All I can tell you is that this sometimes happens on my own desktop PC (XP
Pro SP3) - What happens when Windows Explorer "runs over it's own tail" and
encounters an "exception", is it terminates the original instance of
Explorer.
This original instance of Explorer is the one that creates and draws the
desktop in the first place, (you can see this "original instance" Explorer
process, by right-clicking on an empty area of the taskbar and choosing
"Task Manager" - under the "Processes" tab you will notice that
"explorer.exe" is always there - even when you have NO Explorer windows
open - this is the "base" desktop process).
When this original Explorer process has to terminate due to the rare
occurrence of an "exception", you will see the taskbar and desktop icons
disappear for a brief moment, then Explorer should normally restart
automatically - redrawing the desktop (icons and taskbar) including the
system tray (Notification Area).
I can't explain why it is, that, at this point, quite often not all the
system tray icons are re-drawn when Explorer re-initializes the desktop,
and just which icons, and how many are missing, may vary from time to time
after an exception happens with Explorer.
There are certain operations that set Explorer into a conflict with itself
and cause an "exception", and you will find that if you avoid asking
Windows Explorer to do certain things, you also avoid the likelihood of an
exception occurring.
On my own system, an Explorer exception sometimes happens if I view to many
sub-directories on the "Start Menu". On average, I guess I can expect one
or two per month.
You might think it quite unusual that this is considered within the
boundaries of normal, acceptable operation, but XP, or any PC Operating
System for that matter, is far from being perfect and is always going to be
vulnerable to the odd "glitch", usually resulting from the fact that most
machines are going to differ in the hardware they employ.
All I can say is that I see it happen on many systems and it is, for want
of a better word, "normal" Windows behaviour.
==
Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.
P.S. If you are getting Explorer exceptions EVERY time you start your PC or
it happens when you try to begin another instance of Windows Explorer -
without you doing ANYTHING, then the problem is something more than what
you would normally expect.
In the case you are receiving "exception" error notices EVERY time in this
way, the most likely causes are a recently installed piece of software or
the addition of recently connected hardware.
Either uninstall the most recently installed software, remove the latest
addition to any hardware you may have recently connected to the system, or,
if neither, try conducting a "System Restore" back to a time when you did
not get the persistent error messages.
Norvin Gordon said:
Tim said:
Well, you could always post a description of the symptoms here and we'll
try and figure it out together....
We will also need to know ;
PC make/model
Service pack number (SP2, SP3, etc.,)
Any error messages (exact text and any accompanying error-codes)
What [exactly] you were doing when the error occurred...
You will find the service pack number on the "General" tab of the
"System" Control Panel (press the [WinKey] + [Pause/Break] keys together
to bring up "System Properties" ).
==
Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.
P.S. Regarding the "previous problem" of the file you couldn't delete -
you could also start the PC in "Safe-Mode" which will also cause the
"Administrator" account to automatically appear on the Welcome Screen,
so that you will be able to delete your file from there.
You could also consider changing your current user-profile to give it
Administrator-level rights by going into "Control Panel" > "User
Accounts" , clicking on your profile and then click on "Change my
account type" and change from "Limited" to "Computer Administrator".
Click on the "Change account type" button to make the change.
Norvin Gordon said:
Norvin Gordon wrote:
I was trying to delete some old files and XP home won't let me because
the files are 'read-only' and when I try to change, it won't let me.
Any suggestion?
TIA
Thanks Barry and Tim, hopefully this will help. I will give it a try as
soon as I can figure out what is wrong with the computer now.
Tim, I appreciate the offer of help, so here goes.
PC make/model IBM/ThinkCentre 8195-e9u
Service pack number SP3 with current updates
It started about a week or two ago when I kept getting pop-ups about XP
security problems on my computer. After a day or two of trying to resolve
myself I took my computer into the shop and had a virus removed (my
anti-virus didn’t do the job). Everything seemed OK until I needed to
search for a file. I clicked on start, then search, and then I clicked on
All files and folders.
The computer becomes busy and I get the “Windows Explorer has encounter a
problem” and the data in the error report is:
EventType: InPageError P1:c000009c P2:00000003
I click on either “send/don’t send” and the monitor goes to the desktop
image and then back to the desktop with the exception that I now am
missing two icons in the “notification bar”. If I reboot, everything will
appear to be normal again.
At the search screen, I did try all the other options (pictures, Docs,
etc) with no problem. I would hate to take it into the shop again.
Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated.
