hello all!!!

Been fighting with my laptop for 2 weeks now and decided to research an awesome forums for typical conversation great applications and programs and top knotch support from fellow peers and technicians! In need of desperate help...!

As ive seen on here a couple posts in reguards to the "black screen of death" ive tried multiple ways of repairing the explorer.exe file with no success... Everytime I boot up I log fine then bam! explorer.exe was unable to load successfully.... so I start up task and downloaded a explorer.exe file clean off a forums and manually launch my desktop that way for now... Looking for the permanent fix for this!!! As well I cant open the majority of my folders or links on my desktop major burden on my behalf... My computer for some reason doesn't keep my restore points.. resets everyday. very slow boot and hangs a little bit from time to time. surfing the web openening what folders I can and just all around poor performance... And no one to blame but myself and that redicilous windows 7 custom theme that put me here!!! So now I ask that one of you wonderful people help me and this poor soul of a computer! Would greatly appreciate and return the favor when need be if I can help in anyway!

Few other little side notes ..
1.My recovery partition does not let me enter factory settings or any recovery for that matter. I can load from my repair disc but still is missing the option for a factory restore..

2.I know I know.... I have backups but only on this profile... Im working on getting a external drive for all this needed maintenance.

3.I only have a windows 7 repair tool disc that I made from the operating system..

4.And I don't want to pay 100$ to some tech support ars! whos going to push 3 buttons to fix and guarantee this service for only 30 days....

5.Ive ran multiple a.v programs on top of my bitdefender a.v some maleware was removed but doubt the problems fixed. Also I cannot enter any state of safe mode complete black screen and unable to launch task mgr.

So any help would be awesome, And sorry for throwing this on the new user thread. Just started typing away.. some specs of my device

hp notebook dv7-4065dx, windows ultimate 64 bit was upgraded from home premium.

If this can be fixed I promise never to go Rambo and install 3rd party themes again..

 

Hey dv7jake:

Could you go through the process a little bit that you used to install the custom theme you installed? Also, is this a Microsoft (from MS) theme or a 3rd party one?

It sounds to me that either while using a cleaner or when removing the theme (?), a shared .dll may have been removed that is part of the actual Windows theme system. That could easily lead to the type of error you are getting about Explorer.exe. It is directly affected by the theming sub-strucure of Windows...

In short, I think you may have a broken dependency chain that causes Explorer.exe to crash...

 

There's a sticky at the top of this forum about the Windows 7 Explorer crash. Have you read it?

 

I uninstalled the programs and deleted them but the damage was already done. But it was a patch download to use unsigned 3rd party themes. I downloaded the theme from deviantart.com I believe it was the space theme. Sorry for no further information on the file. But I wasn't but half way done when I was following the order of process for installation. I dropped in the custom explorer.exe file with I believe one other file oobe.dll? and everything went smooth until it asked me to restart the computer to enable the changes. taking safety precautions made multiple restore points along the way proceeded to reboot. everything went fine until after login I received a message saying the explorer.exe file was unable to load correctly... And this is where im at currently. ive looked into multiple threads on options and ideas on how to resolve this problem. none have worked out. And I cant do a factory reset. Or repair with install discs.. Theres gotta be a process to fix the integrity of the files... Im hoping... also couldn't do a sfc/scannow theres a file or older update stuck in the que and loops the restart computer to clear process.... Im almost to the point where im going to take this heap of metal and use it as a door stop.


Heres the first theme I installed I couldn't find the second probably removed it from the site.
http://www.deviantart.com/art/SilverX-7-theme-for-Windows-7-157539625

but the files that I replaced for this one are

System files:

Part of the theme that has to be installed by you.
only the 3 "system files" that you will have to take ownership of in order to change.
( 3 files in the system 32\ x86 x64 folders, x86 = 32bit OS, x64 = 64 bit OS..)
the 3 system files are located in the "system 32" folder and full instructions
are in the "Read Me" file in there.

1.The System Clock (timedate.cpl)
2.Control panel images (shell32.dll)
3.Welcome image's in control panel (OobeFldr.dll)
and for the second theme I do believe I got to replacing the exporer.exe file and did a reboot then bam! Hope this helps specify some information for you.

 

dv7jake...

The theme patcher (U/X patch) used for theming is heavily in use and is safe, so that wasn't your problem.

I am guessing that when you changed the files to install the theme(s), some instructions that were in the original files weren't in the replacement files. If you can with your PC in its current state, I recommend Earthling's tip on the sticky at the top of the Software forum for starters...

 

I uninstalled the programs and deleted them but the damage was already done. But it was a patch download to use unsigned 3rd party themes. I downloaded the theme from deviantart.com I believe it was the space theme. Sorry for no further information on the file. But I wasn't but half way done when I was following the order of process for installation. I dropped in the custom explorer.exe file with I believe one other file oobe.dll? and everything went smooth until it asked me to restart the computer to enable the changes. taking safety precautions made multiple restore points along the way proceeded to reboot. everything went fine until after login I received a message saying the explorer.exe file was unable to load correctly... And this is where im at currently. ive looked into multiple threads on options and ideas on how to resolve this problem. none have worked out. And I cant do a factory reset. Or repair with install discs.. Theres gotta be a process to fix the integrity of the files... Im hoping... also couldn't do a sfc/scannow theres a file or older update stuck in the que and loops the restart computer to clear process.... Im almost to the point where im going to take this heap of metal and use it as a door stop.


Heres the first theme I installed I couldn't find the second probably removed it from the site.
http://www.deviantart.com/art/SilverX-7-theme-for-Windows-7-157539625

but the files that I replaced for this one are

System files:

Part of the theme that has to be installed by you.
only the 3 "system files" that you will have to take ownership of in order to change.
( 3 files in the system 32\ x86 x64 folders, x86 = 32bit OS, x64 = 64 bit OS..)
the 3 system files are located in the "system 32" folder and full instructions
are in the "Read Me" file in there.

1.The System Clock (timedate.cpl)
2.Control panel images (shell32.dll)
3.Welcome image's in control panel (OobeFldr.dll)
and for the second theme I do believe I got to replacing the exporer.exe file and did a reboot then bam! Hope this helps specify some information for you.

 

Will do gentlemen, I apparently overlooked that thread.. Was looking for something to do with black screen of doom or explorer.exe Ill follow up with that and ill get back with the outcome. Much appreciated

 

Sorry for the late reply but, through extensive trial and error ive yet to find the problem through shellxview from the windows explorer thread.. All extensions that are not windows are disabled. Rand the windows repair utility, rebooted and still receive the same outcome. I haven't the foggiest idea. But I did notice that in C:/windows/ that I couldn't find my older corrupt explorer.exe file..... Is there a way I can use the one I downloaded from the net and implant it into the original folder and change the path so I don't have to manually launch explorer.exe?

 

Might be possible to reinstall 7 from your upgrade disk?

 

Would be an option if I had one :-/ Did a upgrade from microsofts anytime upgrade program and used a serial key I received from someone... I thought of that earlier and was shot down from the results lol. Ive fixed sooo many problems and issues on this computer by programs troubleshooting and good ole fashion trial and error. I refuse to kneel to HP and buy there damn discs or windows install discs. Theres a way to fix this, Just need to find the right solution! Also im never purchasing a HP computer again. Poor Poor standards.. But I wont give up just yet, Thanks everyone for your inputs much appreciated thus far.