Control panel is empty (reboot temp fixes)

This all happened literally overnight. It made me suspect malware, but I've tried Malwarebytes, Avira, Avg, McAfee, and Spybot and nothing is found. And this doesn't fit any malware profile I have seen. And there is nothing that I can think of which I downloaded or installed right before this happened.

The first issue I noticed was the icons disappearing. I tried:

• Remove the Check Mark from the Always show Icons never Thumbnails option
• editing group policy
• rebuilding the index
• deleting the thumbnail database
• various other things in the microsoft KB / forums.

I frequently use CCleaner, and I notice that using it now really exacerbates the issues, probably because I have it clean the thumbnail cache.

Anyway, if someone can point me in the right direction or even has a gut instinct ("sounds like blah blah") please let me know. I'm stumped and almost ready to do a clean install but this would be extremely painful due to work deadlines.

Cheers.

 

Also, my control panel frequently reports as empty (like, nothing is there). And when I click on my computer instead of drives, there is nothing. Then it starts searching for the drives (green bar at the top) and can't find anything.

 

When is the last time you checked your hard drive for errors?

 

I don't think ever. The computer is only a year old. It is a samsung SSD PM830.

Running a hardware scan now on the drive (Intel's)

 

See if it finds anything.

The only time I've seen what you describe is when the drive was failing.

 

Actually, can you recommend a good tool for this?

 

Chkdsk /r should be sufficient and most BIOSes have a SMART checker built in.


If not, I think CrystalDiskInfo can check the status.

Also keep in mind that these SSDs have upgradable firmware; check if there is an update.

 

Chkdsk says the volume is clean. Memory checker also passed.

What's weird is that when I go to show icons in a folder, some of them are "white" (pieces of paper with dogears), and some of them are "blank" meaning there is nothing. Not even the outline of an icon.

The laptop is an alienware, and there's a urgent firmware update from dell on the drive. I guess I need to find a thumbdrive I can use as bootable, and figure out how to do that whole thing.

 

Apologize to mods if this is a duplicate post.

Chkdsk says the volume is clean. Memory checker also passed.

What's weird is that when I go to show icons in a folder, some of them are "white" (pieces of paper with dogears), and some of them are "blank" meaning there is nothing. Not even the outline of an icon.

There's a urgent firmware update from dell, but it's only relevant if I use the encryption, which I don't.

Noticed something weird though. In the boot setup utility says SATA is set to raid but... I'm totally not running a raid. Should I just... change that?

 

If its always been set that way, no.


Forgive me if you answered this already, but is this issue present in Safe Mode?

 

I didnt check because I didn't think safe mode had thumbnail view :/ note when I turn off thumbnails in windows (normal boot) all the other problems go away.

I found someone who had the identical issue on another forum who said the only thing that worked was reinstalling windows. So Alienware has this windows recovery tool to "restore my computer" that supposedly saves files, so I tried that but it's stuck at 1% for hours and telling me not to turn off the machine. So posting from my phone :/

Apparently getting stuck at 1% is also a thing.

 

Did a clean install

 

So... THREE clean installs later I found the problem.

Windows
Movie
Maker

I'm not joking. I was using it to make some videos as mockups for work. Just to recap, here's what it did:

Couldn't find drives
Empty control panel
Half of my files didn't have icons
The other half didn't even appear
When I tried to open a folder, got the error remote RPC call failed

I'm running Windows 7 64xUltimate

I lost several DAYS of productivity for my business, which I couldn't afford. And the added stress of having a computer that wasn't working. Thinking I was infected by a virus. Thinking it was hardware. You guys know what it does to your life when your computer goes haywire.

I KNOW it's windows movie maker, because on the 3rd clean install it was basically factory image + movie maker (so I could work) and then the problems started. I uninstalled windows essentials and the problem is gone. Took me 3 clean installs to figure it out, so I guess the joke is on me right?

Anyway, just posting this to hopefully save someone else from insanity.

 

Nice work, notabrawd :major

Windows Live caused me some consternation earlier in the year - months after I'd uninstalled it from my W7x64. I was getting odd bugs in a variety of programs, did the usual scans, trimmed the fat using Autoruns, ran SFC, etc., all the normal things to try to pinpoint a general fault. Nothing - fired up Process Explorer one day and found a verified Windows Live dll attached to Pale Moon x64 browser, checked several other affected programs and found the same dll loaded there too.

Once the errant dll was removed, Windows and all software reverted to normal behaviour - but why was it even attached to non-MS/WLE software anyway? Never had any MS add-ons installed in my browsers except IE.

 

>> I lost several DAYS of productivity for my business, which I couldn't afford. And the added stress of having a computer that wasn't working. Thinking I was infected by a virus. Thinking it was hardware. You guys know what it does to your life when your computer goes haywire. notabrawd <<

Hi notabrawd,

It is really GREAT that you were able to resolve the problem that you were having and thanks for posting back to let us know about it... Something that I have learned from having experiences like you had mentioned in your post (especially the part regarding losing days of productivity in your business) and that is to always have a second "backup computer" available and ready to go - just in case something goes wrong. I also have an external drive that I update weekly and then copy the files to the backup computer at the end of the week.

Also, if your computers (and external hard drives) are used for your business purposes; you can usually write it off, which can offset considerably the original price that you paid for it.

Good Luck! -- COMP​