Explorer shuts down...like it or not!

I thought I posted this, but I can not find it listed so I will try again. In my Windows ME right now, when I click on a file to Send To my A-drive I get this message "Explorer has caused an error in <unknown>. Explorer will now close"
It tells me to reboot if it keeps happening but even after rebooting it keeps happening. I can't store my backups. What can I do?

 

fixer,

See if the error message gives any details, should give you some other information.

Also, what kind of files are you trying to Send.

Steve

 

hi,

to avoid this, just open your A drive and drag the file you wish onto the
A window. Anyway you need probably to do a Windows ME clean install
after backing up your stuff.

good luck

 

That is all the info the error message gives. Someone else told me to just erase whatever was causing the error - but it says "<unknown>". So I don't have a clue as to what is causing the error. I have tried to move several different files to a floppy with the same results. When I click on Send To it tells me a file is already there, do I want to replace it with the new file, I tell is yes and then comes the error message. The files were downloaded upgrades to a utility program I have.

 

fixer,
Put the floppy that you are trying to send files to in your floppy drive. Go to My Computer, right click on the A: drive, and choose explore. Pick one of the files that you have been trying to update, and right click on it. Click on the properties box for the file. If it shows hidden, system, or read only in the properties, then that may be your problem.

 

I did try to drag and drop it onto my A-drive, as you suggested and got the same error message.

 

If you open 'My Computer' does it see the A (Floppy) Drive? If yes, then get a compressed air can and stick its straw to the opening of the A drive and spray it all over thoroughly...see if that helps.
If you can't even see the drive in My Computer check Device Manager...no sign of A Drive? The drive itself could be bad or :
If you see the light on the Drive light up when the PC boots then its ribbon data cable could be loose/bad. If no light then check its power cord.
If all the cables are intact then like I said the drive could be bad.

 

Hello again,

The problem is not the flpoppy drive, it's the system which became corrupt.
You can try to restart your PC in Safe Mode, and see if you get the same
error message. Anyway, before you attempt to do a clean install, do a
scandisk in Thorough Mode with "Automatcally fix errors..." box checked, then
a Defrag.

good luck

 

OK! I went into Safe Mode and it worked fine. I got what I needed copied. That tells me the drive is working - the system is not, at least not in Normal mode. So are you saying I need to re-install ME? Will that clean out this error? Sorry, I got too excited there. Went back and looked at your post again. So I need to try to scan and defrag first - you feel that could do the trick. If that does not, then a "Clean Install." Seems like I remember seeing an article on doing a clean install - was that here at this site?

Thanks so much for everyone's help.

 

Hello,

I forgot to tell you about this very hot issue: the programs loaded at Startup.
So, before scandisk (in Thorough Mode, of course) and Defrag, please do as they say in this page to
access MSCONFIG on your PC. Press the Startup tag and uncheck everything except :
- ScanRegistry
- TaskMonitor
- SystemTray
give OK and come back to Windows in Safe Mode for Scandisk and Defrag.
Finally, reset your PC and let it load Windows normally and see how it works.

Please let us know the result, good/bad. Good luck

Stefan

 

The results were not good. I have been without my computer for a week, trying to get through scanning. Boy, it takes forever. However, in the thorough scan mode, after following your suggestions and using MSCONFIG and Safe Mode, it only gets through 360K someodd clusters of the 4Megs of clusters before freezing. No error messages or anything, it just freezes. I started over and it didn't get as far the second time. I really don't know what to do. Being without my computer that long is really frustrating. It took 3 days to get that far each time, at that rate it could take a month to do the full 4Megs. Is a new hard drive the only solution, just to get rid of this nagging problem? Boy, as hard drives keep getting larger, you could spend a year trying to get one scanned! Is there something else I can try?. . .or is this telling me my hard drive is causing all my problems?

 

Hello again,

As I said in the very beginning, I believe that you need to make a WinME clean install. If you will install Win98SE instead, it would be a better choise.
Anyway, you suppose to have your hard drive partitioned and a 4 GB partition for Win98SE/ME it's more than enough. Please see what I mean in this page. If you need some further details, please let me know.

regards,

Stefan

 

I am running two computers on a KVM switch - one computer's OS is Windows 98SE and the other is the Windows ME machine that has been giving me the problems. I bought the ME upgrade the day it come out, but I did not install it till I built this new machine last year. I held off because I kept hearing about problems people were having with ME. I finally decided to try it because W98SE is not "crash-free" either. Up till now, I really have not seen that much difference between ME or 98SE. I started with a clean hard drive and put 98, then 98SE, and finally ME on the machine. I never really intended to use 98 on this machine, I never ran the machine using the 98 OS. When one install completed, I just right into the installation of the upgrade and finally finished with ME. When I did the ME upgrade, not intending to use 98SE, when it asked if I wanted to keep the old 98SE info, I told it NO. So, if I want to switch this machine over to Windows 98SE from ME, what is my best course of action? Are there already some steps-by-steps on how to accomplish this that I can print out somewhere? I do have Partition Magic and this drive is already partitioned. I also have a socond hard drive, as a slave, on this machine.

Thanks again for all your help. I very much appreciate your advise.

 

Just a personal opinion but the only advance ME had over 98SE was a better defragger. That said for the years I ran (and loved) SE it served me well and even now with XP installed I still reckon 98SE as one of the best before XP. So - my advice - backup what you want to save on the ME box Format using a boot disk and reinstall 98SE.
Soon as you can, go up a better step to XP.
Finally 98Se has very little problems as long as you regularly clean it of unnecessary files (tmp chk etc) Crapcleaner is good to use here. And also keep it clear of spyware malware and use AVG or Avast for viral probs
Hope this helps
Robert

 

Is XP really that much better? The real reason I have not wanted to make the mover, until I am just forced to do it when nothing new will work with 98SE, is because I tinker a lot and next thing I know I have to start over and reinstall Windows. I don't want to have to call them each time. Once I really screwed up and had to keep starting over - 7 or 8 times. Don't they lock you out of XP if you install it too may times? I don't want to be held up 30 or 90 days for my "wait period" to expire so I can try to install my OS again. That's why I am still hanging onto my Windows 98SE.

Thanks,

 

Hi There - I cannot give you an answer to multip[le installs of XP but doubtless someone here will know. I can say that I fiddle a helluva lot with XP since putting it in around 12 months ago and it is very forgiving. Moreover as long as you create a Restore Point (Easy to do) before going in where angels fear to tread then you can recover from any mess you may have created. So multiple reinstalls with XP are not really a question at least in my case. As an additional precaution I also use a program called ERUNT which I understand does a more thorough rescue of your registry than XP Restore. I have used them both individually and with complete success on every occasion that I comitted a giant stuffup. ERUNT is free and is probably available this site.
I would be interested to hear fom others though about reinstalls of XP
Hope this helps
Robert

 

Hello Robert,

I wish to say only this: the best way to keep your Win98SE/XP systems in shape, is to use Norton Ghost or Drive Image. No matter what, you can get your system back within 3-5 min, exactly as it was when you've created its image. Any other method (as Restoring Point, GoBack etc.) means that your system grows bigger and bigger. In order to restore later your system, they keep everything you delete/uninstall...including malware, viruses and God knows
what more. Besides, in case of real trouble, when the system is "brocken", the restauration programs will not work, because they belong in your system ...

regards,

Stefan