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Random 'Windows Explorer has stopped responding' when accessing Control Panel

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frozenreads

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Jun 19, 2009
Ok, I have an issue that I have been trying to resolve since owning an X79 Sabertooth that after much much hair tearing, expense and work, still remains an utter mystery, if someone can help diagnose this or shed some light I will be in their debt forever! Ok here goes.....

My System: X79 Sabertooth, i7 3820, 16GB Samsung LP Memory, 1 x Corsair 240GB Force GT, 2 x 1TB WD Velociraptor's, ASUS GTX 780 OC II, 1250w Enermax EvoGalaxy Power Supply, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

My Issue: Randomly, probably 1 in every 50 times (roughly), whenever I bring up Control Panel and click on ANY option I get a 'Windows Explorer has stopped responding', followed by Windows Explorer is restarting message. I have to reboot to bring back all my notification area icons.

The LONG list of things I have done to fix this: (and failed)

1. Run stock settings NOT OC
2. Increased voltages in various areas PCH etc etc
3. Reinstalled Windows 7 (multiple times)
4. Tried different memory timings, speeds (lower)
5. Tried different memory brand (Mushkin), no. of sticks (3 as opposed to 4)
6. Updated BIOS, rolled back BIOS
7. Tried replacing SSD with regular drive. Removed extra drives.
8. Replaced X79 Sabertooth board with a NEW X79 Sabertooth board
9. Replaced Power Supply
10. Stress tested the crap out of it with Prime95, no problems!
11. 1 million other tweaks and things I have probably forgotten. After all this I can only come up with three other things:

1. I have yet to try memory on the approved vendor list.
2. I have yet to try replacing the CPU.
3. Just some bizarre quirk with the X79 Sabartooth.

I kind of doubt it's 1. I have NEVER had an issue running sticks on an ASUS board, thats not on the Vendor approved list and I have been using ASUS boards for years. 2. Other than the Control panel issue, everything works perfect, I kind of doubt its CPU related and really dont want to find out the expensive way that its not the CPU (having already practically rebuilt a new system). and 3. I have heard absolutely no other complaints about it being an issue for anyone else, so I kind of doubt its a Sabertooth related thing.

Help, it's kind of driving me insane, its so bizarre that it only happens when accessing an option on Control Panel and only happens perhaps 1 in every 50 times.

A huge HUGE gold star to anyone who can shed any light on this!!

Regards!
 
1.2KW PSU for a system that takes no more than 275W.. nice!

Being serious, I am going to guess it is a ram issue. Not because it isn't on "the list", though. Try giving the Vtt and ram .05 more volts and see if that helps.
 
I'm with E_D, typically when I get that error it's from Ram OC or Cache. Just on the verge but not quite there.
 
Im kind of siding with you guys on the ram thing, but I have pretty much exhausted all options with voltages and primary timings, I really dont have any experience beyond the primary memory timings, can anyone give any other ideas to try in relation to getting the memory stable? Interestingly, Prime95 brings up no issues and hours of Farcry 3 bring up no issues but a simple click of Control Panel......madness!
 
Have you tried running a different OS or a different drive?
 
I'm with the ram issue, on one of my systems it would cras to blue screen only when closing internet explorer and only once in a while, tried everything,

put one stck of ram in and ran it a while in each slot and then did the same with the other stick, after about two weeks I found the bad stick this way.

hope this helps, good luck.
 
Yes I have tried different drives, but I have not tried a different OS, I really dont want to make the move to Windows 8 :)
 
This happens even before installing any 3rd party apps after a clean install? And I assume the OS is being installed from an official Win7 DVD?
 
Hi Sorry, yeah tried millions of clean installs, I have adjusted some secondary timings today and pushed VCCSA up to 1.12v (past recommended 1.1v) and so far it seems to have stopped, although time will tell.
 
lol, nope issue still remains, I have played with pretty much every voltage/setting for ram, I have tried running various sticks at stock settings, pretty much everything. I guess the only thing left is to assume its something quirky about this combo of board/my devices/Windows 7, perhaps if I turn to the dark side of Windows 8???
 
Try running the latest version of memtest 86. If you get errors, then you need to run it on one stick, and then the other to find which one is at fault.
 
Carried out memtest on one stick and then the other, all check out fine, prime95 shows everything fine, have tried different memory and another X79 Sabertooth, still the same issue
 
Not sure if this might provide a clue but the problem is exacerbated when I switch on my external hard drive and try to access Control Panel at the same time, is the issue related to waiting for a drive to spin up rather than a ram stick issue? I know it's not directly related to the external as the issue occurs even when its not switched on but it appears to occur more frequently when I switch it on/access Control Panel. Is Windows 7 having issues with waiting for drive access? I have tried increasing PCH voltage in the hopes it might fix it, but to no avail. I have also tried different drives both SSD and regular.
 
Have you ever updated the BIOS and or Chipset drivers?? I had weird issues start before after updating a chipset driver but not the bios and somewhere deep down they just weren't communicating quite right. Also Asus has had quite a few issues with their USB stuff lately. If you have all peripherals unpugged but the essentials like KB and mouse I wonder if you would still have this.
 
Clear your cmos, and redo your bios. Don't use your previous settings, set your ram timings and voltage manually. Then, work on your cpu oc.
 
Johan45 said:
Have you ever updated the BIOS and or Chipset drivers?? I had weird issues start before after updating a chipset driver but not the bios and somewhere deep down they just weren't communicating quite right. Also Asus has had quite a few issues with their USB stuff lately. If you have all peripherals unpugged but the essentials like KB and mouse I wonder if you would still have this.
Click to expand...


Yeah I am starting to think its a weird driver/usb ASUS thingy! I can confirm that the issue does not seem to occur on a clean windows install with nothing installed, so perhaps it is drivers. I will try and continue to hammer out the issue, trouble is, its so infrequent that it makes it that much harder to diagnose. I am not a newcomer to Oc'ing by any means but this has me stumped!
 
Also might want to check your Load Line Calibration setting. I've found that at the higher LLC settings with a near stock vcore and with power savings settings enabled, can cause dangerously low voltages at idle which can result in random crashes at transitions from idle. This has resulted in several cases of low CPU load instability for me on a couple systems I've built near stock voltage.

For fun, if enabled also maybe try disabling any BIOS CPU power saving features temporarily and see if it makes any difference?
 
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