Help..."Explorer has caused an error in..." at every startup!

jipsi · #1 05-31-2004, 01:19 PM

Hope someone can help me... it feels as if a virus is at work here, although scans have shown nothing out of the ordinary...
Out of the blue this morning, while doing a genealogy search at a site I visit almost every day, an error message popped up:
"Explorer has caused an error in ~7082808388.TMP. Explorer will now close. If you continue to experience problems, try restarting your computer."
If I click the window "X" or "Close" button, my computer just shuts down. When I restart it, a few moments after my desktop is loaded, the error message returns. I have found the referred-to file in my WINDOWS/TEMP directory, but cannot delete it because I get an error message saying it is being 'used'.
Also, when scanning for errors on my hard-drive (using Scan Disk from my Norton Tools), I get a message saying it has tried 10 times to start the scan, but cannot because I haven't quit all 'running programs', that a file is continuing to write to my disk...
HELP?

Important note: I can still navigate around on my computer, although the error message window is still in front. So it seems to be a 'fake' error message? How do I get it to stop, or better, how do I remove whatever file (the referred TMP file?) without getting an error message?
I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to troubleshooting of this kind...

LooseChippings · #2 05-31-2004, 02:28 PM

Have you tried to delete the file from Safe Mode?

F8 at boot then choose the Safe Mode option.

jipsi · #3 06-01-2004, 11:23 PM

Thanks for your help...
I did more sleuthing, and found another post on another message forum that had the EXACT same problem (same file name, everything).
I followed their advice and downloaded two recommended app's, one called SpyBot, one AdAware 6. (found both - FREE - via Google)
As I was able to navigate DESPITE the error dialogue box, I installed both, then restarted and ran SpyBot...
Downloaded the newest updates (again, per advice), then ran its "Search and Destroy" mode...WHAM! It found 172 'planted' files, all 'adware', and removed them.
I then ran AdAware, and it found several more.
One more restart, and I had no more error message!
I gave the proverbial dead bug another big swat by going into the WINDOWS/TEMP folder and deleting it -- finally!

Still wish I knew how it 'got in' in the first place...
Thanks again for being here...definitely will be visiting more regularly!

Hope my recap of my solution helps someone else...

jipsi

PS: "safe mode' did allow me to manually delete the bad file.... BUT, it CAME BACK, every time, after three tries...

jipsi · #4 06-24-2004, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jipsi
...
Out of the blue this morning, while doing a genealogy search at a site I visit almost every day, an error message popped up:
"Explorer has caused an error in ~7082808388.TMP. Explorer will now close. If you continue to experience problems, try restarting your computer."
If I click the window "X" or "Close" button, my computer just shuts down. When I restart it, a few moments after my desktop is loaded, the error message returns. I have found the referred-to file in my WINDOWS/TEMP directory, but cannot delete it because I get an error message saying it is being 'used'...

Now...I have the SAME PROBLEM, different NAME!
This new culprit is called "Mprexe has caused an error in KERNEL32.DLL. Mprexe will now close..."
What the !!#%?!

I've run both AdAware and Spybot (updated both), and still have the problem...:-(
Anyone else running into these 'error message' problems/bugs besides me? I want a better solution than spending all day running Ad Aware and Spybot (in this case, neither worked)...

I let my 12 year old and a couple of his friends on my computer the other morning, and now my computer is sick (again)... and so am I (as well as sorry)...
...help?

jipsi

joe10s · #5 02-02-2005, 01:18 PM

I am experiencing the same problem. Any luck?

Joe10s

Quote:

Originally Posted by jipsi

Now...I have the SAME PROBLEM, different NAME!
This new culprit is called "Mprexe has caused an error in KERNEL32.DLL. Mprexe will now close..."
What the !!#%?!

I've run both AdAware and Spybot (updated both), and still have the problem...:-(
Anyone else running into these 'error message' problems/bugs besides me? I want a better solution than spending all day running Ad Aware and Spybot (in this case, neither worked)...

I let my 12 year old and a couple of his friends on my computer the other morning, and now my computer is sick (again)... and so am I (as well as sorry)...
...help?

jipsi

Bawjawz · #6 04-06-2005, 10:59 PM

Just to let you know I've just solved the problem you had or have with the message "The instruction at xxx referenced memory at xxx ... The memory could not be read". Every logon and sometimes every run of desktop items!!
Dodgey cracked installation of an Antispyware program to blame I'm afraid. Uninstalled and resolved it (eventually) after disabling just about everything at startup. The GIANT program worked fine for a few days so did'nt expect it to be the cause. Using a small program called Process Explorer from www.sysinternals.com, I found that explorer.exe was referencing a file used by GIANT which was supposed to be in my c:\documents and settings\username\local settings\temp folder. It wasn't there, and I must say that the GIANT program was always just about to load before the explorer.exe error occured. I had this happen in the past and did a system restore to resolve it but didn't work this time. Again down to a dodgey install of an individual program. Good luck in tracking it down. PS Don't mess with the registry, just try uninstalling things and rebooting. XP prefers it that way, then clean your registry of junk with some reputable program. Hope this helps.

animefreak · #7 04-08-2005, 02:18 AM

im just saying from exprrience. but i had that problem- what i did was i downloaded mozilla firefox from http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
i was told from one of my friends (who is a like computer geek) that internet explorer is like asking for problems for your system, but mozilla firefox can help with that problem i hope this helps. if u get the chance go and delete ALL cookies. some problems are caused by those things.

one more thing most of those "anti virus" programs dont do anything. something that im sure that works is AVG anti virus. i dont know if they charge for there program, but it is good. if so then if u go to windows.com there is a program called 'beta' that i have that has saved my computer from a system meltdown. If u have a service SBC they offer their antivirus program that can show u more than any other anti virus thing. but dont delete anything unless u know what your doing.