If you have time, I'd recommend a clean install. Just make sure that you back up important documents, and make sure you have your application installers handy. And make sure you have AT LEAST the network driver installer for your specific computer.
unfortunately i really cannot afford a clean install right now. the whole visual studio/cmake followed by VTK/ITK with wrapping for tcl and python scripts is a finicky beast to get going. if i have to redo everything right now i'll just end up going off a cliff, computer in tow.
it's mostly a huge obnoxiousness problem vs an actual stability issue since i can get to control panel sometimes, and if i can't see any picture thumbnails the world doesn't end. it's just driving me crazy not knowing what the deal is because everything works swimmingly in safe mode, yet the problem isn't fixed by disabling all my startup items and disabling any services that aren't windows services.
i'd wondered about doing a repair install - didnt know if maybe that'd go fix explorer.exe and whatever dlls it was looking at (no idea what actually got borked when explorer failed, which i think was the beginning of this adventure).
i thought i'd seen that if you repair install and you have programs though that are not on your OS drive, that was a problem?
Repair install can solve some issues but I'd consider it a last resort and first work through these Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7- particularly getting a Clean Boot, checking System files, googling repeat errors in the logs, utilizing System Resources to solve problems.
It would have been a better idea to have done that first,
and then come here with a link to your own post and an open invitation for responses there.
Did you see the same error reported in post #1, i.e.
Have you followed exactly all the steps / advice / tests / suggestions etc and had the same results as shown in posts #1 through to #9 ?::{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}
The remote procedure call failed and did not execute.
If you are not in the exact same situation as initiated this topic half a year ago then there will be less risk of confusion if you start a fresh topic.
Alan
And the truth comes out.... SIIIIGHHH. Corrupt file.
OK for the record (for the next frustrated soul who stumbles on this thread) - I'd already done several malware scans and done a clean boot (no non-windows services and no startup items checked). SFC Scannow yielded no issues. If I killed explorer (using the start menu ctrl+shift+right click thing or thru the task manager just outright killing the process) and restarted it, yes I did get the "remote procedure call failed and did not execute". My explorer windows were doing forever-slow-load but not fully freezing on their own for the most part, however.
My windows error log for when things went wrong included VLC player crashing several times and taking windows explorer with it once. From then on explorer was doing the forever-load intermittently on "computer" and "control panel" and thumbnails (and even icons) were loading incorrectly in many folders. There were no other problems (not an instability/BSOD inducing thing).
I got the suggestion to make a new user account, which did not have these problems. In copying stuff from the old account a bit at a time, I found VLC player created a corrupt file the day it crashed several times while I converted a file. Every time explorer dealt with the folder that file was in, it began to lose its mind. Since that file was on my desktop, that was more or less all the time.
SOLUTION - I could delete the corrupt file in safe mode. All icons/thumbs are back and fine, and I imagine my slow computer/control panel window loads are not coming back either.
Thanks y'all for replying to an old thread :)
In case this helps anyone… Windows Explorer was hanging on me when I tried to open My Computer. There were no drives visible, just a blank white screen. I was also unable to view my backup files in Carbonite, so I called Customer Support to assist. They uninstalled Carbonite, and reinstalled it via a remote connection which fixed the problem. I think the technician might have used his own uninstall routine which completely cleared out everything, but don’t quote me on that. It may have been a total coincidence that this solved the problem, but if you have Carbonite installed, it probably wouldn’t hurt anything to reinstall it. PS – I also have VLC Media Player loaded, so who knows if that could’ve been related too. Good luck!
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