No desktop at all, the start menu, taskbar, and task tray all gone

[kenbarber]

my son's notebook boots with no desttop at all, the start menu, taskbar, and task tray all gone. there is nothing except the wall paper. he can cntl.alt, delete get a task manager and run some programs that do not require the internet using the task manager. that is totally all there is.
i am not sure what to try. oh, windows XP i think sp1 but maybe sp3.

 

[sakotius]

Sounds like explorer.exe has gone haywire. Go into the task manager and go to the process section. Click file->New Task(run) then type in explorer.exe and report back what happens. If there is an error then reply the EXACT error back here

 

[kenbarber]

error:

"windows can not find explorer.exe make sure you type the name correctly then try again. to search for a file, click the start button, then click search."


but we do not have a start button.

 

[sakotius]

error:

"windows can not find explorer.exe make sure you type the name correctly then try again. to search for a file, click the start button, then click search."


but we do not have a start button.

Hmm according to your computer one of the most important files is missing. You may ned to re-install windows. But don't do that just yet. I am going to point you to this http/www.geekstogo.com/forum/explorer-exe-missing-t86202.html

Tell me if anything progresses

 

[kenbarber]

thx, i'll let you know what happens.

i have the original software cd, but the cd drive was broken as we were trying to get ready to re-install windows. how he managed that i am not sure.