Member Avatar for aftommy

I have recently installed a new hard drive. I have Windows Vista Home Premium UPGRADE.
The install went fairly well, as I did have Vista on the previous drive that died, with one exception. If I try to open desktop from the desk icon, I get an error message that says something to the effect that "rundll32 has stopped...windows explorer will now close" and then the screen loses all icons for a moment and then comes back and anything I was working on is gone. Very frustrating. I am beetr than novice level but not an expert by any stretch...I have tried a few rememdies I have "googled" but to no avail.
Second problem is Vista wont shut down....it just sits on the blue curtain with the message "Windows is shutting down" and nothing happens. Little blue twirlly thing stops spinning at this point.
I dont know if these errors are related but any help would be appreciated
Thanks Tommy

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The symptoms here (rundll32 crashing when opening Desktop or Control Panel, plus shutdown hangs) fit two common classes: a broken/third‑party DLL or shell extension being invoked by Explorer, or malware that installs randomly named DLLs and hooks into rundll32. ’s baseline — malware scans, disk checks and a repair pass — is a good first tier; the followup below shows how to identify the specific offending DLL and isolate it without repeating steps already suggested in the thread.

Check the Windows Application event log for the crash entry and note the “faulting module” or DLL name and path. That entry is the most reliable clue to what rundll32 is loading when it fails; it shortens troubleshooting from guessing to targeted removal or repair. (learn.microsoft.com)

If the faulting module is a third‑party DLL (not a Microsoft signed file), boot to Safe Mode and disable non‑Microsoft autostarts/shell extensions. Use Autoruns to find any Run/RunOnce entries or scheduled tasks that call rundll32, and use ShellExView to hide Microsoft entries and disable non‑Microsoft shell/context menu handlers — these are frequent causes of Explorer/rundll crashes. Make a system restore point or export the relevant registry keys before changing or deleting entries. (learn.microsoft.com)

When a DLL name looks random (the yayaXRKB.dll example mentioned by ), consider malware removal as the priority: many trojans create randomly named DLLs, resist ordinary removal, and re‑create themselves if their run entry remains. Run an on‑demand antimalware scanner (for example Malwarebytes) and, if needed, use process/handle viewers to identify which process has the DLL loaded so it can be unloaded/removed from Safe Mode. If targeted removal fails, a repair install or clean reinstall after backing up data is the final step. (en.wikipedia.org)

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Member Avatar for aftommy

I am running Vista Home Premium w/SP1
If I attempt to open control panel or security center I get an error msg that states "rundll32 has stopped working" then "windows explorer will now restart" at that point explorer closes and then reopens, anything I was working on is gone
PLEASE HELP
Tommy

Member Avatar for twomers

Does this problem recur every time of just for control panel or security centre?
This probably isn't the best place to get answers for your problem, aftommy, maybe try the windows forums -- http://www.daniweb.com/forums/forum99.html You'll probably find the best help in the correct forum.

Member Avatar for aftommy

Does this problem recur every time of just for control panel or security centre?
This probably isn't the best place to get answers for your problem, aftommy, maybe try the windows forums -- http://www.daniweb.com/forums/forum99.html You'll probably find the best help in the correct forum.

Thanks I will post there and yes everytime I try to open either of them. I can get to the individual programs within "contrrol panel" by doing a search but never thru the control panel shortcut icon. Thanks again and Happy New Year
Tommy

Member Avatar for Narue

Threads merged.

Member Avatar for Comodore

Well, the first thing you should do is cover your bases.

Run your favorite antivirus and antispyware scanners, and perhaps a few online scans for good measure. Trendmicro Housecall, for instance. housecall.trendmicro.com

Then run a chkdsk- Start>Computer>Right click your OS drive (most likely C:)>Properties>Tools tab>Error checking>Check both boxes>Hit "Check now">Reboot

Update your installation of Vista and your drivers (just doing so in the device manager should be adequate)

Boot off of your operating system CD (after ensuring that your computer will look to the CD tray before the hard drive in your SETUP) and Click "repair your computer", select the correct drive, open the Command Prompt, and type in

SFC /Scannow

(optional: Chkdsk C: /r for another chkdsk)

(you can do this within windows, but I like to do it off of the CD for peace of mind)

*note* In my experience, when you boot from the CD, you will have a blank vista background for a few minutes before anything happens. Don't panic!

Run Microsoft Live OneCare SafetyScanner:

To clean your computer of junk files, malware, and bad registry entries.

Run CCleaner: www.ccleaner.com

For another level of cleaning junk files and your registry.

If your version of windows is 32-bit, you can get dial-a-fix (Dial-a-Fix: )

I hope one of these solves your problem! I suggest doing them more or less in order, just to be on the safe side.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

--The Comodore

Member Avatar for drivezone

I was hit with the Vundo virus and the Vista Antivirus 2009 ad popup recently and although McAfee found the file yayaXRKB.dll file, it can't remove it or quarantien it. Seemed to just be annoying but it's gotten worse. Now, when I reboot, the errors start popping up "Windows host process (Rundll32) has stopped working". From that point I cannot access the internet through either IE or Firefox and I can't access Internet Options from Control Panel.

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