Windows XP Logon taking ages and icons are 'broken'

[AcidX]

Heya.
Earlier today I rebooted my computer (it was working fine before this)
but then when I tried to logon it was taking ages.
It logs on eventually, but when it does all my icons are broken and my
quicklaunch bar isn't working and neither are any of the items in the
start menu.
my computer's basically acting as if all the programs have uninstalled
themselves (but the programs are still installed and I don't get
warning messages saying the program couldn't be found - even when I
reinstall programs or install new ones they still don't work from the
start menu) but that might be due to the fact I ran a few registry
scanners to try and fix the problem.

It's very unlikely that it's a hardware problem, unless something
inside just decided it didn't want to work and has somehow managed to
damage user domains...?

Another thing to take note of is that, when in safe mode, logon runs
fine (at normal speed) but the programs in the start menu and
quicklaunch bar still don't work.

So basically... There appears to be something wrong with my
shortcuts/icon images (they are all that one that windows puts on an
unrecognised file) and something related to this problem is causing
windows logon to take ages! (As this happened at the same time, I feel
it's safe to assume they're related)
Anyone know what could be wrong and ways to fix it?

 

[jg]

troubleshooting:
1. start menu, run, type in msconfig.exe and press enter
2 on the System Configuration Utility window, click diagnostic start up
3 OK and allow to reboot
4 start antivirus software /services scan
5 run a number of malware scanner online from Symantec, Microsoft, trend
micro, MacAfee
5 still not finding anything? start up ms config again and enable startup
for non Microsoft one by one to reboot until you find the culprit
6 still not finding problem? start up of non Microsoft service one by one
and again


Good luck

 

[AcidX]

Heya.

I don't think it's a service running.
Someone else told me that my Explorer and registry was damaged.
They said the best thing for me to do would be to re-install windows...
However... The problem there is that I don't have a Windows XP CD (Ours
is OEM installed and didn't come with a CD) and the only one I could
get would probably be a copy from a friend... Therefore... I'm left
with few options, the most sensible one being trying to repair the
problem (If that's even possible...)

 

[Brian]

sounds like something you installed (possibly), try a system restore to the
day it was working

 

[Guest]

Did you find a fix? I have the exact same problem. Mine started after
getting the "blue screen of death". I'm assuming they're related. If I
power off an on several times it will eventually work. Please let me know a
reinstall of XP worked for you.

Thanks.

Lloyd