Replies

I would not suggest killing ‘explorer.exe’. ‘explorer.exe’ is your desktop shell. Basically, you are killing an essential part of Windows if you kill ‘explorer.exe’.

Thanks for your reply…..

This possible solution was suggested on a Microsoft Help forum, but as I said in my original posting’ it did not cure the problem…..

Have you right clicked the desktop, selected “View” and made sure “Show desktop icons” is checked?

Also, try a “Refresh” after right clicking the desktop.

Sometimes the simple things get overlooked.

Thanks for your reply…. Yes, tried that as well but did not fix the problem…….

Since the Desktop is dynamic, always refreshing/redrawing I would be looking at the video drivers, make sure they are up-do-date.

Thanks for your reply

I checked my video drivers and they are up to date. In addition to checking the video Driver in Device Manager, I use a program called Driver Booster.

Have you tried right clicking on the desktop, select Personalize/Change desktop icons – hit the Restore Defaults button and perhaps uncheck the box for Allow themes to change the desktop icons.

Thakns for your reply…..

Prior to restoring with a system image if you have created files since, is to back those up separately onto something like a Flash drive and then copy them back in after the restore.

Yes, I’ve tried ‘right clicking the desktop…..’ etc. in the past but it didn’t help. The box you mention has always been unticked

Hi Sudo15,
Thanks for your observation. I’ve restored my laptop to the Feb 26th Image and everything is working fine – as expected…..

The only software which was installed since my last Image creation, was on CDs / DVDs from reliable sources, however, I did connect a USB memory stick – which belonged to a friend – to transfer a couple of utilities from my E: Drive to his stick, for him to use, so I wonder if something ‘nasty’ could have been transferred that way ??? I’m unable to contact my friend at present, to see if he’s had any problems, but I will do ASAP.

Luckily, I keep all my documents, photos, music and emails on my E: Drive Partition, so I lost none of my important stuff as a result of the problem.

I’ve now re-installed the ‘lost’ software on my C: Drive and created a fresh Image together with a copy of my E: Drive content, on an external 500GB USB drive. No problems after installation, so I can’t blame the lately installed software for causing the problem….

Thanks again for your time and advice….

Kind Regards.

Oh Dear !!! Looks like I spoke too soon 🙁 🙁

I just restarted my laptop and the problem has returned….

I’ve now had enough and I’m going to restore my C: drive to the Image which was created on Feb. 26th.

Thanks again to all who spent time trying to help me… Much appreciated 🙂

Hi again jwoods

That did it !!!! everything is back to normal now.

Thank You so much 🙂 🙂 I was just about to give up on it and restore my C: drive Image from my external drive…..

I’m just going to make a fresh Image now on my USB Drive.

Thanks again and Kind Regards

Thanks again for your responses….

jwoods : Yes, I tried a System Restore – as mentioned in my original posting, but it did not help. I chose a point several days before the problem occurred and had to use rstrui.exe in the command prompt, since the option was missing in the System folder (Right click on Computer > Properties)

Sudo15 : I looked in the location you suggested and the first entry for the date/time in question is :
Quote: “The driver detected a controller error on DeviceHarddisk1DR1.” and clicking on Event Log On-Line Help produced the following Quote “No results were found for your query. Please see Search Help for suggestions.”
I tried the TechNet search but got no further….

Looks like it’s a lost cause now and I need to restore my c: drive to my saved Image back-up…… 🙁

Thanks again for all your help…..

Kind Regards…

I’ll be away from my Laptop for a couple of hours or so, so if anyone responds to my posting, please don’t assume I’m ignoring you 🙂

I should be back around 10:15 GMT at which time I will respond…..

Hi Tandor,
Thanks for your further comments..

I’ve carried out several cold boots since the problem occurred…

I have not yet installed the updates issued last week (10th March 2015)
I have not installed any new applications but have carried out scans with AVG antivirus and Malwarebytes. Neither found anything significant, apart from a few ‘PUPs’ which were dealt with by Malwarebytes….

Thanks again for your replies – much appreciated…..

Tandor : The problem just occurred when I turned on my Laptop yesterday morning (Cold boot from total shut-down)… I had not been doing anything ‘out of the ordinary’, before closing down the previous evening, when everything was working OK…..

Sudo15 : I had a look through Event Viewer but I didn’t really know what I was looking for…. Could you indicate where and what I should be looking for ??

Sincere thanks to all who responded to my posting… Your time and effort is truly appreciated 🙂

However – I’m no further forward – despite all efforts, the problem still exists !!

Microsoft Fixit reported : “We did not detect any problems and therefore no fixes were applied.”

“Automatically Rebuild Icon Cache” Option one reported : Icon DB has already been deleted. Press any key to continue…. then nothing.
Option 2 : carried out the procedure exactly as instructed – still no change….
Tried Merging the registry file as instructed at the end of the procedure – still no change …

Sudo15 : tried both your suggestions already but neither fixed the problem……
sfc /scannow reported no problems !!!

Unless anyone has any further suggestions to fix this problem, it looks like I’ll have to Re-Image my C: Drive….

Did a sfc /scannow… No errors or violations reported….

Thanks again for all comments 🙂

I tried the procedure suggested by Sudo15 – Downloaded the ISO file and burned a DVD using the ‘ MS Download Tool’, on my existing Win 7 Pro Laptop. Everything went fine and the DVD burned successfully. I then tried booting with the new DVD and it worked perfectly. Choosing the ‘Repair’ option rather than the ‘Install Win7’ option, I eventually got to the familiar screen, where the option to recover from a previously saved Image on an External drive, was available….. Which is exactly where I wanted to be in the first place…..

So, the conclusions I have reached :
1. The CD/DVD drive on my Laptop is in good working condition.
2. There seems to be a problem with the creation of a rescue ‘Bootable’ CD, using Win 7 Pro 64 Bit own built in facility…..

However, now that I have the means to access the option to reload an Image, it gets over my immediate problem.

I wonder if it would be worth contacting Microsoft about the problem ???

Thanks for all your comments…..

Thanks Coochin and Sudo15 – Your comments and suggestions are truly appreciated…..

The Hiren’s CD was created on my previous laptop which used Win 7 Home Premium SP1 32 bit.

Like you – Coochin – I’ve used the Win 7 Boot CD and an external USB Hard Disc to recover a System Image, many times before on my previous 32 bit laptop and other Win 7 32 bit PCs, and never experienced any problems.

Just out of interest, I tried booting my 64 bit laptop, from my previously created Win7 32 bit CD and everything appeared to proceed as normal! But of course, I was eventually informed that there was a 32 bit/64 bit conflict and I was unable to proceed any further….
So, it would seem that the problem lies in the ‘format’ and creation of the 64 bit CD…..

I’ll try out your suggestions in a couple of days (I’ll be away from home) and report back later.

Kind Regards