Bloody Vista! Explorer.exe problem...

[Rummy]

This is really starting to annoy me now, but basically sometimes when I'm browing my computer/files in Vista, explorer hangs and gets well slow. As it does so, the address/path bar at the top is slowly(starts then seems to slow) filling with shade as explorer does to show some sort of loading progress or something in vista? But yeah, when it does this basically all explorer windows won't work anymore if I try to switch between, and if I stay on the current window and try to click through to other folders, it also won't work. After a while I'll lose my task bar/start menu also, it'll all freeze up/not respond, though I can still switch between stuff with alt+tab.

 

Usually I have task manager running so I can see if anything is rocketing up my CPU usage, and it happens that when this occurs and I tab to that, explorer is at the top of the list for CPU usage, and I've honestly got no idea why. I don't know what it's trying to do or how I can stop it, and it bugs the crap out of me! What I CAN do is then end task explorer, and re-run it using the New Task in task manager, it re-opens and seems to work fine...or at least for a little while anyway. I can't pinpoint it to anything specific yet, and I was wodnering if anyone else knows of this problem or has any potential solutions?

[triforcemario]

Are you using Service Pack 2? When I set up Vista on a PC for someone, it ran like shite on SP1, then, not long after, SP2 came out, I installed it, and it worked as smooth as spreading butter on toast =P

[Konfucius]

I also had the problem with the slow explorer when I first installed Vista. Turned out Vista didn't like the SATA ports with the Gigabyte controller so I plugged the harddrive into a SATA port with the Intel controller and everything worked fine.

So what I mean to say is, that maybe a harddrive is faulty and therefore explorer freezes when Vista tries to access the drive.

[MoogleViper]

I get this a lot. That's all I have to say.

[Raining_again]

its probably one of either:

 

1, harddrive being faulty, not connected properly, or on its way out

 

2, vista not being 100% compatible (try updating?)

 

(the loading bar is normal btw)

 

I had a hdd connected through a network device (print switch thing) and it worked but it basically died a death for about 15 minutes before it would read it. Vista can be a bit buggy with hardware/software it hasn't been specifically designed to go with it (as opposed to when you get vista bundled with a machine). But updates are solving that gradually.

 

Is the disc being noisy when you try to access it? Is it connected properly?

[Rummy]

Hmm, well, I DO have an external drive and it hasn't happened since friday which is when I disconnected the drive cos I took the laptop downstairs to use for the music for my party, but the folders I was accessing were on my main c: drive and not my external anyway, so that's a bit weird. I DID think to myself the other day it was a bit noisy, but it was just in an area where it's more exposed than normal, really. It's a PATA drive, btw, in a caddy I bought off amazon whenever it was, like...a year or so ago? Sometime 6-12 months ago anyhow.

 

I'm gonna update vista again later, though that was one of the first things I tried, I can't remember how to check what Service Pack I'm running but it should be fairly upto date cos I did all the updates about 5-6times over when I factory restored recently. I'll try it and see if it keeps happening. The problem's so damn unpredictable and I can't determine the cause that I have no way to check for sure if it's gone or not when I do stuff. Also, lookout for a second thread, coming your way soon!

 

Definitely not my external hard drive, or at least not it solely, it happened again earlier when it wasn't connected.

[Raining_again]

ok i need to get a few things clear because I don't really understand what the fook is happening :P

 

Is it external/internal?

 

Is it connected properly?

 

Have you recently installed anything (hardware or software)?

 

Does it always happen, or just sometimes?

 

did you buy vista separately or did it come bundled in a machine that you bought?

 

Can you access files from the same area through different means? (like playing a piece of music on wmp or whatever)

[Rummy]

Is what internal or external? I guess the second follows. I only mentioned external drives because you mentioned external drives!

 

Not installed anything I can recall no, just become really noticeable in the last week.

 

Just sometimes.

 

Bundled.

 

I've not tried specifically, but one time it kept happening over and over and over when I wanted to move a file so I tried to browse my comp with firefox, which worked fine. I tried IE first, but that automatically opens Explorer like. I might be mistaking/confusing myself, but I *think* I could add folders using VLC when it was happening, but I might have just been avoiding explorer so it DIDN'T happen.

Edited October 12, 2009 by Rummy

[Raining_again]

Is what internal or external? I guess the second follows. I only mentioned external drives because you mentioned external drives!

 

Not installed anything I can recall no, just become really noticeable in the last week.

 

Just sometimes.

 

Bundled.

 

I've not tried specifically, but one time it kept happening over and over and over when I wanted to move a file so I tried to browse my comp with firefox, which worked fine. I tried IE first, but that automatically opens Explorer like. I might be mistaking/confusing myself, but I *think* I could add folders using VLC when it was happening, but I might have just been avoiding explorer so it DIDN'T happen.

 

Sorry i wasn't meaning to confuse you, just saying i've had experience of vista explorer being shite.

 

I mean the files you are trying to browse - are they located on an internal or external disk drive. If its external it could be just a slow disk (usb connection is a bottleneck) and if its internal it could be a faulty disk.

 

If it is working okay with other software it may just be that vista either needs an update, or you've recently put on an update that's fucked it up (happens) but its more likely to be the first.

 

Give it an update and see how it goes.

[Rummy]

No luck so far, tried updating to all the updates I can, I think I've sort of isolated the problem a bit closer to home though, it seems to happen pretty consistently whenever I go straight to Rummy from the start menu, I dunno if it's a bad file or something or what?

[Ten10]

Problem is to do with windows file indexing. Happened to me the other day when I needed to get to my app data folder. Explorer just hangs taking up all CPU time and then screwing everything up. The way to get out of it when this happens is to kill explorer exe and then restore it using the start new process command. Apparently turning of indexing or creating a new user account is the only solution.

 

Try turning off indexing in Vista to see if it solves your problem: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/09/17/disable-and-turn-off-windows-vista-search-indexer-and-indexing-service/

 

Failing that you may need to create a new user account and migrate your data.

[Rummy]

If I made a new user would I have to reinstall things to make it all work? I'll try turning off the indexing, or just generally avoid going into that folder(I can skip straight to documents instead) but it's annoying having to kill explorer every time, tedious. -.-'

[Ten10]

Well turning off indexing worked for me I was able to get to the app data folder which I couldn't get to before. I was getting the same problems as you with the endless loading.

 

I should probably be more specific. What I did was turn indexing off for drive C. I suppose you could always turn it back on at a later date.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Ten10