Windows 7 SP1 32-bit - Windows Explorer Crashing with faulting "ntdll.dll" module

Question

I work at the IT department as a summer intern for a small company. A user is encountering frequent and seemingly random Windows Explorer crashes - it could be in various folders, the control panel, network drives, anywhere - there is no pattern. The Event Logs claim that the crash is caused by the faulting module "ntdll.dll". I have tried nearly every possible fix found from previous knowledge and Google searches, including:

SFC scan (found nothing)

Memory Test (found nothing)

chkdsk (found nothing)

Disabling DEP

Disabling thumbnails

Shell Menu Viewer/Shellex Viewer changes

Updating graphics drivers

Startup Repair (found nothing)

Virus/Malware scan

And various other things. Nothing has worked for me. The customer uses programs like Adobe Framemaker 9, Acrobat XI, SnagIt, and others. There is no discernible cause for these crashes, as it could be anywhere in Windows Explorer. My last resort is to take his computer ( and hit it with a hammer ) and rebuild Windows on 64-bit and reinstall his various programs.

But before I do this, does anyone else have any ideas? Any help is appreciated.

Solution

According to the Application Verifier enabled dumps, the Adobe DLL C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2\Adobe RoboSource Control 3.1\NGMenu.dll tries to free memory twice, which is invalid and this causes the crash:

APPLICATION_VERIFIER_HEAPS_DOUBLE_FREE (7)
Heap block already freed.
This situation happens if the block is freed twice. Freed blocks are marked in a
special way and are kept around for a while in a delayed free queue. If a buggy
program tries to free the block again this will be caught assuming the block was not
dequeued from delayed free queue and its memory reused for other allocations.
The depth of the delay free queue is in the order of thousands of blocks therefore
there are good chances that most double frees will be caught. 
Arguments:
Arg1: 00191000, Heap handle for the heap owning the block. 
Arg2: 0767c550, Heap block being freed again. 
Arg3: 00000010, Size of the heap block. 
Arg4: 00000000, Not used 
GetUrlPageData2 (WinHttp) failed: 12030.

CONTEXT:  (.ecxr)
eax=00715168 ebx=00000000 ecx=00000002 edx=00715168 esi=00190000 edi=00190000
eip=5799ba58 esp=0373f140 ebp=0373f15c iopl=0         nv up ei pl nz na po nc
cs=001b  ss=0023  ds=0023  es=0023  fs=003b  gs=0000             efl=00000202
verifier!VerifierStopMessage+0x1f8:
5799ba58 cc              int     3
Resetting default scope

FAULTING_IP: 
verifier!VerifierStopMessage+1f8
5799ba58 cc              int     3

EXCEPTION_RECORD:  (.exr -1)
ExceptionAddress: 5799ba58 (verifier!VerifierStopMessage+0x000001f8)
   ExceptionCode: 80000003 (Break instruction exception)
  ExceptionFlags: 00000000
NumberParameters: 3
   Parameter[0]: 00000000
   Parameter[1]: 85d82d48
   Parameter[2]: 00715168

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  STATUS_BREAKPOINT_AVRF

PROCESS_NAME:  explorer.exe

ERROR_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0x80000003 - {AUSNAHME}  Haltepunkt  Im Quellprogramm wurde ein Haltepunkt erreicht.

EXCEPTION_CODE: (HRESULT) 0x80000003 (2147483651) - Mindestens ein Argument ist ung ltig.

EXCEPTION_PARAMETER1:  00000000

EXCEPTION_PARAMETER2:  85d82d48

EXCEPTION_PARAMETER3:  00715168

NTGLOBALFLAG:  2000100

APPLICATION_VERIFIER_FLAGS:  48004

APPLICATION_VERIFIER_LOADED: 1

APP:  explorer.exe

ANALYSIS_VERSION: 10.0.10069.9 amd64fre

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER:  from 57999d3c to 5799ba58

BUGCHECK_STR:  STATUS_BREAKPOINT_AVRF

STACK_TEXT:  
07 ntdll!RtlDispatchException
08 ntdll!KiUserExceptionDispatcher
09 verifier!VerifierStopMessage
0a verifier!AVrfpDphReportCorruptedBlock
0b verifier!AVrfpDphCheckNormalHeapBlock
0c verifier!AVrfpDphNormalHeapFree
0d verifier!AVrfDebugPageHeapFree
0e ntdll!RtlDebugFreeHeap
0f ntdll!RtlpFreeHeap
10 ntdll!RtlFreeHeap
11 verifier!AVrfpRtlFreeHeap
12 ole32!CRetailMalloc_Free
13 oleaut32!APP_DATA::FreeCachedMem
14 oleaut32!SysFreeString
15 verifier!AVrfpSysFreeString
WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be wrong.
16 NGMenu!DllUnregisterServer
17 shell32!CFSIconOverlayManager::_GetFileOverlayInfo
18 shell32!CFSIconOverlayManager::GetFileOverlayInfo
19 shell32!CFSFolder::_GetOverlayInfo
1a shell32!CFSFolder::GetOverlayIndex
1b shell32!CIconOverlayTask::InternalResumeRT
1c shell32!CRunnableTask::Run
1d shell32!CShellTask::TT_Run
1e shell32!CShellTaskThread::ThreadProc
1f shell32!CShellTaskThread::s_ThreadProc
20 shlwapi!ExecuteWorkItemThreadProc
21 ntdll!RtlpTpWorkCallback
22 ntdll!TppWorkerThread
23 kernel32!BaseThreadInitThunk
24 ntdll!__RtlUserThreadStart
25 ntdll!_RtlUserThreadStart


FAILURE_IMAGE_NAME:  NGMenu.dll

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  STATUS_BREAKPOINT_AVRF_80000003_NGMenu.dll!DllUnregisterServer

    Loaded symbol image file: NGMenu.dll
    Image path: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2\Adobe RoboSource Control 3.1\NGMenu.dll
    Image name: NGMenu.dll
    Browse all global symbols  functions  data
    Timestamp:        Mon Sep 10 15:51:00 2007 (46E54BC4)
    CheckSum:         00023BF4
    ImageSize:        00023000
    File version:     3.8.0.1
    Product version:  3.8.0.1
    File flags:       0 (Mask 3F)
    File OS:          4 Unknown Win32
    File type:        2.0 Dll
    File date:        00000000.00000000
    Translations:     0409.04b0
    CompanyName:      Adobe Systems
    ProductName:      RoboSource Control 3
    InternalName:     NGMenu
    OriginalFilename: NGMenu.DLL
    ProductVersion:   3, 8, 0, 1
    FileVersion:      3, 8, 0, 1
    FileDescription:  Menu Module
    LegalCopyright:   Copyright (C) 2006. Adobe Macromedia Software LLC. All rights reserved.

Remove this old Adobe software (it is from 2007) to fix the crashes.

Comments

[Moab]

See if this works for you

[magicandre1981]

create a dmp and share the dmp: pastebin.com/WACz5GBU

[nightsurfer]

Moab: I have tried this as well, but crashes still occur. The only usefulness from this option has been only the faulting Explorer window closes, not everything.

[nightsurfer]

magicandre1981 - thank you. Here is a .dmp from this morning: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1555462/explorer.exe.6500.7z

[magicandre1981]

you get a HEAP_CORRUPTION. Use this .reg file to get a dump with app verifier data: onedrive.live.com/… hare the new dump. Please also post @ my username so that I get notified of your reply.

[nightsurfer]

@magicandre1981 sorry, just to clarify. I need to run that new .reg file, wait for another crash, then upload the new dump?

[magicandre1981]

correct, this is what you have to do now.

[nightsurfer]

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

[nightsurfer]

@magicandre1981 I don't know if the registry entry was forcing it to crash, but it went down 6 times with me just trying to retrieve the dumps. I uninstalled the key, and the dumps are here: dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1555462/LocalDumps.7z

[magicandre1981]

the new dumps are helpful. I'll post an answer.

[nightsurfer]

This has been amazingly helpful, thank you! I've been bashing my head against a wall for three weeks with this issue. It will take a while to get him all settled with new software but thank you so much. Would you say this faulting dll would cause Word and Acrobat to crash as well? Event Viewer claims ntdll.dll is also causing crashes (although much less often) for those two programs.

[magicandre1981]

it could be also the cause. Is the issue now fixed or Explorer?

[nightsurfer]

Well we haven't been able to switch him over to new software. Our company is a bit behind on things, so we have to wait for either a CS6 purchased or a CC purchase. I can let you know later on though.