Start Up Problem ?

Question

Hello: Always something new, I guess. Running XP. New problem seems to be happening; started about a week ago. 2 year old Dimension XPS. On booting up, everything seems normal during the process; normal screen(s) appear, etc. Then, it gets to the last stage where the desktop and its icons usually appear. But now, quite often, the desktop has no icons. I use a solid color (blue) for a background, and just this solid color now appears. Everything on the PC is also frozen. The bar on the bottom with its startup icons, etc., Is there, however. Can't shut down normally, either. Have to press the on/off power button, and totally shut PC off via this button Sometimes it takes several re-boots before things work normally. Then, everything seems to work just fine, as it normally did. No new programs loaded, at least on purpose. Use AVG virus scan religiously. Any thoughts would be most appreciated. Thanks, Bob

mombodog · Answer

Next time it boots normally I would run this utility to clean up your user profile...   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en   If this does not remedy the problem, I suggest posting on this forum after reading the 'How to post a Hijack this Log' at the top   http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board?board.id=si_hijack

RoHe · Answer

Since the problem begins at startup, I don't think installing User Profile Hive Cleanup Service will fix this problem, though it won't hurt.

Try booting several times in Safe Mode (F8 before XP starts to load). If that's problem-free, then something loading at startup is the problem. (Note: your desktop will not look 'normal' in Safe Mode.)
If Safe Mode loads OK, run msconfig and uncheck everything on Startup tab, except items related to your firewall, antiviral software, mouse and video card. Exit msconfig and reboot normally. Put check in "don't show this again" box. If that's ok, you've narrowed the problem down to something you unchecked on Startup tab. That stuff doesn't have to start at boot up and can be left unchecked, but is still available if it's needed.

If unchecking the items in msconfig doesn't help. Reboot until you get to normal desktop and run Windows System File Checker:
click start>run
type in: sfc /scannow
(space between sfc and /)
click Ok.
Insert XP CD if sfc requests it and reboot when it's done.

Ron

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