Mouse won't click to open files

[Chronos]

Do a driver search for your brand of mouse If you have the current version, it will have no effect.

 

[meBigGuy]

It is obviously NOT the mouse driver. It has nothing to do with the mouse. The mouse works fine even when the file system is hung.
What makes you think it could be the mouse when explorer hangs, and deleting the explorer app unhangs it? Try coming up with something consistent with all the symptoms before suggesting random stuff.

When he opens files through explorer, the system eventually hangs. There are no high CPU usage processes, and no high memory usage processes when this happens. When the system is hung trying to open a file, the browser still runs fine. He virtual memory settings seem OK. A reboot gets the system back to normal.

He is running an SSD so it could be SSD driver related, but he checked the drivers and they are up to date.
(could be a corrupted SSD driver, but low likelihood)

The system seems to be running OK with respect to cooling, and many diagnostics have been run.

He is running Norton AV, and defender is not enabled. Norton could be corrupted (but low likelihood)

He ran malwarebytes and it found 14 "things", which he removed. It has not exhibited the issue since then (but it was not long ago)

Right now the best hope is that malwarebytes cleaned it up.

 

[meBigGuy]

Ha ha, I am surprised the defender only found 14. I had scanned some old computers with other scans and came up a lot more! It almost seems like some of the malware scanner trying to scare people into buying the program.

That may be true of some programs, but I don't think malwarebytes is in that category. The free version gets the job done, and it generally finds real junk. Do you think the programs it removed for you were good things to have on your computer? BTW, were any of the suspicious programs added around the time the issue began?

Don't do anything until it happens again. As I said:

wait for the issue to happen again. (has it happened since you ran malwarebytes?) At that point I would reboot, shut down Norton and try to make it happen again. Or uninstall Norton. Or reinstall Norton.

 

[Chronos]

Having nothing happen when you click on a folder gives me cause to suspect a driver or hardware problem. Try another mouse and see how it works [or doesnt]. I agree and doubt Norton is relevant to the issue. If its a wireless mouse a new battery might be in order.

 

[meBigGuy]

Yet the browser works fine (the mouse works fine in the browser). What leads you to this weird mouse conclusion? Explain how a mouse driver can cause an explorer window to hang? The mouse works great. The file open hangs. Do you understand that?

 

[yungman]

Yes, I don't think it's the mouse at all. I don't remember the date of the malware, the names did not sound familiar, more like the name of some gaming stuff, BUT I never play games on my computer. Hell, I never play games, it's a total waste of time to me. My video games are doing LTSpice circuit simulation, laying out pcb! I lead a very very boring life and love every bit of it.

So I should hold back in uninstall and reinstall Norton until the next time if fails. That, I have done before and not an issue.

 

[Borg]

I'm only mentioning this because you seem to have exhausted all of the other options. Have you tried looking at which Services are running on your machine and compare them with the other computer that is working OK? I review my running services from time to time and aggressively turn off services. This has led to occasional problems for me where I will get odd behavior while trying to access directory services. For example, whenever I use Firefox to save a file and try to create a new folder using the dialog, Firefox crashes and closes. I am pretty sure this is due to a service that I shut down but I haven't gotten around to figuring it out. I understand that you may not have shut down a service but it could have been done through an update or a program installation. Definitely use great care with modifying your services - you can really make a mess of your machine.

 

[Mark44]

Having nothing happen when you click on a folder gives me cause to suspect a driver or hardware problem. Try another mouse and see how it works [or doesnt]. I agree and doubt Norton is relevant to the issue. If its a wireless mouse a new battery might be in order.

Yet the browser works fine (the mouse works fine in the browser). What leads you to this weird mouse conclusion? Explain how a mouse driver can cause an explorer window to hang? The mouse works great. The file open hangs. Do you understand that?

A suggestion early on in this thread was that the file associations were broken. In Win7 (which is what I'm running), these can be checked by opening Control Panel, and then clicking Default Programs. Click Associate a file type or protocol with a program to see a list of all file types and the action that is associated with each. If there is some file type (such as .exe, .txt, .jpg, etc.) that has no action listed with it, clicking on a file of that type won't cause anything to happen.

 

[yungman]

Yet the browser works fine (the mouse works fine in the browser). What leads you to this weird mouse conclusion? Explain how a mouse driver can cause an explorer window to hang? The mouse works great. The file open hangs. Do you understand that?

Hi MeBigGuy
I was curious about what being quarantined by Malwarebytes, I went in and looked at the history. To my big surprised:

1) Most of them were from Mapsgalaxy.com. the names are Pup.Optional.MindSpark. Location in
mapsgalaxy.com\META-INF\manifest.mf
mapsgalaxy.com\chrome.manifest
mapsgalaxy.com\chrome\39ffxtbr.jar
r@www.mapsgalaxy.com\install_old.rdf
-99DE-4CBB-8211-683810C93B8B.sqlite
r@www.mapsgalaxy.com\install.rdf
rofiles\0z1y7dhd.default\MapsGalaxy_39
tbr@www.mapsgalaxy.com\bootstrap.js

2) One is from PrimoPDF which I use for a while with no problem
downloads\InternationalPrimoPDF.exe

I installed the Mapsgalaxy almost the same time as I started experiencing the problem. Maybe it is this malware that causes the problem. It still has not fail so far. I turned off the fan and let the bottom of the laptop sit back on the counter as originally was all the time.

I am going to wait if it fail again, then I am going to uninstall all the Mapsgalaxy stuff. do you know of a map and direction site that is reliable and clean?

You might hit the problem right on the nail.

Thanks

Thanks

 

[meBigGuy]

I'm only mentioning this because you seem to have exhausted all of the other options. Have you tried looking at which Services are running on your machine and compare them with the other computer that is working OK?

That makes a lot of sense and probably would identify the issue. The problem is interpreting the massive amount of data, and doing it in a way that doesn't jeopardize system stability. I find the sheer quantity of services and what they really do to be mind boggling. It is so easy to think "I don't need this" only to find 3 months later that something can't happen because you disabled it.

While it is not directly service related, my approach to this is to run HijackThis. I essentially set ignore on anything that looks like stock Microsoff, apple, google, etc. and any programs or services that I am positive that are OK (like skype, my AV, etc). Then I try to figure out what the rest of it means and whether something looks suspicious. Then, whenever something suspicious happens, I rerun it and see if there is anything new (it remembers all the ignores). I don't try to get a clean run, just a manageable report. Right now I have about 20 things left in the report after a scan (most of which I could ignore, but just don't) and maybe 50 in my ignore list. If something suspicious happens, it will stand out like a sore thumb.

HijackThis will tell you all the startup programs and services, and you can easily eliminate the ones you don't want. For example, mapsgalaxy probably had a startup setting and left something in memory on a permanent basis.

The problem with HijackThis is that it is very easy to eliminate something you shouldn't, so you need to research every thing you do before using it to "fix" something.

I have one other program that I run called WinPatrol. I actually bought the pro version. The pro version let's you click on a service or a process, or a startup program to access an online database that describes the service and suggests whether it is really needed. I love it. It tells you everything about your software environment. It also flags new startup programs, association changes, some registry changes, and other things that might be indicative of something awry. But, for some it is just too much information.

 

[yungman]

Sadly, still persists.

I checked CPU 4%, Mem 3.9G where Chrome uses 715M and Firefox 320M being highest.

I checked resource Monitor. The heaviest usage of "Disk" is System. CPU is Chrome and Firefox.

I use task manager to close the Window Explorer, it did close this time and everything go back to normal. I don't have to restart the computer.

I checked the usage again when everything is working, it's the same, CPU 4%, memory 3.9G. I don't think this is telling me anything.

I'll uninstall and reinstall Norton later after dinner.

 

[yungman]

I just think of something. I made sure the laptop was working before I went out. I came back an hour and half later and it got stuck this time. This means the laptop stuck by itself idling as no one is touching it.

Should I try closing all the browsers on this and see whether any of the browser has anything to do with it. I can use another laptop for browser...I am going to do it anyway. I am getting desperate.

 

[meBigGuy]

I wish I had more knowledge of SSD based systems and their file system failure symptoms. It is a different animal from a traditional hard disk due to the shuffling (usage leveling?) algorithms (or whatever they call them).

 

[meBigGuy]

I hate it when I can't resolve an issue.

One possibility is that you have installed an Explorer (not IE) addon, or shell extension.

Nirsoft has utilities to help.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/what_is_hang.html

This are both worth playing with. what_is_hang looks particularly interesting.

I just loaded shellexview and ran it. Look at the non microsoft extensions (under options). I disabled SecuROM context and Java Helper just to see what would happen.

ANOTHER APPROACH:
type msconfg in the start menu and look at the startup programs. Disable stuff you think you can do without (and keep notes so you can go back and enable them)

 

[yungman]

I hate it when I can't resolve an issue.

One possibility is that you have installed an Explorer (not IE) addon, or shell extension.

Nirsoft has utilities to help.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/what_is_hang.html

This are both worth playing with. what_is_hang looks particularly interesting.

I just loaded shellexview and ran it. Look at the non microsoft extensions (under options). I disabled SecuROM context and Java Helper just to see what would happen.

ANOTHER APPROACH:
type msconfg in the start menu and look at the startup programs. Disable stuff you think you can do without (and keep notes so you can go back and enable them)

Thanks for sticking with me.
I went into msconfig, I disabled Dolby Profile Selector, Back Monitor Application, Synaptics Pointing Device driver, Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe Gamma Loader, Microsoft Office OneNote.

I restarted and the computer still works.

What is Nirsoft? I read a little about the shell. Am I suppose to download and run it?

I uninstalled Norton 360 as I am not going to go on line with that computer for now.

Thanks

 

[meBigGuy]

Hmmm ---- don't you need Synaptics Pointing Device driver? Does the touchpad still work?

Can you make this happen reliably by opening lots of files, or any particular files? Or is it pretty random?
I've been assuming you are double clicking on files to open them, not right-click->open
If it happens reliably, you can boot to safe mode and see if it happens there. That would tell us it is definitely caused by a driver that is being loaded.

Regarding Nirsoft. They have two utilities that might tell us something useful.
Shellexview let's you look at Explorer shell extensions and, as an experiment, disable ones that you might not need.
When you run this, click OPTIONS->ignore microsoft extentions, and look at what is left

what_is_hang might tell you exactly is hanging. <--- more interesting

When Explorer hangs, hopefully you can run "what_is_hang" and get a report of where it is hanging.

This could be anything, even your video drivers. It's really hard to tell. So what_is_hang might give us a clue.

 

[yungman]

Hmmm ---- don't you need Synaptics Pointing Device driver? Does the touchpad still work?

Can you make this happen reliably by opening lots of files, or any particular files? Or is it pretty random?
I've been assuming you are double clicking on files to open them, not right-click->open
If it happens reliably, you can boot to safe mode and see if it happens there. That would tell us it is definitely caused by a driver that is being loaded.

Regarding Nirsoft. They have two utilities that might tell us something useful.
Shellexview let's you look at Explorer shell extensions and, as an experiment, disable ones that you might not need.
When you run this, click OPTIONS->ignore microsoft extentions, and look at what is left

what_is_hang might tell you exactly is hanging. <--- more interesting

When Explorer hangs, hopefully you can run "what_is_hang" and get a report of where it is hanging.

This could be anything, even your video drivers. It's really hard to tell. So what_is_hang might give us a clue.

The touch pad is still working. Everything is working. It's been almost a day without failure. I just opened quite a few more folders and files. Yes, I double click the left mouse, not by right click and open.

Right now, I uninstalled Norton since yesterday, disable a lot of the programs on startup using msconfig as you suggeted. I only went on web twice. I am using the other laptop to go on internet. I am waiting for it to fail. My plan is to download the Norton and install it either after it fails or wait till tomorrow to see whether things I did makes a difference. If it fail again, I'll get to the Nirsoft. Just one at a time.

Thanks

 

[meBigGuy]

sounds like a rational plan to me.

 

[yungman]

It's still working after 24hrs. I am crossing my fingers. But one thing is I have not been using the computer as much as I can't get on web because I don't have Norton. But I have a lot of folders, files and a few programs opened.

I just reinstalled Norton. We'll see whether it still fail or not.

I also plug in a flash drive and open the drive so if the laptop fail, I can try open one of the file in the flash drive. If I can open the file, then the problem is limited to the SSD drive inside the computer. If it still fail, then the problem is not the SSD drive.

 

[yungman]

It's still working after 20 hours. I have a few folders opened and a few programs opened. I have been using the laptop enough. Now I have reinstalled Norton, I have been on line also.

The laptop restarted this morning by itself, but that's common as there are constant update every few days. One thing strange is I did opened a few folders this morning and they got closed. I am pretty sure I was not dreaming that! But I opened the folders again and everything seems fine. so I am crossing my fingers that the old Norton is corrupted somehow.

I also disable quite a few programs in startup using msconfig, I don't know whether one of them is the problem.

 

[meBigGuy]

You can enable those one by one as time goes by.

 

[yungman]

You can enable those one by one as time goes by.

It's been over 24hrs. Particularly I had the laptop on a stack of test equipment for over 30mins and it got really warm. Still working, so heat is definitely not a problem.

BTW, I have been lifting the laptop and drop it from like 1/2" off the counter to see whether vibration cause problem, seems fine.

I'll wait another 24 hours before I consider it's fix. I think it's the Norton. What make you think it's the Norton from the very beginning?

Thanks

 

[meBigGuy]

Every-time you access a file the AV scans it.

 

[yungman]

Every-time you access a file the AV scans it.

what is AV? Anti Virus? So you think Norton screwed up when it scan the file and folder?

 

[meBigGuy]

anti-virus

 

[yungman]

I am crossing my fingers reinstalling Norton cure the problem. The laptop really works good otherwise, I can't stand the other laptop, it's like a turtle. It's already a 3rd gen I-5, but it's day and night difference. It's a Win8.1, it never work that well. I am thinking about upgrading to Win10, so maybe I can still salvage it. That one is only 3 years old, but both me and my wife don't want to use it.

 

[yungman]

Sadly, it happened this morning. I checked the CPU and memory usage, it's normal. I can still open with right click and open. I tried open files in the remote USB flash drive, it won't open with double left mouse click, but I can right mouse to open.

I went on task manager, I tried end task on the Window explorer and it took a while but it did and after it ended, everything back to normal without restarting.

It is the window explorer that has problem.

 

[meBigGuy]

It could be related to the ssd, but that's hard to be sure about.
It could even be something totally unrelated like the video drivers.

Some would suggest you try to make it happen in safe mode. I wish it were easier to make it happen.

I think it is time for Nirsoft.

I think you should run what_is_hang the next time it happens.
(run it once before the hang to get an idea how it works)

Also, you should run their shellexview and disable non-microsoft extensions that don't look ctitical. (look under OPTIONS to check a box to see only non-microsoft options. ) I also noticed that if you check 32 bit options, it show a different list. So you need to look at both lists.

You can google "shellexview explorer hang" and read what other people have found. (most of them will be about right-click context menu entries, but not all)

Here is what I see with shellexview. I could disable all of these with no issues. (and also the 32 bit extensions)

 

[yungman]

Hi MeBigGuy

Thanks, I definitely try these now. I am reading up Window Explorer, DLL and Shell Extension to try to understand them a little more. The computer has not fail yet.

Thanks

 

[yungman]

I downloaded both Nirsoft program and run it. I left it on and wait for the laptop to fail. I disable the shell for Canon and Sugarsync, but I left Symantic on as that's Norton.

How do you copy and paste the screen shot of the ShellExView like you did? I know I use F8 for WhatIsHang to copy the report.

Thanks

 

[Borg]

How do you copy and paste the screen shot of the ShellExView like you did? I know I use F8 for WhatIsHang to copy the report.

There should be a Print Screen button that will capture a screen shot of your display. You can then paste it into an application like Paint. If you use Alt-Print Screen, it will capture just the active application.

 

[meBigGuy]

I use screenshotcaptor. I hit shift-prtscn and can select any region on the screen. Tons of other options also. It is a fantastic program.

 

[OCR]

You can also use the Snipping Tool that comes with Windows.

Here is a snip of my task bar...

 

[OCR]

Here is a snip of what I just posted... lol

 

[yungman]

The laptop acted up again. It won't open folder, won't work with right click and open. BUT it is not hung like before that trying to open the window explorer and show a blank folder. BUT I can still open programs with right click and open...like Word, Spice simulation program.

I check task manager, window explorer is not on it.

I check WhatIsHang, nothing hang, no report when hitting F9.

I disable all the shells that is not Microsoft, it did not help.

I closed all the programs other than the whatIsHang and ShellExView and Task Manager, it did not help.

I just found out that I can open internet browsers by double left click of the mouse. So definitely the mouse or it's drivers are not the problem.

I am leaving the laptop in this condition, please tell me what can I test now that it is not opening the folders. Seems like the window explorer is the problem. Attached are the two screen shot of the ShellExView for 64bits and 32bits.Thanks

 

[meBigGuy]

I assume you mean explorer is not in the application tab of the task manager. It should be in the Processes tab.

what_is_hang won't help if nothing hangs.

It could be that you have disabled too much and are getting new symptoms. Not real likely, but It's hard to tell. I don't see anything on the lists that makes me suspicious.

In shellex view there is an option under options to restart explorer (ctrl-E). What happens when you do that?

It might be worthwhile to try to get it to hang again. No idea why explorer is ignoring mouse clicks.

You can use your browser to try to open the same files. Just type c: in the address bar. That probably works fine.

Go to sounds and see if there is anything weird associated with mouse clicks (that's a long shot)

 

[yungman]

I assume you mean explorer is not in the application tab of the task manager. It should be in the Processes tab.
Yes, I referred to the application tab. I went to Processes tab and end the explorer, not the desktop has no icons! I can only go on the opened browsers!
what_is_hang won't help if nothing hangs.

It could be that you have disabled too much and are getting new symptoms. Not real likely, but It's hard to tell. I don't see anything on the lists that makes me suspicious.
No, I try disabling only after it hanged.
In shellex view there is an option under options to restart explorer (ctrl-E). What happens when you do that?

It might be worthwhile to try to get it to hang again. No idea why explorer is ignoring mouse clicks.

You can use your browser to try to open the same files. Just type c: in the address bar. That probably works fine.
Yes, I can open folder with the browser with double left click, but I cannot run the ShellExView from the browser, it just download again.
Go to sounds and see if there is anything weird associated with mouse clicks (that's a long shot)

Right now I loss everything except the browser, is there any way to start the window explorer without doing the restart? It's getting late, I'll leave the laptop as is and come back tomorrow.

Thanks

Alan

 

[meBigGuy]

reboot

1. Don't ever end the explorer process. It's OK to end an explorer application, but not the main process.

2. It does no good to disable the shell extensions after something has happened. We are trying to find something that triggers a problem. It doesn't help to disable it after it triggered bad behavior.

In shellexview, disable the same things you did before and then ctrl-E to restart explorer with them disabled. Then see if a problem occurs.

 

[yungman]

Ha ha, you told me to look at it, so I took the next step and ended it!

I restarted the computer, keep all the shell that are non MS disable and Ctrl-E. Everything still works. Now just wait.

The Chrome does not work anymore, I had Norton protection on the Chrome, it said Norton crashed and cannot open it. I checked Norton, I am still being protected.

Thanks

 

[ogg]

I have NOT read this entire thread. If no one has told you to back up those files which you want to keep, then they have been remiss. I had a similar problem which was caused by my (Desktop) Hard Drive Crashing. I was using Win7 HomePrem (64) and Windows/Microsoft completely failed to find any problems. I downloaded Western Digital's diagnostics (it was a WD drive) and it immediately diagnosed a failing drive. This may not be relevant, except that when ever you encounter strange behavior, you should worry about backing up your data and programs.

 

[yungman]

Thanks Ogg. I backed up a lot of my stuffs already. I don't have a hard drive, it's a SSD. I ran all the tests on power up by hitting F12 and do every single test. At this point, it is pretty much pointing to the Window Explorer hung or not responding. If I go task manager to end the WE, everything goes back to normal.

I am starting to suspect the Chrome together with the Norton safe search is causing the problem.

 

[yungman]

I can't open the folder just now right after I open the Chrome and closed it. I kind of suspect it might be the Chrome. Every time I open the Chrome, something just feel funny. A few weeks ago, Norton kept popping up and said Chrome is not protected and want me to install the safe search or something. I did. It just doesn't behave right. Maybe I should uninstall the Chrome and reinstall it without installing the Norton safe search.

Anyway, when I cannot open the folder, I went to WhatIsHang, nothing shows up. It showed ShellExView. I hit F9, no report show up. I hit again, it try to open a window explorer, but it hung. I went to task manager and end the Window exp. Everything goes back to normal.

Thanks

 

[yungman]

It did it again. I already reinstalled Chrome and not using Norton safe search.

I check WhatIsHang, it did not show anything even though it was obviously hung in the Window Explorer. I checked ShellExView, nothing new stood out.

I use task manager to end window explorer and everything goes back to normal.

Is it time to contact Lenovo warranty?

 

[meBigGuy]

Contacting Lenovo would be a good thing. They will probably have you do a factory reset and reinstall everything. But, maybe they have seen this before and have a solution.

 

[yungman]

Contacting Lenovo would be a good thing. They will probably have you do a factory reset and reinstall everything. But, maybe they have seen this before and have a solution.

You mean recover the whole system and start from the beginning? You thing I should just back up everything and do it myself? I am pretty much backup everything already, just waste a day reinstall all the programs.

I kind of thinking about this as the window explorer might be corrupted. Is there anyway to reinstall the Window explorer along without wiping everything?

Thanks

 

[Mark44]

I kind of thinking about this as the window explorer might be corrupted. Is there anyway to reinstall the Window explorer along without wiping everything?

To the best of my knowledge, Windows Explorer is an integral part of Windows -- I don't believe you can reinstall just this part of Windows.

 

[yungman]

Thanks

The question is whether it's the next logical step to recover the whole laptop?

 

[meBigGuy]

You can copy explorer.exe from another computer. (I've read of people doing it). Seems unlikely it is corrupted though.

I'd make a pass through lenovo support. Maybe they have a history with this.

 

[yungman]

For whatever reason, it did not happen for two days. I want to wait until it fail one more time.

The difference is I was too busy to be on the web yesterday other than regular email, Amazon and some safe sites. Usually I do more blogging on the Yahoo political articles. But I thought that is supposed to be safe. I don't go surfing around.

 

[yungman]

I don't know what I did right, it is still working. I have been on the web on all three browsers.