Thread: PC Problem - HELP!! [SOLVED]

I am using Windows XP and over the last couple of days when i go to look in a folder that has a lot of files in, an error window pops up saying Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. If i try to play a file in that same folder the same message pops up and Dr. Watson then encounters a problem and needs to close and then Winamp encounters a problem and needs to close. Then when i click to send error reports my PC freezes and crashes.

I have done a full virus scan, used a registry cleaner and i have cleared my cache and these haven't solved the issue.

I have checked online and the only other thing i can do that i can see, is try to re-install windows xp on my PC just in case some of the files have become corrupt. (My Windows XP software is already pre-installed on my PC so i don't have a disc.)

Can someone tell me how to do this please?

Or if you have any other solutions to this problem please respond as it is doing in my head.

I'd also like to add this was happening with another large folder and i copied it to my external harddrive and then i deleted it from my PC and then everything was fine. I am stumped as to why this is happening all of a sudden as i never had this problem before.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Hi.

Have you tried checking your harddrive for errors. Don't know if xp has this option but on vista just find your harddrive, right click and go properties. In properties click tools, in tool should be option to check drive for errors. Like i say don't know if xp has this on it. Only limited knowledge sorry.

Or is your harddrive filling up? Lack of space can cause problems.

With my limited knowledge looking at your problem, they're a couple of quick things you can check. Hope it helps.

Originally Posted by DFT

Hi.

Have you tried checking your harddrive for errors. Don't know if xp has this option but on vista just find your harddrive, right click and go properties. In properties click tools, in tool should be option to check drive for errors. Like i say don't know if xp has this on it. Only limited knowledge sorry.

Or is your harddrive filling up? Lack of space can cause problems.

With my limited knowledge looking at your problem, they're a couple of quick things you can check. Hope it helps.

I just checked for hard drive errors - it done the scan - i don't know what the results were as nothing popped up so i am guessing it's fine.

My hard drive is 146GB and 55.2 GB free - so i assume that's alright too.

Thanks for the tips

you could also try turning your dr watson software off and see if it works ok then.

Originally Posted by daza303

you could also try turning your dr watson software off and see if it works ok then.

Thanks for the reply

I thought Dr. Watson was important

If it's not how do i turn it off?

Originally Posted by DFT

Hi.

Have you tried checking your harddrive for errors. Don't know if xp has this option but on vista just find your harddrive, right click and go properties. In properties click tools, in tool should be option to check drive for errors. Like i say don't know if xp has this on it. Only limited knowledge sorry.

Or is your harddrive filling up? Lack of space can cause problems.

With my limited knowledge looking at your problem, they're a couple of quick things you can check. Hope it helps.

I done the scan again but this time i clicked the 2 boxes for repairing any disk errors and the other one (i forgot what this one does) and it scanned for about an hour - not sure if there were any errors as the next thing it said the disk is now clean and then Windows started automatically when it was finished.

I have just scanned with Malwarebytes antimalware and one problem was found and is now fixed

Just a quick update to my problem

After doing all of the above except turning Dr. Watson off i have narrowed down the problem i think

I go to the large folder and when i try to play an avi file i get the Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close and Winamp has encountered a problem and needs to close popups - i can now send error reports without my PC crashing or freezing.

Any help why avi files are causing a problem?

wierd one ... try d/l vlcplayer (my player of choice) ... it plays anything

VideoLAN - VLC media player - Open Source Multimedia Framework and Player

Originally Posted by msprim

Just a quick update to my problem

After doing all of the above except turning Dr. Watson off i have narrowed down the problem i think

I go to the large folder and when i try to play an avi file i get the Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close and Winamp has encountered a problem and needs to close popups - i can now send error reports without my PC crashing or freezing.

Any help why avi files are causing a problem?

Are all your avi files causing this problem? I'm guessing you've configured Winamp to play avi files? I recently had to upgrade Winamp because it kept reporting memory errors whenever I closed it - the latest version of Winamp (5.58) doesn't seem to have this problem.

Alternatively, try installing VLC and set that up to play avi files instead? (EDIT: just what oothe said, doh!)

I'm going to uninstall Winamp and then install it again and see if that works - if it doesn't i'll try Oothe's idea

Thanks guys - this is really pissing me off

They ain't joking msprim, the VLC (which is like my back-up media player if Windows has a spaz attack) plays anything

Well i have uninstalled Winamp and re-installed it again and i have also uninstalled IE8 and re-installed it and still no change so i am going to uninstall Windows XP and re-install it

I tried to uninstall Windows XP but my PC wouldn't do it - maybe as it's preinstalled. I then done a disk defrag and this didn't solve the issue either.

I then went to the Microsoft website and found the solution - it was to do with some codecs from a few different programs.

If anyone else has this problem in the future go here for the solution and the program you download disables the codecs that are causing the problems

Playing video files crashes or freezes Internet Explorer or Windows