No task bar

[KevinG]

PC boots normally, but I have no taskbar, no desktop icons, and right clicking on the desktop does nothing, the only way to run anything is from task manager, XP machine with AVG running. It will not boot up in safe mode, nor will it allow me to go back to previous known boot, as it hangs when shutting down, safe mode will not boot.

 

[Fanum]

It's hanging on something, probably a non-MS core prog.

Try unplugging anything that is attached to the machine- USB bits, external drives, anything other than mouse and KB......just in case it's a hardware thing.

After that, it would be very useful to be able to get into safe mode- you say 'it won't' boot into it but what happens and how are you trying to access it?

Most machines use f8 on startup (just keep whacking it as the machine
boots up) but some use f2 or other keys.

Can you get to a command prompt ? (start, all progs, accessories IIIRC)

If you can, type the following in

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

then hit enter and follow the instructions to restore to an earlier point

There are lots of other things to try......there is a small .vbs file you can run that will restore icons and desktop but try the above first and let us know how it goes.

 

[KevinG]

Thank you

Not sure what it was, however followed your instructions and it would still not boot in safe mode, so unplugged the network cable and continued to boot "normally", and it is all back, plugged network back in and re-booted, it still works, oh well I will add one component at a time and see if it fails again.

Thank you for your help,

Kevin.

 

[Fanum]

Glad it's sorted.

I'd spend an hour or two doing some maintenance now if you haven't done it recently- clear the internet files cache first, then run a complete virus check, adaware check and defrag the hard drive.

Once you've done that, if you have a cd/dvd writer, do a files and settings export so if it comes to it, you can backup from those..then set a manual restore point as well.

It could have been something silly like an IRQ not falling into place properly after you changed a setting, but use it as a prompt to do the back up and maintenance tasks