Windows XP - A Weird One??

[Solittle]

I am having a weird problem with XP. There are two symptoms. First when I am at my desktop and happen to click a blank area (no icon) The hourglass will appear but the sysem hangs up. I can move the pointer but nothing happens. The second symptom occurs when I go to either My Documents, My Computer or Windows Explorer. If I go to a directory and click New Folder the same thing happens as with the desktop - hourglass and it hangs. For either symptom I must do a cold boot to clear it.

Thinking it might have something to do with possible corruption of a directory somewhere or other disk problem. I ran chkdsk and got a clean bill of health. I am beginning to suspect there is something somewhere that is corrupt in Windows. I do not want to do a format and clean install. I know there is some kind of repair install process but I am hesitant to take the risk as I have no experience with it.

Otherwise my system runs just fine.

Any ideas?

P.S. My Windows is up to date, I use a firewall, have virus protection and am a bit picky about doing routine maintenance.

 

[mscher]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Can you hit cltr-alt-del to get the task manager to come up? It may take a while. It it does come up, see if you can get it to the processes tab. See if there is a process that may be hogging CPU time.

Also, look in the event logs in "administrative tools" from control panel. It may be logging an error code, that might give a clue.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

I have checked the Task Manager & nothing unusual. Cpu use around 2%.

 

[RCSConstruction]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Tuneup utilities has kept my computer trouble free for over a year(used to re-install windows every 4-6 months). It isn't hocus pocus, it really works.
They have a free 30 day trial and even after that it works you just have to wait 70 seconds for it to start.
Try defragmenting?

 

[rwise]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

start run *chkdsk c: /f* and see what it says

 

[ddennis]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

What antivirus program are you running?

 

[dchris]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

If you have corrupted winXP, the registery is were this happens. There are reg cleaners out there for about $30-40. Don;t be alarmed if you try a free one and it shows 100s of problems. They try to sucker you in that way. Don't buy one just because of that. It might be an easier move than re-formatting if you run out of options. Backup your reg files before messing with it. It s easy to mess up and have a non-bootable system. It is the heart the makes windows run.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

I do the reg cleaner, defrag & house cleaning regularly.

 

[Plainsman]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Have you installed any new hardware or software? Downloaded anything from the internet?

If you've done the chkdsk and it found nothing your best bet is to reinstall XP.

It usually takes longer to try and track down the problem than it does to reinstall XP and all the programs.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Right on. Plainsman. I'm by far, no puter expert. But that was what I had to send my werk laptop back top I.T. for -- OH, they "fixed" it" -- until i went to hook my in-truck printer back up. The thing was not locked-up, but busy. It was running so slow that it took 3 hours (not making that up) for desktop to finally apear!
Turned-out to be my printer spooler. They (our busy IT fellers) didn't repair it, but they disabled the printer. I guess they were "too busy" to fix it, so I uninstalled my printer and it's software, then re-installed it. When I rebooted, it went online, and found "updated" drivers for the stupid 35buk printer. It now werks like a champ.
If this problem begins at bootup, do as Dchris and others suggest and get a good reg editor. I use Regcure on the home puters, but there has to be something better. Regcure only gave me 3 months unlimitted use out of my 1year purchase. And that aint nice.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Do any of you have experience witht the Repair Install process?

 

[Plainsman]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Do any of you have experience witht the Repair Install process?

You can boot to the install CD and use the repair option. It basically does the same thing as chkdsk.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Do any of you have experience witht the Repair Install process?

"recovery"? Nope.. Never messed with that because I was concerned about overwriting MY personal data.
What I've had good results from was booting the puter up in SAFE mode (learned that trick right here from PONY), and running chkdsk from there.
Then, by running "regcure" from safe mode afterward.
But understand, I'm not a puter guy by any stretch. PONY, Dchris, or Rwise are the guys who bailed me out.

 

[2broke4this]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Solittle,
Are you talking about the repair option when you boot with an XP cd? Or are you referring to the recovery option that most manufacturers build into their systems? Booting from a Windows CD and using the repair option can often repair/replace missing or corrupt system files, which can fix a whole range of issues, usually without data loss. Unfortunately, chances are pretty good that you'll still have to reinstall most (if not all) of your programs, so you are usually better off with a full wipe and reload if you are able to back up your data. I know this is what you are trying to avoid, but you might not be able to do so.

If you are talking about using a recovery partition (or cd), it usually gives you the option of a destructive (formats the drive and puts it back to original settings) or non-destructive (doesn't format the drive, but fixes Windows and reinstalls all the factory junk). Either way, you'll probably have to reinstall your programs.

Before you think all is lost, check out some of the suggestions/questions that have been posted. What antivirus are you running? Have you checked in the task manager to see what all is running (and if something is using a lot of memory)? A lot of the time, what seems to be a huge issue is something silly. Check in Add/Remove programs to see if there is anything you don't recognize. Do you have Spybot or Ad-Aware on your system? You could try downloading those and run them to see if anything shows up. Just a few things to think about....

-Carl

 

[Solittle]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Thanks to all for all the input. And - I have run chkdsk, have firewall on, run spybot & ad-aware, have avast virus protection, run System Mechanic, checked Task Manager, and a run registry cleaner. All have not turned up any problems.

The symptoms seem to point me to think I have a corrupt Windows file so may end up trying the repair process. I use Acronis True Image so can do a full back-up quite easily in case I screw up.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

You might want to run SFC.exe (System File Checker).....If this utility is new to you...read about running it here...
http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

 

[i386]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

^^^ I second the motion.

 

[12Footer]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

Thanks to all for all the input. And - I have run chkdsk, have firewall on, run spybot & ad-aware, have avast virus protection, run System Mechanic, checked Task Manager, and a run registry cleaner. All have not turned up any problems.

The symptoms seem to point me to think I have a corrupt Windows file so may end up trying the repair process. I use Acronis True Image so can do a full back-up quite easily in case I screw up.

Since you've done a virus scan recently, temporarilly disable all that carp, with the exception of one (your main) virus software -- and THEN run chkdsk. I've run into problems with virus and spyware protection software conflicting with each other.
If it does no good after you've tried to correct it, just turn it all back on.
It may be a shot in the dark, but it is worth a shot.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

i386 & Xcusme - Well I went to :

http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

and followed the instructions for sfc / scannow. Right away I get a drop down box that asks me to insert my SP2 disk which I don't think I have. I have Windows XP Professional Upgrade Version 2002 (box) disk. My system is up to date with the latest MS upgrades. So my Version 2002 would be pre SP2. I had to reboot at that point to get out of it.

Any ideas?

 

[2broke4this]

Re: Windows XP - A Weird One??

The others may have a different idea, but you can create a new XP cd with SP2..... the instructions are here... http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

That may solve your problems... it's worth a try!

-Carl