Gaming explorer.exe crash

I've been having problems where specifically when playing World of Warcraft(also has happened with other games) after about 2 hours(almost consistantly at least 2 hours), my computer would freeze and a 2 second sound clip from whatever is coming through my sound card would loop over and over again until i quit the game and restart the computer. Then as i restart, it would come up with frozen explorer.exe warning screen. Then after restarting the computer, the computer will be fine until 2 more hours of gameplay, in which the same issue would happen.

Any ideas on what would cause this? Are there any programs I can run to find out what would be causing this? What specific hardware/software issue.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello Machete,
Could you list your system specs please.
Try opening msconfig and look at what is runnung, it could be a program on a 2 hour cycle either conflicting or trying to run, anyway post your specs.

I just updated my system specs now but ill post:
System Manufacturer/Model Number N/A OS Vista Home Premium 32bit CPU Intel Core2 Quad Q6700 Motherboard Asus Striker Extreme Memory 4GB Corsair Dominator Graphics Card(s) 8800 GT OC 512MB PCIe 2.0 Sound Card SupremeFX Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster 204T Screen Resolution 1600X1200 Hard Drives WD 74GB 10,000 RPM Raptor(primary)
WD 250GB 7200RPM(slave) PSU BFGR650 Case Antec 300 Cooling N/A Keyboard Razer Lycoso Mouse Razer DeathAdder Internet Speed Optimum Online Other Info N/A

Thanks for posting your specs.

1. Have you noticed this happening in single player, or is it only when playing on line ?.
2. The obvious question, are all your drivers Up to date ?.
3. Have you got any software set to update/scan/ or do it's thing on a 2 hour cycle ?.

WOW is renowned for issues like this, but if it's happening in other games too, we can rule that out.

The 2 games that I've played and noticed this happening was in RF Online and World of Warcraft, which are both multiplayer. I could try to load a single player high graphics game and see if that would change anything.

I recently reflashed my BIOS, updated my video card and sound card drivers. I will check the rest of them when i get home today.

How would I check if a program is on a 2 hour cycle?

Thanks again for your continued help in this matter.

I would go to search, type in "msconfig" hit enter, take a look at the startup tab and disable anything you don't need to run this game, then go to services and check the "Hide all Microsoft services" box, take a look, and again disable anything you don't need to run this game, try the game. When i say disable everything, i mean everything that this game does not need, you need to be brutal with this.
You can enable everything later.
Anyway good luck and post your results.

Machete said:

I just updated my system specs now but ill post:
System Manufacturer/Model Number N/A OS Vista Home Premium 32bit CPU Intel Core2 Quad Q6700 Motherboard Asus Striker Extreme Memory 4GB Corsair Dominator Graphics Card(s) 8800 GT OC 512MB PCIe 2.0 Sound Card SupremeFX Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster 204T Screen Resolution 1600X1200 Hard Drives WD 74GB 10,000 RPM Raptor(primary)
WD 250GB 7200RPM(slave) PSU BFGR650 Case Antec 300 Cooling N/A Keyboard Razer Lycoso Mouse Razer DeathAdder Internet Speed Optimum Online Other Info N/A

Click to expand...

Those are better specs than I use to play Everquest. So I don't think its your hardware.

How often does your email program check for new email ?

Also, I found my computer slowing down every afternoon. I had enabled anti-vir scan of my hard drive then. i hcanged it to a better for me time. Look at how often you have your anti-vir scanning your hard drive.

I tried disabling startup programs and that didn't change much. I don't have an email program that checks for mail at a certain time, I use MSN Messanger to notify me of new mail. I even tried disabling my virus scanner so its not randomly checking for viruses

The problem recently happened again, so I went to event viewer and here's what it posted:

Fault bucket 1293736830, type 1
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: None
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: Explorer.EXE
P2: 6.0.6002.18005
P3: 49e01da5
P4: MSONSEXT.DLL
P5: 10.145.7329.0
P6: 4019138d
P7: c0000005
P8: 0004f8b5
P9:
P10:

Attached files:

These files may be available here:

In the recently released Nvidia driver (190.38), there was a lot of fix for World Of Warcraft.

If you havent gotten that driver, I'd suggest getting it because ive heard about alot of people being able to play without crashing at all.

MDA400 said:

In the recently released Nvidia driver (190.38), there was a lot of fix for World Of Warcraft.

If you havent gotten that driver, I'd suggest getting it because ive heard about alot of people being able to play without crashing at all.

Click to expand...

I tried this driver, and still no fix. Still crashing after a couple hours of gameplay

I also tried formatting windows last week and reinstalling vista and problem still continues...

Machete said:

MDA400 said:

In the recently released Nvidia driver (190.38), there was a lot of fix for World Of Warcraft.

If you havent gotten that driver, I'd suggest getting it because ive heard about alot of people being able to play without crashing at all.

Click to expand...

I tried this driver, and still no fix. Still crashing after a couple hours of gameplay

I also tried formatting windows last week and reinstalling vista and problem still continues...

Click to expand...

Hmm. you havent crazily overclocked your graphics card. have you?

That could cause it as well.

If it is still doing it after a format, i would start looking at the hardware, your graphics card has to be a good place to start, do you have another one you could try ?.