Windows 7 64 Bit Pro Explorer (explorer.exe) keeps crashing and restarting randomly.

Anonymous
2009-12-02T00:18:42+00:00

Windows 7 64 Bit Pro Explorer (explorer.exe) keeps crashing and restarting randomly. This happens several times a day and its quite annoying. Sometimes happens when I search for files, sometimes when I click on an Program Icon, Sometimes when I open a folder and sometimes for no apparent reason.

My Install was a Clean Install and I have had this issues from day 1.

I have tried several “solutions” including

  • Copying Explorer.exe from the Wow64 folder to System32 folder,
  • fixing the SQM issue,
  • Changing registry settings,
  • Running sfc,
  • Defragging my HDs
  • Scanning for Viruses and Malware (using Multiple fully updated AV programs).
  • Updating Windows and Drivers
  • etc. etc.

Nothing seems to work.  I don't want to reinstall the entire OS if I will have these problems again. Please Help!

Thanks.

K. Chahal

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2009-12-28T23:11:29+00:00

You have a Heap Corruption in Shell32.dll

Please run ShellExView and disable all Shellextension which are NOT from Micrososoft. Does the crash still occur? If not, enable the extension successively until you find the one which crahes the explorer.

André

"A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/

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Anonymous
2009-12-29T01:57:29+00:00

A not-dissimilar situation has shown up in a couple different places, related to the nVidia M series video adapters. Apparently they have a mechanism whereby they flip in and out of high-performance mode depending on what's being demanded by currently running software. The problem is that in certain situations this switch can happen several times within a few milliseconds and create problems for Windows. (I've only seen this come up in relation to 64-bit versions.) The fix, copied from an OCZ forum, came courtesy of Winston Smith:

Update Driver

  1. Download and install the latest NVIDIA driver from here .

RivaTuner

  1. Download and install RivaTuner from here .

Magic

  1. Open RivaTuner and switch to the "Power User" tab.
  2. Expand the "RivaTuner\NVIDIA\Overclocking" Tree.
  3. Set "EnablePerfLevelForcing" to 1.
  4. Switch to the "Main" tab.
  5. Under "Driver settings" click on the small arrow left to "Customize..." and choose the first icon "System settings".
  6. Set "Force constant performance level" to either "low power 3D" (suffient for 2D audio work) or "performance 3D" (used for 3D gaming).
  7. Click OK and let the computer restart.

I would start with step 1, update the driver, then if the problem persists download RivaTuner and continue from there.

This even handles a problem of Windows 7 x64 (or Vista x64) freezing completely under certain circumstances on the MacBook.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-10T21:54:22+00:00

    I've been following this thread and you're giving good advice - hopefully you can help with my problem.

    Explorer.exe is crashing, only when booted normally and it typically takes about a minute or two for it to start. Once it does it crashes and restarts every 15 or so seconds. I took a look at the processes I have running but can't find anything out of the ordinary. I've run multiple fully updated scans and I'm at a loss. Do you think you could point me in the right direction?

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-11-10T20:34:08+00:00

    Hi Stefan, you get a heap corruption. Install the Debugging Tools or Windows:

    http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx

    install it and run global flags, go into the Image Tab, type explorer.exe in it and press "Tab" and activate Page heap/Application Verifier.

    Open regedit.exe and go to

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\Explorer.exe,

    create a new DWORD DumpType and set the value to 2 .

    The WER service now generates a huger dump. Zip the new dumps and share them.

    "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-11-10T19:36:42+00:00

    Hello,

    i've Windows 7 Professional x64 and the same problem with crashes of Explorer.exe on 3 similar installed PCs.

    Andre, can please help me ?

    http://cid-90dd1faa6b487e1c.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/explorer.exe.3088.dmp

    http://cid-90dd1faa6b487e1c.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/explorer.exe.2880.dmp

    http://cid-90dd1faa6b487e1c.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/explorer.exe.2472.dmp

    Thank you in advance

    Stefan

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