very odd: explorer crashes on keypress

[dpopiz]

I posted an earlier message saying that ie had started crashing constantly. I formatted, but I now have the same problem with a fresh copy of win2k and I've figured out more about the problem.
Starting about 15 mins after win2k boots, whenever I'm in either an ie window or just a win explorer window, the instant I press any key I get the ie error reporting tool if it's ie, or an "explorer.exe has crashed" if it's win explorer. I know it's probably a virus, but has anybody heard of this? btw, I installed mcafee very shortly after a fresh install of win2k, so it may not be a virus

 

[singh]

Does it keep crashing after that point? Or is it unpredictable?

 

[dpopiz]

well, after about 15 mins, the problem "kicks in" and explorer crashes whenever I hit a key...everything works fine, excep when I press any key it immediatly crashes. I can click a favorite in ie and navigate around for hours, but as soon as I start typing in a url, it crashes. Similarly, in win explorer, I can navigate all around as much as I want, but the instant I type a path, or hold down shift to select or whatever, it crashes.

 

[singh]

Originally posted by: painKiller
well, after about 15 mins, the problem "kicks in" and explorer crashes whenever I hit a key...everything works fine, excep when I press any key it immediatly crashes. I can click a favorite in ie and navigate around for hours, but as soon as I start typing in a url, it crashes. Similarly, in win explorer, I can navigate all around as much as I want, but the instant I type a path, or hold down shift to select or whatever, it crashes.

When you say explorer crashes, are you talking about internet explorer or explorer.exe shell process? Also, do you perchance have a USB keyboard?

 

[dpopiz]

the problem happens in both internet explorer, which brings up the ie error reporting tool, and in windows explorer, which gives me an explorer.exe has crashed message

no, I have a ps/2 ms natural kb

 

[singh]

Originally posted by: painKiller
the problem happens in both internet explorer, which brings up the ie error reporting tool, and in windows explorer, which gives me an explorer.exe has crashed message

no, I have a ps/2 ms natural kb

Hmm... try this:
(1) Reboot, and after the system has fully loaded, Close any running applications (Norton, etc.)
(2) Bring up the task manager (Ctr+Alt+Del)
(3) Force-Kill every process that you see (many, of course, can't be killed, so don't worry about em).
(4) Step 3 should have killed the Start Menu/Shell (when you kill process explorer.exe).
(5) Now start the Shell by using the Task Manager -> Run-> Explorer
(6) Browse around using Internet Explorer. Don't bring up any other applications. See if the problem reported still persists.