Desktop with no icons or start menu

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lori
  • Start date Start date
L

Lori

We moved my son last weekend and when we plugged in and set up his computer,
it boots at a snail's pace and only goes as far as the desktop page with no
icons, no ability to access the start menu, virtually unusable. When he
disassembled it, he admitted to just unplugging it rather than turning it off
properly.

How can I fix this, if possible? I can't even get into safe mode without it
freezing. I do have a recovery XP disc (Dell), so should I try that by
putting the boot sequence into the CD drive first? I feel so sorry for him
as he really needs his computer. It is an older Dell, but was working before
the move.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
 
Best guess is some simple hard drive damage due to the moving around. I
would run chkdsk.

Boot to setup CD, press 'r' for repair.
At that prompt, enter:
CHKDSK /R

It's likely this will fix it, but if not, you reboot to CD and this time
press ENTER to start setup. It will find the installed system, and offer to
'Repair' it.

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Mark L. Ferguson
..
 
Thank you, Mark, for the quick reply. I just want to confirm, you are saying
to do this from the Dell Recovery CD? I can only figure that's what you're
referring to. Don't want to take anything for granted, though. I appreciate
your help.

Lori
 
Mark,
Thanks again for your really fast reply. My son will be home this afternoon
and I will go give this a shot on his computer. I will keep you posted.
Have a great day!
 
Well, Mark, no luck. Five hours later, the same thing only now the desktop
has a box that never loads that says "Personal Settings" in it. I have tried
everything I could from the Task Manager, no luck. Whenever I try to use the
"My Computer" option, it freezes. If I go to msconfig, and then choose the
"System Restore," the hourglass moves and it never comes up. It's just not
working.

Everything is still in the computer, files and all, but you cannot access
any icons or a start menu and it takes literally about 8 minutes boot up onto
an empty wallpapered desktop.

I am out of suggestions, except telling him to call The Geed Squad. Mom has
had it! Wish there was something else left to try. I did the chkdsk/r and
the boot to recovery disk and then enter, which took a long time, both of
them, and just not luck.

Thanks for trying.
 
Lord No, DON'T let the Geek Squash or any other like them anywhere near the
machine, find a reputable repair shop in your area.

Aside from that, a damaged component could be a likely cause due to him pulling the
plug while it was running, yet let's check another thing or two first.

During the move it's possible a connection came loose. With the machine off and
the power cord unplugged, open the case up and check inside to make sure all of the
power/data connectors, adapters/cards and memory modules are firmly and securely
seated.

If they all appear to be in proper order, can you boot to "Safe Mode w/Command
Prompt? If yes try:

How to start the System Restore tool at a command prompt in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449/

--


Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
LOL! No Geek Squad? I thought they were good. My bad.

I already opened the case yesterday when the mouse wouldn't work and made
sure everything was tight and in order. So that's not going to help.

I cannot get into safe mode, even with command prompt. If I choose
administrator, it goes into a DOS screen and freezes. If I choose my son's
account, it opens up a box for his password and freezes then.

I am at a loss. With no way to restore the system, I don't know what else
to do. Plus, you would think after reinstalling Windows to repair it today
and even that didn't work, this machine is messed up.

Any other ideas? I'd be open to any suggestions at this point. I feel so
bad for him. Guess he should never have pulled that plug.

By the way, I did run Spybot S&D on it while I had it in regular mode today
via the Task Manager and it found three culprits, two of which it fixed and
one it couldn't, some CDilla. Other than that...

Thanks,
Lori
 
perhaps at the blank
desktop you can open
the task manager, then
go to the process tab and
kill the explorer.exe

then go to the first tab, click
new task and enter explorer.exe
 
IIRC in the past CDilla would be installed along with TurboTax and was reported to
be spyware although Inuit claimed it was used for copy protection. After much public
outcry Intuit offered an uninstaller for it on their site. It makes one winder if
they're back into their old tricks if your son had recently installed TT, and if not,
possibly anther application that installs it. If he hasn't done either it was
installed along with some application he previously installed. A search on the web
for cdilla will get you any info you need on it and how to remove it. I might have
info on it and will have to check and get back to you on that.

Seeing that you mention being able to use Task Manager, under the Applications tab
click the "New Tasks" button and see if you can start a new instance of Explorer.
Also if you can get to msconfig, under the "Services" tab uncheck anything not MS
related and see if that helps boot to Windows properly. If it does you'll need to
systematically figure out which unchecked item is the cause of the issue by
rechecking them either one at a time or in bundles until the issue arises again.
Also have a look at:

How to perform a clean boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/en-us

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434/en-us

How to troubleshoot by using the System Configuration utility in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560/en-us



--


Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Windows Desktop User Experience }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
I want to address both db's and Brian's suggestions. You both seem to be in
agreement that since we can access the Task Manager, to kill the currently
running explorer.exe and then start a new one. Why? I'm just curious. I
mean, I'll try anything at this point, but I don't understand the logic
behind it. I'm curious.

Also, I cannot log into safe mode in Admin. or user-specific. It just
freezes afterwards. So anything in safe mode, unfortunately, is out of the
question.

Now, if I go to Services under the Task Manager, what precisely do I need to
keep running? And once I do that, are you saying if I kill the right
service, the icons will appear?

I have to say, this logging into the dekstop, even without icons, takes a
good eight minutes or so. Everything is so tedious trying to troubleshoot
when it takes forever to do something simple.

I also tried to, in msconfig, set it to just start up with diagnostic files
loaded and it won't accept it. It will never apply it.

This is really upsetting because you can see every file he still has in his
hard drive but you can't get anything to work.
 
explorer.exe loads
the registry files.

along with the suggestion
provided by others, there
is also a possibility that
when the plug was pulled
and caused an inadvertent
loss of power, the loss may
have occurred during a
read/write to the registry.

in other words, the file and
perhaps others was opened
when the power loss occurred.

as we all know it is better to let
windows shut down so
that all the files can close
normally.

and there are times that windows
can recover from a sudden loss
of power. however, if the system
was overwhelmed with loaded
processes and unneeded services
that your son may have been running
at the time, then windows would have
difficulty recovering on its own.
however, this might also be indicative
that windows was probably functioning
as a lop sided wheel before the power
loss as well.

the suggestion about ending the
process and then restarting it, that
is uninstalling it from memory and
loading into memory again, is only
a simple one that may or may not work.

if it does work, then at least
a door opens up to the desktop
and the opportunity to search and
resolve some of the pre existing
issues is provided.

if the suggestion does not work
then there are a very few options
left with the last being the ol'
trusty sledge hammer method.
 
db,
Something tells me the sledgehammer method is looking more and more like the
only way out of this mess. I guess if all else fails, I can totally
reinstall Windows, no? Or does this mean the hard drive has had it?

My son had not been living in the house for almost a week, had his computer
running all the while with his AOL away message on and probably other
programs running in the background (if I know him). So I don't doubt that
things were open when he pulled the plug. Why he did that, I don't know.

Is there any way to get his files out of there before we wipe it out? I
have an external drive, but will it be able to transfer files via the Task
Manager to it? Probably not, right? I doubt any drives at all will work.

Well, thanks for the feedback. I will have him try the explorer.exe kill
and restart tomorrow. I honestly don't have a good feeling about that.
Wouldn't that be the same as restarting the computer?

Thanks.
 
if the pc was left running for
many days, then the
registry was probably in
an unstable state when the
plug was pulled.

and if the plug wasn't pulled, then
the system would have been
unlikely to reboot anyways.

the explorer process is
simple and only reloads
the registry into memory
and won't initiate a reboot.

if it works then the icons
will appear. ( you had
mentioned running antivirals
from the task manager.)

if however, the reloading of the
explorer.exe proves futile, then
there are a couple
of more things to try.

for example, using the recovery
console via the windows cd
you can run additional commands.

perhaps running the fixboot
and bootcfg/rebuild commands
will restore access to the bootmenu
option safemode.

perhaps rebuilding the registry
from the recovery console would
be a reasonable idea as well, certainly
wouldn't hurt a faulty system.

perhaps installing a new windows
into another partition or disk, since
harddrives are cheap a second
windows can be installed onto it
and provide you with a method to
operate on the faulty system.

let us know what the stats
are for the explorer process
method.

incidentally, in your subsequent
post can you elaborate on the
method of the repair installation.

this method was a reasonable
option to take and its failure
to repair the o.s. is a bit
perplexing.

one can only wonder if a
new installation of windows
would be a failure as well.

(however, microsoft does
provide 2 free requests for
technical support for issues
involving installations)
 
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