As you have tried all possible solutions,  have a look at this URL:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;818150

Thanks for the tip. I am not sure my Dimension 8200 has an onboard video card as well as the nVidia GeForce 3 Ti500 that came with it as alluded to in the Microsoft Knowledge base.

I tried disabling the AGP in the BIOS but to no avail.

The fact that explorer.exe hangs when exiting Normal mode only and it takes ages to boot into Normal mode suggests a software problem? I have run all the antivirus/pybot/ sfc /scannow again to no avail.

For further information:

I ran HiJack This and below is the result. Also my ntbtlog file is about 145Kb in Safe mode and 2Mb+ in Normal mode. It is full of Driver Not Loaded statements.

Additionally the following happens:

Clean Boot / Safe mode / Start up is quick with icons
                  / Normal mode / Start up is quick but NO icons

Full Boot / Safe mode / Start up is quick with icons
               / Normal mode / Start up is very slow (5 min+) and NO icons

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7
Scan saved at 12:07:50, on 15/02/2004
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office\OUTLOOK.EXE
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Share-to-Web\hpgs2wnf.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Richard McBrien\Local Settings\Temp\Temporary Directory 1 for hijackthis.zip\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.euro.dell.com/countries/...gen/default.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Internet Explorer brought to you by BTopenworld
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = 127.0.0.1;
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] C:\WINDOWS\Updreg.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SideWinderTrayV4] C:\PROGRA~1\MI948F~1\GAMECO~1\Common\SWTrayV4.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Share-to-Web Namespace Daemon] C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Share-to-Web\hpgs2wnd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SchedulingAgent] mstinit.exe /firstlogon
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Promon.exe] Promon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PHIME2002ASync] C:\WINDOWS\System32\IME\TINTLGNT\TINTSETP.EXE /SYNC
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PHIME2002A] C:\WINDOWS\System32\IME\TINTLGNT\TINTSETP.EXE /IMEName
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSPY2002] C:\WINDOWS\System32\IME\PINTLGNT\ImScInst.exe /SYNC
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LTWinModem1] ltmsg.exe 9
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IMJPMIG8.1] C:\WINDOWS\IME\imjp8_1\IMJPMIG.EXE /Spoil /RemAdvDef /Migration32
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IMEKRMIG6.1] C:\WINDOWS\ime\imkr6_1\IMEKRMIG.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPHmon03] C:\WINDOWS\System32\hphmon03.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPDJ Taskbar Utility] C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\hpztsb04.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DXDllRegExe] C:\WINDOWS\RegisteredPackages\{44BBA855-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}\dxdllreg.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DellTouch] C:\WINDOWS\MMKeybd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccRegVfy] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccRegVfy.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AHQInit] C:\Program Files\Creative\SBLive\Program\AHQInit.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AdaptecDirectCD] C:\Program Files\Adaptec\Easy CD Creator 5\DirectCD\DirectCD.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NVMCTRAY.DLL,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Microsoft Works Update Detection] ???????\WkDetect.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - Startup: HotSync Manager.lnk = C:\Program Files\Handspring\HOTSYNC.EXE
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OSA9.EXE
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Works Calendar Reminders.lnk = ?
O4 - Global Startup: PsiWin 2.3 Connection Server.lnk = C:\Program Files\Psion\PsiWin\Psconsv.exe
O9 - Extra button: Researcher (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: Related (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Show &Related Links (HKLM)
O16 - DPF: {01A88BB1-1174-41EC-ACCB-963509EAE56B} (SysProWmi Class) - http://support.dell.com/systemprofiler/SysPro.CAB
O16 - DPF: {02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B} (QuickTime Object) - http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab
O16 - DPF: {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000} (Shockwave ActiveX Control) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/...director/sw.cab
O16 - DPF: {3E68E405-C6DE-49FF-83AE-41EE9F4C36CE} (Office Update Installation Engine) - http://office.microsoft.com/officeu...ontent/opuc.cab
O16 - DPF: {41F17733-B041-4099-A042-B518BB6A408C} - http://a1540.g.akamai.net/7/1540/52...meInstaller.exe
O16 - DPF: {4E888414-DB8F-11D1-9CD9-00C04F98436A} (Microsoft.WinRep) - https://webresponse.one.microsoft.c...iveX/winrep.cab
O16 - DPF: {597C45C2-2D39-11D5-8D53-0050048383FE} (OPUCatalog Class) - http://office.microsoft.com/product...ontent/opuc.cab
O16 - DPF: {90A29DA5-D020-4B18-8660-6689520C7CD7} (DmiReader Class) - http://support.euro.dell.com/global...er/PROFILER.CAB
O16 - DPF: {9F1C11AA-197B-4942-BA54-47A8489BB47F} (Update Class) - http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.c...8025.4042939815
O16 - DPF: {AE9DCB17-F804-11D2-A44A-0020182C1446} (IntraLaunch.MainControl) - file://D:\system\intralaunch.CAB
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/...ash/swflash.cab
O16 - DPF: {D5EBF06F-9BAF-11D0-B12D-00C04FC39CEA} (pcANYWHERE Remote) - file://C:\TRANCOMM\pawrem.dll

Refer the group posting:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=egQxPmVtDHA.2304%40tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26q%3Dmissing%2Bicons%2Btaskbar%2B%252B%2BWindows%2BXP%26sa%3DN%26tab%3Dwg

Richard,

How is this going? I have a very similar problem along with my computer being much more quiet while booting and running. Have you found a solution yet?

James

Success at last. Thank you very much to everyone who has read the thread and thought about a solution.

In the end it was cured in a most bizzare way. We had a power cut for about 30 minutes in the whole area. When the power was restored the computer booted up into Normal mode, all the icons etc were all back to normal.

Clearly the extent and duration of the power cut was immaterial. However whilst diagnosing the problem and booting what seemed like a hundred times I often switched the Dell Dimension 8200 computer off but never actually pulled the power cable out of the back. This was true even when removing the Belkin PCI USB 2.0 5 port card, which was the last thing I installed, albeit a month before.

Explorer.exe is now back to about 21MB and booting takes the normal time.

I hope this helps some as I know how frustrating it can be. As to why the problem happened in the first place I cannot be sure. My son was playing FIFA 2004 and accidentally clicked on the Online gaming. We have not set the programme up for this and could only get out with a double CTL+ALT+DEL. The problem arose on the next boot up but removing the software, card, scanner etc. made no difference. It may be coincidental.

Thank you again for your help.