Technical question

[Jarhead]

My problem is very simple. Every time I attempt to make Internet Explorer run I get a message in a small window that says:


Internet Explorer has stopped working

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly.
Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.

That's all there is, and the promise of notification never happens. I have a new HP Pavilion Slimline PC running Vista Home Premium with Svc Pk1. Iexplore.exe simply refuses to run. No help is available from HP who interviews me for about 20 minutes, and tells me that this is an internet connection problem which they don't support. They will, however connect to support for a fee of $59 to have someone contact me to diagnose the problem. When I ask to speak to a supervisor I am told that it is not allowed. I get rudeness and no support. There are no avenues on their websites that get me to a solution. I have been fighting this for about a month with no answers.

Microsoft is not much better, but I don't even get to speak to a live person. All I need to know is what I must do to make iexplore.exe run. As a Firefox user, I get along without it, but there are occasions when it is needed. These people have themselves well insulated from the customers that they are supposed to serve. Is there somone out there who can help me?

[mph]

My problem is very simple. Every time I attempt to make Internet Explorer run I get a message in a small window that says:



That's all there is, and the promise of notification never happens. I have a new HP Pavilion Slimline PC running Vista Home Premium with Svc Pk1. Iexplore.exe simply refuses to run. No help is available from HP who interviews me for about 20 minutes, and tells me that this is an internet connection problem which they don't support. They will, however connect to support for a fee of $59 to have someone contact me to diagnose the problem. When I ask to speak to a supervisor I am told that it is not allowed. I get rudeness and no support. There are no avenues on their websites that get me to a solution. I have been fighting this for about a month with no answers.

Microsoft is not much better, but I don't even get to speak to a live person. All I need to know is what I must do to make iexplore.exe run. As a Firefox user, I get along without it, but there are occasions when it is needed. These people have themselves well insulated from the customers that they are supposed to serve. Is there somone out there who can help me?

I had this same problem with a new home PC running Vista. It boggles my mind that Microsoft can't figure out how to make Explorer run with their own operating system, while Firefox works like a charm. I'll be interested if anyone else has solved this problem.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I have a different internet related technical question to ask, but I don't want to hijack Jarhead's thread, so I'll start a new thread.

[DevilAlumna]

Sounds like a very frustrating experience all around, Jarhead.

A couple things to try --

1) Can you get IE to run if you turn off your anti-virus software?

2) Vista has a tool called "Problem Reports and Solutions," (sometimes helpful, sometimes lame) -- hit the start button, type "problem" into the search bar, and it should come up. See if there's anything in there related to IE.

3) Do you have add-ins installed (other toolbars, etc.)? If so, turn them off one by one, to see if you can narrow down if one of them might be the culprit.

Lastly, Have you gone to http://update.microsoft.com to make sure you've got the latest patches, etc.? What version of IE are you running? (The full number - as in, I'm running 7.0.6001.18000.) What's your default homepage?

[Jarhead]

Sounds like a very frustrating experience all around, Jarhead.

A couple things to try --

1) Can you get IE to run if you turn off your anti-virus software?

2) Vista has a tool called "Problem Reports and Solutions," (sometimes helpful, sometimes lame) -- hit the start button, type "problem" into the search bar, and it should come up. See if there's anything in there related to IE.

3) Do you have add-ins installed (other toolbars, etc.)? If so, turn them off one by one, to see if you can narrow down if one of them might be the culprit.

Lastly, Have you gone to http://update.microsoft.com to make sure you've got the latest patches, etc.? What version of IE are you running? (The full number - as in, I'm running 7.0.6001.18000.) What's your default homepage?
Thanks, #1 is no. #2 see below, and #3 is I cannot get IE to run. That makes it difficult, for sure. I went to your link and ended up redirected to a page that said it no longer existed, but I was able to do a search for updates. I typed in Internet Explorer, and got well over 100 hits. All of them were for XP or Windows Server. None for Vista.

When I found my way to the Problem Reports and Solutions feature of Vista I found that the log contained a long list of "stopped working" reports for IE that were sent to Microsoft, the first on June 28, 2008. That was about the time that I first noticed that I could not bring up Internet Explorer. I can't tell you the version, since I can't get IE to run.

I also checked the log of installed updates to Vista, and found only one for IE, dated June 13, 2008. That may be the source of my problem. I have a potential solution -- my son-in-law works for Microsoft in the Triangle. I've got a history of bragging there, so I am hesitant to ask for help. I guess I'll have to bite that bullet. Of course one might notice that Firefox is working just great. Thanks for that, Mozilla.

[BCGroup]

I don't know if this will help, but I searched and added specifically that there were problems with Vista:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936215
http://www.vistax64.com/network-internet/125075-problem-internet-explorer-7-a.html
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/8038f9ac-9bf9-4809-8d75-fc42818d8af71033.mspx (that one sounded bad--third option is to run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool)

non-microsoft site:
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html

[-jk]

Four things to try:

Create a new user account in Windows, log into it, and test it there. This tells if it's an IE problem or a broken user profile.

I don't have a Vista install handy, but this works on Server 2008. In the Control Panel, open Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab. Near the bottom, after the "Reset Internet Explorer settings", click on [Reset] button. Click Reset. Reboot the computer.

Check if a background program isn't playing nicely. Temporarily disable antivirus, firewall, anti-spyware, ad-blocker, popup blocker, and all Norton programs.

Last ditch: Uninstall and reinstall IE and install updates.

[Jarhead]

Four things to try:

Create a new user account in Windows, log into it, and test it there. This tells if it's an IE problem or a broken user profile.

I don't have a Vista install handy, but this works on Server 2008. In the Control Panel, open Internet Options. Click the Advanced tab. Near the bottom, after the "Reset Internet Explorer settings", click on [Reset] button. Click Reset. Reboot the computer.

Check if a background program isn't playing nicely. Temporarily disable antivirus, firewall, anti-spyware, ad-blocker, popup blocker, and all Norton programs.

Last ditch: Uninstall and reinstall IE and install updates.
You nailed it, -jk, and with the easiestsuggestion via Control Panel (bold in Quote). I didn't need to reboot, either. Thanks, folks. Where else could I get such excellent help? Not from HP. That's for sure.

[-jk]

You nailed it, -jk, and with the easiestsuggestion via Control Panel (bold in Quote). I didn't need to reboot, either. Thanks, folks. Where else could I get such excellent help? Not from HP. That's for sure.

Happy to help.

-jk