IE stops responding

IE is driving me nuts! About every five minutes it stops responding. It is not the connection (I can bring up Netscape or OutLook Express and they work fine). Sometimes if I wait IE will start working again a minute or two later. I usually shut it down and open it again and then it is fine for a while. Anybody have any ideas?
Gene

 

Genestoy,

I don't know about XP or IE 6, but If you are running Windows 98, & IE 5.0, 5.01, or 5.5, go to
Start\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Information. Then click on the Tools tab. Click on Internet Explorer Repair Tool. On the next pop up Select the Middle one, "Repair Internet Explorer." Do what it says & maybe that will help.

"DO NOT Select Restore!" That will revert you back to the one that was installed with whatever Operating System you are running. Then you've got problems trying to salvage a bunch of stuff.

I haven't the foggiest idea what Add A Component is for.

Yes, I know my pathway is the long way around to get to it according to some people, but I am paranoid & don't trust the way you get to it in Add\Remove Programs. Seems kind of dangerous to me.

Deloris.

 

Genestoy,

OOPS! Just had a thought. I once upgraded from IE 4 directly to IE 5.5 & it gave me all kinds of trouble. Did you by chance do anything like that? If so, then a revert will probably be the only way to solve it & then install 5.0 first, before going back up to 5.5.

That's what I had to do.

Try the "Repair Internet Explorer" first though. That may just fix you right up.

Deloris.

 

Deloris,
I started with 5.0, then upgraded to 5.5. I have already done the "repair ", did not change anything. I am running 98se. Never had this problem ever before on my old computer. This new one only, Intel 1.7gig w/512k ram. It's fast (maybe too fast). Have one other program "FTP Pro" that opens in the blink of an eye and once in a while stops responding also (totally locks up), have to do the ctrl, alt, delete to get out of it, re-open it again an its fine (IE does not do that, just won't connect to a site. IE and FTP Pro are the only 2 programs with problems, all others are fine. But both of these also use the modem connection (which by the way is already connected when the program is activated).
Gene

 

OK Gene,

Have you run SFC to see if any of your IE files have been corrupted, or deleted?

Running it you will probably see a lot of files that have been deleted, or changed, especially if you have installed new programs lately, or run your virus definitions updates lately. That's pretty normal, but most of the time you won't get notification that a file is corrupted, but sometimes you will. A corrupted file of any kind depending on it's function can wreck havok. That's my next suggestion. If SFC finds a corrupted file, write down what it is, it's version number & it's location on the hard drive. Someone should be able to send you another file so that it can be restored using system File Checker, or if the version is the same as the one on your OS disk, you can retrieve one from there.

Some will say that SFC reporting a corrupted file doesn't necessarily mean it's corrupted, but everytime it's found one for me & I replaced it, things worked better. It may not have solved all the problems, but it doesn't hurt to replace a possibly corrupted file when you can.

If this is not the problem, then it's back to aquare one.

Another thought! Do you ever get a message saying that msgsrv is not responding? That little devil can cause a lot of trouble. Too bad it's a necessary file.

I am no guru by any means, but have found that the solution to a lot of problems are often pretty simple to fix, after you've become half crazed & a total fruit loop from messing with it. Just wish I could remember how I fixed stuff sometimes.

Something like this happened with my Print Shop Deluxe v10 once. Another program had replaced a dll with a newer one & Print Shop didn't like that new one. It wouldn't even open up. After a couple of weeks of trying to find the problem & getting very angry, I found out what it was. Looked on the Print Shop disk with WinRar & extracted & restored the one Print Shop liked & all was well with the world. Even with the program that replaced the dll.

Deloris.

 

Deloris--OK I give--what is SFC and how to run it?
Gene

 

Gene,

This took awhile & maybe I have overdone the explinations a bit, but this is the way I do things & it works very well for me I pray to God I didn't ***** up on any of this. Now that's a real heartening remark, isn't it?

OK! Down to business! Go to: Start\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Information. Click the Tools tab. When you click the Tools tab & the pop down comes down, you will see listed on that pop down "System File Checker." Click on System File Checker.

First of all , go to settings & on the settings tab, configure it to "Prompt For Backup," if you wish, which I do. Checkmark "Append to Existing Log, or "Overwrite Existing Log," whichever you want." (I have Append To Existing Log checked) Checkmark "Check For Changed Files." And checkmark "Check For Deleted Files," if any of them aren't checked, make sure they are, or have a dot in them. SFC automatically checks for corrupted files.

Then on the Search Criteria Tab, where it says Select The Folders You Want To Check, highlight the ones you want it to check, that don't already say yes over to the right of the folder name, & click the "Include Subfolders" button. I consider all of the ones listed important, except maybe for the Fonts one, although I have all of them saying "yes." It will have most of them listed that may be necessary to check, but not all of them will already have a yes value to the right of the folder name. Clicking Include Subfolders will make it say yes & make it check all files in that particular folder & it's subfolders. Don't mess with the Add Folder, or the Remove buttons at this time. That's for custom folder checking. Click Apply & OK when you're done.

Whew! Now! Running it is a breeze. Just click start, but if you've never ran it before, you will most likely have a **** load of changed files, deleted files & possibly some corrupted files. All of this will depend on how many programs you have installed, uninstalled & how many times you've updated your virus definitions.

Once you tell it to start, let it do it's thing. When it comes up saying that a file has changed, it should have a default of "update verification." If so Click OK. If not mark update verification & Click OK.

When it comes up saying a file has been deleted, tell it to "update verification," no matter which one the system has checked by default. If that file is a known IE file, write down the file name & extension, & version & pathway, unless you plan to print out the log file. Click OK.

If it comes up saying a file is possibly corrupt, write the name, including the file extension, version number of the file, and pathway to where it is located all down, if you don't plan on printing out the log file, then tell it to update verification & click OK. If you plan on printing out the log file, tell it to ignore the file & Click OK. This will give you a print out showing the results, once you print it out, & that it was ignored because it was possibly corrupt, instead of writing down the info by hand. Then the next time you run SFC, it will report those corrupted files again & you can tell it to Update verification at that time, if you've replaced the files that were corrupted. Any files that have been added, deleted, updated, or ignored will be shown in the log file, & on the print out.

Any important files that have been deleted, changed, or corrupted, can be restored later, if it's necessary, using System File Checker, after you have made a full assessment of any possible problem you might think you have & figured out the solution. Solve the current problem, somehow, before installing or uninstalling anything else & then run another check to update verification on the ignored files before installing or uninstalling anything else.

Personally, I think It is best to print out the results of a file check so that you have a hard copy of changes. To print out the log file, after the file checker has run it's course, go to settings, while it's main window is still open, then to view log. Then up to File, & print. The log file contains all the changes that were made to your system through installation & uninstallation of the programs you have on there. Of course this first one will be a composite conglomerate of "all" the programs you have installed & uninstalled up to this moment. That is why, in my opinion, a System File Check should be done before & after a program is installed, & before & after a program is un-installed, so that you can see exactly what changes were made to your system each time you installed, or un-installed a program. I always type into the log file at the top of the particular file check, what program the file check pertained to, before I print it out. Less confusion that way.

All programs add files to your system. A lot of them delete, change, or replace existing ones, but back up the ones they altered. Some programs delete, change, or replace files & don't back up the ones they altered & are very invasive that way. Many problems can be solved by keeping a printed record of installations & un-installations that make changes to your system, especially when files have been deleted, changed, or replaced by a third party program installation. Or a corrupted one has been installed by a third party software installation.

If you print out the results, you can then delete the existing log, if you wish to, but it don't delete easily. I usually have to do it twice to get it to delete. I wouldn't reccommend deleting the existing log if you don't print it out. If you don't delete the existing log, on future checks type into the log file what the current file check pertained to & save the changes. That way, all file checks are identifiable to you upon further inspection in the futrue & you'll be sure you are looking at the right one. You will be able to determine when a new file check has been added to the log.

Post any results that may be questionable, even if the questionable file isn't directly related to IE. You never know what kind of havock "any" corrupted file might cause. Maybe that will give me, or someone else, an idea. I won't guarantee that it will give me any solutions though. If you didn't find any problems there, let us know.

It takes a lot of maintenance work to keep your system at Optimal performance, and even then things can & do go wrong. System file checker can be your best friend, and it comes with Windows 98 & 98SE, but not with ME. Don't know about XP.

Whew! Is this enough junk for you to digest? I had to learn all of this the hard way.

Deloris.

 

Deloris,
I did what you said and found 12 corrupted dll files in the windows/system folder. I restored all of them and will wait to see if IE improves. The computer did reboot okay--whew! Will post whether this did it or not. I also re-ran SFC and no problems after I restored the dll's.
Gene

Well it is still stopping--should have waited a little longer before I posted--I am about to give up and start using Netscape again!
Gene

 

OK,

How did you restore them? Did you just tell SFC to restore them, or did you print out the log & get a list of the dll's that were corrupted, & actually replace them with other dll's that have the same version number & kb size. SFC will not show the corrupt dll's again after you tell it to restore them, it will only show that they've been changed, if it even shows that, but they may still be corrupted.

I have a CD of about 250MB worth of nothing but dll's, so that when this happems to me, I can physically replace the corrupted ones with ones that are on that CD. That's what I prefer to do & that usually works. Of course I use SFC to do the actual replacing, so that there is a record of it in the SFC log, but I tell it where to find the replacement, instead of allowing it to just plain old restore.

If you could post a list of the corrupted dll's, then maybe we can figure out a way of finding dll's to physically replace them with. Meanwhile I will see if I can find that Web site where I got all those dll's at.

When I replace one, I make it the same version & kb size as the corrupted one. If I can't determine the version, I at least try to make it the same kb size.

Yes, I know that sounds like playing with fire, but knock on wood, it hasn't crashed me yet.

Deloris.

 

Gene,

Here are three web sites that have dll downloads. The first one is where I got all my dll's from. The second one seems to have some newer files put out in 2002. The third one I don't know about, but I also included the Google search link that has even more places you can check for the files you may need.

http://dll.yaroslavl.ru/

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/index.shtml

http://www.uforesources.com/dlldownload.html

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dll&btnG=Google+Search

Remember to get an exact duplicate of the corrupted file, if at all possible. Same name, same version & same kb size. If all of that is not possible, get same name & same kb size. Download & store them in My Documents in a folder to themselves. Unzip them. System file checker can restore them from there.

You could just copy & paste them into the System folder & it should ask if you want to replace the existing one, "however" I don't do it that way. If I am going to copy & paste, I go in & give the existing one an extension of .bak, then copy & paste the new one into the folder, but if one is being used by the system at the time, that don't work. Not to mention, if you don't have your computer set to show all files, you will never find some of the files, because some dll's are hidden, just like some folders are.

Using SFC to do it is best, because SFC will back up the existing one, & then put the one you've requested into the folder, even if it is currently being used by the system.

Let me know when you get the ones you need & I will tell you how to use SFC to replace those files, if you get confused, which I did the first time or two. It's really not hard once you've done it a couple of times.

Deloris.

 

Why not get this freebie and check for any "spyware" that may be phoning home. BTW, are you on DSL/Cable, or a home network?

http://www.lsfileserv.com/

I'm assuming you've emptied all cookies and temp files under tools, internet options. How much disk space are you allotting to TIF's (temporary internet files) in settings ? You only need 10mb max.

 

Gene,

You can also read this. Brett posted this link to another question. It just could be the problem.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/hijacked.html

Deloris.

 

Deloris,
After replacing all the 12 corrupted dll's I think it now works! IE has not quit since yesterday. Hope it continues. Thanks for your help.
Gene

 

Gene,

Thanks for posting back.

You are very, very welcome. Glad it's fixed. I will keep my fingers crossed.

One reason I thought of the corrupted files is because it happened to me once & replacing them fixed it.

I had downloaded IE5.01 straight from the Microsoft download site & It didn't work right from the get go. It wasn't completely stalling out, but it acted wierd. Come to find out, 16 dll files in that download were corrupted. That's when I went to find a site that had dll's on it. I figured there ought to be one "somewhere." It took a little while, not knowing exactly what to type in for searching, but I found them. Downloaded the ones I needed & replaced the bad ones & Lawdy be, it worked good then. So I proceeded to spend a whole week, downloading for a few hours each night, every dll file that guy had on his site. 250MB worth. They've come in handy since then too.

Good luck & I hope it keeps on working.

Deloris.

 

Hey Deloris!

Been following this thread and since I was having some quirky problems w/my IE(IE repair did nothing for me) you jogged me into SFC and it found a corrupted IE related dll . . I floundered a bit but did finally replace it and now all is well. Just wanted to toss this in at the end as sugar coating to your posts. Thanks to you and this board for some great tips and reminders. Since my memory isn't the greatest, the reminders are A-1.

 

Hey Bobmc32,

So glad you got something out of this too.

Thank you for the sugar coating. It's much appreciated.

I get a lot of good information & reminders from this board too.

Any fixed problem that interests me, or that I think I might need as a future reference, I save the post to my hard drive & if a problem comes up, I refer to my saved posts to see if I have something on it. That helps me a lot of times.

Thanks Again,

Deloris.