explorer.exe becomes non responsive

This normally takes a couple of days for it to start occurring but after that when I lock the system when I log back in explorer.exe is non responsive. Once it becomes unresponsive once though every time I lock the system and come back it is unresponsive again.

None of the apps running at the same time seem to be in common. I think the only app I have not eliminated yet was Chrome.

I ran memtest overnight and it didnt have any errors. I also ran MBR Check Super Anti Spyware and TDSSKiller and they came up clean.

I disabled all non ms apps using shellexec and action center is clear. I also verified and made sure all drivers are current.

The event viewer doesn't show anything of value. Just that it become unresponsive.

I am pretty much stumped at this point. This is a brand new system too.

Any advice would be great.

 

I'll tell you how I solved the exact same problem when it happened to me. I think IE is crapping out on everybody. But when I haad the problem, I got Mozilla Firefox. http://cs.infospace.com/ClickHandle....2&ep=0&hash=CAF74213EA7C6B3C8A1F2E224C01EB83 Copy and paste this URL into your browser when it is working so that you can download Firefox. It is a more stable and dependable browser to use. And it's free also. I hope this helps you as it did me.

 

Thanks for the recommendation on that one but I have explorer.exe crashing which handles the taskbar and start menu. I don't think FF is going to fix that one.

 

I didnt know any explorer replacements existed. I will give that a try.

 

Yes it is windows 7. I did try using that for file browsing but explorer.exe still locked up(become non responsive when I clicked on an app in the taskbar)..

Even though memtest and everything was fine I went ahead and swapped the memory out with another system of mine and it still occurred after that.

 

nonparity,

Seems more like a software problem to me, some sort of conflict.

When you say Explorer "becomes non-responsive" does that mean that nothing happens when you click on something, or Explorer hangs entirely, or what? At the point that it is non-responsive can you still use Explorer to browse through folders, or is it non-responsive only when clicking on things on the desktop?

Do you know what happens when you lock the system and there are no running programs other than startups? Is the problem still there when you come back after locking it?

When you say "This normally takes a couple of days for it to start occurring..." does that mean a couple of days after a reboot or what?

What happens if you do not lock the system and you go away for a while, say several hours or overnight? Is Explorer non-responsive then, too, when you come back? (I had this happen to me on an older computer.)

Just thinking out loud on the following as possibilities...

Are you running a screen saver when it's locked? Are your Power Settings anything other than "Always On"? If the answer is yes to either of those questions disable the screensaver or change the Power Settings to "Always On" and try those settings for a few days. If you are running a screensaver and are using Power Settings other than "Always On," only disable one of them at a time for a few days to isolate which may be causing the problem (if either is). My guess is that if you are using custom Power Settings that they are causing your problems. I've seen Power Settings other than "Always On" have some very strange effects on very unlikely things. If your computer goes to sleep while locked, this is even more likely the cause of the problems with Explorer.

When Explorer becomes non-responsive, what do you have to do to get it back? Reboot? You might try this: next time it occurs open Task Manager (TM). Now the scary part, but don't worry, it'll come right back. Use TM to end the explorer.exe process. Important: Leave TM running! Your desktop will disappear when Explorer ends. Now from TM, choose File>New Task (Run) and type in "explorer.exe" (without the quotes") and click OK. Your desktop will then reappear. Now does Explorer work OK when you click on things? After locking the computer and coming back is it still OK? (Suggest having no programs other than startups running when you try ending Explorer and reloading it.)

The only other thing I can think of is a conflict with one of your startups. You probably don't need to have many of them running all the time anyway, so disable as many as you can and see if the problem still exists. If the problem goes away, enable them back one at a time until the problem returns (this may take several days to evaluate each program's effect after enabling it). To disable startups: Control Panel>Performance Information and Tools>Manage Startup Programs. Perhaps you've already tried this but try disabling them in the various programs' preferences and see if that's better.

You might also temporarily disable any Scheduled Tasks. Maybe something's trying to call home while the system is locked and it ends up just confusing Explorer.

Another remote possibility is malware in its early stages not allowing you to click on things. By all means if things get more and more unstable, etc., hightail it over to the Malware-Removal Forum and have them check things out for you, despite what scans you have run that come up clean.

Anyway, some things to think about. Let us know if you find out anything. Good luck.

 

I ran SFC and it was fine.

I agree with you kipfeet I was thinking it was software too but I cant find a common app. I let it go for a couple of days with nothing running and it didnt lock up but I had firefox, filezilla, outlook, and tightvnc running and it locked up on the second day after I was away from the system for awile.

I didnt have a screensaver setup just for it to turn off the monitors but I disabled that as well as turned off the idle lock and just left them running but it still locked up.

I need firefox, outlook and vnc for work(I telecommute) so I used another system and instead of having those apps open I had chrome, securecrt, and ie open. It locked up again about a day later with just those running in the background but yet with no apps running it does seem to be fine or it may just take longer I suppose and it would be several more days before it acts up.

I am going to go through all the startup programs now though in case maybe it is just one of those causing a conflict with other apps. I will check on the scheduled tasks at the same time too.

When explorer becomes unresponsive if you click on the taskbar it will give you a wait, restart, quit diolog. I tried the wait a few times before and it never comes back but on a restart it takes 30 seconds or so but closes and opens back up fine.

I did manage to get a dump log from it though. If anyone would like to take a look at it I uploaded it to my skydrive and you can download it at https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx? cid=27d3c07d406aa84f&resid=27D3C07D406AA84F!108&parid=27D3C07D406AA84F! 105&authkey=!AMnRLlxV8Mfa_ZE

Thanks for all of the help!