[Solved] Windows Explorer error

Greetings!

I have taken the time to search the forum for solutions to my problem and have followed some of the suggestions I found. However, the problem persists. To wit:

Open Windows Explorer, left click any directory to expand, right click same to view and -

EXPLORER caused an invalid page fault in
module KERNEL32.DLL at 017f:bff7b9f5.
Registers:
EAX=7fc39e61 CS=017f EIP=bff7b9f5 EFLGS=00010202
EBX=01f3ff88 SS=0187 ESP=01f00000 EBP=01f00024
ECX=01f01df8 DS=0187 ESI=00000001 FS=33ff
EDX=00000001 ES=0187 EDI=81970d30 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
56 57 89 65 e8 75 04 33 c0 eb 54 85 c0 74 4b c7
Stack dump:
01f3ff88 7fc39e61 00000001 01f3ff88 7fc39e61 01f01df8 bffc05b4 bff79250 ffffffff 01f01e08 bff7ce23 7fc39e61 00000001 7fc33046 7fc39e61 01f01e30

I have also received a very similar shell32.dll error.

What I have done about it so far:

Ran Dr.watson - claims no problems found
Ran system file checker - nothing abnormal
Safe mode - same result (explorer crash)
Did a reinstall from Windows - same result
Deleted win.com and reinstalled - same result
Downloaded latest IE and installed - same result

Oh, yeah - this is an overclocked AMD350 with 256RAM; System Commander triple boot (W98SE, MS-DOS6.22, LM7.2). No new software or hardware installed lately, no "funny" utilities, and otherwise running like a champ.

I await, O Wise Ones, your guidance.

 

Here's an article with a long list of possible causes.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/topics/errormsg/kbkern.asp

Have a special look at this group:
Hardware, hot CPU, over clocking, broken power supply, RF noise, ground bounce, or bad hard disk controller

 

the wise ones are sleeping LOL

google search seems to point to aol, specifically the waol.exe, but aren't specifically related to explorer
waol
-ever been to aol?

perhaps just one of life's little mysteries?

sorry, probably not much help here from me

 

Since this error occurs in safe mode and you have ensured a consistent set of Windows files by running SFC and installing a new IE, I would look to an invalid registry entry as the culprit.

Since you mentioned you also have gotten a shell32 error, this article might point you to the right keys. You need to delete all the entries in them except the "default".

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q259096

The error is associated with the opening of folders and not just "new" ones.

 

Deleting the registry keys did the trick (thanx Rollin' Rog). Explorer is back to the old "view as web page" crap and opens directories as it should. Just have to fine tune it again for my preferences. Any ideas as to why this occurred?

 

Hey that's great. Sometimes my hip shots hit the mark

No I can't really say what causes it other than to speculate that you just had too much happening when Windows created the entry and it couldn't get it right.

 

Well, mark this one RESOLVED and we'll all try to remember it for next time! Thanx again.