Windows XP Home issues

[garroadran]

Hmm... I can't find an XP home forum. Is it just me?


My problem is rather weird. Usually I'm pretty good at determining where my problems lie with the comp, but this one has me totally stumped. It might even be various separate problems for all I know.

Running: Windows XP SP1
P4 @ 2.4ghz
256mb ram

It started a few days ago, when I tried to delete an incomplete video download. I was using Windows Explorer, but it told me that the file was in use so it couldn't be deleted. Of course, the file -wasn't- in use, and even after rebooting the computer I could not delete the file. A couple of days later this problem was compounded, and I couldn't delete several random files. I found out recently that if I use an "Open File" dialog box, and delete the files from there, they delete just fine. It's just when I'm using windows explorer that I can't delete them.

More Windows Explorer errors popped up over the last few days... at one point it would give me an error message saying that there was an error found and Windows Explorer had to be shut down. This first happened whenever I hit F2 to rename files, but it was fine if I right-clicked and selected rename. Then random errors started ocurring, and then it got to the point where as soon as I select a file Windows Explorer encounters an error and has to be shut down.

At the same time, Windows Media Player is being very selective about what files it plays when. Some files play fine all the time, some cause it to encounter an error and shut down, and some files will work fine one time, but not the next. These are all video files I'm talking about.

Why do I suspect that these problems are linked? Well, if both Windows Explorer and WMP are running (even if they're not doing anything, just open), as soon as one encounters an error and shuts down, so does the other.

Right now the problem seems to have fixed itself for the most part, but WMP is still selectively not playing files.

I'm totally stumped here... any insights would be appreciated.

 

[xproforme]

Have you downloaded the latest version of WMP from Microsoft's update site? A while back there was also a security vulnerability in Media Player that was addressed by a security patch. Give that a try.

 

[linney]

There is mounting evidence that corrupt AVI files can cause this type of problem. This explains it better and offers a possible fix.

Select a file - windows stops.
Thread779-422825

This site is good for anything to do with Media Player.

http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html

Spybot

http://security.kolla.de/

Ad-aware

http://www.lavasoft.nu

Will check your computer for spyware and adware.

To get further information about the error look in your Event viewer.

Look in the System or Application folder. You can get to the Event Viewer via right click My Computer icon and select Manage.

Any errors logged in the Event Viewer can be expanded by double clicking on the error line.

Take any event error I.D. number and search for it on this site.

http://www.eventid.net/events.asp

Some general things to try.

See if System Restore will get you back to a restore point before your problem with Explorer.

Try Safe Mode (Do you have this problem in Safe Mode?).

Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking.

Run the System File Checker program from the Run Box by typing.....Sfc /Scannow in it and have your XP CD handy.

HOW TO: Verify Unsigned Device Drivers in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/5/14.asp

If they don't work you could try repairing windows itself by running it over itself. You will lose all your windows updates but your files will be untouched.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.asp

 

[bcastner]

Try linney's suggestion from his linked thread:

There is some evidence of a bug in XP in handling AVI files, where the file is corrupt or broken, causing explorer to read the whole file looking for index or property details.

It has been suggested to correct this behavior in Windows XP, remove the following registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32

This will prevent Explorer from loading shmedia.dll in response to file property queries on these files.

 

[garroadran]

wow, thanks for all the help. I'll try your suggestions asap. The only one I can kinda rule out right now is the spybot suggestion since I already have it.

Thanks again everyone.