windows explorer stops working with .mp3 files

Hi all, ive been having a lot of problems with my computer recently, but i belive the main hardware problems are behind me, but one problem that has only just started in the last week or so is windows explorer stops working... at first i thought it was something in my downloads folder, but ive only just realised tonight, its when i MOVE the mouse cursor over a .mp3 or movie file on my computer? that to me is really really bizzar.... i get the message pop up "windows explorer has stopped working" then it restarts it closing down any windows i had open... and it is only with .mp3 and some movie files, as soon as i open my music folder it does it, and when i move the cursor over any of those file types it does it, i dont even get chance to click on them...

im running windows 7 64 bit. Thanks

 

Just as a test try unregistering media preview and see if you can keep that folder open.

Start> type in cmd, from the search list right-click cmd.exe and choose run as administrator:

 

i get the following error message

"The moduele "shmedia.dll" failed to load.
Make sure the binary is stored at the specified patch or debug it to check for problems with the binary or dependent .dll files

The specified module could not be found"

could that be the route of my problem?

 

That is an old XP command so I'm not sure it is really relevant. I'll think about the problem, I was hoping turning off preview would tell us if there was a corrupted file in your main music folder. (I realize you said it was happening in other folders but because it was shutting down explorer there, I thought it was worth a shot.)

 

so no suggestions then...

 

i don't know exactly, but i would think trying sfc /scannow might fix the problem with explorer.exe

worth a try i think:

open command prompt (Start Menu > Run > Type in cmd)
Command prompt opens
type in : sfc /scannow
Let it scan, normally takes about ~30 mins

 

nope... all tht did was unpatch the files that needed to be altered in order to run different themes on windows -_-

 

Hi,

Did you ever find the solution?

I just had a problem with an mkv file that was crashing explorer. I used ShellExView to find the thumbnail handler and then disabled that file. I could then open the folder without problems.

In my case it was a file that was part of Shark007 codec pack that was having the problems. I'm curious if you are using that codec pack?

I'm not sure if your problem is the same or not. I have only had explorer crash like this in relation to a video file. I've never seen it happen on an mp3. Have you been able to duplicate the problem in a folder with only mp3 files?

 

problem occurs in my music folder too (as soon as i open the folder) and tht pretty much contains only .mp3 files. I have yet to find a solution, ive only seen one similar problem to this and the guy (who spoke very little english) said it was due to a codec problem, but i am unsure of any codecs i have, i dont mess around with stuff like that usually...

 

Greetings, silverbullet.

To see what codecs are loaded in WMP:

I'm curious, though: if this is not a codec problem, it could very well be something going on with Windows Explorer. In WinExplorer's Layout tab, try disabling the "Details" pane, and/or in Folder and search options > View > Advanced settings, try disabling "Show pop-up descriptions" and "Show preview handlers", just to see if you get a change in symptoms.

 

Hi caliban.

Tried disabling what you said, no difference, but here are the list of codecs anyway

ACM Microsoft IMA ADPCM CODEC 0011 imaadp32.acm 6.1.7600.16385
ACM Microsoft CCITT G.711 A-Law and u-Law CODEC 0007 msg711.acm 6.1.7600.16385
ACM Microsoft GSM 6.10 Audio CODEC 0031 msgsm32.acm 6.1.7600.16385
ACM Microsoft ADPCM CODEC 0002 msadp32.acm 6.1.7600.16385
ACM Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec (decode only) 0055 l3codeca.acm 1.9.0.401
ACM Microsoft PCM Converter 0001
DMO WMAudio Decoder DMO 0160, 0161, 0162, 0163 WMADMOD.DLL 6.1.7600.16385
DMO WMAPro over S/PDIF DMO 0162 WMADMOD.DLL 6.1.7600.16385
DMO WMSpeech Decoder DMO 000A, 000B WMSPDMOD.DLL 6.1.7600.16385
DMO MP3 Decoder DMO 0055 mp3dmod.dll 6.1.7600.16385

Means nothing to me, mite as well be reading chinese

 

I was hoping that Caliban's solution would work. Disabling those two items does turn of the info popup and the thumbnail view in the preview pane which should have worked for mp3 files.

I would say get Shellexview and run it.

Do a couple of things.
1) Select View and then HTML Report all Items. It will open a tab in your internet browser. Hit ctrl + F to open the find window. Type in mp3 and find next button(or similar).
Write down the information from the Extension Name, Company Name and File Name columns for each instance of mp3. (There will probably only be a couple.)

2) Back in ShellexView click on Options and Filter by Extension. Then in that blue window select Thumbnail. Look under Company Name--do you have anything listed other than Microsoft?

 

Maybe a file association issue?

http://www.sevenforums.com/attachme...ile-type-associations-restore-default_mp3.zip

Open that and merge into registry. See if problem persists vs mp3 files

 

sorry just to contradict myself, .mp3 and movie file's seem to be okay to click on now, but i still cannot access my main .mp3 music folder, still crashes upon opening... but files placed in other folders seem okay... i will try what you 2 above this post have said tonight

 

done it now, thought it would take longer

sach2 : On shellExview under thumbnail view theres nothing else listed other then microsoft corperation as for the other... 2 mp3 listings are found, both with company name microsoft and 1 with file name :\Windows\System32\mf.dll and the other with C:\Windows\system32\shell32.dll

thisisu : added it to the registry, still problem =(

 

In Shellex try disabling the mf.dll by right-clicking it. (You can later re-enable it but it takes a restart to begin working again.)

If you use Options>Filter by Extension>Property Handlers it will show as MF MP3 Property Handler.

So, disable it and see if the Music folder still crashes. If it does just re-enable it.

I'm thinking next--would be to get a listing of all the files in your Music folder to see if any are not Mp3. Do you know the full path to your music folder--such as C:\Users\Username\Music? We would have to get to it from the command prompt to see the list of files.

 

sorry guys, i know this isnt gonna help anyone, but i had a new motherboard installed on my computer, and was told it was best to format my computer, so thats what i have done, problem sorted now :-o thanks for your help anyway

 

Hey, it works for you!

So, no changes to any files in the Music folder and yet the problem is gone. Interesting.

 

I had the same issue and using SheExView to diable the extention worked.

 

Hi Wok, and Welcome to MajorGeeks

Thanks for letting us know it worked for you. This is an old thread but I think my original idea was to disable that extension and then try to figure out if it was one particular mp3 that was causing the problem.

If it was only one folder with mp3(s) in it that was crashing then you could try to narrow it down to which file causes the problem.

You would go into the mp3 folder and create two new folders. Then move half the mp3s into one folder and the other half into the other folder.
Go back into shellexview and re-enable the extension.
Reboot.
Go back to the two folders you created and try to open them. If one opens and one causes the crash, then you know the bad file is in the one that causes the crash.
So disable the extension again and go into the new folder that causes the crash and create two more folders and split those mp3 into halves again.
Turn on the extension and see which one crashes. Repeat until you find the bad file.

Since the mp3 extension doesn't do much except give you run time of the song etc. you may not want to bother and would rather just leave it disabled but I just wanted to let you know my original plan.