Error loading explorer.exe

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Moose46 - 30 Dec 2005 21:37 GMT

I downloaded a driver for a Linksys ethernet card. I extracted the files and
then I "installed" the driver in a DOS box. Then I rebooted the machine
running Win ME and received the error message: "Error loading explorer.exe
You must reinstall Windows".
I have tried the following with no help:
1. Used the Win ME rescue disk and ran scandisk /all and scanreg /restore.
2. Extracted explorer.exe, shdocvw.dll, mshtml.dll, comctl32.dll,
shlwapi.dll, msvcrt.dll, and user32.dll.
3. I have run Norton virus scan for 14 hours with no viruses found.
4. I have edited the System.ini file and changed the shell from explorer.exe
to Winfile.exe or Progman.exe or Taskman.exe, but the error message just
changes from explorer.exe to "Error loading Winfile.exe ..." etc.
5. The computer will not boot in Safe Mode.

What else can I do? What other files should be extracted?

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Mike M - 30 Dec 2005 22:07 GMT

Since you have already used scanreg /restore and presumably restored a
copy of the registry that predates this unfortunate update I'm unclear why
you cannot now boot the system. Have you tried removing the Linksys NIC?
Have you tried booting to DOS and deleting any files that might have been
added to the windows\system\iosubsys folder when installing the Linksys
driver? Out of curiosity why were the drivers installed from DOS as this
is most unusual when installing most hardware especially something like a
network card?

Since you don't appear to be able to boot to progman.exe it would appear
that using system restore is out of the question although you could try
replacing explorer.exe in system.ini to
c:\windows\system\restore\rstrui.exe. This should boot straight in to
system restore.

> 3. I have run Norton virus scan for 14 hours with no viruses found.

Oh dear. The Norton kiss of death for any system but especially so for
one running Win Me. I'd start all over, clean install and next time
forget about installing any potentially system destroying software from
Symantec.

Signature

Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com

> I downloaded a driver for a Linksys ethernet card. I extracted the
> files and then I "installed" the driver in a DOS box. Then I
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> What else can I do? What other files should be extracted?

Reply to this Message

Moose46 - 31 Dec 2005 21:23 GMT

I tried earlier dates to resore the system, but no help. Removing the
Linksys NIC did not help. I did not see any Linksys files in the iosubsys
subdirectory.
I am still hoping that some knows how to fix this problem or can tell me how
to reload the system software without destroying the data.
Thanks,
Doug

> Since you have already used scanreg /restore and presumably restored a
> copy of the registry that predates this unfortunate update I'm unclear why
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
> >
> > What else can I do? What other files should be extracted?

Reply to this Message

Mike M - 31 Dec 2005 22:25 GMT

Doug,

Reinstalling Win Me, which shouldn't be necessary, shouldn't mean losing
any of your data or installed applications although there are various
things that must be done first if you aren't later going to have other
problems such as deleting wmploc.dll if WMP9 has been installed and
deleting various IE6 files if Internet Explorer had been upgraded to IE6
from the IE5 that comes as part of Win Me. For more details see
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/reinME.htm

Signature

Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com

> I tried earlier dates to resore the system, but no help. Removing the
> Linksys NIC did not help. I did not see any Linksys files in the
> iosubsys subdirectory.
> I am still hoping that some knows how to fix this problem or can tell
> me how to reload the system software without destroying the data.
> Thanks,

Reply to this Message

Moose46 - 02 Jan 2006 00:33 GMT

Mike,
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I was able to reinstall Win ME and am about 90% back to normal.
I tried to upgrade to IE6 SP1, but I keep getting the error message:
"Unable to install all components, close all applications and run setup
again."
I have:
1. diabled the virus protection.
2. Did a <ctrl> <alt> <del> and killed all processes that I felt I was
reasonably able to do without stoping a necessary process. The processes
left running are: Explorer, Ccapp, Winmgnt, and Systray.
3. Last year I downloaded IE6 SP1 and did not erase the "Installation
directory". So went to the update site for Microsoft and automatically
downloaded ie6setup.exe and it determined what else was needed. The first
time it just said to reboot.

When I rebooted, the error message was displayed of:
"...Internet Explorer and Internet Tools files on your computer are not the
correct files for your operating system..."

What else should I do?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Doug

> Doug,
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> > me how to reload the system software without destroying the data.
> > Thanks,

Reply to this Message

Mike M - 02 Jan 2006 01:14 GMT

Doug,

OK, so having reinstalled Win Me over a system where IE6 SP1 had
previously been installed has left you with a bit of a version soup which
can take a little bit of effort to correct.

> I tried to upgrade to IE6 SP1, but I keep getting the error message:
> "Unable to install all components, close all applications and run
> setup again."

You may just be lucky and get away with using the fix that follows to
force the IE6 install however if that doesn't work may I again refer you
to Noel Paton's site (http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/reinME.htm) where
he has a page dealing with this problem.

Using Windows Explorer first set it so you can view hidden system files
and folders (Tools | Folder Options | View and check "Show hidden files
and folders" and UNcheck "Hide protected operating system files" and
Apply).

Create a new folder C:\Program Files\Internet Backup

Locate the folder C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Uninstall
Information. Move the contents of this folder to the folder C:\Program
Files\Internet Backup you created above.

Now try installing IE6 again from the start in Safe mode, re-selecting all
components that you want using the Advanced option, even those already
bolded, and see if this works. If this works you can now safely delete
the folder C:\Program Files\Internet Backup and its contents. If not,
copy
the files back to the C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Uninstall
Information folder and delete the C:\Program Files\Internet Backup folder.

Signature

Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com

> Mike,
> Thank you, thank you, thank you.
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> What else should I do?
> Thanks in advance for your input.

Reply to this Message

Moose46 - 02 Jan 2006 03:41 GMT

Mike,
Thanks for the quick response.
That fixed the problem. During installation the software indicated that
there were two dlls that were later versions than expected. So I replaced
them with the earlier files. I presume I will update them later with a
security update.
Thanks again.
Doug

> Doug,
>
[quoted text clipped - 52 lines]
> > What else should I do?
> > Thanks in advance for your input.

Reply to this Message

Noel Paton - 02 Jan 2006 10:19 GMT

Check out the general state of your hotfixes by using Belarc Advisor
(www.belarc.com) - if there are any flagged as broken, try reinstalling
them either from Windows Update itself, or from the Windows Update Catalog.

Signature

Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

> Mike,
> Thanks for the quick response.
[quoted text clipped - 64 lines]
>> > What else should I do?
>> > Thanks in advance for your input.

Reply to this Message

Compugeek404 - 25 Sep 2007 01:42 GMT

I got that error once you should boot ubuntu live cd and backup important
files than reinstall me and apps.

> Check out the general state of your hotfixes by using Belarc Advisor
> (www.belarc.com) - if there are any flagged as broken, try reinstalling
[quoted text clipped - 68 lines]
> >> > What else should I do?
> >> > Thanks in advance for your input.

Reply to this Message

Mike M - 02 Jan 2006 12:29 GMT

> Thanks for the quick response.
> That fixed the problem. During installation the software indicated
> that there were two dlls that were later versions than expected. So
> I replaced them with the earlier files. I presume I will update them
> later with a security update.
> Thanks again.

Doug,

That's good to read. It seems you may have got away lightly. :-) I see
that Noel has already recommended that you run Belarc Advisor to check for
broken hotfixes. Note that broken hotfixes will not normally be reoffered
via the Windows Update site and that instead you will have to manually
select, download and install them from the Windows Update Catalogue.
(http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/catalog/en/default.asp).

Best of luck,

Signature

Mike Maltby
mike.maltby@gmail.com

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