notbobj1
asked on
Error Loading Explorer.exe
I have a compaq with Windows ME.
It was working perfectly until Friday.
On Friday I went to MS and was getting the recent updates.
After I shut down - when the computer restarts, the background theme appears and I get a white box in the middle with the message
"Error Loading - Explorer.exe you must reinstall windows"
Sometimes when I click on the ok button, the computer just shuts off.
Othertimes, I get the blue screen of death with a 028f bff78583 and have seen a 018 bff6 something error.
I extracted msvcrt.dll and explorer.exe from the cabs directory, but still had the same error.
Tried scanreg/restore and going back to the 18th. It said it restored with no errors - but on reboot - still get the same error.
I tried switching to progman.exe and a few others in the system.ini, but on reboot, it gives the same error, but with whatever was listed in shell=.
The computer has Norton on it - not that it has caused it problems before but just a thought.
I really don't want to have to do a restore to factory on it - as it has all my payroll files in it. I can always save them off and re-install, but I prefer not to.
Is there something else I can try - or even a way that I could un-install IE or Norton from Dos and see if that fixes it?
Not sure where to look now?
Thanks,
Tony
It was working perfectly until Friday.
On Friday I went to MS and was getting the recent updates.
After I shut down - when the computer restarts, the background theme appears and I get a white box in the middle with the message
"Error Loading - Explorer.exe you must reinstall windows"
Sometimes when I click on the ok button, the computer just shuts off.
Othertimes, I get the blue screen of death with a 028f bff78583 and have seen a 018 bff6 something error.
I extracted msvcrt.dll and explorer.exe from the cabs directory, but still had the same error.
Tried scanreg/restore and going back to the 18th. It said it restored with no errors - but on reboot - still get the same error.
I tried switching to progman.exe and a few others in the system.ini, but on reboot, it gives the same error, but with whatever was listed in shell=.
The computer has Norton on it - not that it has caused it problems before but just a thought.
I really don't want to have to do a restore to factory on it - as it has all my payroll files in it. I can always save them off and re-install, but I prefer not to.
Is there something else I can try - or even a way that I could un-install IE or Norton from Dos and see if that fixes it?
Not sure where to look now?
Thanks,
Tony
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Try restoring your system to a date PRIOR to the problem (you MUST have a WinME Startup floppy disk!). If you don't have one, download the OEM version from www.bootdisk.com.
To start the System Restore tool when you cannot start your Windows Me-based computer normally or in Safe mode, you can temporarily change the Windows shell from Explorer.exe to Progman.exe:
1. Start your computer by using the Windows Me Startup disk.
2. At the Startup menu, choose Minimum Boot.
3. At the command prompt, type edit c:\windows\system.ini, and then press ENTER.
4. Edit the shell= line so that it looks like this:
shell=progman.exe
5. Press ALT+F, and then press S to save the changes to the System.ini file.
6. Press ALT+F, and then press X.
7. Remove your Windows Me Startup disk, and then restart your computer. When your computer restarts, Program Manager should start. If Program Manager does not start, repeat steps 1 through 7, being careful to follow these steps exactly, and then continue to the next step.
8. On the File menu, click Run, type msconfig in the Command Line box, and then press ENTER.
9. Click Launch System Restore to begin restoring your computer to a previous, functional state.
Notes
- After you configure your computer to start Program Manager (Progman.exe), you can also start the System Restore tool by typing c:\windows\system\restore\
- If you still cannot use System Restore, repeat steps 1 through 6. In step 4, change the shell= line so that it reads:
shell=explorer.exe
This sets the Windows shell back to Explorer.exe so that you can continue troubleshooting.
Good luck,
Zee
To start the System Restore tool when you cannot start your Windows Me-based computer normally or in Safe mode, you can temporarily change the Windows shell from Explorer.exe to Progman.exe:
1. Start your computer by using the Windows Me Startup disk.
2. At the Startup menu, choose Minimum Boot.
3. At the command prompt, type edit c:\windows\system.ini, and then press ENTER.
4. Edit the shell= line so that it looks like this:
shell=progman.exe
5. Press ALT+F, and then press S to save the changes to the System.ini file.
6. Press ALT+F, and then press X.
7. Remove your Windows Me Startup disk, and then restart your computer. When your computer restarts, Program Manager should start. If Program Manager does not start, repeat steps 1 through 7, being careful to follow these steps exactly, and then continue to the next step.
8. On the File menu, click Run, type msconfig in the Command Line box, and then press ENTER.
9. Click Launch System Restore to begin restoring your computer to a previous, functional state.
Notes
- After you configure your computer to start Program Manager (Progman.exe), you can also start the System Restore tool by typing c:\windows\system\restore\
- If you still cannot use System Restore, repeat steps 1 through 6. In step 4, change the shell= line so that it reads:
shell=explorer.exe
This sets the Windows shell back to Explorer.exe so that you can continue troubleshooting.
Good luck,
Zee
notbobj1
> or even a way that I could un-install IE <
You could try this, from DOS:
[Thanks go to blue-zee]
Bootup with a startup disk and at the A:> prompt type (note the spaces):
REN C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1 OLDINT
Press enter. Then type:
REN C:\PROGRA~1\WINDOW~1 OLDWMP
Press enter. Then type:
REN C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMPLOC.D
Press enter.
If you manage all changes without errors, retry the install.
To obtain the tilde (~) in DOS: Press ALT and type 0126.
Jonvee
> or even a way that I could un-install IE <
You could try this, from DOS:
[Thanks go to blue-zee]
Bootup with a startup disk and at the A:> prompt type (note the spaces):
REN C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1 OLDINT
Press enter. Then type:
REN C:\PROGRA~1\WINDOW~1 OLDWMP
Press enter. Then type:
REN C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMPLOC.D
Press enter.
If you manage all changes without errors, retry the install.
To obtain the tilde (~) in DOS: Press ALT and type 0126.
Jonvee
Pse ignore last entry guys! I was thinking IE and writing WMP :(
Jonvee
Ummm Zee could be difficult to do that considering "I tried switching to progman.exe and a few others in the system.ini, but on reboot, it gives the same error, but with whatever was listed in shell=." :)
Could be some bad RAM
Test the RAM
If you can swap out the RAM with known good modules for testing first if you can't do that then test the machine with one RAM module at a time until you tested every module. Other wise run the the following RAM testers.
--------------------------
NOTE IF THIS DOESN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE RAM THIS DOESN'T MEAN THE RAM IS GOOD you would need to swap out the RAM with known good modules for testing. However if it does find something wrong then chances are the RAM is bad.
DocMemory PC RAM
Diagnostic Software
http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products/doc/docinfo.asp
or
http://www.memtest86.com/
or
Windows Memory Diagnostic
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
or
GoldMemory
http://www.goldmemory.cz/
=======
Also
try using the free diagnostic utility from the vendor of your disk to check for problems with the disk.
fujitsu
http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com/download/hard-drives/#diagnostic
IBM and Hitachi
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT
Maxtor/Quantum
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/products/index.htm
Samsung
http://www.samsungelectronics.com/hdd/support/utilities/utilities_index.html
Seagate
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html
Western Digital
http://support.wdc.com/download/
www.westerndigital.com
Could be some bad RAM
Test the RAM
If you can swap out the RAM with known good modules for testing first if you can't do that then test the machine with one RAM module at a time until you tested every module. Other wise run the the following RAM testers.
--------------------------
NOTE IF THIS DOESN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE RAM THIS DOESN'T MEAN THE RAM IS GOOD you would need to swap out the RAM with known good modules for testing. However if it does find something wrong then chances are the RAM is bad.
DocMemory PC RAM
Diagnostic Software
http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products/doc/docinfo.asp
or
http://www.memtest86.com/
or
Windows Memory Diagnostic
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
or
GoldMemory
http://www.goldmemory.cz/
=======
Also
try using the free diagnostic utility from the vendor of your disk to check for problems with the disk.
fujitsu
http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com/download/hard-drives/#diagnostic
IBM and Hitachi
http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT
Maxtor/Quantum
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/products/index.htm
Samsung
http://www.samsungelectronics.com/hdd/support/utilities/utilities_index.html
Seagate
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html
Western Digital
http://support.wdc.com/download/
www.westerndigital.com
If you are going for the reinstall WinME remember you MUST uninstall IE6 and WMP9.
To do that follow Jonvee's post with DOS commands.
Good luck,
Zee
I just fixed this same problem today ! it has to do with the media player
heres how I fixed it then reinstall ME over top
Restart in MS-DOS mode using an Emergency Boot Disk Follow the steps below:
A:\> c:
C:\> cd windows\system
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM> ren wmp*.dll *.lld
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM> ren wmp.ocx *.xco
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM> cd \progra~1
C:\PROGRA~1> ren window~1 wmp9
After these steps are completed, run the Windows ME setup again. This resolution will revert the customer to Windows Media Player 7.0.
heres how I fixed it then reinstall ME over top
Restart in MS-DOS mode using an Emergency Boot Disk Follow the steps below:
A:\> c:
C:\> cd windows\system
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM> ren wmp*.dll *.lld
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM> ren wmp.ocx *.xco
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM> cd \progra~1
C:\PROGRA~1> ren window~1 wmp9
After these steps are completed, run the Windows ME setup again. This resolution will revert the customer to Windows Media Player 7.0.
I had the same problem with the Error Loading _ Explorer.exe you must reinstall windows msg. The tip on removing Windows Media Player was a home run. I had just loaded the update. Followed the info from marka_ss and fixed the problem.
Have you tried a SYSTEM restore?
Zee