Intermit problems: Windows Explorer looks weird and new tasks won't start
This problem occurs about about a half dozen times each day. It has been going on for about 6 months. It started about the same time I had problems with Trend Messaging Suite for SMB 6.2, but those have gone away (a nightmare I won't explain), so it is probably a coincidence. Also this might be related to Outlook, MS Access, or X1 search engine, but have not been able to pin it on any of those.
It usually happens when I have a bunch of windows open.
The symptoms are very distinctive, with most of the following occuring most of the time.
* Internet explorer doesn't show the menu and navigation toolbar at the the top of the window.
* Nothing happens when I double clicking to expand a folder.
* Clicking the Start button doesn't do anything.
* Alt tab doesn't show the "Icon Summary" of open applications. Normally, when I hold down alt then type tab tab tab tab, this summary shows up to 3 rows of 6 icons representing open applications. But when things get broken, each alt tab snaps immediately to the next application without showing "icon summary".
* Sometimes alt tab does not do anything, but alt shift tab takes me to the previous task.
* When I right click on the explorer group in the windows task bar, nothing happens -- I do not get the submenu (the one that usually contains "Cascade", "Close group" etc.
* To get out of this weird mode, I have to close a few applications. I can't close them from the task bar, but I can close them by clicking the red X in window on the desktop.
Sometimes i will just close one explorer window out of 30 open windows and things will revert to normal and remain normal for hours. Other times I have to close most of the windows.
Sometimes I get messages about "not enough resources", but usually I do not get those messages.
Probably this is caused by a memory leak, but the Peak Commit Charge of 1,672,584 is well below the limit(3,510,932) and also below the Total Physical(2,095,472).
This is very hard to trouble shoot because closing 1 to 5 of anything fixes it. I haven't noticed a pattern with one particular application being open. But, this is not surprising because I normally have EVERY application open. (Excel, Outlook, Access, Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, PDF)
This is mainly just an annoyance, so I haven't done much trouble shooting (other than my weekly virus scan and adware scans).
I'm hoping someone has had similar problems and figured out how to resolve them.
It usually happens when I have a bunch of windows open.
The symptoms are very distinctive, with most of the following occuring most of the time.
* Internet explorer doesn't show the menu and navigation toolbar at the the top of the window.
* Nothing happens when I double clicking to expand a folder.
* Clicking the Start button doesn't do anything.
* Alt tab doesn't show the "Icon Summary" of open applications. Normally, when I hold down alt then type tab tab tab tab, this summary shows up to 3 rows of 6 icons representing open applications. But when things get broken, each alt tab snaps immediately to the next application without showing "icon summary".
* Sometimes alt tab does not do anything, but alt shift tab takes me to the previous task.
* When I right click on the explorer group in the windows task bar, nothing happens -- I do not get the submenu (the one that usually contains "Cascade", "Close group" etc.
* To get out of this weird mode, I have to close a few applications. I can't close them from the task bar, but I can close them by clicking the red X in window on the desktop.
Sometimes i will just close one explorer window out of 30 open windows and things will revert to normal and remain normal for hours. Other times I have to close most of the windows.
Sometimes I get messages about "not enough resources", but usually I do not get those messages.
Probably this is caused by a memory leak, but the Peak Commit Charge of 1,672,584 is well below the limit(3,510,932) and also below the Total Physical(2,095,472).
This is very hard to trouble shoot because closing 1 to 5 of anything fixes it. I haven't noticed a pattern with one particular application being open. But, this is not surprising because I normally have EVERY application open. (Excel, Outlook, Access, Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, PDF)
This is mainly just an annoyance, so I haven't done much trouble shooting (other than my weekly virus scan and adware scans).
I'm hoping someone has had similar problems and figured out how to resolve them.
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SOLUTION
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ASKER
I have tried a sfc /scannow, and the problem continues. I will not be able to try a windows repair install until this weekend.
be patient and I will resume posting around 6/3/2008.
be patient and I will resume posting around 6/3/2008.
ASKER
I just noticed a mistake in my first post. I have capitalized the correction.
* WINDOWS explorer doesn't show the menu and navigation toolbar at the top of the window.
Anyway, I will NEVER again use an SP2 CD for an XP repair. Repair took 1 hour, but reinstalling IE7 and SP3 added 2 hours, and a few issues still need resolving. I'll have to find an SP3 CD somewhere for future repairs.
Sadly, neithe sfc /scan now, nor a repair install resolved my problems. I am beginning to think it has something to do with an Excel application which opens an Access database. I have disabled the application, and will monitor things for a few days to see what happens.
So people that are monitoring this thread should wait until my next post somewhere around Friday.
Bob
* WINDOWS explorer doesn't show the menu and navigation toolbar at the top of the window.
Anyway, I will NEVER again use an SP2 CD for an XP repair. Repair took 1 hour, but reinstalling IE7 and SP3 added 2 hours, and a few issues still need resolving. I'll have to find an SP3 CD somewhere for future repairs.
Sadly, neithe sfc /scan now, nor a repair install resolved my problems. I am beginning to think it has something to do with an Excel application which opens an Access database. I have disabled the application, and will monitor things for a few days to see what happens.
So people that are monitoring this thread should wait until my next post somewhere around Friday.
Bob
ASKER
I have not used MS Access at all today, yet the problem continues.
sorting task manager processes by memory usage reveals nothing unusual. Winword and Outlook use about 138 meg each. explorer and iexplorer use about 70meg each. the remaining tasks are under 45meg and most are under 15 meg.
Event history has lots of errors, but all were from at least an hour before the problems occured. I suppose I could just start to randomly try to fix event history errors, but many are "normal", non-critical events that are almost certainly unrelated to the problem.
I am beginning to run out of ideas.
I may just give up. As I say, this is just an annoyance that can be easily bypassed.
sorting task manager processes by memory usage reveals nothing unusual. Winword and Outlook use about 138 meg each. explorer and iexplorer use about 70meg each. the remaining tasks are under 45meg and most are under 15 meg.
Event history has lots of errors, but all were from at least an hour before the problems occured. I suppose I could just start to randomly try to fix event history errors, but many are "normal", non-critical events that are almost certainly unrelated to the problem.
I am beginning to run out of ideas.
I may just give up. As I say, this is just an annoyance that can be easily bypassed.
ASKER
The problem still continues, but it will be weeks before I have time to trouble shoot it again.
I am going to close this question and assign points based upon effort.
Thanks for your help.
rberke
I am going to close this question and assign points based upon effort.
Thanks for your help.
rberke
ASKER
I know I could have asked you for more help, unfortunately, I just do not have time to devote to this right now.
Thanks again for trying.
Thanks again for trying.
ASKER
nonetheless, I have attached the hijackthis log.
I am also running scannow. I won't be able to tell if things are better until I come back to work 3 days from now. I will report back then.
hijackthis.log.txt