 Windows Me - Explorer.exe Will Not Start., System totally FUBAR |
Welcome Guest ( Log In | Click here to Register a free account now! )
Register a free account to unlock additional features at BleepingComputer.com
Welcome to Bleeping Computer, a free community where people like yourself come together to discuss and learn how to use their computers. Using the site is easy and fun. As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site.  |
 Mar 23 2008, 10:44 PM
Post
#1
|
|
|
Member  Group: Members Posts: 15 Joined: 19-April 06 Member No.: 64,689  |
First, I just booted the PC to see the problem. Yep, BSOD after about ten minutes. Restarted the computer, and, this time, the system froze completely, so I shut down by holding the power button. On my computer, I burned the exe for AVG antivirus installer, and placed the disc into his PC as I booted it. As ME started this time, up popped a screen saying something to the nature of, "explorer.exe cannot start. You must reinstall Windows." I clicked OK and the computer turned off. Booted up again into BIOS, turned off Quick Boot, and attempted to start in safe mode, only to get the same message. I'm out of ideas, and I'd really like to not have to tell the guy tomorrow that he needs to get a new copy of Windows. Am I screwed here? |
 |
 
|
 Mar 24 2008, 04:58 AM
Post
#2
|
|
|
a forum member Group: Members Posts: 1,632 Joined: 27-August 07 Member No.: 153,171 |
may one ask why you attempted to load a second antivirus program on there?
do you know if the computer does have a legit version of windows on it and does he have his installation cd ?? from where did he get the computer, might it still be in warranty? as you say, if it refuses to boot into either normal OR safe mode , I beleive you have problems are you able to capture ( record)what one of the BSOD's says? |
|
|
|
|
Mar 24 2008, 11:47 AM
Post
#3
|
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 15 Joined: 19-April 06 Member No.: 64,689 |
I had disabled Norton because it wasn't doing anything to help the situation, so I was trying to install a better antivirus.
He's got a legit copy of Windows on there, but it's a really old computer, so it's not under warranty. I'll see if I can get one of the BSODs still, but, since windows won't even start, I don't know if I'll be able to. |
|
|
|
|
Mar 24 2008, 06:34 PM
Post
#4
|
|
 Bleeping Hacker Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,880 Joined: 14-April 04 From: Texas Member No.: 151 |
You'll need a boot floppy (if it has floppy drive)
At the command line type: scanreg /restore and you should be able to restore to an earlier point. Aside from that Windows might just be too corrupt and needs to be re-installed (does he have the ME install disk?) Maybe a good time to give a Linux LiveCD a shot and look through the Windows system logs. HTH -------------------- |
|
|
|
|
Mar 25 2008, 07:39 PM
Post
#5
|
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 15 Joined: 19-April 06 Member No.: 64,689 |
Alright, turns out he doesn't have an ME disc, but he does have an XP upgrade disc. Can I just upgrade him to XP without him losing any of his files? I'd like to be able to go in and back up his files before tinkering around some more in case I need to reformat the disc.
Also, how would I go about making a boot floppy, and what exactly will the boot floppy let me do? I've never done that before. This post has been edited by SpaceWorm: Mar 25 2008, 07:41 PM |
|
|
|
|
Mar 25 2008, 09:18 PM
Post
#6
|
|
|
Bleeping Hacker Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,880 Joined: 14-April 04 From: Texas Member No.: 151 |
Since the OS is not working I have my doubts that
running the XP upgrade will be successful. And XP is a resource hog, most ME computers don't take the upgrade well even when they are running properly. The boot floppy is a disk that allows you to boot into a "DOS" environment and perform repair functions such as scandisk and scanreg, which in some cases will fix errors. Here is a link to fixing a corrupt explorer.exe (you will need a boot disk) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299313 -------------------- |
|
|
|
|
Mar 25 2008, 11:29 PM
Post
#7
|
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 33 Joined: 8-December 06 Member No.: 100,240 |
QUOTE(raw @ Mar 25 2008, 10:18 PM)  Since the OS is not working I have my doubts that running the XP upgrade will be successful. And XP is a resource hog, most ME computers don't take the upgrade well even when they are running properly. The boot floppy is a disk that allows you to boot into a "DOS" environment and perform repair functions such as scandisk and scanreg, which in some cases will fix errors. Here is a link to fixing a corrupt explorer.exe (you will need a boot disk) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299313 I was having a similar problem with Explorer not loading, and Systray not loading, and other recent problems that I had never seen before. After struggling with this for awhile, trying not to panic, and trying to understand what was going on, I remembered that ME has a "Restore" capability. Tried it and restored my computer to an earlier restore point about 7 days ago. My system is now working again without any apparent problems. Of course there's always a chance that the same problems will come back, and I'll know within the coming few weeks. But I feel pretty confident right now. Suggest that you try the ME system restore. Close all of your active programs; hit the Start button, and select "run" ; enter run restore; and , hit enter key. If your computer works like mine, then the Restore program should come up. Just follow the instructions to restore your system to an earlier date when it was operating properly. richie |
|
|
|
|
Mar 26 2008, 02:01 PM
Post
#8
|
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 33 Joined: 8-December 06 Member No.: 100,240 |
QUOTE(richie78 @ Mar 25 2008, 11:29 PM) QUOTE(raw @ Mar 25 2008, 10:18 PM) Since the OS is not working I have my doubts that running the XP upgrade will be successful. And XP is a resource hog, most ME computers don't take the upgrade well even when they are running properly. The boot floppy is a disk that allows you to boot into a "DOS" environment and perform repair functions such as scandisk and scanreg, which in some cases will fix errors. Here is a link to fixing a corrupt explorer.exe (you will need a boot disk) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299313 I was having a similar problem with Explorer not loading, and Systray not loading, and other recent problems that I had never seen before. After struggling with this for awhile, trying not to panic, and trying to understand what was going on, I remembered that ME has a "Restore" capability. Tried it and restored my computer to an earlier restore point about 7 days ago. My system is now working again without any apparent problems. Of course there's always a chance that the same problems will come back, and I'll know within the coming few weeks. But I feel pretty confident right now. Suggest that you try the ME system restore. Close all of your active programs; hit the Start button, and select "run" ; enter run restore; and , hit enter key. If your computer works like mine, then the Restore program should come up. Just follow the instructions to restore your system to an earlier date when it was operating properly. richie Apparently the restore function does not restore data loaded on the hard drive, and only restores the Operating System to the earlier restore point. As suggested, I did a restore yesterday and everything seems to be ok. Today I decided to load and run the AVG Free Virus checker, and I'm glad that I did. It's still running, doing a complete scan of my computer, So far it's found several Trojan Horse infections. I don't know what a Trojan Horse is, but since its is being identified, I presume that it's not supposed to be on my computer. Anyway, I've learned something new that I never understood before. richie |
|
|
|
|
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
| Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 5th September 2008 - 01:21 AM |
© 2003-2008 All Rights Reserved Bleeping Computer LLC.