[talkingtoilet]

Suddenly my laptop froze and showed this error message. On top of the error box it reads: "explorer.exe - application error" Immediately below it reads: "the application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click on OK to terminate the application".

Now, I know this has been posted before, but it seems to be trickier this time. Here are the details:

Upon restarting, I get the same error message once Windows tries to start. I hit "OK" through the error message, and it goes to a blank desktop (no icons, no start button, etc).
One fix suggestion said to open RUN and goto "REGEDIT". This creates more error messages for me...and ultimately does nothing.
Safe Mode also does nothing -- I get the same error message and it leaves me with a black screen with "safe mode" in the corners.
Oddly, my screensaver still kicks in after a couple minutes. But, besides the screensaver and task manager, nothing's working.
Ideas?

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Hey TalkingToliet!

Welcome to the GeeksToGo Forum Boards!

We'll, I im expecting an error with this as well, but its worth a shot. Please do the following and let me know what happens.

1) With the computer on (and the blank desktop), press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open the Task Manager
2) Click File>New Task (Run...)
3) In the Run Dialog, please enter, "explorer.exe"

I'm assuming the same message will come up, but would just like to rule out one possibility.

Regards

[ipods619]

Hey TalkingToliet!

Welcome to the GeeksToGo Forum Boards!

We'll, I im expecting an error with this as well, but its worth a shot. Please do the following and let me know what happens.

1) With the computer on (and the blank desktop), press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open the Task Manager
2) Click File>New Task (Run...)
3) In the Run Dialog, please enter, "explorer.exe"

I'm assuming the same message will come up, but would just like to rule out one possibility.

Regards

[talkingtoilet]

Yes, the same message pops up.

[ipods619]

TalkingToliet,

Okay. That was expected.

Try accessing the Command Prompt.
1) With the computer on (and the blank desktop), press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open the Task Manager
2) Click File>New Task (Run...)
3) In the Run Dialog, please enter, "cmd"

If you can get a box that is black show up (a.k.a. Command Prompt), we may be able to diagnose a few things.

If not - I'd say that you may have to complete a repair on the computer, because (for whatever reason) some of the required .dll's and other files are either missing or corrupt.

I'll help you repair if you wish to choose that option. A repair will pretty much reset all the Windows required files (WINDOWS/system32, etc...) so you would be able to access the desktop again.

Let me know what happens.
Regards,

[talkingtoilet]

Yes, I can get a DOS/command prompt.

[talkingtoilet]

Anyone have any ideas before I re-install Windows?