Windows Explorer has stopped working - Windows Vista

Windows Explorer has stopped working

Problem Signature
Problem Event Name: InPageError
Error Status Code: c000009c
Faulting Media Type: 00000003
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 46aa
Additional Information 2: 550813108d42c370043e28bb37aac5af
Additional Information 3: d6aa
Additional Information 4: 550813108d42c370043e28bb37aac5af

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The above problem happened to my Windows Vista OS, for some reasons the Windows Explorer crashed and freezed the system from functioning normally. This happens at Windows start-up and non of the applications are usable including the windows itself and antivirus software. By clicking on "Check online for a solution and restart the program" options will not solve the problem. And furthermore, running on Windows Safe Mode also encounter the same errors message.

Based on Windows 7 forums this could due to the Harddisk failure due to bad sectors or the read/write hardware damaged.



http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/windows-7-explorer-crash-bug-explorer-has-stopped/06f4ac0c-e486-491e-8861-30903b8791b1 and

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-performance/windows-explorer-has-stopped-working-error-status/52211efb-3368-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5?msgId=85f60232-d968-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5

However the windows 7 forum discussions are not convincing enough to tell what exactly wrong and what really caused the corrupted Windows Explorer. Before throwing away my harddisk and spend money to buy new one. What I did was;



1. Take out the harddisk and put it on another computer for further diagnose.
2. Run Kaspersky Antivirus scan on the harddisk
3. There is an error from the scan result (thumbcache_idx.db -- processing error) on file located "\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\explorer\thumbcache_idx.db"
4. Navigate to that folder and deleted the file "thumbcache_idx.db"
5. Put the harddisk back to the original computer and turn on. Everything back to normal.

So the conclusion is that the "thumbcache_idx.db" is causing the Windows Explorer to stop working in Windows Vista. However you may need another computer to diagnose the harddisk as all the Windows functionality are locked when this event occurs at windows startup. Or maybe this can be done through Windows Safe Mode in command prompt only to delete the "thumbcace_idx.db" file.

Read more about "thumbcache_idx.db" on wikipedia...http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Vista_thumbcache