No StartBar/Icons+Wierd Colors

[Emily Morris]

Hello,
After turning on the computer yesterday morning,
everything seemed fine until I got a message that
said "Restoring registry to previous version when
everything was working correctly". Then it restarted.
Once it rebooted, no icons or start bar would appear. I
can still get the task manager with the ctrl.alt.del
keys, and it says no programs are running. I rebooted
from the task manager, but this time when it came up the
desktop and "Welcome" screen had extremely strange hot
colors/pixelated. The task manager still comes up, but
now it is bright red and blue/orange. The real colors are
revealed only in a tiny area around the cursor.

-Safe Mode does not work. It produces a black screen, and
the mouse and any keyboard keys do nothing.
-Pressing F8 to get to the system restore screen works,
but the restore does not do anything. (still no start
bar/icons+ strange colors remain)
- There is no WINPUP.exe running
- Explorer.exe is not running
- Ran an up-to-date virus scan, and deleted all viruses
didn't help
- Command prompt for XP will work in safe mode

 

[Sharon F]

- Ran an up-to-date virus scan, and deleted all viruses
didn't help

Did the A/V program find viruses? If yes, which ones? Did you look them up
online to see if there are extra repair steps needed above and beyond what
the antivirus program is capable of performing?

It's possible that the virus or just circumstances have damaged system
files or drivers and they need to be replaced. If you suspect this is the
cause, try a repair install:

Run a repair install.
How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;315341

NOTE: The above applies to retail CD or a generic OEM CD. If your Windows
came preinstalled, check your system manual for restore/repair options and
for directions.