Windows 10: Explorer crashes, computer fails to restart when internet is out.

I live in a rural area with spotty internet (frequent disconnects and outages), and I've noticed that during these moments of no internet, I lose some functionality that I shouldn't be--most notably when I right click on a file or folder I will get the blue circle cursor and cannot open anything else. Moments later my screen will go black and refresh. If I right click on a file or folder again it will happen again (pretty sure explorer is freezing & crashing).

So I attempt to restart. I lose my patience after 10 minutes of the "shutting down/restarting" whatever message and manually hold the power button down.

This has been happening since I upgraded to 10 last year. I've tried to learn to live with it, but it's just too much now, especially with my internet being particularly unreliable lately. I could use some help figuring this out.

:)

 

Restart fails

Hi Barbara,

Welcome to Microsoft Community. Sorry for the delay in replying. Could you please provide us some additional information so that we maybe able to assist you better?

What exactly do you mean when you say "fails to restart"? Are you referring to Internet Explorer not working? Is so, since when are you facing this issue? Have you made any recent software or hardware changes on the computer?

Please follow the steps from this link and check if it helps:

Internet Explorer crashes or hangs

Hope the information provided was helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to help.

 

Explorer crashes, computer won't restart when internet goes down

I don't have and never had Norton anything on this computer. My display driver was and is up to date. My antivirus software that runs in the background is common sense, the default windows anti-malware, and Comodo firewall (I know it's not Comodo causing
problems). My other anti virus programs (Malwarebytes, Super anti-spyware, TDSKiller) only run when I open them for periodic scans--these were not running when this problem occurred.

I will update Windows as I've noticed a new update, but I've had this problem since I upgraded to 10 about one year ago.

I can try to recreate the problem by cutting my internet off. I will see if the update fixes it.

 

First you need to fill out your System Spec's. Second it helps to know who your provider is. If you have Windows set to use a PPPoE connection through it. It can cause the OS from doing anything else, until it gets the connection.

 

Thanks for the response. I've updated my system specs to the best of my knowledge. Not entirely sure why it would help to know my provider. They are terrible, but are my only good option. It's a DSL connection and my computer is connected to that via wifi (my dc issues are not wifi related). I vaguely remember something about PPPoE, but honestly I don't know anything about that.

 

We need to know who your ISP is, because that is part of the troubleshooting process. If you are using DSL with a Gateway that allows for Wifi, then the OS may be waiting for some connection through any software that your ISP talked you into installing on your computer.

If you hold down F8 or Fn F8, it will take you into the Repair mode.

 

They are Frontier Communications. I have not and would never install anything from them.

Edit: I'll try repair mode. Isn't that the same as safe mode? I assume you press f8 as the computer is booting up, because pressing and holding f8 does nothing now.

 

Well I can't even get into safe mode anymore. I've tried hitting f8 during boot up, then f12 on another try. Went through Settings>Update&Security>Recovery>Advanced Startup. Tried holding shift in the lock screen while clicking restart. But when I get the the low res screen telling me which mode to select (safe mode w/cmd prompt, safe mode w/networking, etc.) I can't do anything. I press 1-9, f1-f9, any other key and nothing. For now I'll just start backing up important files. I'll check back tomorrow.

 

Try what I posted here:
File Explorer crashes after Right Click in Desktop

 

@topgundcp Thank you. I noticed a Windows update and decided to do that. Then I tried to recreate the problem by pulling out my wifi adapter, and I'm not getting the explorer freeze/crash any more, but I have my doubts the update permanently fixed anything. Regardless, I bookmarked your link--it makes a lot of sense that a 3rd party thingy in the context menu would cause problems specifically when trying to use the context menu. If the problem happens again, I'll try that. (I don't know if my issue is actually solved, so I'll just leave it for now.)

 

I would still suggest to use the procedure but look closely for any extension related to your Wifi then disable it.

 

Okay, but I don't think any of these have much to do with wifi. Unless you're talking about a Microsoft extension.

 

For testing purpose. Disable Comodo/Malware/SAS and try with your Wifi connected. I know that some people are having the problems with one of those.

 

Done. Since I never use the context menu aspects of those programs, is it okay to just leave them disabled?

 

Context menu is just a covenient way to access the application, you can leave them disabled with no harm done.