Taskbar icons missing in Notification Area

I'm still having the same problem.
I've tried system restore several times, but it won't keep my settings.
Now it's telling me it can't restore to my selected point. I haven't gotten the nerve to try a reinstall.
Also - Your suggestion about F8 doesn't work on my computer. I can't find a way to get to "Safe Mode"
from startup. If I use F12 it gives me many options, but not Safe Mode.
Is this a MS thing or a Dell thing?

I am having exactly the same problems as you: missing icons from the taskbar.  I have called Dell tech support more than 6 times already, without having any success.  I was only able to recover my audio (volume) icon.  I am missing the battery meter and the "safely remove hardware devices" which appears when I have my wireless NIC card inserted in the PCMCIA slot.
Have you been able to resolve this problem?

It seems like my problem appeared after I applied all the security patches from Microsoft.  At one point the system restore worked, but I had to install the patches to reduce the risk of getting hacked.

I have tried it all!!! Restored or repaired XP twice already...

This seems to be a common bug in Inspiron 1100 along with the computer freezing when you reboot and in the middle of a software app installation (this went away after repairing XP the first time).

I am so frustrated because of this since when you buy a new PC you don't expect this kind of headaches.  One thing I haven't tried is to format the machine, yet if I do that then I am afraid that after all these efforts the problem will re-appear.

Let me know if you were able to get a fix for this.

P.S. I have another machine running XP and never had any of these problems (it is not a Dell), this got to be related to a Dell application like for instance QuickSet.

I'm more than a little sympathetic (duh), but I'm running a Dimension machine.
so, I guess it's not just Inspiron.
I'm missing system, factory installed and other installed icons - no particular ones.

I am having shut-down and reboot problems too.

The System Restore didn't fix the problem and seemed to work eratically.

I tried reinstalling Windows, but either I didn't do it right or it just didn't help.

I'm very suspicious of the Windows updates  :-\

Hi,

You can access safe mode after normal startup by going to start -- run... -- type msconfig -- ok -- in the window that opens select the BOOT.INI tab and click -- safe boot -- then -- ok.

Hi

I have the same problem with my Laptops. Originally I thought that this had something to do with my machine but after installing XP Pro on a different Laptop the same thing happened:

Some Icons in the Notification Area just don't show, I am sure that the related programs are running.

If I log off and log on again everything is fine on all my machines. It seems that it has something to do with the fact that I don't use a password to start up on either Laptop.

Can you check if you see the Icons after re- logging on?

Still, I did not find a proper solution, it annoys me a lot!!!

Good luck 

Although it says Saving Settings you could try adding this to make sure of Save;

When Windows exits it normally saves the desktop layout, including icon location, appearance and other parameters. This setting disables any changes from being saved therefore allowing you to preserve a configured layout.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value called 'NoSaveSettings' set the value to equal '0' to disable the restriction.

Exit your registry, you may need to restart for the changes to take effect.

Settings:
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
Name: NoSaveSettings      0
Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value: (0 = disabled, 1 = enabled)
 

I am trying the registry edit ...
My "NoSaveSettings" value is "0000  00  00  00  00       ...."
Is this what it sould be?

I don't think so as mine show

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

                               Type                            Data

NoSaveSettings   REG_DWORD           0x00000000(0)

Did you create new DWORD if not right click "NoSaveSettings"  & Delete

then with "Explorer still selected click "Edit"  > "New" > "DWORD Value"

press Backspace to delete Highlighed name then type name   NoSaveSettings      press Enter   ,  double click on NoSaveSettings & enter value  0

---------------------

I have since read that Binary value 00 00 .... is the same as DWORD value 0 . ?

Message Edited by gryjhnhpe on 10-11-2003 10:33 AM

Message Edited by gryjhnhpe on 10-12-2003 06:44 PM

I finally got to the resolution of the missing icons in my Inspiron 1100 with XP Home.  This is what I found in the experts-exchange website:

From: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20506663.html

I believe that this issue can be resolved using the two methods:

1)  Disable the following services:
a) SSDP discovery service
b) Universal Plug & Play Device Host

Source:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1034225301

Method 1)

Right-click on My Computer
Click on Manage
Expand 'Services & Applications'
Highlight 'Services'
Look through list of services on the right....
Find Universal Plug & Play Device Host
Right-click on it.
Click properties.
Change startup type to 'Disabled'
Do exactly the same with 'SSDP discovery service'
Problem should be solved


Method 2) Dealing with registry - Disable "Automatically Hide Inactive Tray Icons": Follow this website:

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/918/

Hope this helps!

**********
Method #1 worked for me!!!  I feel so happy now, it has been two weeks now since I fix this and it hasn't happened again.

Good luck guys!

Frank

I, too, found that logging off and back on brings my icons back!
I'm trying the services disable trick - see if that works for me.

Whew, it took you a while to reply to this. The last post was 10-12-03. lol