Re: Vista - boot failure question

New PC, hardware failure, they excepted it as faulty in exchanging it.
If it occurs after the PC has been used for some lengthy period, then other
than faulty hardware, invariably a driver issue

"Richard Fangnail" <> wrote in message
news:443fced4-78fe-4517-9f70-...
>I recently bought a new Vista computer and after a few hours, it
> wouldn't boot all the way.
> It drew the desktop background but did nothing else. It was showing
> the mouse pointer, and Task Manager said only about 5 processes were
> running, including the desktop manager.
>
> It was not the first time I had booted it up.
>
> I wound up totally exchanging the whole computer.
>
>
> What would cause this to happen and what could you do to try to fix it
> - safe mode?

Richard Fangnail <> wrote:

>Could it have been caused by explorer.exe being missing or damaged?

Why do you ask that? Is there something you didn't tell us?

Richard Fangnail <> wrote:

>On Jul 20, 11:01*am, Bill Daggett <Dagg...@wmunny.invalid> wrote:
>> Richard Fangnail <richardfangn...@excite.com> wrote:
>> >Could it have been caused by explorer.exe being missing or damaged?
>>
>> Why do you ask that? *Is there something you didn't tell us?
>
>Yes, I had previously created a desktop shortcut for Windows Explorer
>but it had ".exe" in the name so I renamed it. It warned me about
>something, which surprised me because I thought I was just renaming a
>desktop shortcut.

Next time pay closer attention to the message.

>When the boot fail happened, I'm not sure if it was the very next boot
>up , or a few boots later.

I suspect it was the next one.

Richard Fangnail <> wrote:

>
>
>Suppose you lost your explorer.exe file, and wanted to fix it so that
>you could copy it back from a CD.
>
>The problem is, how do you access the disk drive if you don't have the
>Start button?

http://www.bloodyhell.com/node/20

"Bill Daggett" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Richard Fangnail <> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>Suppose you lost your explorer.exe file, and wanted to fix it so that
>>you could copy it back from a CD.
>>
>>The problem is, how do you access the disk drive if you don't have the
>>Start button?
>
> http://www.bloodyhell.com/node/20

ROTFLMAO!

"Richard Fangnail" <> wrote in message
news:6a67efc0-26f2-4b90-ba74-...
>
>
> Suppose you lost your explorer.exe file, and wanted to fix it so that
> you could copy it back from a CD.
>
> The problem is, how do you access the disk drive if you don't have the
> Start button?

I don't think it's quite as simple as "copying it back from a CD"!
What sort of Vista disk do you have? A proper Vista DVD or a Recovery DVD
supplied by the machine's Vendor?

Gordon wrote:
>
> "Richard Fangnail" <> wrote in message
> news:6a67efc0-26f2-4b90-ba74-...
>>
>>
>> Suppose you lost your explorer.exe file, and wanted to fix it so that
>> you could copy it back from a CD.
>>
>> The problem is, how do you access the disk drive if you don't have the
>> Start button?
>
> I don't think it's quite as simple as "copying it back from a CD"!
> What sort of Vista disk do you have? A proper Vista DVD or a Recovery
> DVD supplied by the machine's Vendor?

He has a DVD generated by the tooth fairy. But it works at my house!!!!
LOL!

On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:16:42 -0700 (PDT), Richard Fangnail wrote:

> On Jul 20, 11:01*am, Bill Daggett <Dagg...@wmunny.invalid> wrote:
>> Richard Fangnail <richardfangn...@excite.com> wrote:
>>>Could it have been caused by explorer.exe being missing or damaged?
>>
>> Why do you ask that? *Is there something you didn't tell us?
>
> Yes, I had previously created a desktop shortcut for Windows Explorer
> but it had ".exe" in the name so I renamed it. It warned me about
> something, which surprised me because I thought I was just renaming a
> desktop shortcut.
>
> When the boot fail happened, I'm not sure if it was the very next boot
> up , or a few boots later.

It looks like you did *not* create a desktop shortcut to explorer.exe, it
looks like you moved or copied the file itself to the desktop. So when you
renamed it you confused Windows, because without the ".exe" on the end
(i.e., the "file name extension"), Windows has no idea what to do with the
file. Also, if you moved (not copied) it to the desktop, Windows wouldn't
be able to find it even with the right extension, except when you clicked
on the shortcut.

That could have been fixed, but I don't see how it could have done the
other things you cited. Expert comments on this remark are welcome :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:01:36 +0100, Gordon wrote:

> "Bill Daggett" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Richard Fangnail <> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Suppose you lost your explorer.exe file, and wanted to fix it so that
>>>you could copy it back from a CD.
>>>
>>>The problem is, how do you access the disk drive if you don't have the
>>>Start button?
>>
>> http://www.bloodyhell.com/node/20
>
> ROTFLMAO!

Man, I have needed that on so many occasions :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom

On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:13:10 -0700, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

> On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:16:42 -0700 (PDT), Richard Fangnail wrote:
>
>> On Jul 20, 11:01*am, Bill Daggett <Dagg...@wmunny.invalid> wrote:
>>> Richard Fangnail <richardfangn...@excite.com> wrote:
>>>>Could it have been caused by explorer.exe being missing or damaged?
>>>
>>> Why do you ask that? *Is there something you didn't tell us?
>>
>> Yes, I had previously created a desktop shortcut for Windows Explorer
>> but it had ".exe" in the name so I renamed it. It warned me about
>> something, which surprised me because I thought I was just renaming a
>> desktop shortcut.
>>
>> When the boot fail happened, I'm not sure if it was the very next boot
>> up , or a few boots later.
>
> It looks like you did *not* create a desktop shortcut to explorer.exe, it
> looks like you moved or copied the file itself to the desktop. So when you
> renamed it you confused Windows, because without the ".exe" on the end
> (i.e., the "file name extension"), Windows has no idea what to do with the
> file. Also, if you moved (not copied) it to the desktop, Windows wouldn't
> be able to find it even with the right extension, except when you clicked
> on the shortcut.
>
> That could have been fixed, but I don't see how it could have done the
> other things you cited. Expert comments on this remark are welcome :-)

I forgot to say, I totally agree with the respondents (Manny Weisbord & DL)
who said that returning it for a new computer was the right action.
Computers are supposed to last for at least a week :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom