PC problems (HALP)

[Kruxxor]

Heya Escapist community!

It would be awesome if someone here could help me with my PC problem. Now, I understand that this isn't a technical help forum, but I have nowhere else to turn at the moment.

Firstly, the problem;

My PC switches on fine, it loads up fine, it loads my desktop background, but no taskbar or desktop icons. The cursor has the little egg time next to it now and again and I can hear the PC loading things, like it usually does during start-up. But no matter how long I leave it, no icons or taskbar appear.

I can press Ctrl Alt Del and get task manager up, I can close down loaded programs and log out and back in. But still it stays the same. No icons or taskbar.

I've got ZoneAlarm on my PC to stop virus' coming in. I have Avast! and have run several scans (when the PC eventually loads things, mainly after I log in on safe mode, which works fine, then run avast! It doesn't find anything, but it seems to load after that)

Has anyone experienced anything similar to this? I wouldn't say I miss treat my PC, I like to consider myself an advanced PC user. But I have no idea what could be causing a problem like this.

I really hope someone here can help me.

On the other hand, if anyone knows of any good PC tech help forums, please feel free to tell me, so I can go there instead and not waste anyones time or escapist forum space.

Thank you guys.=)

xXx

 

[gRiM_rEaPeRsco]

try going into task man and starting a new task called explorer

 

[Idlemessiah]

try going into task man and starting a new task called explorer

Yep. Works every time.

 

[Kruxxor]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but how exactly do I do that? Just new task then type explorer.exe?

And even if it does do it, how do I get my PC to run explorer by itself again?

 

[jamesworkshop]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but how exactly do I do that? Just new task then type explorer.exe?

And even if it does do it, how do I get my PC to run explorer by itself again?

ctrl+alt+delete
applications tab
new task button
explorer.exe

you will probably have to repair windows to get it to work permanantly

 

[Mekado]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but how exactly do I do that? Just new task then type explorer.exe?

Correct

And even if it does do it, how do I get my PC to run explorer by itself again?

If it dosen't start by itself at computer startup your explorer is most probably fubar, if you're lucky just reinstalling explorer (through windows update) should do the trick, if you're unlucky you'll have to reinstall windows.

 

[coldshadow]

Do you have have dual monitors set up? ive done that before and wonderd where all my stuff went

 

[Kruxxor]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but how exactly do I do that? Just new task then type explorer.exe?

Correct

And even if it does do it, how do I get my PC to run explorer by itself again?

If it dosen't start by itself at computer startup your explorer is most probably fubar, if you're lucky just reinstalling explorer (through windows update) should do the trick, if you're unlucky you'll have to reinstall windows.

Saying that, I have Windows updates on my PC that say they're ready to install. Update for IE8 and 2 updates for Windows XP.

But every time I try to install them, they fail. I'm not sure why, it's happened for over a week.

I don't have dual monitors, no, I have a LCD monitor hooked up by DVI - HDMI.

 

[Mekado]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but how exactly do I do that? Just new task then type explorer.exe?

Correct

And even if it does do it, how do I get my PC to run explorer by itself again?

If it dosen't start by itself at computer startup your explorer is most probably fubar, if you're lucky just reinstalling explorer (through windows update) should do the trick, if you're unlucky you'll have to reinstall windows.

Saying that, I have Windows updates on my PC that say they're ready to install. Update for IE8 and 2 updates for Windows XP.

But every time I try to install them, they fail. I'm not sure why, it's happened for over a week.

I don't have dual monitors, no, I have a LCD monitor hooked up by DVI - HDMI.

Try installing it from scratch then instead of updating it.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/ (the orange "download now" button)

If it dosen't work, try to write the exact error message you're getting

 

[Kruxxor]

The new task thing in the task manager didn't work. It's even started to not load in Safe Mode (but running a new Task did work) Does this mean I have to reinstall windows? =\

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

The new task thing in the task manager didn't work. It's even started to not load in Safe Mode (but running a new Task did work) Does this mean I have to reinstall windows? =\

I had this with my PC for a while...
I don't want to be patronising, but just to make sure you were doing it right:
Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up Task Manager
New > New Task (Run)
explorer.exe
And run it. If that doesn't work, I'm stumped.

 

[Radelaide]

Repair Windows. If that fails, boot in safe mode, get all your stuff backed up somewhere and reinstall it. It's a bastard reinstalling, I know, but it's better than explorer.exe every time you start up.

Have you been messing around in the system files?

 

[Kruxxor]

Repair Windows. If that fails, boot in safe mode, get all your stuff backed up somewhere and reinstall it. It's a bastard reinstalling, I know, but it's better than explorer.exe every time you start up.

Have you been messing around in the system files?

The last thing I did to my PC was attach a HDMI cable from my PC to my monitor, that and get a USB Hard Drive. But nothing else. Will try to repair it now.

Thanks guys.

 

[Laughing Man]

Right ignore everyone who is saying repair Windows, firstly you have established nothing about what is causing the problem, Repairing Windows IS NOT a solution, it is a cheap and easy way out. You learn nothing about what is causing the issue hence you have no basis to prevent the same thing happening again in the future.

Now two things need to be established

1). Is the new USB HD connected all the time.
2). Are you using Vista?

If the answer to both of these is yes, shut down, remove the USB HD and reboot, does the computer boot up at normal speed?

If the answer to that is yes we can move on from there.

PS, if you have PC problems it is often helpful to give a few more details about your PC, hardware specs are nice, but OS is fundamental, especially if it's a software issue causing the fault.

 

[Mekado]

Right ignore everyone who is saying repair Windows, firstly you have established nothing about what is causing the problem, Repairing Windows IS NOT a solution, it is a cheap and easy way out. You learn nothing about what is causing the issue hence you have no basis to prevent the same thing happening again in the future.

Now two things need to be established

1). Is the new USB HD connected all the time.
2). Are you using Vista?

If the answer to both of these is yes, shut down, remove the USB HD and reboot, does the computer boot up at normal speed?

If the answer to that is yes we can move on from there.

PS, if you have PC problems it is often helpful to give a few more details about your PC, hardware specs are nice, but OS is fundamental, especially if it's a software issue causing the fault.

Saying that, I have Windows updates on my PC that say they're ready to install. Update for IE8 and 2 updates for Windows XP.

Before advising to ignore people you might want to read the post carefully, because hey, it never happens that a part of windows fucks up for no reason...right ?

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Before advising to ignore people you might want to read the post carefully, because hey, it never happens that a part of windows fucks up for no reason...right ?

You are entirely incorrect. I would in fact defy you to point out any instance of a problem with a computer that has no cause. Not being able to identify a cause does not imply one doesn't exist, it simply means you don't have the skill or resources to identify the problem.

If you are looking for a simple solution, a repair/reinstall is the surefire bet but nothing has been done to identify the problem. In this case, the symptom appears to be that explorer never loads. Since preventing this particular application from loading is generally fairly difficult it's obvious something is amiss.

A repair likey would do little to resolve the problem - if the system boots to windows and can later load explorer then there isn't a problem that a simple repair would resolve. Generally, the repair options resolve problems with the boot itself, not problems once windows is up and running. The reasoning for this is rather simple - fixing boot errors and the like can be accomplished through automated means. Resolving post boot problems involves enough time that a reinstall is generally the more efficient way to attack the problem.

Since the two most recent noted changes were the use of the USB HD, I would point out that in SOME cases, a faulity drive (generally one that is variably responsive but generally fails to load) can cause this problem in Vista/Win7. The problem is that the OS is attempting to make contact with all drives with media on the system. If the drive is entirely non-responsive windows quickly gives up. If the drive is variably responsive then the OS will continue to try to access said drive but may never accomplish the task. There is a registry setting that limits the timeout on this proceedure but I'd recommend first attempting to identify if the drive is the source of the problem. As Laughing Man stated, the easiest solution is to simply remove the drive and see if the system will boot.

If this is NOT the source of the problem, then the next likely culprit is some sort of malware. Simply having current anti-malware software means little - in my years as an IT professional, I have NEVER seen an infected system come through my shop that didn't have such software. Worse still, once a virus slips past your current defense set the odds of your software identifying the malware and eliminating it are slim. There are many ways to attack this problem, but the easist is likely going to be found through a free-ware application called "Malware Bytes Anti-Malware". This program offers no real time protection and is therefore only useful after an infection has taken hold. It can be acquired from malwarebytes.org.

When it comes to attacking a virus problem, the first step should always be to identify any data you cannot afford to lose and attempt a backup. If you cannot boot your primary OS in either safe mode or normal operation, there are a number of utility applications that come to the rescue. Ultimate Boot CD for windows for example lets you create a bootable CD that contains an operating system and a nubmer of diagnostic utilities. Unless you have a legitimate hardware problem, this will almost certainly allow data access. Just a note - it is entirely possible that any malware may be located in the files you backup so treat this data with caution.

The second step is generally attempt to identify and remove the virus through automated means. The least effective way is to boot into normal windows and run scans against the disc(s). A slightly better way is to do the same from safe mode. The BEST way is to remove the disc entirely and load it into a different machine. Since none of the potential virus files are actively running, they have no capacity to evade detection other than the intrinsic protection gained from being new.

If automated removal means do not work, you can proceed with a manual attempt but such efforts are tedious and time consuming. First you must identify an offending process (which is tricky). Then you must force the system into a state where this process is not running. Once this is accmoplished, relevant registry entries must be deleted (which, if done improperly, will simply exacerbate the problem) along with the actual files containing the virus code. In most cases, you'll find that an infected system is afflicted with many different pieces of malware. To summarize the point of this paragraph, manual removal is a step that should be attempted at your own risk and only if you have a VERY compelling reason to spend a great many hours wrestling with the problem. As a home user, if automated means have not yieled fruit at virus eradication, a format/reinstallation is simply your best bet.

 

[Gruthar]

Snip.

This is solid advice.

I'm just reiterating what's already been said, but usually a stalled explorer is caused by malware, at least in my experience. Disconnecting the external hard drive is an easy test, but if it doesn't work, checking for malware is where I would start. Not all of it is picked up by anti-virus scanners unfortunately. Dreck's suggestion of Malwarebytes is a good one. The only other one I'd suggest in addendum is Combofix. Since this is an Explorer issue, running HijackThis may not be a bad idea, in the event that you have some garbage piece of software hooking into Explorer.

In some cases, dying hard drives will also appear to cause the symptom. In those instances, Explorer may indeed load, it just will take a relatively long time to do so. Dying hard drives typically make a racket and load everything slowly, though, and since Safe Mode seems to work for you, it's not a likely culprit in your case.

The only other thing off the top of my head that caused a similar issue on a machine I worked on was a badly seated SD card on a Vista laptop...

Was this external hard drive brand new, or has it been used on another machine? If it already was in use by another computer, it ups my malware suspicion considerably. Infected autoinfs are increasingly common now...

 

[Laughing Man]

Before advising to ignore people you might want to read the post carefully, because hey, it never happens that a part of windows fucks up for no reason...right ?

Well since you seem to have gotten 'Explorer.exe' and 'Internet Explorer' mixed up around your second and third posts I am gonna stick with the my original ignore message.

Why did I say ignore? Simple the OP has a problem but initially gave NO useful information about his computer and only the vague description of what was wrong. The even issue of bigger concern is the number of people that started to give advice on solutions before even establishing some very basic facts about the OPs computer, even more worrying than that is that no one actually asked; what OS do you run and what is your hardware spec and have you done anything that may have resulted in the circumstances?

The first reply dives straight in to attempts to force a load of 'Explorer.exe', what was this assumption based on? Have we established the cause of the fault, have we even established is 'Explorer.exe' wasn't loading, the OP's information seems to suggest that the computer is doing something. So we have a computer that is busy loading programs and the advice is try and force the computer to load another instance of a program that it may well already be trying to load. All that does is tie up the computer and force more work load on a possibly damaged HD.

The second post complements the first post on how it works every time. Exactly what does it work on every time? What problem does it resolve every time?

Third post, is the OP asking how to carry out the first posters instructions but fails to add any new information about his computer.

The fourth post details instructions on how to preform the first posters task assumes that it may fail and then skips all other possibly resolutions, or for that matter attempts to find and resolve the problem and jumps straight too, 'if that doesn't work repair install Windows'..... what???

Sorry but if the task which has a small degree of chance of solving an even smaller number of problems doesn't work just go ahead and repair install Windows! By this stage we know NOTHING about the OP's computer yet some how have established that he may need to repair install Windows, seriously you think that is advise that shouldn't be ignored? Really?

Fifth post is when you step in and show that you have 'Explorer.exe' and 'Internet Explorer' confused, since if 'Explorer.exe' is damaged or corrupt then you can't load the Windows Desktop and thus have little to no chance of running 'Windows Update'. 'Explorer.exe' can only be repaired from the install disc but failing all that you go straight to if that fails you will have to repair reinstall Windows, what?

Sixth post is the first to actually ask anything about the OP's computer. Yeah of the five or six questions that should be asked the actual question asked ranks as... well not one I would ask at all, certainly not with the information given up to that point. What OS are you running, what hardware are you running and have you made any changes recently all rank way way above the posters actual question.

Seventh post is the OP and we finally establish some actual solid information about the computer albeit it is stuck at the end of the post as a little bit of sub info, when it should have been highlighted in the original post.

For seven posts we had people advising him to do stuff without even knowing some very fundamental information about his computer and, save for the guy asking about dual monitors, NOONE thought to ask ANY questions to establish the required information. So YES ignore the advice because it was massively wrong, as we established when, surprise surprise, the OP said in the same post that the attempts to force a load of 'Explorer.exe' didn't work.

The following posts had one person try to get him to force a load of 'Explorer.exe', one person advise him to download and install Internet Explorer, clearly confused as to the difference between IE and Explorer.exe (oops that was you wasn't it?) a person saying how wonderful Unix was and two more posts advising to do repair installs and then finally after 16 posts, 14 of which gave advise on the basis of knowing nothing about the OP's computer and 1 of which asked for the wrong information, the OP actually offered information that could be the root case of the issues.

SO YES IGNORE THE ADVICE GIVEN PRIOR TO THE OPS FINAL POST, it was based on assumption and none of it was based on anything that could be called informed problem solving.

 

[-Ulven-]

Try borrowing a Windows CD from someone (off course with the same version as you) then boot from the CD and use the repair hub from windows. Type inn "/chkdsc /f or /r" and let it run. That command saved my PC from a Blue Screen of Death

 

[RagnorakTres]

I have one piece of advice: Stop funding the Microsoft monopoly and get Ubuntu or Fedora. Or you could get Win7. I might hate M$, but I have to admit that they know how to make an OS when they actually try.

Before somebody jumps down my throat: No, I am not a rabid Linux fanboy, I just recently did some investigation of Microsoft and discovered the old '99 case that accused them of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows 98. Which they clearly did. The fact that they got off in appeals via settlement doesn't change that. It also doesn't change the fact that I want Win7 for my next OS upgrade (Terabyte HDD=Ubuntu and Win7. At the same time.)

*mourns for Netscape, then realizes he's using it's spiritual successor*

(Also, if you're dedicated to keeping XP, Eclectic Dreck and Gundar have good advice.)