XP Problem

[68falcon]

so, when i boot the computer, it looks like someone took a screenshot of the background and set it as the background because none of the icons or buttons work. the start button on the keyboard doesnt work, right click on the desktop doesnt work, and the rightclick button doesnt work either. ctrl-alt-delete does work though. when i shut down, usin ctrl-alt-del, it has to wait to end explorer.exe. everything works fine in safe mode though. if you need anymore info please ask, thanks for the help

 

[jfunk]

Run msconfig and uncheck all the stuff in startup to see if it boots normally. If it does, one of those programs is hanging when called. Trial and error should narrow down which it is.

 

[68falcon]

thanks, ill try that. any reason you know of that when i shut it down explorer.exe always has to end. it come up with the waiting to end program thing. but it works fine in safe mode. i try to end explorer.exe in the taskmanager, and start it again, but that doesnt work either. ill get back to you with the results

 

[68falcon]

ok, i did that, by the way, its server 2003. i stopped all the start up stuff and it still does the same thing.

 

[68falcon]

anybody got any ideas? im gonna try a repair installation next, unless there is a better way

 

[mechBgon]

Maybe it's a security-related problem. Do you have firewall protection, SP1 installed, all post-SP1 updates installed, ran the Security Configuration Wizard, enabled DEP completely, and have up-to-date, fully-configured antivirus software installed? Because there's malware that could fit the description you gave, more or less.

 

[68falcon]

i considered that, but its a fresh install, 2 or 3 days old. its not connected to the internet or any network yet. all it has installed is norton ghost, with a few images, and syncback.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: 68falcon
i considered that, but its a fresh install, 2 or 3 days old. its not connected to the internet or any network yet. all it has installed is norton ghost, with a few images, and syncback.

When did it start? Obviously something (a driver/service/etc.) has been installed that caused this, so figure out when that happened, and then revert all of those changes.

If safe mode has no problems, then just uninstall whatever non-MS products you've installed, and that's another way to test.

Another way to test is to disable all non-MS services (not just startup processes) using msconfig, then reboot.

 

[68falcon]

the last thing that i know of happening, is taking a back up using syncback, across the network, just one comp from another, the other computer was not connected to the internet. then after that, a friend took a screenshot of my desktop and set it as the background, ever since, no buttons work, or the start button. right click doesnt work either. or the start button on the keyboard. ill try to unistall and check services today

 

[Woodie]

I find this happens occasionally, usually after a hard shutdown. Just wait...you can bring up task manager, and just wait. Eventually the user-side processes will start, and you'll get your desktop. Do a graceful shutdown, and that will prevent this from happening the next time you start.

YMMV.