Mouse won't click to open files

[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.

 

[yungman]

Hi,

It's been a while. But the problem still cannot be solved. I took it to the IT people in the company and they cannot resolve it either. The only way to get out is go to task manager and end the explorer.exe, then restart the explorer.exe. They are convinced that it's not hardware either.

They could not make it fail, I think it's due to they don't open the web. I have IE, Firefox and Chrome all open and I put comments on the news on Yahoo front page. Seems like when I get on the web, it will fail.

Any fresh idea, nothing in these 5 pages work so far, the IT people ran malware and virus scan also, update everything they think it's important like we did here. So they are up in arms.

 

[StevieTNZ]

Maybe backup your work and do a clean install of Windows?

 

[meBigGuy]

A clean install of windows would give you a good reference point. If it still happens, then it is either some really weird SSD hardware issue, or a driver compatibility problem.

I hate resorting to "reinstall and see what happens", but that's about all that is left.

 

[yungman]

I think I am going to recover the laptop. I already backed up the files onto the flash drive. How do I recover the laptop? the laptop does not come with a recovery disk. Also, this laptop comes with Win7 but it also has Win8 which I absolutely do not want. How do I make sure I recover to Win7?

Thanks

 

[meBigGuy]

Go to the lenovo site, or contact their support. I can be of no help beyond suggesting that.