Windows Vista Another Windows Explorer Restart Problem

[stumblingdevil]

It appears that in the past week, my system has become infected and now continuously retarts explorer and limits all administrative rights. I have come up in safe mode and checked for newly added programs, run spyware doctor, adjusted DEP, but have had no luck in stemming the problem. Except in safe mode, i can not copy files or run any admin tools. Unfortunately, we do not have a current backup, so wiping the drive is not a good option at this point. I have read many forums, but there does not seem to be any consensus on this problem or a solution.

Any help out there?

I run with 2 users with admin rights and one id without. Have noticed 'tpfnf7sp' open as a process, in looking at task manager.

 

[kjanx]

system tools, system restore.
go back several days/weeks, before the problem

 

[stumblingdevil]

I went in and tried that, the only restore points listed were 6 days ago, tried those restore points but the problem remained. I can not get through a windows update cycle or just about any admin task without getting the retstart message. It will not allow me to use backup and restore. I have a large number of problem reports with no solutions. Windows update the last updates were installed 4/15/08

 

[kjanx]

sounds as if maybe the unit has bad memory.
does the os have a recovery partition that can replace the system files??
most newer computers do.

 

[kemical]

The only thing I can suggest is you try to remember if you uploaded any software or made a change to something for this to start happening??

 

[superbill]

This code you found "tpfnf7sp" rings a bell somewhere with me.
I thought it might be a nasty but I just can't remember where I saw it.
Run a google on it and see what comes up.
Also try resetting your I.E.settings. See :

IEBlog : Reset Internet Explorer Settings

 

[stumblingdevil]

No changes that I am aware of, possible that my son clicked on a viewer update, but he does not recall. Compounding this is th eoperating system will not allow me to write to a CD or thumb-drive, so backing up is currently a problem

 

[[email protected]]

Corrupted Hard drive maybe from a power surge or unplug while the hard disk was running full throttle? During start up, can you go into repair computer.. or whatever it's called? Factory reinstall should be an option in there. Vista computers now hold a partition on your drive that is a copy of your whole operating system like it was when you took it out of the box, you shouldn't need a backup if you are running vista... just restart it. When it shows the windows insignia turn the power off. Then turn it back on, you should get the "Windows had an error" screen and the repair options... pick repair computer... when you get in there do a factory install, and wait about 20-30 minutes and it should be back to new...

 

[[email protected]]

This code you found \"tpfnf7sp\" rings a bell somewhere with me.
I thought it might be a nasty but I just can't remember where I saw it.
Run a google on it and see what comes up.
Also try resetting your I.E.settings. See :

IEBlog : Reset Internet Explorer Settings

TPFNF7SP.exe

Related to Presentation Director found on ThinkPad computers form Lenovo. Presentation Director is a display configuration utility for your ThinkPad computer that enables you to create, manage, and use presentation and display schemes. You can access these schemes through an on-screen display menu that is shown when you press the Fn F7 key combination on your keyboard (Fn F7 on-screen function). Note: Located in \%Program Files%\Lenovo\NPDIRECT\

 

[stumblingdevil]

Well, folks, I never could eradicate or truely identify the root cause. I bought an external hard drive, backed up the files from safe mode, and did a factory setting reimage. Am up and running again. Have ordered the XP Downgrade recovery CD and will convert to XP next week. Wish I had better insight for the next poor Vista soul. Thanks to all for trying.