"Search" freezes up ... explorer.exe restarts

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Hi - as per subject, I have a client who runs WinXP Pro SP2 with all the
latest Windows Update patches as of last week - the OS is a new(ish)
installation on new(ish) hardware. Standalone, not part of a domain.

Recently, his Search feature has been wigging out. It will begin to run -
you'll see the files it's finding, and then the search window will freeze,
and the only way to recover / get back is end task on it in task manager -
which in turn restarts explorer.exe. This happens no matter how you launch
search - from Explorer, or from the start menu.

Event logs don't mention *why* this is happening, just that explorer.exe
restarted. Before I disabled drwtsn32, was also seeing events indicating
that Dr. Watson had frozen, as well - I don't have the exact error messages,
sorry, although I did look at the drwtsn log to look for clues, in vain.

His event logs are really pretty d__d clean overall, anyway.

It seems to work fine if we log into his account in safe mode - can search
away, as far as I know, with impunity. After seeing this, I started up
normally again after disabling all startup items in msconfig, and it froze
again -same deal. I didn't try logging in as another user in normal mode as
I didn't have time.

Any ideas? This guy really relies on search, as he has a boatload of
files/subfolders. I am loath to create a new user profile for him, as you
wouldn't believe how customized his existing one is.

 

[murali]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

update the search companion file
click start, and then click run, type %systemroot%\inf, and then click ok.
locate the Srchasst.inf file
right click the Srchasst.inf and then click install.

or go to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q319949
"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:

> Hi - as per subject, I have a client who runs WinXP Pro SP2 with all the
> latest Windows Update patches as of last week - the OS is a new(ish)
> installation on new(ish) hardware. Standalone, not part of a domain.
>
> Recently, his Search feature has been wigging out. It will begin to run -
> you'll see the files it's finding, and then the search window will freeze,
> and the only way to recover / get back is end task on it in task manager -
> which in turn restarts explorer.exe. This happens no matter how you launch
> search - from Explorer, or from the start menu.
>
> Event logs don't mention *why* this is happening, just that explorer.exe
> restarted. Before I disabled drwtsn32, was also seeing events indicating
> that Dr. Watson had frozen, as well - I don't have the exact error messages,
> sorry, although I did look at the drwtsn log to look for clues, in vain.
>
> His event logs are really pretty d__d clean overall, anyway.
>
> It seems to work fine if we log into his account in safe mode - can search
> away, as far as I know, with impunity. After seeing this, I started up
> normally again after disabling all startup items in msconfig, and it froze
> again -same deal. I didn't try logging in as another user in normal mode as
> I didn't have time.
>
> Any ideas? This guy really relies on search, as he has a boatload of
> files/subfolders. I am loath to create a new user profile for him, as you
> wouldn't believe how customized his existing one is.
>
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

murali wrote:
> update the search companion file
> click start, and then click run, type %systemroot%\inf, and then
> click ok. locate the Srchasst.inf file
> right click the Srchasst.inf and then click install.
>
> or go to
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q319949

Hi - tried it, but no dice, unfortunately. Same freezing.

Re the hotfix in the article - he's on XP SP2, so I doubt that can be it.

And it does work in safe mode!

Any other ideas?

> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]" wrote:
>
>> Hi - as per subject, I have a client who runs WinXP Pro SP2 with all
>> the latest Windows Update patches as of last week - the OS is a
>> new(ish) installation on new(ish) hardware. Standalone, not part of
>> a domain.
>>
>> Recently, his Search feature has been wigging out. It will begin to
>> run - you'll see the files it's finding, and then the search window
>> will freeze, and the only way to recover / get back is end task on
>> it in task manager - which in turn restarts explorer.exe. This
>> happens no matter how you launch search - from Explorer, or from the
>> start menu.
>>
>> Event logs don't mention *why* this is happening, just that
>> explorer.exe restarted. Before I disabled drwtsn32, was also seeing
>> events indicating that Dr. Watson had frozen, as well - I don't have
>> the exact error messages, sorry, although I did look at the drwtsn
>> log to look for clues, in vain.
>>
>> His event logs are really pretty d__d clean overall, anyway.
>>
>> It seems to work fine if we log into his account in safe mode - can
>> search away, as far as I know, with impunity. After seeing this, I
>> started up normally again after disabling all startup items in
>> msconfig, and it froze again -same deal. I didn't try logging in as
>> another user in normal mode as I didn't have time.
>>
>> Any ideas? This guy really relies on search, as he has a boatload of
>> files/subfolders. I am loath to create a new user profile for him,
>> as you wouldn't believe how customized his existing one is.