TIFF files crashing XP?

[THE4MAN]

I ran into a strange problem today when I tried to check out some TIFF files. Using Windows Explorer, when I click on the folder where the TIFF files reside, it crashes with a Windows Explorer error:


AppName: explorer.exe AppVer: 6.0.2600.0 ModName gdi32.dll

ModVer 5.1.2600.0 Offset 00019728


This folder opens fine on my Win98SE machine and displays all of the TIFF files in the folder. On the XP machine, KABOOM.

My XP machine is a brand new notebook with a clean install of WinXP Home Edition and it's never been allowed to play on the Internet and all files it comes in contact with are highly scrutinzed for viruses and trojans with another Zone Alarm and Norton AV-protected machine so it's chances of being infected with something are relatively low. It's a legal copy of XP, however I haven't installed the Service Pack on it and since I don't let this machine access the Internet, getting a downloadable copy of the Service Pack is providing to be a challange. I have the choice to either do an Express Update which requires me to be connected to the Internet or download some Network Update version that's 133MB and designed for updating multiple systems.

I'm hoping that it's just some simple setting that I can change or a small patch I can physically download on my Win98 machine and install accordingly.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Dave Fore

 

[Marcs41]

Before trying anything else, try a full scandisk with auto repair (requires reboot and some waiting).
Next do a Clean disk and a defrag.
To do so, Right click the C: drive and select Properties.
Click the Cleanup Disk button.
This calculates for a while an you are then prompted with a list, check them all and comfirm.
Next click the Tools tab and select defrag now.
Select C and click defrag.
When done, reboot and try.

If it did not help, let us know, but it will at least improve the performance a little if in use for a while.
The solution is out there.

 

[smah]

This may not be an explorer problem. What program are you using to open the tiff files?

 

[THE4MAN]

I'll try the scandisk/clean/defrag when I get home this evening. But as far as the program I am using, it's nothing more than having that folder on my desktop and trying to double click on it to open it. It won't even show me the contents of the folder, it just crashes, every time.

I also tried opening it using Photoshop 6 and After Effects 5 and same result. It crashes the application I am using and then displays the desktop.

It did give me some sort of strange error once like a memory related error. Said it "couldn't write" or something to that extent. It opened the folder very briefly and tried to load the TIFF images and then gave me that error. But the computer has been working flawlessly to edit video and do graphics work without a single error or lockup or lag in performance.

Thanks for the help.

Dave Fore

 

[THE4MAN]

Well the scandisk/clean/defrag did not correct the error. And it does appear to be an explorer problem of some sort. But I *did* seem to find a strange solution. I copied the suspect folder containing the TIFFs to my other partition and tried to open it. It opened! So then I tried to move the original file into the root folder of the "C" drive. It opened again! So I moved it back to the desktop to check it again. It crashed and gave me an error like before.

For whatever reason, XP doesn't like these types of files on the desktop. Problem not necessarily solved, but sufficiently worked-around.

Thanks again for the help.

Dave Fore

 

[linney]

As a side note you can order a copy of SP1 as a CD from Microsoft for a few dollars. I've also noticed that some computer magazines are including in their free CD.