Blank Screen (repost)

[Alan C]

Still got the problem, and still need advice, Please.

Problem: xp boots past the login screen, but doesn't display any icons,
taskbar or start button. On ctrl/alt/del and task manager - new task, I can
run some apps. If I try to run explorer.exe I get 'cannot find....path not
found...etc'.

If I run cmd prompt, I can change to c:\windows and dir for explorer - it's
there but size is 1008640 bytes. I rename it to .old and run sfc which puts
explorer.exe back - size 1004032 bytes. Now new task - explorer.exe loads
my desktop icons, taskbar, and everything else. This is fine until I
reboot, and then the problem recurs. Each time explorer.exe is replaced
with the bigger file.

I have run latest av (e-trust & stinger), spybot, adaware, etc and deleted a
load of nasties,
which I am sure caused the problem in the first place, but may have left
some residue.

Any ideas as to which reg keys, etc are responsible? or any other
suggestions?



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[Jon]

To troubleshoot, you could make a copy of the "good" explorer.exe, renaming
it, say, "AlansExplorer.exe" and place it in c:\windows

Then change the "shell" key at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

from explorer.exe to AlansExplorer.exe [change it back when you've solved
the problem]

Then continue to search for spyware, dodgy startup programs etc

Jon

 

[Nightowl]

Jon wrote on Thu, 30 Jun 2005:

To troubleshoot, you could make a copy of the "good" explorer.exe, renaming
it, say, "AlansExplorer.exe" and place it in c:\windows

Then change the "shell" key at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

from explorer.exe to AlansExplorer.exe [change it back when you've solved
the problem]

Then continue to search for spyware, dodgy startup programs etc

Hi Alan

Have you tried looking at your startup programs with MSConfig?

Start > Run, type msconfig, click OK.

Look at the Startup tab and see if there's anything there you don't
recognise. If there's any reference to explorer.exe, there shouldn't be!
If you're not sure what a program is, Google for it or run a Search for
it on your computer, then right-click on the file in the search window
and look in Properties (click on version, name, etc.).

If you think you've found a nasty, uncheck it in the Startup tab; that
will stop it from loading when you restart. Then put back your "good"
explorer.exe, reboot and see if the file switching still happens.

If your suspect turns out to be innocent, you can always put the check
mark back. But if it's the offender, MSConfig will tell you its location
so you can get rid of it for good.

Hope this helps,