Help for crashed Windows Explorer in ME.

[Aus_Snow]

Upgrading to XP would be my advice too.

You might want to get a list of your running processes, to further help with analysis. There are a few ways to do that. One of the best though would be Process Explorer, if you felt like giving that a go.

Then perhaps some people here (maybe even me!) could give more informed suggestions to you.

Just a thought.


edit --- a good geek forum? You bet. One of the best I've come across for fast, friendly, well-informed Windows advice (and for other PC stuff, actually) is here. Hope that helps.

 

[CarlZog]

Most will run just fine. What are the games?

What I'm most worried about are a lot of relatively obscure wargames:
Harpoon 3
Fleet Command
Age of Sail II
Operational Art of War
Talonsoft's Battleground series and Campaign Series
Fighting Steel

All the Bioware and Black Isle CRPGs

Starlancer
Red Baron II
Crimson Skies

Europa Universalis
Patrician II

Carl

 

[XCorvis]

Wow, those are obscure. The last half of the list should be OK. If it was made for Win98 or later, it's fine. You might try some google searches for the first few - name of the game plus "windows XP" should turn up some info. I'd bet the majority will have no issues at all.

If you do upgrade the OS to Windows XP, fork over for some extra RAM. XP uses more than the earlier versions, but it's worth it.

 

[CarlZog]

Wow, those are obscure.

If it was made for Win98 or later, it's fine.

I didn't know that. Thanks.

If you do upgrade the OS to Windows XP, fork over for some extra RAM. XP uses more than the earlier versions, but it's worth it.

It's a Dell Inspiron 8000, currently at capacity with 512 on two chips.

Carl

 

[XCorvis]

That'll probably be enough, especially since those older games don't have terribly high requirements.

 

[DethStryke]

Something to remember with the older games is that XP will not play any DOS-based programs while 9x (95, 98, 98SE, ME) all will. This backwards capability is one of the main reasons the 9x Kernal of MS-OSes was so unstable. XP, being built on the NT kernel, does not have the DOS support. This stuck me hard when I finally found a copy of Aces Over Europe and knew I couldn't play the damn thing without dual-booting or building another machine that was 98SE (because ME isn't worth it, as said above).

There are work-arounds, like DOS emulators and the like, but if they are really old (say they have 3.1 / 95 sticker on them), then they probably will not run on XP at all.

Luckily, I scored one of the huge box set of all the old AD&D games (curse, pools, etc.) in a "VGA remake" that will run on XP.... joy.

 

[fba827]

I have ME as well and I encounter that same problem every so often. What I have to suggest has been suggested ...

Have you tried killing explorer and restarting it? That usually works for me.

So, are you able to get the task manager (Control-alt-delete) and try ending the process for the explorerer.. I usually have to do that about three times before the pop-up window says it can't kill it normally and that i have to 'end task" - after that, i'm able to get what i needed.. or, if not, at that point i am usually able to do a complete/proper shut down and all is well when it restarts.

that's been my experiences any way.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Something to remember with the older games is that XP will not play any DOS-based programs while 9x (95, 98, 98SE, ME) all will. This backwards capability is one of the main reasons the 9x Kernal of MS-OSes was so unstable. XP, being built on the NT kernel, does not have the DOS support. This stuck me hard when I finally found a copy of Aces Over Europe and knew I couldn't play the damn thing without dual-booting or building another machine that was 98SE (because ME isn't worth it, as said above).

98SE was much more stable than any of the other 9x versions of Windows, in fact, many people swear that it's even more stable than XP is.

CarlZog, if you are interested in converting to 98SE to keep your games functional, drop me an email: rjmiller_at_gmail_dot_com. I think I have a few copies floating around at work or home that have never been installed on any PC, and I can send one to you.

 

[CarlZog]

I re-installed ME, which seems to have solved the problem, but I might take you up on your offer, CL.

Carl

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I re-installed ME, which seems to have solved the problem, but I might take you up on your offer, CL.

Just let me know.