No desktop in Safe Mode

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nels Hansen
  • Start date Start date
N

Nels Hansen

Have unsuccessfully tried to Restart in Safe Mode (a number of times).

Get into Safe Mode alright but no Desktop ever displays.

Running XP Pro, SP2, on Dell GX110.

Looked in Google and this newsgroup archives with no answers (that I could
recognize).

Help much appreciated.

Nels
 
Nels Hansen said:
Have unsuccessfully tried to Restart in Safe Mode (a number of times).

Get into Safe Mode alright but no Desktop ever displays.

Running XP Pro, SP2, on Dell GX110.

Looked in Google and this newsgroup archives with no answers (that I could
recognize).

Help much appreciated.

Nels
Click to expand...

Try this:
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch the Task Manager.
- Click the Applications tab, then New Task
- Type Explorer {OK}
 
Hello, Pegasus:

Followed your instructions with no success. Tried it in both Normal and
Safe Mode. I get past the Administrator to the Safe Mode screen, but no
Desktop ever displays.

Further ideas? They will be welcome.

Nels
 
Help on this needed. Forgive me if I have not been patient enough, OK?

Thanks,

Nels
 
Nels said:
Help on this needed. Forgive me if I have not been patient enough,
OK?

Thanks,

Nels
Click to expand...

You haven't provided enough information to get focused troubleshooting.
So you can't get into either Regular Mode or Safe Mode and run
explorer.exe? What changed between the time things worked and the time
they didn't? What antivirus program do you have installed - name of
program, version, and whether your subscription is up-to-date. Have you
run any anti-malware programs such as Ad-aware lately? Post back with
details about your computer and its recent history.

Malke
 
It seems most potential respondents have run out of ideas . . .

You did not report what happened when you pressed
Ctrl+Shift+Esc while in Safe Mode. What did you see?

Have you tried rebooting to "Last Known Good Configuration"?
 
Pegasus:

I'm sorry I wasn't as thorough as I should have been. After pressing
CTRL+Shift+Esc it took me to taskmanager in both Normal and Safe Boot modes.
I selected Applications and New Task, then entered Explorer and OK'd. Task
Manager disappeared and nothing happened. I still could not get a Desktop
display in Safe Boot mode.

Any further ideas will be appreciated.

Nels
 
Hello, Malke:

Thank you for picking up on this. Apologize for incomplete info. The info
you requested follows:

I do have Desktop in Normal Mode, but not Safe Mode. Following Pegasus'
instructions, I got into Task Manager in both Safe and Normal modes,
selected Applications, and then New Task and entered Explorer and then OK'd.
Task Manager disappeared. Then, I tried to boot into Safe Mode with the
same results, ie., get to Safe Mode but no Desktop display.

I don't believe anything has changed since the last time it worked well
except that now I do not get a Desktop display in Safe Mode. My AV is
eTrust EZ Antivirus by Computer Associates, version 7.0.6.7, updates several
times a day, scans each night - no viruses, etc. Use AdAware for
anti-malware which is run about everyother day.

Have also ran Trend Micro's online antivirus program. It shows clean,
however when I first used it a little more than a week ago, it picked up
several viruses/trojans - mostly Vundo trojan, 4 instances. TrendMicro
cleaned those out and no recurrences have shown up.

The only other thing I can think of is that WinFixer keeps popping up
off-and-on. It does not show in any of my AV or malware searches, nor in a
Windows file search.

Does this help?

Thanks for caring.

Nels
 
Now we know that Windows is still working and that you might
have problems with Explorer. Can you launch cmd.exe via the
Task Manager / New Task box?

If you can then I recommend that you run sfc.exe from the
Command Prompt (System File Checker).
 
Nels said:
Hello, Malke:

Thank you for picking up on this. Apologize for incomplete info. The
info you requested follows:

I do have Desktop in Normal Mode, but not Safe Mode. Following
Pegasus' instructions, I got into Task Manager in both Safe and Normal
modes, selected Applications, and then New Task and entered Explorer
and then OK'd.
Task Manager disappeared. Then, I tried to boot into Safe Mode with
the same results, ie., get to Safe Mode but no Desktop display.

I don't believe anything has changed since the last time it worked
well
except that now I do not get a Desktop display in Safe Mode. My AV is
eTrust EZ Antivirus by Computer Associates, version 7.0.6.7, updates
several
times a day, scans each night - no viruses, etc. Use AdAware for
anti-malware which is run about everyother day.

Have also ran Trend Micro's online antivirus program. It shows clean,
however when I first used it a little more than a week ago, it picked
up
several viruses/trojans - mostly Vundo trojan, 4 instances.
TrendMicro cleaned those out and no recurrences have shown up.

The only other thing I can think of is that WinFixer keeps popping up
off-and-on. It does not show in any of my AV or malware searches, nor
in a Windows file search.
Click to expand...

It is quite odd that WinFixer will allow you to go into regular mode but
not Safe Mode. WinFixer and its demon spawn definitely cause
explorer.exe not to work. Perhaps you have some regular antimalware
protection working for you in regular mode that is off in Safe Mode. I
haven't seen this, but it's a thought. However, if I were you I'd run
HijackThis and post your log in one of the following forums (not here,
please):

http://www.aumha.org/a/hjttutor.htm - HijackThis tutorial by Merijn
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=42 -
another tutorial
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html
http://spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5 - Spyware Warrior HijackThis
forum
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/

Read the posting FAQ of whatever forum you choose first. Posting your
log will enable the experts to take a look and see if anything is
amiss. So your next step is to do the HJT thing.

Malke
 
Pegasus:

Thank you for helping.

In Safe Mode (with the black screen showing Safe Mode in the corners)
CTRL+Shift+Esc brings up Task Manager.
I Select Applications > New Task> type in cmd.exe and return which brings up
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe, status Running and Command Prompt window
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>; I enter sfc.exe and return. This
brings up the following:
Microsoft<R> Windows Xp Windows File Checker Version 5.1
<C> 1999-2000 Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved. The next line shows
Scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with
correct Microsoft versions.
SFC [/SCANNOW] [/SCANONCE] [/SCANBOOT] [/REVERT] [/PURGECACHE] [/CACHESIZE
=X]
/SCANNOW Scans all protected system files immediately.
/SCANONCE Scans all protected system files once at the next boot.
/SCANBOOT Scans all protected system files at every boot.
/REVERT Return scan to default setting.
/PURGECACHE Purges the file cache.
/CACHESIZE=X Sets the file cache size.

Then, C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

All this has not resolved the problem. What should I do next?

Appreciate all the help!

Nels
 
Pegasus:

Further to my last post:

Went back into Safe Mode at point of last Command line in Safe Mode and
entered sfc /scannow.

Got the following:

Windows File Protection could not initiate a scan of protected system files.
The specific error code is 0x000006ba [The RPC server is unavailable.]

and a new Command line is displayed.

Does this added info help?

Thanks again.

Nels


Nels Hansen said:
Pegasus:

Thank you for helping.

In Safe Mode (with the black screen showing Safe Mode in the corners)
CTRL+Shift+Esc brings up Task Manager.
I Select Applications > New Task> type in cmd.exe and return which brings
up C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe, status Running and Command Prompt window
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>; I enter sfc.exe and return.
This brings up the following:
Microsoft<R> Windows Xp Windows File Checker Version 5.1
<C> 1999-2000 Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved. The next line shows
Scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with
correct Microsoft versions.
SFC [/SCANNOW] [/SCANONCE] [/SCANBOOT] [/REVERT] [/PURGECACHE] [/CACHESIZE
=X]
/SCANNOW Scans all protected system files immediately.
/SCANONCE Scans all protected system files once at the next boot.
/SCANBOOT Scans all protected system files at every boot.
/REVERT Return scan to default setting.
/PURGECACHE Purges the file cache.
/CACHESIZE=X Sets the file cache size.

Then, C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

All this has not resolved the problem. What should I do next?

Appreciate all the help!

Nels


Pegasus (MVP) said:
Now we know that Windows is still working and that you might
have problems with Explorer. Can you launch cmd.exe via the
Task Manager / New Task box?

If you can then I recommend that you run sfc.exe from the
Command Prompt (System File Checker).
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
At this stage I would do this:
- Save all data files to an indenpendent medium.
- Boot into Safe Mode.
- Start a Command Prompt.
- Insert the WinXP CD.
- Type this command:
d:\i386\winnt32.exe (assuming that d: is your CD drive letter)

This will "upgrade" your WinXP installation to WinXP. It will
probably fix your problem. You won't lose any of your current
settings or any of your installed software. Remember to install
Service Pack 2 plus all security updates.


Nels Hansen said:
Pegasus:

Thank you for helping.

In Safe Mode (with the black screen showing Safe Mode in the corners)
CTRL+Shift+Esc brings up Task Manager.
I Select Applications > New Task> type in cmd.exe and return which brings up
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe, status Running and Command Prompt window
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>; I enter sfc.exe and return. This
brings up the following:
Microsoft<R> Windows Xp Windows File Checker Version 5.1
<C> 1999-2000 Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved. The next line shows
Scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with
correct Microsoft versions.
SFC [/SCANNOW] [/SCANONCE] [/SCANBOOT] [/REVERT] [/PURGECACHE] [/CACHESIZE
=X]
/SCANNOW Scans all protected system files immediately.
/SCANONCE Scans all protected system files once at the next boot.
/SCANBOOT Scans all protected system files at every boot.
/REVERT Return scan to default setting.
/PURGECACHE Purges the file cache.
/CACHESIZE=X Sets the file cache size.

Then, C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

All this has not resolved the problem. What should I do next?

Appreciate all the help!

Nels


Pegasus (MVP) said:
Now we know that Windows is still working and that you might
have problems with Explorer. Can you launch cmd.exe via the
Task Manager / New Task box?

If you can then I recommend that you run sfc.exe from the
Command Prompt (System File Checker).


(that
I
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Haven't been able to follow thru yet. Will advise results when I am able
to.

Nels


Pegasus (MVP) said:
At this stage I would do this:
- Save all data files to an indenpendent medium.
- Boot into Safe Mode.
- Start a Command Prompt.
- Insert the WinXP CD.
- Type this command:
d:\i386\winnt32.exe (assuming that d: is your CD drive letter)

This will "upgrade" your WinXP installation to WinXP. It will
probably fix your problem. You won't lose any of your current
settings or any of your installed software. Remember to install
Service Pack 2 plus all security updates.


Nels Hansen said:
Pegasus:

Thank you for helping.

In Safe Mode (with the black screen showing Safe Mode in the corners)
CTRL+Shift+Esc brings up Task Manager.
I Select Applications > New Task> type in cmd.exe and return which brings up
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe, status Running and Command Prompt window
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>; I enter sfc.exe and return. This
brings up the following:
Microsoft<R> Windows Xp Windows File Checker Version 5.1
<C> 1999-2000 Microsoft Corp. All rights reserved. The next line shows
Scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with
correct Microsoft versions.
SFC [/SCANNOW] [/SCANONCE] [/SCANBOOT] [/REVERT] [/PURGECACHE]
[/CACHESIZE
=X]
/SCANNOW Scans all protected system files immediately.
/SCANONCE Scans all protected system files once at the next boot.
/SCANBOOT Scans all protected system files at every boot.
/REVERT Return scan to default setting.
/PURGECACHE Purges the file cache.
/CACHESIZE=X Sets the file cache size.

Then, C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

All this has not resolved the problem. What should I do next?

Appreciate all the help!

Nels


Pegasus (MVP) said:
Now we know that Windows is still working and that you might
have problems with Explorer. Can you launch cmd.exe via the
Task Manager / New Task box?

If you can then I recommend that you run sfc.exe from the
Command Prompt (System File Checker).



Pegasus:

I'm sorry I wasn't as thorough as I should have been. After pressing
CTRL+Shift+Esc it took me to taskmanager in both Normal and Safe Boot
modes.
I selected Applications and New Task, then entered Explorer and OK'd.
Task
Manager disappeared and nothing happened. I still could not get a
Desktop
display in Safe Boot mode.

Any further ideas will be appreciated.

Nels


It seems most potential respondents have run out of ideas . . .

You did not report what happened when you pressed
Ctrl+Shift+Esc while in Safe Mode. What did you see?

Have you tried rebooting to "Last Known Good Configuration"?



Help on this needed. Forgive me if I have not been patient enough,
OK?

Thanks,

Nels

Hello, Pegasus:

Followed your instructions with no success. Tried it in both Normal
and
Safe Mode. I get past the Administrator to the Safe Mode screen,
but
no
Desktop ever displays.

Further ideas? They will be welcome.

Nels


Have unsuccessfully tried to Restart in Safe Mode (a number of
times).

Get into Safe Mode alright but no Desktop ever displays.

Running XP Pro, SP2, on Dell GX110.

Looked in Google and this newsgroup archives with no answers (that
I
could
recognize).

Help much appreciated.

Nels


Try this:
- Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch the Task Manager.
- Click the Applications tab, then New Task
- Type Explorer {OK}
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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