Explorer.exe slowdown and lockups

[Persons Can Wai]

I've been having quite annoying problems with the windows file browser (Explorer.exe) recently - when I open a location that contains things other than "plain" files (like Computer, Network, or Control Panel), nothing loads - there are no icons displayed, the address bar shows loading for an infinite amount of time, and the navigation bar is screwed up, showing that it is continually searching. Other problems that explorer experiences are not loading thumbnails, and completely freezing up on right clicking a file. Oddly, the explorer window invoked by Open/Save/etc doesn't experience any of these things - well maybe the right click problem, but not the never ending navigation bar searches. When I kill explorer.exe and then manually launch it, SOMETIMES the problem goes away - my computer loads instantly, thumbnails do too, but right clicking still causes it to need to be restarted. And sometimes I restart explorer.exe and it works for like 1 minute before reverting to it's old ways.

What could cause this? I have an up to date anti-virus, up to date firewall, and I also have Malware Bytes antimalware on as well. I don't believe it is caused by malware in any way. The memory usage is not out of the ordinary or high for the process, and the CPU usage is like 0-1% when this also happens. I haven't installed anything big recently, and for the most part, my computer has stayed the same. Could this be affected by defragging? I haven't done that for a while. I also don't have much ram (only 4GB on Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit). I could do a registry scan and also checkdisk, but I want to know what you guys think about this problem as well - any ideas?

Continual loading

Thumbnails not loading

 

[Ztruker]

Does this happen if you boot to Safe Mode with or without Networking?

When did it start happening? Do you have a System Restore point before then?

Try running chkdsk /r against the drive, see if that helps.

 

[LazyLizard]

Yeah, Safe Mode and msconfig might help you narrow something down.
A peek at the event log shouldn't hurt. Maybe something there.

Otherwise I can only think of playing around with Sysinternals Autoruns or, as mentioned above,
a system restore.

 

[Persons Can Wai]

Sorry for the delayed response. The problem is very sporadic. Such as, it comes and goes. I learned how it may be caused by a context menu item, so I tried disabling all third party ones a while back. Didn't make a difference.

I'll try chkdsk, but I can't do a system restore as I have none of those points. I make system images instead, and usually don't have lots of space available. The problem has been around for a long time, but only recently has been happening more.

 

[Layback Bear]

Here is a Tutorial from Brink that might help and won't hurt.
I have fixed Windows Explorer with this Tutorial on my computers.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

 

[Persons Can Wai]

Thanks for posting that too! I remember about SCANNOW but it's been some time since I've run it. Ran the checkdisk as well... so far everything is fine, but not enough time has gone by to see if it's a fluke.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Hardware?

On my PC when HDDs are plugged into certain SATA connectors, the HDD controller becomes a bit twitchy.

Connectors 1 - 3 work perfectly, but connectors 4 - 6 sometimes become unresponsive.
It could be heat related, as it usually only happened after my PC had been running for a few days.

When I had HDDs plugged into those connectors, Windows Explorer (on my PC) would behave the way you are describing.

Try plugging your HDD into a different SATA connector and see if that makes any difference.

 

[Persons Can Wai]

On my PC when HDDs are plugged into certain connectors, the HDD controller becomes a bit twitchy .

Connectors 1 - 3 work perfectly, but connectors 4 - 6 sometimes become unresponsive.
It could be heat related, as it usually only happened after my PC had been running for a few days.

When I had HDDs plugged into those connectors, Windows Explorer (on my PC) would behave the way you are describing.

Try plugging your HDD into a different SATA connector and see if that makes any difference.

Interesting! I will try that. And thanks for offering another potential solution. I actually just came here to say that I ran everything but the issue still exists. Scannow found nothing.

 

[Persons Can Wai]

Well, time for an update.

Scannnow said everything was fine.

I changed the SATA connector (they are a bit loose on my computer after all, all of the slots) and while I will not say the issue is ~officially~ solved, so far I have yet to experience the problems since doing it. However, my computer has experienced a couple bizarre BSODs related to the windows kernel. Both times I wasn't present for them as the system has done an automatic restart. For now I'm writing it off as a fluke. Had to also reconfigure the boot sequence in my BIOS after changing the connector too, otherwise it wouldn't boot on it's own. I also disabled some other crap, such as the floppy drive (I have none) and putting the HDD as priority 1. Now my computer starts slightly faster than before!

 

[lehnerus2000]

Oops

Had to also reconfigure the boot sequence in my BIOS after changing the connector too, otherwise it wouldn't boot on it's own. I also disabled some other crap, such as the floppy drive (I have none) and putting the HDD as priority 1. Now my computer starts slightly faster than before!

Sorry.
I should have mentioned that.

 

[Persons Can Wai]

Ok, you're never gonna believe this, but it's happening again! I feel like that moment in the 1995 Casper movie when the female villain dies and comes back as a ghost and is like "The bitch is back!"

I recently hooked up a new modem/router, and guess what? Ever since it has been connected, I have been having the same problems - My Computer is searching forever, thumbnails won't load, and I can't right click. I just had to restart explorer.exe again. This makes no sense though. How could this be affecting it? I mean seriously, the issue went away for what seemed like GOOD before. Sometimes it would show it searching, but then it found the items (and not an eternity had to pass either). I guess I just officially opened the issue back up!

 

[Layback Bear]

How full is your "C" drive?
Used Space/Free Space

 

[Persons Can Wai]

Surprisingly it's pretty good at the moment: like 94gb left. A week or such ago it was like 5-18gb.

Could this be related to temperature? I have my computer on almost 24/7. I can't put it to sleep either, it basically corrupts my hard drives.

 

[Layback Bear]

I recommend testing your hard drive. You should be able to find something for your hard drive here.

7 Free Hard Drive Testing Software Tools

 

[lehnerus2000]

Try (temporarily) disabling your NIC.
Maybe there is a problem with your NIC driver or settings.

You could also try (temporarily) disabling the advanced sharing options.

Network and Sharing Center > Advanced sharing settings
​

 

[Ztruker]

Layback Bear, that's a great link to the 7 HD tools, thanks.

 

[Persons Can Wai]

Sorry I haven't been able to get back to you guys. I just have had a lot of in real life things I NEEDED to do before this. So I've been working on that.

The issue is happening now as we speak. Disabled network adapter, still happens. A couple days ago I also I updated the driver too (Windows is horrible at automatically finding updates). It went from an old 2012 version to a more recent 2013 one.

I'll run the hard drive tools later.

Do you think this could be a side effect of overheating or running one's computer too long, like without breaks?

 

[lehnerus2000]

Do you think this could be a side effect of overheating or running one's computer too long, like without breaks?

It's possible that some component is responding to "heat soak".

In my experience, it is (usually) a dodgy solder joint that is responsible for heat-related problems.

 

[Layback Bear]

Layback Bear, that's a great link to the 7 HD tools, thanks.

Your very welcome.

 

[Layback Bear]

Surprisingly it's pretty good at the moment: like 94gb left. A week or such ago it was like 5-18gb.

Could this be related to temperature? I have my computer on almost 24/7. I can't put it to sleep either, it basically corrupts my hard drives.

Did you every run a hard drive test. Unless you have been removing things from the hard drive going form 5-18 to 94 gb is unusual.