Only wallpaper....can't do anything!!

A

amagab

New Member
I have a MAJOR problems on a Dell pentium 4 desktop.

When I turn on the computer all it shows is the wallpaper. There are no taskbar, start menu...etc. I can move the mouse but when I click the buttons, nothing happens.

I tried opening the task manager and close processes but that didn't help.

Anyone have an idea/solution?

Thanks!
 
Open the Task Manager and look for "explorer.exe"

If it's running, close it, and then File > New Task > type "explorer.exe"

That *should* fix it, if there is a service error of some kind. You can also try booting into Safe Mode and running a system recovery to see if that sets you straight.

Any idea why this happened? Any changes to the system before it started doing this? Sometimes if it has to pull your profile data from a network, and that network is bogged down or not responding, it will take forever to login and run properly.
 
The explorer.exe was not running to I followed your advice to start it. I could see the taskbar flash for an instant but then goes away. The same happens to the explorer.exe in the task manager....it shows up for a second and then goes away.

I could not find an option to boot into Safe Mode.

This is not my computer so I do not know what led up to this problem.

Any idea is highly appreciated. I would hate to loose the files on the computer due to re-installation.

Thanks!
 
look for boot menu or something similar to that while booting. Usually its one of the F# buttons, or delete or something like that.

Plus you can always back up your data, just use the run command on task manager and pull up all your stuff. Then use the run command again and pull up a flashdrive or something.
 
I have been in the bootup menu and for some reason there is none boot in Safe Mode option.

I'll give the Run command a try. I'll be back...
 
Yes, i have the same problem on the laptop that i am using at the moment (tosh portege A100) I will probably be re-installing windows, or re-imaging to solve the problem. As a quick fix, i am just opening programs in Task Manager.

Adam
 
This has always been a problem that I have not really come across a solution to. However, there are many things I have come across that you can try.

1. You can try a recovery with your XP disc (assuming you have one) when booting up your pc.
2. You can try a system restore to a previous state.
3. Try to change your resolution settings from it's original size to something else, then back to what it was before. (so if it was 1024x768, change it to 800x600 and then back to 1024x768). Since you can't access the display properties, you can start a new task and type in control desktop
4. You can run antivirus/antispyware programs. This could have easily been an exploit by a virus/spyware/trojan, etc.
 
jsut a question... does the windows menu pop up if you press the windows button on the keyboard?

I pulled off a pretty lame joke on my brother once... i made a screenshot of his desktop,.. puttes it as background,.. hid his icons, and hid the Taskbar.. :D It took him 3 day's to figure that one out...I know... im a bitch... :o but it was sooo funny :)
 
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