Explorer.exe process at ~100%

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Guest

Just in the last 72 hours I have started to have problems with my Vista
installation. Whether I start the computer in Safe Mode or regularly, the
explorer.exe process runs up my dual-core processors to 100%, or thereabouts.
The average usage for the process is about 60% - 80%. I downloaded
ProcessExplorer from the Microsoft website, and the culprit thread is
something titled

ntdll.dll!RtlIntegerToUnicodeString+0x67

There are now four instances of this in the Threads dialogue as I write, but
only one was eating up my processor. Does anyone know what this is, what it
does, or even better, how to fix it? I'm a Computer Science major and I
can't afford to have my personal computer out of commission for several days
like this!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have already done every single
virus and malware/spyware scan I know of (HouseCall, McAfee, HiJackThis,
Defender, Windows Malicious Software Removal), and started up in safe mode
(the problem still occurs). On a side note, or perhaps this is related, my
taskbar is completely frozen. I cannot access the start menu, and the list
of open windows does not update past about 10 seconds into uptime. The clock
doesn't update (although the sidebar one keeps going) and the Notification
area icons are inaccessible.

Windows Vista Ultimate (clean install)
Intel Core Duo @ 1.83GHz
100GB HDD
2 GB RAM
 
Hi:

Try to use MSconfig and disable any 3rd party services, including
Antivirus.Just MS services. Also take out your machine network cable to see
if it is a malicious software.

I hope it helps.
 
Juan -

I took the computer into my campus computer offices, and among other things
we disable all third-party startup programs, plugged/unplugged it, and even
uninstalled a bunch of software. We did however find something very
interesting. The thread within Explorer.exe that was causing the problem was
ntdll.dll!RtlIntegerToUnicodeString+0x67
The tech guys told me that that means the function call is either being
repeated indefinitely, for some reason, or the function itself is looping,
for an equally unknown reason, because there was nothing but microsoft
software running after we were finished.
They suggested I try a "repair install" after trying everything else, so I
ran the "upgrade" install from my Vista disk again (since the only other
option it gave me was to re-format - not an option at the moment). This did
not fix the problem.

Any ideas?
 
Hi Kemper:

In that case, you have done well. I suggest to open a technical case with MS
and try to fix it before, reinstalling your machine.

--
Un saludo
Juan Perez

Este mensaje se proporciona "como está" sin garantías de ninguna clase, y no
otorga ningún derecho.
 
In case anyone is wondering, this is how it stands right now:

I spend about an hour or two in an online support session with a Microsoft
support dude named Abilash. Nice guy. He eventually started an Easy Assist
connection to my computer. After verifying that everything I was saying was
true, he suggested a clean hardware and software boot. I tried this the best
I could (starting up in diagnostic mode?) and it didn't fix the problem. I
couldn't give him my cell phone number at the moment, so he marked closed it
as "Not Resolved." I'm going to call tomorrow to reopen the case, because
his steps did not work. After looking at my Device Manager, he said that he
thought he had seen this problem before, and it was the result of corrupt
network drivers. However, I disabled, uninstalled, and reinstalled the
official Microsoft drivers that come with Vista, and this did not fix the
problem either.
 
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