Extracted RAR files cause windows explorer to crash. WEIRD!

[afterhour]

AVI files that were extracted from RAR files cause my windows explorer to crash.
example - I extract video to "my video" folder from RAR file. When I try to open that video file I get a poup with the send or don't send info to microsoft telling me that windows explorer needs to shutdown. In fact, I don't need to even click on the file, just open the folder that the file is in and I get windows exlorer shutdown.


things I've done to try to troubleshoot this:
1. Update winrar program,
2. Remove WInrar completely and install winzip.
3. This happenes with several rar files, not just one and everyone of them has no probelm on another computer. No viruses here in teh files.
4. Scaned for viruses, updated my microsft to latest updates. running windows xp sp2.

Anyone have ideas? Appreciate any help.

[guns1inger]

It is unlikely to be Winrar, as it has finished when you try to open the videos. The issue is more likely to be codec or player related.

Have you installed any codec packs recently ?
Have you updated any codecs recently ?
Have you installed any players ?
Have you installed Nero (which installs Showtime) or WinAVI ?
What, if anything, do you see in your Windows logs ?

[afterhour]

I do have several players installed:

VLC (video lan), CUCUSOFT, Real, Windows Media player, and the one you mentioned, NERO with showtime. What would be the best way to troubleshoot this?

As for Windows log, everytime I get an application error logged for windows explorer when trying to open that avi file / or opening up the folder where the file is located.

[AlanHK]

Winrar is very reliable. It will tell you if the files are corrupted. You can click its "Test" button to check archives' integrity.
As gunslinger says, you most likely have a codec problem.

[afterhour]

I should also mention this:

I can play the video without any problems but only if i open it from VLC. ( File>Open )
If I navigate to the folder where file is located then I get windows explorer crash.

I tried to open the video file from every player now and VLC and nero showtime will play it.

Real Player, Windows Media Player 10, and Cucsoft crash.

[AlanHK]

I should also mention this:

I can play the video without any problems but only if i open it from VLC. ( File>Open )
If I navigate to the folder where file is located then I get windows explorer crash.

Definitely codecs.VLC has its private codecs. Windows Explorer is trying to read the file to make a preview, which is obviously failing. (One reason not to use Active Desktop.)

You need to clean up your codecs, they're what is corrupt, not the rar or avi.

[psx_pirate]

I had the exact same problem .... its because you do not have the correct codec installed and you have set that folder view to show thumbnails .... the solution therefore is to either install the correct codec (use gspot to find out which one) or to change the view of the affected folder to something otherthan 'view thumbnails' (changing the view attributes will stop the crashing when you open the folder)

IMO installing the correct codec is the best solution as this will allow you to watch the video in players otherthan VLC

[Bjs]

A couple of things' to run through that should fix the issue on a permanent basis ...

Download hijackthis ... http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

Run a system scan and first , disable all non-system required startup item's such as quicktime , adobe acrobat updater , messenger , and other's , and restart pc and try again ... some might be causeing a memory issue conflict .

Dont worry if you remove an item ... it dose a backup before it remove's item's so they can be restored later .

http://paul.glagla.free.fr/filmerit_en.htm ... this tool to sort out broken directshow filters .
Before fixing them , write the one's in error down first ... so you can reinstall them after .
Read the webpage as to how it work's ...

In windows explorer , try tools , folder options , view tab ... check "do not cache thumbnails" , hit apply , then ok , and try again .

It's mostly an issue with thumbnail cache via windows explorer ... an older issue which was caused by messenger under sp1 ... if you have current update's , it would suggest an issue within the system's registry ... corruption .

Try : http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm ... regseeker ... do a registry backup before allowing any tool to fix registry entries first ... this way if you or it make's a problem you can return the value's later .

=======

Beware of codec pack's ... nasty thing's in the hand's of those less experienced ...

[mats.hogberg]

...or disable the AVI preview in Explorer. This has bees discussed and solved plenty of times in the past.

/Mats

[afterhour]

Thank you for all the help.

Using all the advice I got to the file that was casuing the problem and fixed it by manually deleting xvid.ax in the \windows\system32 directory.

I don't know if this will create another problem but so far I can play the video file and now have application carshing.