Start menu gone and other problems

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hello!

After booting my XP SP2 today i encountered massive problems:

1) All desktop icons changed to default windows icon
2) Windows could not start any exe-files
3) start menu empty
4) instead of "my computer" and "network neighb." the icons are just called
"Folder"

Ok. After a bit of searching i managed to fix the exe and lnk file
associations. All other file associations are still missing (pdf and so on).
Also the start menu is still empty.

Then i checked the folders and the registry. All program information and
file ass. information is still in the registry! Folders are still existing
with all my shortcuts in them. The registry does not look corrupt in any
way - the shell/folder-entry is correctly pointing to my users start menu
folder. Nevertheless it seems as is windows is not executing a certain part
of the registry. System is slow as if dma support was not loaded - could be
a hint thtat also some driver/hardware connected registry settings are
ignored although they are in the registry.

In explorer windows and IE windows there is no field to input folder names
or web addresses. Some part of the GUI seems not to be loaded.

Has any of you some hints to fix this system without reinstalling? Somehow I
believe that repairing a single faulty registry entry could do the trick and
enable windows xp to load to whole registry again - incl. file associations
and so on.

Help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.


Bye Oliver

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Have you tried using System Restore, and opting to Restore my computer to an earlier time,
and then selecting a recent date prior to the problem? Start menu/All
Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. If that fixes the problem, then scan
your hard drive with adware/malware/spyware utilities like Ad-Aware SE, Xoftspy, and/or
many others, as well as a full disk scan for viruses/worms with the latest updated
definitions from you antivirus software. If you are not using a firewall, get a decent
one immediately. Even the free Zone Alarm standard firewall will do.
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply



"Oliver Breitfelder" <obreitfelder@prosystema.de> wrote in message
news:deq6hk$aa9$03$1@news.t-online.com...
> Hello!
>
> After booting my XP SP2 today i encountered massive problems:
>
> 1) All desktop icons changed to default windows icon
> 2) Windows could not start any exe-files
> 3) start menu empty
> 4) instead of "my computer" and "network neighb." the icons are just called
> "Folder"
>
> Ok. After a bit of searching i managed to fix the exe and lnk file
> associations. All other file associations are still missing (pdf and so on).
> Also the start menu is still empty.
>
> Then i checked the folders and the registry. All program information and
> file ass. information is still in the registry! Folders are still existing
> with all my shortcuts in them. The registry does not look corrupt in any
> way - the shell/folder-entry is correctly pointing to my users start menu
> folder. Nevertheless it seems as is windows is not executing a certain part
> of the registry. System is slow as if dma support was not loaded - could be
> a hint thtat also some driver/hardware connected registry settings are
> ignored although they are in the registry.
>
> In explorer windows and IE windows there is no field to input folder names
> or web addresses. Some part of the GUI seems not to be loaded.
>
> Has any of you some hints to fix this system without reinstalling? Somehow I
> believe that repairing a single faulty registry entry could do the trick and
> enable windows xp to load to whole registry again - incl. file associations
> and so on.
>
> Help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.
>
>
> Bye Oliver
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

"t.cruise" <t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:eIVPYKzqFHA.2072@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> Have you tried using System Restore, and opting to Restore my computer to
> an earlier time,
> and then selecting a recent date prior to the problem? Start menu/All
> Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. If that fixes the
> problem, then scan
> your hard drive with adware/malware/spyware utilities like Ad-Aware SE,
> Xoftspy, and/or
> many others, as well as a full disk scan for viruses/worms with the latest
> updated
> definitions from you antivirus software. If you are not using a firewall,
> get a decent
> one immediately. Even the free Zone Alarm standard firewall will do.

I am afraid the system is free of viruses and adware. I check this very
regularly and i am running antivirus software. The system is behind a
hardware firewall.

Unfortunately i cannot use system restore because opening the program only
results in a white window with no content. Seems one of the missing GUI
parts causes this. So i am afraid i cannot use system restore.

Biggest problem: when i am opening "control panel - software" the list of
installed programs is empty. Also the list when clicking an unkown file type
is empty - the are no programs listed to link file type to thand IE. But
this file association information is in the registry. I checked that again.
Strange.


Bye Oliver

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Have you tried running System Restore from a command prompt? Boot, press the F8 key
BEFORE the Windows logo, opt for Safe Mode Command Prompt.
Select your profile from the Welcome screen
When the command prompt loads type:

cd\windows\system32\restore

then press the Enter key. Your prompt should now read:

C:\windows\system32\restore

if it does, then type:

rstrui.exe

Then press the Enter key. If something that loading on boot in Normal Mode is interfering
with System
Restore running, excuting the above command might work, and System Restore might load. If
the path to your Windows XP install is to a different drive or folder, make path
corrections to the above commands.
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply




"Oliver Breitfelder" <obreitfelder@prosystema.de> wrote in message
news:deqarf$db$05$1@news.t-online.com...
> "t.cruise" <t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:eIVPYKzqFHA.2072@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> > Have you tried using System Restore, and opting to Restore my computer to
> > an earlier time,
> > and then selecting a recent date prior to the problem? Start menu/All
> > Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore. If that fixes the
> > problem, then scan
> > your hard drive with adware/malware/spyware utilities like Ad-Aware SE,
> > Xoftspy, and/or
> > many others, as well as a full disk scan for viruses/worms with the latest
> > updated
> > definitions from you antivirus software. If you are not using a firewall,
> > get a decent
> > one immediately. Even the free Zone Alarm standard firewall will do.
>
> I am afraid the system is free of viruses and adware. I check this very
> regularly and i am running antivirus software. The system is behind a
> hardware firewall.
>
> Unfortunately i cannot use system restore because opening the program only
> results in a white window with no content. Seems one of the missing GUI
> parts causes this. So i am afraid i cannot use system restore.
>
> Biggest problem: when i am opening "control panel - software" the list of
> installed programs is empty. Also the list when clicking an unkown file type
> is empty - the are no programs listed to link file type to thand IE. But
> this file association information is in the registry. I checked that again.
> Strange.
>
>
> Bye Oliver
>
>