# Weird Win7 problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280 "2011-01-03T23:03:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/1 "2011-01-03T23:03:53Z")
Yesterday, when Win7 started up, it claimed to not be genuine (which is false). Since then, when Win7 boots up, about 50% of the time dwm.exe (window manager?) and explorer.exe fail to load, leaving me with a black void. Restarting is the only potential solution. I’ve done a malware scan, and there’s no malware there. Booting into safe mode, however, seems to be trouble-free. Any guesses as to what’s going on? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/2 "2011-01-03T23:12:25Z")
Did you activate your copy? My wife’s laptop has a genuine copy of Windows 7, but we neglected to actually input the registration code after rebuilding it, and once the grace period expired (90 days, maybe?) it came up as “not a genuine copy of Windows”. Entering in the key fixed the problem and all is well now. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/3 "2011-01-03T23:15:56Z")
It’s been running since June 2010, so that can’t be it. And just to be clear, it only warned about not being genuine this once, yesterday. Since then, it’s only having problems with dwm.exe and explorer.exe. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/4 "2011-01-03T23:42:24Z")
if there really is no malware (scanning doesn’t always catch stuff) then I’d bet dollars to donuts you’ve got bad RAM somewhere. The “not genuine” thing might have been the result of some RAM not being detected on that boot, and programs flaking out for no apparent reason are frequently the result of being loaded into malfunctioning memory. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/5 "2011-01-03T23:44:59Z")
Is there a foolproof way to verify that hypothesis, barring buying new RAM? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/6 "2011-01-03T23:46:59Z")
> **[Memtest86+ | The Open-Source Memory Testing Tool](https://www.memtest.org/)** > > Memtest86+ is an advanced, free, open-source, stand-alone memory tester for 32- and 64-bit computers (UEFI & BIOS supported) it’s not 100% foolproof, but it’s pretty reliable. if you see _any_ errors, something’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/7 "2011-01-04T00:11:49Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > Is there a foolproof way to verify that hypothesis, barring buying new RAM? Boot off the Windows 7 DVD and run the memory test. Or download one of the many bootable CDs that has a memory test app. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/8 "2011-01-04T00:14:44Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > Yesterday, when Win7 started up, it claimed to not be genuine (which is false). Since then, when Win7 boots up, about 50% of the time dwm.exe (window manager?) and explorer.exe fail to load, leaving me with a black void. Restarting is the only potential solution. What do the event logs say? ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/9 "2011-01-04T00:27:54Z")
There’s a whole bunch of errors on startup in the logs, the first of which are… The Workstation service hung on starting. The Workstation service terminated with the following error: Access is denied. The Network Location Awareness service hung on starting. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/10 "2011-01-04T00:31:52Z")
So Windows is completely borked, ISTM. A repair might help, but I suspect a full reinstall will be called for. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/11 "2011-01-04T00:38:37Z")
My fear is the drive is corrupted. I’ll do the memtest and report back later. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/12 "2011-01-04T01:04:07Z")
Well, memtest was doing its thing when the machine rebooted, and here I am. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/13 "2011-01-04T01:30:34Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > Well, memtest was doing its thing when the machine rebooted, and here I am. yeah, definite hardware problem. how many sticks of RAM are in there? if more than one, you might pull one, re-run memtest, then if needed swap to the other one and recheck. if it still has problems, then it could be motherboard, power supply, or even CPU. oh, also check the CPU heatsink and make sure the fan is running and not clogged with dust. could be overheating too. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/14 "2011-01-04T01:38:34Z")
Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/15 "2011-01-04T11:35:24Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > yeah, definite hardware problem. how many sticks of RAM are in there? if more than one, you might pull one, re-run memtest, then if needed swap to the other one and recheck. if it still has problems, then it could be motherboard, power supply, or even CPU. > > oh, also check the CPU heatsink and make sure the fan is running and not clogged with dust. could be overheating too. What he said. When random and intermittent problems and reboots occur it is usually because of a faulty ram DIMM. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/16 "2011-01-04T11:41:31Z")
I tried scanning the memory with Win7’s own memory diagnostics tool and it reported no errors. I can’t physically inspect the system myself, so I’m just trying to narrow it down before I pay someone to fiddle with it. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/17 "2011-01-04T12:14:30Z")
> [@](#): > > I can’t physically inspect the system myself, why not? just asking… what brand/model is it or approximately how old? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/18 "2011-01-04T12:56:08Z")
Also check the motherboard for popped capacitors. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-win7-problem/566280/19 "2011-01-05T01:42:40Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > why not? just asking… > > what brand/model is it or approximately how old? I’m disabled. I really need a helper monkey trained in IT; my brother usually performs that function, but he lives several hours away. It’s custom-made: Intel board running an i5, built in May 2010. Initially I had a problem with the system not always booting up, and the drive got corrupted, so I upgraded the bios, reinstalled Windows, etc., and everything was fine. Until now.