Win XP Home will not run any application, no errors shown

[Kirk]

Hello,

6 months ago I reformatted my hard drive and installed WinXP.
Everything has been working flawlessly until last week. On startup,
everything appears normal - no errors show, desktop displays correctly
& start menu functions properly. However, I cannot start any
application from either the desktop or Start-Programs path.

I can click or double-click on icons and I *briefly* see an hourglass,
with a *brief* light on the hard drive. But then nothing happens. No
error code, nothing at all no matter how long I wait.

This behaviour is stopping me from running virus scans, spyware scans,
or anything else useful. I tried to re-install XP Home, but stops
when 51 minutes are remaining in the install. Again, no error message
or specifics about the problem. It does not lock-up (as I can hit ESC
to leave the install), but it just sits there doing nothing (no hard
drive light or CD-rom light).

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions anyone might have. If this
has been posted to death elsewhere, I appologise and politely ask to a
link to previous solutions. I could not find anything useful.

Thanx!

 

[Malke]

Hello,

6 months ago I reformatted my hard drive and installed WinXP.
Everything has been working flawlessly until last week. On startup,
everything appears normal - no errors show, desktop displays correctly
& start menu functions properly. However, I cannot start any
application from either the desktop or Start-Programs path.

I can click or double-click on icons and I *briefly* see an hourglass,
with a *brief* light on the hard drive. But then nothing happens. No
error code, nothing at all no matter how long I wait.

This behaviour is stopping me from running virus scans, spyware scans,
or anything else useful. I tried to re-install XP Home, but stops
when 51 minutes are remaining in the install. Again, no error message
or specifics about the problem. It does not lock-up (as I can hit ESC
to leave the install), but it just sits there doing nothing (no hard
drive light or CD-rom light).

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions anyone might have. If this
has been posted to death elsewhere, I appologise and politely ask to a
link to previous solutions. I could not find anything useful.

Thanx!

Start by running a standalone antivirus scanner like Stinger. You can
get Stinger here: http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/ Run Stinger in Safe
Mode. If nothing comes up, that doesn't necessarily mean the computer
is clean, but it's a good indication. If you can't even run Stinger in
Safe Mode, then I think you may have a hardware issue. Your inability
to complete a Repair Installation makes me think your hard drive might
be damaged.

I would start by testing the RAM with Memtest86 (www.memtest86.com) and
the hard drive. Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility
downloaded from the drive mftr.'s website. Post back if you need more
help after you've tried these steps.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

You should update your antivirus software, but in the meantime see www.dougknox.com, Win XP Fixes, File Association Fixes, LNK and EXE File Association Fixes

 

[Kirk]

You should update your antivirus software, but in the meantime see

www.dougknox.com, Win XP Fixes, File Association Fixes, LNK and EXE File
Association Fixes

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am unable to run any
applications. This includes antivirus software and updates for it. I
was able to run the File Association Fix, but it did not solve my
problem.

Start by running a standalone antivirus scanner like Stinger.

Oddly enough, I was able to run this scanner, but it did not find
anything. Unfortunately, as I am not able to find anything to improve
this situation, I am left with the only option of re-installing XP.
It may be time-consuming, but I am spending a lot of time trying to
get it fixed anyway.

Thanx for your suggestions.