Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close - ntdll.dll

Make sure you have the correct Driver for the DVD/RW.


As far as Explorer Crashing:


Common XP bug.
This works for me:

In Windows Explorer, go to tools--folder options--view (tab)

in the list, check "launch folder windows in a separate process" OK

This works when explorer crashes, and the taskbar disappears.

This is a "patch" but not sure if it will help.

Good luck!!

Message Edited by msil217 on 02-01-2005 06:39 PM

Thanks for the suggestion, but all that changed was that now the Explorer Window disappears without the error popping up.

Sorry, that is all I can think of. You said the problem began with the install of the DVD/RW.

Like I said, check for the appropriate driver for the DVD ROM.

You could "Check" task manager and see if there is a problem, and possibly uninstall the driver and let Windows reinstall the correct driver.

It might be possible that it is using the wrong driver. Also, you may get better advice at the CD/DVD devices forum. (Use the "Jump to a message board" drop-down list above right of this (or any) post.

try this, From the Start menu, select SEARCH, select ALL FILES and FOLDERS,
select MORE ADVANCED OPTIONS, and place a checkmark beside SEARCH HIDDEN FILES and
FOLDERS option, make sure that SEARCH System Folders and SEARCH Subfolders is also
checked, In the ALL or part of the FILE NAME, TYPE ie.inf , In the LOOK in drop
down menu, select C: or the letter of the Hard Drive that contains the WINDOWS
Folder. Click the SEARCH button. In the Search Results Pane, find the ie.inf file
located in WINDOWS\Inf Folder and right click the ie.inf file and INSTALL on the
context menu.
REBOOT the computer when the copy process is complete.

Note: You will need your Windows XP CD Handy !

Well, it was something I hadn't tried yet  . . . but unfortunately it didn't work.

Thanks anyway.

This is a nagging problem for me too.

5 or 6 levels down if I open a folder containing jpg files Windows Explorer encounters an error and closes. Sometimes one or 2 jpgs in the 150kb range or sometimes a dozen smaller jpgs will cause the crash.

ntdll.dll was also referenced and here's one error message...
The instruction "0x7c93426d" - referenced memory at "0x00000000". The memory could not be "read". Click ok to terminate the program.

(Work around 1)
I found that running scandisk and defragging will allow me to open those folders once or twice then the problem starts again afterward.

(Work around 2)
What's really strange is if I copy the folder and place it a little higher up....only 3 or 4 levels down into the directory tree then I can open the folders with no problems at all.

This occurs on my D: drive which is 2 SATA WD360GD Raptor's in a RAID 0 configuration.

I've tried much of the same stuff as TheSilverSurfer to no avail. I also tried disabling WinXP SP2 DEP, (Data Execution Prevention), by editing the boot.ini and changing the /noexecute=optin parameter to /noexecute=allwaysoff. That didn't work.

I'm beginning to wonder if its a bug in the implementation of...
1) SATA
2) RAID 0
3) One of the Windows Security patches.

Anyway, its a puzzler. Anybody have any more suggestions? Next thing I'm going to try is dumping the RAID 0 array and see if that changes anything.

Thanks for the input of you experience Conrad.

I don't think it is a SATA or RAID issue as I have neither on this laptop.

I am leaning towards the problem with a Service Pack idea.

I have been reading tons of threads on similar problems.  The ones that make any sense are pointing to a few service packs (that may even "upgrade" ntdll.dll).

I have seen threads pointing to Q815021 as the update that caused the problem.  I had installed this as part of a combined upgrade and uninstalling that did not help me.

Several people posted that the problem comes back after a repartition and reformat/reinstall. 

It seems that the only way to be certain is going to be the following (since we don't have any conclusive help from Microsoft/Dell yet: 

Blow out the partition -

Reformat and reinstall Windows -

Install the Windows Updates ONE AT A TIME RESTARTING AFTER EACH ONE (this should take about a week, especially since we cannot use the usual "Roll-up" combined upgrades).

I hate being on the forefront of a problem.  It is much easier to use the finally admitted solution from Microsoft or the OEM.  It is a much bigger pain being in the role of trying to force that admittion/solution.  UGH!

 

 

I did a search for ntdll.dll and it appears to be in Service Pack 2. Hope that helps.

Open IE , Try going to Tools, Manage Add-ons and disable browser helper objects or Active X

 

dwyng,

Thanks for the thought but that didn't work.

Where does Windows XP store the icon cache? You used to be able to delete the iconcache file in Win98.

I've found now that if I use Windows Search - All Files and Folders - for *icon* or *gif* it also crashes, just like Windows Explorer, when it starts searching my D drive. It doesn't crash when I search for *jpg* or when I search for a file in the folders that keep crashing. This is puzzling.

ACDSee also crashes when you access some folders with images 6 layers deep.

I've got DriveImage backups and when I've got time I'll restore back to the period before I installed all the Windows Update Security patches to see if that makes a difference.

Later, Conrad

 

Conrad,

The IconCache.db file is what you are looking for (usually in  /Documents and Settings/Username/Local Settings/Application Data).

Good thought - did not work for me.  Hopefully it will help you.

 

Ok...try this one. It is working for me so far but it seems that it is a workaround and not a real fix because from what I've read WindowsXP SP2 should be able to handle much deeper and longer file path names than what we are having problems with. It is going to take some more research into my home network file sharing. Until then the maximum path including files names must be less than 255 characters.

Rename or move a deep folder

To resolve this issue, rename the folder so that the target files that are deeper than the MAX_PATH no longer exist. If you do this, start at the root folder (or any other convenient place), and then rename folders so that they have shorter names. If this step does not resolve this issue (for example, if a file is more than 128 folders deep)......

 Use a tool that can traverse deep paths

Many Windows programs expect the maximum path length to be shorter than 255 characters. Therefore, these programs only allocate enough internal storage to handle these typical paths. NTFS does not have this limit and it can hold much longer paths.

I'm using NTFS and it does seem to have this limit contrary to this statement by Microsoft.

The entire article is here.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320081

Later, Conrad

Fixed!!

Someone told me about a possible problem with Adobe Photoshop and thumbnails.

I thought it was a long shot, but this machine did have Photoshop Elements 1 and 2 installed on it (one may have been accidentally installed over 2 by our COO). 

I uninstalled both and the problem went away.

I reinstalled only Elements 2 and everything is still working.

What a long strange trip this one has been!

Hopefully this may help someone else in the future!

TheSilverSurfer,

That's great news.

Adobe Photoshop 7 is installed on this box. I'll have to drop by the Adobe Forums and see what I can find.

I hate to think about all the unsuccessful things I've tried in the last week.
---------------------------

This is absolutly amazing. I just uninstalled Photoshop and the problem seems to be gone. Folders with image icons are opening much faster now too. I've also got Photoshop 7 installed on my other computer and it doesn't have the problem.

Now I've got to figure out how to install Photoshop and not have the problem come back. Maybe if I use ACDSee for all the different file type icons instead of Photoshop....hmmmm.

Thanks man.

Later, Conrad

Message Edited by Conrad on 02-09-2005 06:01 AM

Conrad,

The only thing good (if there is anything) about these gauntlet problems is the relief when they are finally over.  (The worst is when they disappear and you don't know why.)

I have not had any problems since I uninstalled and reinstalled Photoshop Elements 2.

I have heard that the actual problem area in Photoshop is something called "Automatic Thumbnails" but I have not had time to look into it yet.

I am just glad that our machines aren't smoked after everything we put them through trying to fix this!

Yep, time to celebrate. I really don't worry about hosing my system since I make complete hard drive image backups. The only problem is that Photoshop was one of the first programs I installed so I'll have to start over from scratch to redo all my backup images. :P

I did a little searching in the Adobe forums and found some hints at the problem about crashing and problems with Windows Explorer Image previews but nothing specific. Wish I had more time.

That idea worked BTW. I reinstalled ACDSee so it would be the default Image program and replace all the icons. Then reinstalled Photoshop and everything works great. Folders open faster now too so I'm happy.

CYA Later, Conrad