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Geek Culture / computers are weird

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PAGAN_old
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Joined: 28th Jan 2006
Location: Capital of the Evil Empire
Posted: 18th May 2007 06:20
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anyone have an idea of what my problem is?

I just replaced my old 350W PSU with a new 500W.

When I started it up, for some reason, It loads windows but doesn't load the explorer, so i am stuck with a wallpaper with no icons or start menu.

I tried starting the explorer through the task manager, but the explorer just flickers on and off again every time i manually start it. I know that there is no way this can be cause by the power supply. To assure myself i hooked up the old 350 PSU again and same thing happened, explorer doesn't work. I tried restarting it many times, changing bios fail safe and normal defaults, tried running the disk check.

i even replaced the bios battery, (i don't even know how could bios be a problem, but still)

the explorer still doesn't work.

anyone had experience with this kind of thing?

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Aaron Miller
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Joined: 25th Feb 2006
Playing: osu!
Posted: 18th May 2007 11:12 Edited at: 18th May 2007 11:13
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My guess would be that this resulted in the same problem as some people get when overclocking. But dont take my word for it, I dont know to much about it, just want to try and help out. (I now have to type this so people dont insult me for trying to be nice....)

Edit
Perhaps your computer cant handle that much wattage?

Cheers,

-db

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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 18th May 2007 13:38
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the wattage is basically the range of op power a psu can output.

for example, if i had my 350 w psu, and 10 harddrives and several other peripherals the 350w wouldn't be enough to power all of my hardware. The computer will be unstable and slow because the components won't be getting the power they need. 500w should be plenty for my 10 harddrives. the bigger the wattage,the better. it shouldn't fry your computer, let alone do something to the explorer.

i tried putting in my old psu and it didn't make a difference, so i am guessing its something else.

a virus possily

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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Zappo
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Posted: 18th May 2007 14:41
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It certainly sounds like a software problem to me (perhaps a virus or bad Windows update), but its worth checking you didn't disturb your DIMMs or CPU fan while changing the PSU. Its a very odd problem if it just kills explorer.
Failing that you could try repairing your OS installation by booting to the CD. It shouldn't interfere with your applications or data. If you have another hard disk and plenty of time you could install it as master, install a fresh OS and stick your existing drive in as a slave to backup your data first.
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wizard of id
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Posted: 18th May 2007 14:47
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A Virus or corrupt system files explorer.exe would be the best guess here. Your best option here is to boot in safe mode if loads some virus's don't load in safe mode however if it doesn't load your still some what screwed because you still don't know if it's driver related or virus related....

But that is not point, what we are hoping for is that windows does infact boot into safe mode if it does try system restore I can't say that it will fix your problem 100%.Driver conflicts could cause windows not to load fully.

The second option is to copy explorer.exe to the system folder.I can say that this will work either 100%.But give it a try.This does require the windows XP CD to boot in command prompt.


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Nicholas Thompson
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Posted: 18th May 2007 14:48
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Can you boot into Safe Mode?

If you need to back anything up before reinstalling, grab a Linux LiveCD (Knoppix, Suse, etc - maybe even Ubuntu)

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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 18th May 2007 14:58
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so far i tried safe mode in a fail safe bios mode and it didn't work, ill try it again later today, ive got school now

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Phaelax
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Posted: 18th May 2007 15:41
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I've seen that "no icon desktop" problem quite a bit. Usually, if you just wait it'll eventually pop up. Sometimes it might take 20 min. Once its up, a proper shutdown and restart will sometimes fix it. I think its more a Windows bug than a virus.


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hessiess
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Posted: 18th May 2007 20:22
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why exactly do you need 10 hd's? why not just get afew bigger ones?

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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 19th May 2007 04:03
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well, the explorer doesn't in safe mode as well.

i highly doubt that if i leave it on for 20 mins it will turn on again.

in fact, yesterday i left it on for n hour and nothing happened.

and the 10 hd's.

my case has enough room. it has 10 mounts in it. it was obviously designed to hold a lot of hard drives. and i happen to have a bunch of working harddrives that i do not use. so i built a computer and shoved every ata harddrive in there. works out well, totals, 350 gigs good for storing stuff and things.

i also have a 500 gig sata which i am not using now because, i want to save it for my next pc i will build.

yeah, my friends gave me a nickname "terabyte"

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 19th May 2007 04:14
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Quote: "A Virus or corrupt system files explorer.exe would be the best guess here. Your best option here is to boot in safe mode if loads some virus's don't load in safe mode however if it doesn't load your still some what screwed because you still don't know if it's driver related or virus related....

But that is not point, what we are hoping for is that windows does infact boot into safe mode if it does try system restore I can't say that it will fix your problem 100%.Driver conflicts could cause windows not to load fully.

The second option is to copy explorer.exe to the system folder.I can say that this will work either 100%.But give it a try.This does require the windows XP CD to boot in command prompt."


well, i copied a working explorer.exe from my laptop just to find out that its not a corrupt explorer.exe

ill try doing full system check/repair,if that doesn't work system restore will have its chance to prove useful

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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Dazzag
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Posted: 19th May 2007 15:39
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Quote: "yeah, my friends gave me a nickname "terabyte"
"
Not yet mate. Technically you only have 350Gb on hand, and only 850gb (minus the amount you lose with a format) if you plugged in the SATA.... They obviously can't count

Cheers

I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing
Current fave quote : "She was like a candle in the wind.... unreliable...."
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PAGAN_old
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Posted: 20th May 2007 04:06
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Technically, yes

its just a nickname the guy who gave me the nickname, had a crappy p3 with only 10 gb to share between him and his brother.

anyway, the problem is fixed. Someone here suggested system restore,

THANK YEE BROTHER!

dont hate people who rip you off,cheat and get away with it, learn from them
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