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Thread: Desktop taskbar keeps resetting...help.

  1. #1
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    Desktop taskbar keeps resetting...help.

    Hi all,

    For the last couple of months my destop taskbar has been sporadically resetting when I access the windows explorer file-manager. Not all the time, but often enough to be annoying. What happens is I lose the taskbar, then it comes back. I doesn't shut down my running programs but sometimes loses some icons from the "running programs" area on the right. Consequently, I can't access some of my running programs and have to shut down with task manager. I used to get an error message but now nothing, just a refresh. I can't imagine what could be causing this. I've done a virusscan and searched for adware...

    I'm running

    Windows XP SP1
    PIV 2.4
    MSI Motherboard

    Mcafee 8.0 virusscan and firewall
    Messenger 6.1
    Windowblinds
    Korean IME (Windows)

    Any help would be great. Thanks.

  2. #2
    Hardware guy Super Moderator FastGame's Avatar
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    Hi hanguker

    I don't know what the problem is but maybe if you follow this thread there may be a solution http://www.techzonez.com/forums/show...&threadid=8162

    How much ram do you have ? how much is allocated to the running processes now ? is your ram good ? have you tested it ?

    If your hardware is fine then try System restore and sfc /scannow. If they don't work then maybe you should do an XP repair.

  3. #3
    Super Moderator Super Moderator Big Booger's Avatar
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    In addition to FG's reply, have you tried checking your error logs. Often they can give you a lot of information about system problems like these,

    click start, click control panel, click Administrative tools, then click on Event Viewer.

    Arrange them by date from the most recent to the least. Then scroll through and try to figure out what date and time the taskbar issue happened and try to pinpoint it down to roughly the right error. If you have had several of them, then it should be easier to figure out.

    Likewise you can wait till it happens again, and then post the error or errors that you suspect are responsible. From there we can help you out with some certainty of finding a solution.

  4. #4
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    Here's what the event viewer tells me. I checked the Microsoft help link but it was of little help. This problem is bothersome but it isn't crashing my system. If you can help it would be great, but If not thanks to the above ppl. for trying. The "view services" advice was especially helpful.

    I don't know why my shell would keep resetting, though. I have 512 megs of memory and my computer is overclocked, and I'm using windowblinds. Again the problem usually happens when I hit "file explorer" (and not all the time...just sometimes). I'm having wonderful system performance otherwise.

    BTW: my desktop and taskbar icons sometimes get scrambled too. I don't know if this is related.


    Details
    Product: Windows Operating System
    ID: 1002
    Source: Winlogon
    Version: 5.0
    Component: Application Event Log
    Symbolic Name: EVENT_SHELL_RESTARTED
    Message: The shell stopped unexpectedly and was restarted.

    Explanation
    The shell was stopped and then restarted. By default, the shell is explorer.exe; however, you might have a customized shell.

  5. #5
    Titanium Member
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    Maybe this will help even though it's not a complete system crash -
    BugToaster v2.0

    More frustrating than a system crash is the fact that we rarely get any information on why it happened so we can learn to prevent crashes in the future. BugToaster collects information on system crashes, and sends it to a central database via Internet. You can then go to the MyBugToaster section of the vendor's Web site, and find more information on that and other crashes, and find out if there are fixes for your particular problem(s).

    This version is free, and you can install in on up to three computers. There are options that cost, supplying additional services such as e-mail notification of fixes and priority crash analysis
    http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fil...d,17260,00.asp

  6. #6
    Head Honcho Administrator Reverend's Avatar
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    Have you checked out this solution from M$:

    http://support.microsoft.com/default...1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

    It's primarily for 2000,but may work for XP.

    =========== Please Read The Forum Rules ===========

  7. #7
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    This microsoft helpsite had a user.dll download that fixed my problem. Thanks for all the help!

    Do a search for the file below at the helpsite if you have my problem. It should fix you up. I tried to make a link but I couldn't get it to display properly, sorry.

    Q329692_WXP_SP2_x86_ENU.exe

    Sincerely,
    Han
    Last edited by hanguker; December 24th, 2003 at 04:42 AM.

  8. #8
    Head Honcho Administrator Reverend's Avatar
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    Here's the link:

    Download: Windowx XP Patch:Q329692

    View: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 329692

    BTW Han, did you follow some of our suggestions first,before installing that dll ?

    i.e Run sfc /scannow or do a System restore.

    =========== Please Read The Forum Rules ===========

  9. #9
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    I followed the suggestion of checking the event viewer. The event viewer lead me to the m$ website and the m$ website lead me to the download. The rest is history.

    I couldn't do a system restore because, quite honestly, I don't know when the problem started exactly. I had been letting it go on for a couple of months now.

    Thanks for posting the links Reverend. I'm sure there are other ppl. out there with the same problem.

    Merry Christmas (Seasons Greetings) to all of you!

    Sincerely,
    Han

  10. #10
    Super Moderator Super Moderator Big Booger's Avatar
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    Han,
    Glad you got it sorted. I know these kinds of things can be annoying. Merry Christmas too you too!

  11. #11
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    I'm having this problem again when using to context menu on most every image file and others
    The shell stopped unexpectedly and explorer.exe was restarted
    - I have tried the hotfixes but nothing seems to work. Any ideas? I do not have Spysweeper in context menu (cause of previous problem)

    I have had some 30 or more crashes today because i'm working on a theme.

    **edit -appears to be limited to image files. I turned off Picaview's top level thumbnail menu and it stopped crashing. Still this is sudden so something else is at fault i'm sure. I guess this will work as a temporary workaround.

    *********edit***

    Turns out to be a WB vs Picaview issue.
    Last edited by lynchknot; December 25th, 2004 at 21:56 PM.

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