33 processes and then......

[hpoincare]

My VP has a new IBM (factory image) XP Operating system, 2GB Ram, plenty of
speed. Stock applications like Office 2003, visio, adobe reader. Nothing
extraordinary. However on restart of the PC, after login, she gets a blank
desktop.

It will stay blank until the cows come home (or longer, we still don't know
if it will ever resolve). By hitting ctl-alt-del I'm able to bring up task
manager and see that there are 33 processes that loaded and are running.
Always 33.

If I log her off (using the ctrl-alt-del) and login as another user (both
are admins), it comes right up. If I then go back to her profile it also
comes right back up. The same is true if I switch profiles and do this in
reverse. Seems the problem occurs only for the first person to login after
restarting the PC.

I'm about to flatten and reinstall, but thought I would check here if anyone
has any ideas? All ideas no matter how small or relavant are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Eric]

Since you intend to format and reinstall you might as well try a repair
install from the XP CD. If it works it will save you time reinstalling
everything apart from the missing updates.

This page tells you how to do that:

http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/RecoveringXP.htm

Eric - http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/

 

[Bjarke Andersen]

If I log her off (using the ctrl-alt-del) and login as another user
(both are admins), it comes right up. If I then go back to her profile
it also comes right back up. The same is true if I switch profiles and
do this in reverse. Seems the problem occurs only for the first person
to login after restarting the PC.

I'm about to flatten and reinstall, but thought I would check here if
anyone has any ideas? All ideas no matter how small or relavant are
appreciated.

When the blank desktop appears, try kill explorer.exe through Task Manager,
and then run explorer.exe again.

Does this help?

 

[Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM]

My VP has a new IBM (factory image) XP Operating system, 2GB Ram, plenty
of
speed. Stock applications like Office 2003, visio, adobe reader. Nothing
extraordinary. However on restart of the PC, after login, she gets a blank
desktop.

It will stay blank until the cows come home (or longer, we still don't
know
if it will ever resolve). By hitting ctl-alt-del I'm able to bring up
task
manager and see that there are 33 processes that loaded and are running.
Always 33.

If I log her off (using the ctrl-alt-del) and login as another user (both
are admins), it comes right up. If I then go back to her profile it also
comes right back up. The same is true if I switch profiles and do this in
reverse. Seems the problem occurs only for the first person to login after
restarting the PC.

I'm about to flatten and reinstall, but thought I would check here if
anyone
has any ideas? All ideas no matter how small or relavant are appreciated.

Thanks

Try Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

 

[smlunatick]

Since you intend to format and reinstall you might as well try a repair
install from the XP CD. If it works it will save you time reinstalling
everything apart from the missing updates.

This page tells you how to do that:

http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/RecoveringXP.htm

Eric -http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/









- Show quoted text -

Please note that the OP states a "factory image" XP which seems to
indicate that this laptop has a recovery method. This is a hard drive
"image" and not a complete XP install system. Repair installs are not
possible with this type of Xp installer.