Windows Explorer Crash "has encountered a problem and needs to close"

Hi. I need some help with a recurrent problem. I have a Maxtor OneTouch II external hard drive. Recently I've been sorting out a lot of files and moving stuff on to my hard drive. Every once in a while, I'll get an error message that says, "Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." When I ask view more information about the error it says, "AppName: explorer.exe AppVer: 6.0.2600.0 ModName: xvid.dll ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 000109c2." And finally, the technical information report reads, "<?xml version= "1.0" encoding= "UTF-16 "?>
<DATABASE>
<EXE NAME= "QuickTimePlayer.exe" FILTER= "GRABMI_FILTER_PRIVACY ">
<MATCHING_FILE NAME= "PictureViewer.exe" SIZE= "298496" CHECKSUM= "0xFD72C37B" BIN_FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" PRODUCT_VERSION= "QuickTime 6.5.1" FILE_DESCRIPTION= "PictureViewer" COMPANY_NAME= "Apple Computer, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME= "QuickTime" FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME= "PictureViewer.exe" INTERNAL_NAME= "PictureViewer" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT= "© Apple Computer, Inc. 1997-2004" VERFILEDATEHI= "0x0" VERFILEDATELO= "0x0" VERFILEOS= "0x40004" VERFILETYPE= "0x1" MODULE_TYPE= "WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM= "0x3BCC6" LINKER_VERSION= "0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" LINK_DATE= "04/08/2004 20:12:47" UPTO_LINK_DATE= "04/08/2004 20:12:47" VER_LANGUAGE= "English (United States) [0x409]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME= "QTInfo.exe" SIZE= "233984" CHECKSUM= "0x84100785" BIN_FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" PRODUCT_VERSION= "QuickTime 6.5.1" FILE_DESCRIPTION= "QTInfo Application" COMPANY_NAME= "Apple Computer, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME= "QuickTime" FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME= "QTInfo.exe" INTERNAL_NAME= "QTInfo" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT= "© Apple Computer, Inc. 1989-2004" VERFILEDATEHI= "0x0" VERFILEDATELO= "0x0" VERFILEOS= "0x40004" VERFILETYPE= "0x1" MODULE_TYPE= "WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM= "0x40AB9" LINKER_VERSION= "0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" LINK_DATE= "04/08/2004 20:26:32" UPTO_LINK_DATE= "04/08/2004 20:26:32" VER_LANGUAGE= "English (United States) [0x409]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME= "qttask.exe" SIZE= "98304" CHECKSUM= "0x833C3C94" BIN_FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" PRODUCT_VERSION= "QuickTime 6.5.1" COMPANY_NAME= "Apple Computer, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME= "QuickTime" FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1" ORIGINAL_FILENAME= "QTTask.exe" INTERNAL_NAME= "QuickTime Task" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT= "© Apple Computer, Inc. 2001-2004" VERFILEDATEHI= "0x0" VERFILEDATELO= "0x0" VERFILEOS= "0x4" VERFILETYPE= "0x2" MODULE_TYPE= "WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM= "0x0" LINKER_VERSION= "0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION= "6.5.1.17" LINK_DATE= "04/08/2004 20:15:59" UPTO_LINK_DATE= "04/08/2004 20:15:59" VER_LANGUAGE= "English (United States) [0x409]" />
<MATCHING_FILE NAME= "QuickTimePlayer.exe" SIZE= "1099776" CHECKSUM= "0x5E8F9065" BIN_FILE_VERSION= "6.5.2.10" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION= "6.5.2.10" PRODUCT_VERSION= "QuickTime 6.5.2" FILE_DESCRIPTION= "QuickTime Player" COMPANY_NAME= "Apple Computer, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME= "QuickTime" FILE_VERSION= "6.5.2" ORIGINAL_FILENAME= "QuickTimePlayer.exe" INTERNAL_NAME= "QuickTime Player" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT= "© Apple Computer, Inc. 1992-2004" VERFILEDATEHI= "0x0" VERFILEDATELO= "0x0" VERFILEOS= "0x40004" VERFILETYPE= "0x1" MODULE_TYPE= "WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM= "0xD9BF2" LINKER_VERSION= "0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION= "6.5.2.10" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION= "6.5.2.10" LINK_DATE= "09/24/2004 00:01:41" UPTO_LINK_DATE= "09/24/2004 00:01:41" VER_LANGUAGE= "English (United States) [0x409]" />


I'm very confused here (naturally, because I don't know what any of this means) because it appears to be a problem with quicktime. Why would quicktime cause this kind of crash? This is happening more and more frequently. Can you help? Thanks a lot.

 

It looks as if Quick Time may be at the heart of the problem. If you don't use it, and many people don't, consider uninstalling it. If you have special want/need of it, at least get it out of your startup group. You should see it listed in msconfig under the startup tab.

I don't have QT and have never missed it. Windows Media Player and Irfanview cover all that I need. I offed both QT and Real Player long ago.

HTH until you get better advice.

 

I uninstalled it and had the same problem. Also, I couldn't find it in the startup tab. Thanks for the help though.

 

You can give System File Checker a shot, this may be a case of a damaged system file: http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/howto-24.html

Regards - Charles

 

I may be beating a dead horse, But I think Quick Time could yet be the culprit since it has a bad habit of associating itself with files it can't open, such as tif's. You may want to check out what some of your media files are trying to open with and take control of them away from QT, if found.

Run assoc from a command line and check for any occurence of QuickTime. Note the file type involved and change it by either right clicking and manually directing it to whatever you prefer to replace QT or else go to the DougKnox site and use his tools for the job.

http://www.dougknox.com/index.html

I may be out in left field with this but I think I've run across this before. If would make sense especially if you have thumbnails activated I suppose.

As has been advised, SFC /SCANNOW can't hurt either. Also System Restore may help.

Good luck.

 

So...I did the sfc /scannow and uninstalled quicktime, but the problem is still there. I ran the assoc command and found 4 quicktime extensions. How do I change them? Also, the list that it compiled went from q to z. how do I view a through q?..or is this just the way it is? Thanks for the help.


EDIT: Also, what would I change the extensions to?

 

Ok...I think I figured out how to change the extensions. I went to My Computer>Tools>Folder Options>File Type and changed them from there. The problem still remains though. Did I do something wrong?

EDIT: Could it be a problem with the xvid.dll file

 

You can view the entire list by running:

assoc | more

or for a more permanent record run:

assoc > c:\assoc.txt

That will create a text file names assoc.txt on the root of your C: drive. You can direct it elsewhere if you like. It will contain all of the present associations list.

I can't answer your question about the xvid.dll file. I have no such file on my XP system. Perhaps it's QT related.

Changing the associations isn't hard but lets first define what is still left with QT associations and go from there.

 

.qts = Quick Time System
.qtx = Quick Time Extension
.qdat = Quick Time Install Cache
.qth = QuickTime.qht
.qhtm = QuickTime.qhtm
.moov = QuickTime.mov
.movie = QuickTime.mov


Those are extensions that I have found relevent to quicktime. What next, good sir? Thanks

 

Also, regarding the xvid.dll, I just rembered that I added that to the system 32 folder to fix a problem with WMP. When I tired to open some vids in WMP, I get an error message that said xvid.dll not found. I researched it and found where to put it and everything worked fine. Should I possibly delete this .dll file?

 

Those particular associations probably aren't causing any problem but we can clear them anyway.

Just do it one by one at the command prompt:

.qts=
.qtx=
.qth=
.qhtm=
.moov=
.movie=

entering no data after the = symbol and no spaces in the line anywhere.

While you're at it check the following extensions for their associations:

jpg
jpeg
mov
movie
mpa
mpe
mpeg
mpv2
tif
tiff

Do that by the method I outlined earlier or else type each at the command prompt this way:

assoc.jpg
assoc.jpeg

etc. That will reveal the present association for each. If any come up with QT, we have some hopes of changing that and possibly correcting this problem. There is a chance that this method isn't harsh enough to remove some associations that some particular softwares take command of. In those cases, we can try using another software with similar power (but is less selfish) to grasp the association back and then set it to what we prefer. I have used Irfanview for that purpose and it works great.

Also consider the link I gave for Doug Knox. Those listings he has posted will also reassociate file types without all the effort the manual method takes. Just download the zip file, unzip it and run the REG file it develops.

Keep plugging away and we'll hope for some results. If it's all for naught, we will have killed some time until someone smarter shows up.

 

Let's leave the xvid.dll in the Windows\system32 folder for now, it does no harm.

 

I was unable to change the associations with the method mentioned. For instance, I input ".qts =" and got, "'.qts.' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

I checked all of the other associations and the only one that had a QT association was .movie.

 

Be sure you input it correctly. You must include all of the script as I typed it.

I still see a space in your entry that you posted. That space will prevent the command from executing properly.

In your example, it should be:

assoc.qts=

 

When you get it going, lets include htm and html in the pack also.

assoc.htm
assoc.html

If either is associated with QT, clear it by the assoc.ext= method

Otherwise, leave them as found and let me know what association they had.

 

FYI, here's what that command can do according to MS:

 

I kinda figured I entered it wrong. I deliberately included a space because I thought you had earlier...oops. I'll give it a whirl.

 

Update:


I cleared the extensions except for two: when I entered assoc.qth= and assoc.movie= I got the message, "File assoication not found for extension '.qth' "

Also, I check .htm and .html; not QT associated.

 

The problem is still there

 

'twas a dead end road apparently. I have no further ideas to offer but perhaps someone else may have so stick around or check in occasionally for any additions.

Fortunately you are still able to operate so that a plus. i'll mull it over but I doubt anything will come to mind other than running SFC /SCANNOW. You could also try pruning some startup programs and running bare bones to see if that helps. Perhaps even doing a Registry search for Quick Time and deleting all traces found.

As a last resort, you may have to do a Repair Install but I'd wait to see if someone offers better hope.