no minidump?

I am trying to debug windows explorer crashing each time I use it, using the info here: http://www.helpwithwindows.com/techfiles/explorer-crashes.html. My problem is I am not getting any dump files. I have a few, but the most recent is 2 months old. Any idea why I am NOT getting them, and how to make sure I do?

I checked My Computer - properties - advanced - startup and recovery settings - system failure. It is set to write a minidump. But I am not sure an explorer crash is a system failure.

I am surviving for now using an alternative file manager, but sometimes you just HAVE to use Explorer. It used to crash occasionally - now it crashes everytime. I thought disabling the non-Microsoft shell extensions was helping - but XP was just lulling me into a false sense of security.

Thanks
Dan

 

Thanks - that's actually the link I started with, and unfortunately disabling the non-microsoft extensions did not help. But, at least I understand why I am not getting a minidump.

When it crashes, I get the window about sending or not sending a report to MS - after sending the first 50 or so, I gave up on that. I guess I will take a look at the data it would send a little more, to see if there is a clue there. There is also a DEBUG button, but I don't think that did anything last time I tried it.

Frustrating. I guess I may need to do an XP repair, or a fresh install.

Dan

 

Yeah - I have never found anything useful in the event log - here's a typical entry:

Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, faulting module explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.2180, fault address 0x0000b1fb.

The fault address varies.

Then this the next entry: The shell stopped unexpectedly and Explorer.exe was restarted.

I even subscribed to eventid.net for a while, hoping to get some hints on causes for this.

I did think of posting a question on experts-exchange.com - they have been occasionally helpful in the past.

Any other ideas welcome!
Dan