Windows Vista Windows Explorer Has Stopped Working

Vista Business, on a Sony Vaio SZ5 laptop, with all up to date patches. I usually hibernate between work sessions, only restarting if called for by an install or update (or I otherwise feel inclined to do so); fairly soon after a restart (say, within an hour or two of use) I will get the above message. It restarts and, apart from the few seconds it takes to restart, any open windows continue to work fine (the desktop doesn't even disappear) - just the toolbar that goes.

After this, it's unlikely to do it again for a week or so (until after the next reboot). Anyone else get this?

 

Hi,

There is this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937093/en-us

If it is not related specifically, consider programs for other micro/flash drives.

Storage devices also mentioned here, but not specifically related to your problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932626/en-us

Matt

 

Thanks, Matt, but no Digital Vault (nor the PCMCIA issue in the other link).

It's strange that the fault only seems to occur once between reboots. It's usually when closing down a program normally, though not necessarily the first time. It seems random (though it won't be - there'll be some combination of events that trips it up). It's not a bad problem (in that I lose data or spend ages restoring) - just annoying the Explorer restart doesn't restore all the System Tray icons - a couple in the System Tray I need to shut down (via Task Manager) and restart to get their icons back (icons I need to access the programs).

Still, if that's the only problem I have with Vista, I'm doing well!!!

 

Vista is going quite well for me. At the moment I have 55 webpages open and it is not having an ounce of problem.

My first suggestion was going to be to run Error Checking (Computer -> right-click on the drive -> Properties -> Tools tab) or look up chkdsk in Help and Support.

From the KB information it seems to be a drive problem (my guess as well). Whether that is a program trying to take "control" of a drive or a specific problem with a drive, I can't say.

I can only suggest looking for programs that may want to control a drive. Check for problems on the drives (clean-up and defragment?). Drivers? Update the motherboard/chipset drivers, they will include an update the IDE (drive) Controller drivers. Early drivers for Vista did not work very well for my system, I looked for updates for all of them at the hardware manufacturer's website.

Are there any (drive related...) programs running on your system that may not have been made for Vista?

Just suggestions that you may want to investigate.

Matt

 

I don't think it's driver related - they've all been patched from the Sony site. The error log reports:

Faulting application Explorer.EXE, version 6.0.6000.16549, time stamp 0x46d230c5, faulting module TosBtShell.dll_unloaded, version 0.0.0.0, time stamp 0x45b456f8, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x044c4730, process id 0x169c, application start time 0x01c861d36509f420.

Throw this at MS and it's a "We're sorry
There is no additional information about this issue in the Error and Event Log Messages or Knowledge Base databases at this time. "

Like I said, it's the only issue I have and it's not critical - just an irritation. Thanks for the suggestions, though - I'll just keep pottering...

 

Steve, not a driveR problem, a drive problem...as in "Hard Disk Drive ", a USB Flash or Mico storage drive, the C:\ drive, the drive where Windows is installed (usually the C:\ drive), etc.

Put
check your hard disk for errors
into Help and Support.

Matt

 

Sorry - errors often come down to drivers; can't see how a drive error would stop WE but not any other apps but we live to learn.

There's no common USB drive I can tie it down to (and it's happened with no USB connections). I've run chkdsk on C: (the full, boot-up and repair bifta) - no errors reported (took two hours for my 200GB drive); now need to wait to see if the error occurs again

 

Hmmm - don't use Bluetooth - I've had it switched off from the start. But it's an interesting point as the manager does start up. I'll disable the start-up before the next reboot and see if that does anything.

Thanks for the suggestion...

 

Well, disabling the startup hasn't led to any disaster so far so it should be safe to remove the Tosh stack and install the Vista one. Just one problem - how? That's something I've never done...

 

OK, the stack is listed there so I can remove it. How would I then install a native Vista stack? I also wonder what the Toshiba stack provides that made Sony use it instead of Vista's...