Start menu stops working

[Guest]

I have Windows XP Professional fully patched (including SP2) on an IBM T42p
(laptop).

My start menu stops working occasionally (I'm not sure what triggers this
failure).

When I click the start button, nothing happens. If I right click, the
normal context-menu appears. I am using "Classic Start Menu". When I switch
to the normal XP start menu, it DOES appear, but with a black box where I
expect to see the recently used programs and the Programs "directory" does
NOT expand.

I can remedy the situation by restarting the "explorer.exe" program. But
I'd prefer to figure out what's causing it. Any suggestions?

 

[Rock]

I have Windows XP Professional fully patched (including SP2) on an IBM T42p
(laptop).

My start menu stops working occasionally (I'm not sure what triggers this
failure).

When I click the start button, nothing happens. If I right click, the
normal context-menu appears. I am using "Classic Start Menu". When I switch
to the normal XP start menu, it DOES appear, but with a black box where I
expect to see the recently used programs and the Programs "directory" does
NOT expand.

I can remedy the situation by restarting the "explorer.exe" program. But
I'd prefer to figure out what's causing it. Any suggestions?

Have you updated the display adapter drivers lately? If so roll them
back using the roll back feature in device manager.