IE8 Won't Start; Clicking On Links In Email Won't Open In FF

[nikki605]

This topic continues from my posts here: http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=39841

 

Does the same thing happen if you start in safe mode?

 

Have you tried running SFC ?

 

When you said ''I think I know what I did'', do you feel like telling us what it was Nikki?

 

Does the same thing happen if you start in safe mode - I didn't start in Safe Mode before restoring the image.

 

Have you tried running SFC - Yes, I ran SFC /scannow. I inserted the Win CD, had to click on Retry many times, but it went to completion with no errors displayed.

 

''I think I know what I did'' - I started Defraggler v2.15, did an Analyze & started a File Defrag. The program crashed, first time I had ever seen Defraggler crash, and it displayed a popup window asking if I wanted to send information to Piriform - I clicked yes.

 

Knowing this was an older version, I updated to the current version, 2.16, updated Speccy to version 1.24 and updated another program (not Piriform). I then ran the new Defraggler (File Defrag) which ran to completion.

 

I use FF (25.0.1) as my default browser, but of course, IE8 is also installed. The first problem I noticed is that if I click on a web link in an email, the web page would no longer open in FF. I rarely use IE8 but when I tried to start it, I found it would not start (no error msg). I right-clicked on the IE shortcut on the Desktop and selected Properties to look at the Option settings - nothing happened. I went into Control Panel and tried to start Internet Options from there - nothing happened.

 

It was at this point yesterday, that I re-imaged the drive (Seagate). I again updated Defraggler, Speccy and the other program. Everything seemed fine to the point where I powered it off last night.

 

Then, this morning as I said, it took a very long time to boot up and my original problems are back.

 

This morning, I scheduled a chkdsk and rebooted to let it run. This was the result:

 

Checking file system on C:

The type of the file system is NTFS.

 

A disk check has been scheduled.

Windows will now check the disk.

Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.

Cleaning up 2391 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.

Cleaning up 2391 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.

Cleaning up 2391 unused security descriptors.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...

Usn Journal verification completed.

CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.

Windows has made corrections to the file system.

437187552 KB total disk space.

85838084 KB in 135200 files.

50704 KB in 8524 indexes.

0 KB in bad sectors.

313908 KB in use by the system.

65536 KB occupied by the log file.

350984856 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.

109296888 total allocation units on disk.

87746214 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:

90 6d 02 00 78 31 02 00 04 39 03 00 00 00 00 00 .m..x1...9......

33 34 00 00 03 00 00 00 e4 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 34..............

b8 4e 03 0f 00 00 00 00 c4 05 91 5e 00 00 00 00 .N.........^....

2c 2a cd 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ,*.@............

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f4 21 e6 b7 00 00 00 00 .........!......

40 aa 42 be 00 00 00 00 b8 3a 07 00 20 10 02 00 @.B......:.. ...

00 00 00 00 00 10 24 77 14 00 00 00 4c 21 00 00 ......$w....L!..

Windows has finished checking your disk.

Please wait while your computer restarts.

 

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....link/events.asp.

 

I just finished running the Seagate diagnostic program SeaTools. Both the short & long tests ran to completion without error.

 

I am about to re-image the drive again back to an earlier date.

[nikki605]

For fun, I booted into Safe Mode. IE8 still doesn't start. Right-clicking on the IE icon on the Desktop and selecting Properties does nothing. I opened Control Panel to select Internet Options and Internet Options is gone.

 

I'm going to re-image now.

[hazelnut]

Just a thought to keep in the back of your mind that as you have a CD a repair install is a possibility for you.

 

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm

 

What happens if you do start-run and type inetcpl.cpl (then press enter)

 

What happens if you do start -all progs-Accessories-Internet Explorer (no addons)

 

Are you able to create a new user and see if things work in that profile?

[nikki605]

I'll certainly keep your suggestions in mind.

 

After finishing the image restore, I booted into WinXP and the first & only thing I did was to set another chkdsk to run and rebooted. The chkdsk ran with these results:

 

Checking file system on C:

The type of the file system is NTFS.

 

A disk check has been scheduled.

Windows will now check the disk.

Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.

Cleaning up 2364 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.

Cleaning up 2364 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.

Cleaning up 2364 unused security descriptors.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...

Usn Journal verification completed.

CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap.

Windows has made corrections to the file system.

437187552 KB total disk space.

85336684 KB in 133706 files.

50312 KB in 8486 indexes.

0 KB in bad sectors.

313896 KB in use by the system.

65536 KB occupied by the log file.

351486660 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.

109296888 total allocation units on disk.

87871665 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:

90 6d 02 00 7c 2b 02 00 b2 31 03 00 00 00 00 00 .m..|+...1......

04 34 00 00 03 00 00 00 b6 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 .4..............

26 aa 46 11 00 00 00 00 58 84 87 6e 00 00 00 00 &.F.....X..n....

0c c8 70 42 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ..pB............

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 da da 42 cb 00 00 00 00 ..........B.....

60 f8 42 be 00 00 00 00 b8 3a 07 00 4a 0a 02 00 `.B......:..J...

00 00 00 00 00 b0 89 58 14 00 00 00 26 21 00 00 .......X....&!..

Windows has finished checking your disk.

Please wait while your computer restarts.

 

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

 

The system appears to be back to normal:

 

1. IE8 starts & runs normally.

2. The Internet Options icon is back in Control Panel and functions.

3. Right-clicking on the IE Desktop icon brings up the expected context menu and it functions.

4. Clicking on a webpage link in an email opens the webpage in a new tab in FF (my default browser).

5. Malwarebytes now loads & runs.

 

Restoring a 2-week old image put back some older program versions which I am going to leave alone for the time being: FF v24.0, Defraggler v2.15 & Speccy v1.23 plus the last group of MS critical updates. I'm going to attempt to just use the system as normal to see if it holds up.

[hazelnut]

Fingers crossed

[nikki605]

Yeah, exactly. My wife will let me know the minute something goes screwy. She uses it primarily, I'm just her tech support. She was trying to follow a link in an email and nothing happened. That's what first made us aware there was a problem.

[nikki605]

Ran full scans of MBAM and SAS last night - 0 problems found.

 

The system seemed to boot normally this morning. I'm running a full Norton scan right now. So far, so good.

[nikki605]

Ran a full Norton scan this morning - 0 problems found. Turned the PC back over to my wife for her to use. Watch & wait. Going to hold off installing any pending software updates (FF, MS Critical, Adobe Flash, Defraggler, Speccy, etc.).

[hazelnut]

Difficult to type with my fingers still crossed

[nikki605]

Me--> also arms, eyes, toes...

 

Whatever caused the problem, the result seemed to have mainly affected IE8. The other symptoms were a result of IE8 becoming flummoxed. Bizarre.

[nikki605]

So far, so good. I'm installing 4 MS critical updates.