No Icons or menu on desktop ?

RayCon

Hi ... was updating Internet Explorer (from 5 to 8) and installing Security Essentials on my brothers PC yesterday and when everything was downloaded & updated - after reboot there were No icons, task bar , menus etc - only the wallpaper. So I Ctrl=Alt+Delete and brought up the Task Manager, can't see Explorer.exe running , so I try New Task and type Explorer.exe - nothing. I then did the same for iexplorer.exe and a blank page pops up like it's going to try load IE , then disappears.

The PC is a few years old - Dell Dimmension 2350 , with XP Home Edition. Haven't a clue what to do next ... any help - greatly appreciated. Tried googling the problem , a lot of forums suggest what Ive already tried , some suggesting reinstalling Windows !! (which I don't fancy trying cos Ive never tried before and I dont think he has the original discs that came with the PC).

Duggy747

Could be a dirty virus or simple corruption on Windows part.

• Power on the machine and immediately keep pressing F8 until a menu comes up.
  
• Select Last Known Good Configuration - This will boot back to the previous time you successfully logged into Windows.

If nothing changes restart the machine and keep pressing F8 again to get the menu.

• This time select Safe Mode
  
• See if the problem still occurs
  
• If not, run security essentials and see if it can find anything

D'Agger

Most things that you should try can be found right here for you:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318027

The first thing I would do is start in safe mode then bring up task manager and end the explorer.exe process (assuming it's there in safe mode which it should be) - if it pops up again shortly after you end it then it's not a problem with explorer.exe and most likely a virus or config problem such as a defect program launching at startup I'd say.

Best of luck with it - hope this helps

RayCon

Duggy747 wrote: »

Could be a dirty virus or simple corruption on Windows part.

• Power on the machine and immediately keep pressing F8 until a menu comes up.
  
• Select Last Known Good Configuration - This will boot back to the previous time you successfully logged into Windows.

If nothing changes restart the machine and keep pressing F8 again to get the menu.

• This time select Safe Mode
  
• See if the problem still occurs
  
• If not, run security essentials and see if it can find anything

Thanks for the reply ... forgot to mention in the original post that I tried Safe Mode ... I press F8 on boot up , arrow key up to safe mode, press enter, then when the Welcome to Windows screen comes up ... I chose the User to log on , then it goes to a black screen with "Safe Mode Windows XP Server P3 etec etc blah blah" written along the top and "Safe Mode" in the lower corners ... then just stays that way ... nothing else happens, it doesn't bring me to the desktop.

D'Agger

RayCon wrote: »

Thanks for the reply ... forgot to mention in the original post that I tried Safe Mode ... I press F8 on boot up , arrow key up to safe mode, press enter, then when the Welcome to Windows screen comes up ... I chose the User to log on , then it goes to a black screen with "Safe Mode Windows XP Server P3 etec etc blah blah" written along the top and "Safe Mode" in the lower corners ... then just stays that way ... nothing else happens, it doesn't bring me to the desktop.

This may be a dumb question but are you selecting safe mode with networking as opposed to with command prompt and just basic safe mode??

You should be given the following options when you press F8 upon booting it:

RayCon

From that screen I chose the first option ... "Safe Mode". Should I be trying 3rd option down ... "with Command Prompt" ?

D'Agger

RayCon wrote: »

From that screen I chose the first option ... "Safe Mode". Should I be trying 3rd option down ... "with Command Prompt" ?

No you should be trying the 2nd option - safe mode with networking....it might not make a difference but try it and let us know anyway

hearny

Go to http://www.superantispyware.com/ and download the portable version and burn it to a cd (you can use a USB key but it may get infected off the machine too).

Open the machine in normal mode.

press ctr+alt+del and run a new task type cmd and press enter.

navigate to the cd drive (usually D or E) by typing and pressing enter.

type dir to list the files on the cd then type the name of the file e.g. SAS_??? pressing tab after you type the first few characters should fill in the blanks for you.

Try to update the definitions (may not work) and then run a full scan.

RayCon

Hi - thanks to everyone for their replies so far ... so here's what I tried today ....

F8 - Safe Mode with CMD Prompt ... screen looks like Fig 1 below (not actual screen shot - just used to illustrate) .. however keyboard and mouse freeze ... wont let me type or do anything so I have to power off


Fig 1.

Next I try bog standard Safe Mode ... lets me choose Safe Mode, Window's Screen comes up , lets me choose User , then I get the screen below (fig 2) but without the Dialogue box stating that we're in Safe Mode and would I like to do a System retore instead ... just the black screen with white script on the top and bottom .... and it just stays that way ...


Fig 2

Then I boot up again , and go through the log on as normal ... arrive at the desktop with just wallpaper , no task bar, menu , icons etc and do a Ctl+Alt+Delete - bring up Task Manager , do New Task > MSCONFIG and go into the tools tab (Fig 3), choose System Restore and press Launch the I get a Dialogue box stating "Systems Restore is not able to protect your computer. Please restart your computer and try again" (Fig 4). I do that and Im back to square 1.

Fig 3


Fig 4

As ever , any help ... much appreciated ...

hearny

Did you try superantispyware as mentioned in my post above.

You could also try download http://download.bitdefender.com/rescue_cd/bitdefender-rescue-cd.iso

burn it to a cd,
poot on the problem machine, update virus definitions and run a scan.

RayCon

Hi Hearny ... thanks for the reply ... I didn't try the antivirus download yet .. I managed to get a Windows XP "fixes" file from an IT guy in work ... I burned it onto a disc so Im going to try that next ...

RayCon

well, none of that worked ... anyone got a spare Windows XP disc so I can just reload the whole bloody thing !!!!

Kene

Ray dont be such a tight arse go buy xp software:)

RayCon

... any reputable suppliers at a decent price ?