Windows XP Pro will boot to desktop with no icons, Control Alt Delete does NOT work

[mjh01210]

This is not the usual "no icons" issue. No software changes have been made to the laptop, updated virus and spyware software is on it.

HP laptop 8710w
XP Pro SP3, fully updated
Work laptop on a client/server domain

Laptop boots to just showing the desktop background, it never makes it to the username/password screen. Mouse does show up and can be moved, right click does nothing. Control Alt Delete and Start key does nothing, the only keys that get a response are Caps Lock / Num Lock / Scroll Lock.

Safe mode gets to the same desktop background screen with "Safe Mode" in the corners but otherwise same as above. Same with all 3 safe mode variants.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

any hardware changes lately? you may want to run a HD diagnostic and a memory test just to make sure.

 

[mjh01210]

Nope, no hardware changes at all. Company laptop and a user who wouldn't be able to change anything even if she wanted to. I'm having one of the IT people here swap the HD to an identical laptop but I doubt that will do anything.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Boot from a CD and check for viruses.

 

[NoStateofMind]

ctrl+shift+esc = task manager , click on file, new task (run), type in "explorer.exe" and hit enter.

EDIT: I should read more carefully. Yes do as magnus says but if that doesn't change anything, run seatools to check for hdd failure.

 

[corkyg]

Try System Restore.

 

[SimMike2]

Can you F8 and get to safe mode? Also when you get it running, go into the BIOS and make sure the clock is set right, and all your hardware is identified.

It almost sounds like a dual monitor setup, where the second screen is an extension of the first and doesn't have anything on the screen. This is a longshot, but have you tried the blue function key in combination with the monitor key, which usually has a little blue symbol of a monitor on notebook computers. I doubt this is the problem.

 

[corkyg]

Google "Rebuild Icon Cache."

 

[mjh01210]

Safe mode does the same thing.

Tried the duel mode thing (it had been setup to use a monitor as well as the laptop screen) but sadly that wasn't the problem.

No viruses were found, it definitely was not an icon cache issue, and I had the IT guy do a Windows repair over the existing OS since a clean install is out of the question so we can protect the precious, precious data. All of that failed so we are pulling the hard drive and sending the laptop to HP to fix, might as well make em earn their overly exorbitant rates. Thanks for all the suggestions.