Please help!! No start button, no desktop....

[Guest]

I have a problem that I would greatly appreciate some help with. I am
running Windows XP Home edition. I started up my computer the other day with
no problems. Did the normal stuff that I do everyday and left my computer
on. A little later my son logged on to his screen and when he did this is
what he saw:

A black screen with this as the title on top
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe" in front of that was a box that said
this: "16 BIT MS DOS SUBSYSTEM" Inside of the box the message was as
follows:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe
The NTVDM CPU has encountered and illegal instruction
CS:0560 IP:025E OP:c7 19 37 37 31
choose close to terminate the application or ignore

When I saw this I switched back to my screen and ran spybot, adaware,
microsoft defender which all came up with no problems. I restarted my
computer and on restart mine was now the same as his with the above message.
So I ignored it and that left me with a blank screen.....no start button, no
desktop, and no toolbar. So I pulled up task manager and can access "stuff"
through that. Friday, saturday and sunday the startscreen, taskbar, and
desktop would appear after starting tasks. I finally thought that I had
figured out the combo that was making it appear....but I didn't, I found out
that it was evidently random. They will still randomly appear. ???
I spoke to a Dell tech rep and we tried opening in safe mode, and
restoring to a previous setting( I am not exactly sure what the proper words
were) which both gave me the same results as before........the same black
box with the same message. He told me to save all of the files that I wanted
to keep and prepare to do a completely new install of Windows XP when my disc
arrived.
Now to my question. Is there anything that I can do to resolve this
problem without having to do a complete reinstall? I do have files that I
don't want to loose and have done a backup of my files and I have a few more
that I want to copy but basically I am trying to find out if there is a
solution besides the full reinstall.
Please excuse the length I was trying to get my steps in so that you
would know what I had/have done and when it appeared. Thank you so much in
advance.
Eagle

 

[Guest]

sounds like ahardware issue, maybe sound, maybe something else. Does your pc
have a special / additional sound or video card installed? Possibly a game
or something is not cmpatiable with the equip....

Reinstall the o.s. would destroy everything. But a repair would not. Power
down pc and unplug all the connections except mouse, kb, monitor. Boot up
from wndows cd, select new install, then repair installation found......
After you use your functinal pc a few times, reconnect each cable back in one
at a time, reboot and see which hardware may be causing to problem......

-
~~~~~~~~~~~
"To be a 0 or is it to be the 1 ?
That is the data".......W.Gatespeare

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a problem that I would greatly appreciate some help with. I am
running Windows XP Home edition. I started up my computer the other
day with no problems. Did the normal stuff that I do everyday and
left my computer on. A little later my son logged on to his screen
and when he did this is what he saw:

A black screen with this as the title on top
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe" in front of that was a box that
said this: "16 BIT MS DOS SUBSYSTEM" Inside of the box the
message was as follows:

Try this first: Go to start } Run and type sfc /scannow.

If that doesn't fix it, post back for more suggestions.

 

[Guest]

I read that the message may be caused by a trojan that is accessing your ip
connection. Since it modified the registry, a repair should get back in
order. Some think its from an email message that the trojan attached itself
to others think it is from a mozilla based program.

If you get back up and running be sure to run an "anti Virus". And "do not
run anything" else except the ie browser and your antivirus. You can
download free antivirus's or trial's. Didn't see an antivirus mentioned in
your listing.

If you open your email, do not open attachments. Delete these unknown
emails and spam, even if the "spam" are from your friends. Friends pass on
emails to other friends and so on and on and on. NEVER open an attachment
with an extension of .exe or .bat or .ini or screensavers.

 

[Guest]

My Windows problem is similar in that the Windows Toolbar (with Start Menu
and all) has disappeared. Eagle, did you resolve your computer problem? If
so, what worked?