Blank Desktop

[Steve]

Hi everybody -- I'm running windows xp and have run into a
major problem. Tried searching everywhere on the web for
a fix and came up empty.

I rebooted my computer on saturday and when it rebooted,
my desktop wallpaper came up but nothing else; no icons,
no start button, no clock, nothing. Even if I leave it
like this for an hour, nothing else loads. It does the
same thing in safe mode -- apears to load fine (i.e. I
choose my name, it loads my settings, etc.) and then it
gets to the desktop and locks.

My computer isn't freezing, because I can still run
programs through my task manager. I do notice that
systray.exe and explorer.exe aren't loading automatically,
and trying to load them through the task manager doesn't
solve the problem.

I have tried the following fixes:

Run antivirus and spyware removal programs
System restore to an earlier point
Boot into windows using 'last known good configuration'

None of these worked. Compaq now tells me there's nothing
else I can do, and that I need to format my hard drive and
start all over again. If I can avoid doing this -- I'd be
a much happier person.

Thanks for ANY help/options you can provide.

Sincerely,
Steve Y.

 

[Jay]

Steve, I am having a similar problem plus many more. I do
want to reformat my hard drive, but people tell me I need
a special disk to be able to reload the operating system,
and it is not the boot disk you make yourself. I don't
know? Your help is appreciated. Thanks, Jay