Windows Explorer / Winlogon.exe crash

[Beefy]

Hey all,

Over the last couple of days, my PC at work had starting having 'crashing fits'. At random times each day, Windows Explorer will error and crash every 15 seconds or so (everything else still seems to run fine). It says it's the comctl32.dll that's causing the problem, and in Event Viewer it's showing a problem with Winlogon.exe . Probably a big stab in the dark, but has anyone seen anything like this before? I think on average I close the error message 50+ times a day.

I hunted around TechNet / MSKB but couldn't find anything related to this or the error offset (Offset: 00055769). I recently formatted / patched everything last week, but the problem only turned up earlier this week, so it could possibly have something to do with a piece of software I installed (which there was a lot of). I don't really want to format again, but the option is there...

Any thoughts before I waste another half a day reformatting?

[Yawgm0th]

Well, I'm still doing some searches but one thing you can try is replacing the file. To help you do that, I found these:

http://www.lizardtech.com/support/kbarticles/pub17202.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q180/0/71.ASP&NoWebContent=1

Seems to have something to do with Visual Basic so if it's corrupted somehow that would be a good explanation for why Explorer keeps crashing. I'll keep searching and get back to you but there's something you can try for now.

[Yawgm0th]

Now this seems promising. Read through it:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q137/2/73.asp&NoWebContent=1

EDIT: skimming through a few MS articles it seems that some programs replace this and other Windows files with their own for whatever reason. Replacing the file (which should be easy, I found dozens of sites with it for download, seems a lot of problems are centered around this file) is what you should do. If one of your programs stops working correctly and Explorer does work, you've found your culprit.

[Mr. C]

What version is that DLL Beefy?

Assuming you have SP1 (and I'm pretty sure you do) your version should be;
03-Jun-2002 22:32 6.0.2600.46 921,600 Comctl32.dll

see if you can track that rascal down somewhere if yours was overwritten.

Would it help to apply SP1 again??

[Yawgm0th]

If replacing the file (which shouldn't need you to re-apply SP1) doesn't work, an exact error message would be helpful; it seems a lot of different error messages can happen with this particular file.

[Yawgm0th]

http://smpcs.server101.com/smt/401com.html

That'll update it for you.

[Beefy]

That's strange.. mine's 5.82.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)... so it's an older version. Hmmm, time to update that and see what that does. Thanks guys. I'll see how I go.

[Beefy]

http://smpcs.server101.com/smt/401com.html

That'll update it for you.

"This system does not need this update" Thanks anyways.

EDIT: Your earlier links are either for old versions of Windows or related to specific software...

[Beefy]

What version is that DLL Beefy?

Assuming you have SP1 (and I'm pretty sure you do) your version should be;
03-Jun-2002 22:32 6.0.2600.46 921,600 Comctl32.dll

see if you can track that rascal down somewhere if yours was overwritten.

Would it help to apply SP1 again??

Actually, I just discovered there are 2 different versions in different locations.. 6.0.2800.1106 is in C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.10.0_x-ww_f7fb5805 , whereas the older 5.82 is in system32 and the servicepackfiles folder.

EDIT: the 5.82 is a newer file, but only 544k, whereas the 6.00.2600.1106 is older, but 900k...

[Mr. C]

I think that is the version that originally shipped with XP:?:
It was updated when SP1 was installed.


NEGATIVE - it appears XP shipped with both a version 5 & 6?

should I admit confusion at this point in time?

[Beefy]

NEGATIVE - it appears XP shipped with both a version 5 & 6?

should I admit confusion at this point in time?

Welcome to my world. :) I've been mulling over this for a couple days. I'll try manually update the system32 dll to the latest version in another folder. Probably end up crashing, but there's only one way to find out...

[Yawgm0th]

That's right. I have the same thing. What's the creation date on the one in system32? It's possible that whatever program replaced it used a very similar file (mine's same size as yours), but that would give it a newer creation (or modification) date. Mine was created August 2001 and modified August 2002.
Anyway if you don't get anywhere with what we've found so far, you could look through these Google searches as many of the findings talk about specific programs that cause errors with this.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=update+comctl32.dll

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=comctl32.dll+error&btnG=Google+Search

[Mr. C]

that poor dll is used for a wide variety of apps.

It may just be overworked

Good Luck!

[Yawgm0th]

I wouldn't do that.... My versions are different in different folders and they are probably supposed to be. Maybe try downloading an updated version, but those different versions are probably in different folders for a reason.

[Beefy]

I grabbed a copy of the dll from another PC and chucked it on here (they are all from the same GHOST image, so it shouldn't be any different). I'll give it a day or two, and if it starts up again I'll just kill it.

Thanks for the effort guys.