[kenbarber]

my son's notebook boots with no desttop at all, the start menu, taskbar, and task tray all gone. there is nothing except the wall paper. he can cntl.alt, delete get a task manager and run some programs that do not require the internet using the task manager. that is totally all there is.
i am not sure what to try. oh, windows XP i think sp1 but maybe sp3. it says explorer.exe is missing.
to top it off as we were going to re-install windows, he broke the cd drive someway. how? clumbsy college student!

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Can you boot into safe mode?
The fact that the CD drive is broken will make this harder.

[edge2022]

Can you boot into safe mode?
The fact that the CD drive is broken will make this harder.

[kenbarber]

if i have gotten it up in safe mode, i have not been able to tell the difference. i did get it up in some setup utility that looked different.

if i remember correctly to boot in safe mode you push f8 while it is booting up.

[edge2022]

if i remember correctly to boot in safe mode you push f8 while it is booting up.

That is correct. Did you try going into task manager, and running explorer.exe
What is the make and model of your computer?

g2g.. see u at 4:00 PST.

Edited by edge2022, 14 May 2009 - 11:32 PM.

[kenbarber]

hp pavilian hd8000

when trying to run explorer.exe it gave an error message "windows can not find explorer.exe be sure you typed the name correctly and try again. to search for a file click the start button and then click search."

of course he does not have the start button and i can't seem to run using search.exe.

[tyler kick you fase]

try going into safemode with command prompt and type in

c:\Windows\explorer.exe

then press enter

Edited by tyler kick you fase, 15 May 2009 - 01:54 PM.

[rshaffer61]

When you enter safe mode there will be a pop up window that says Safe Mode and that it is a special diagnostic mode for your system.
Also in the corners of your screen it will say Safe Mode
I hope that helps.

You will have to get a new cd drive and then there is a way to fix the problem but you will need the OS disk to do it.

[edge2022]

You will have to get a new cd drive and then there is a way to fix the problem but you will need the OS disk to do it.

This would have been the case if you didn't have a HP computer with a recovery partition.

You would first want to get your files backed up first before you restore your computer with the recovery partition though. Click on "Backup Files Without Windows" in my sig and follow the instructions.

[kenbarber]

urr, "backup files without windows" seems to want me to download linux and burn it to a cd. his laptop has a broken cd drive, i could do the download and burn the cd with my desktop that i am on now, but i do not know how that gets ran on his laptop. would a flash drive hold linux? i maybe could borrow a flash drive although i have never used one.

he says if i can just get windows back he'll do without his data and go forward.

[happyrock]

would a flash drive hold linux? i maybe could borrow a flash drive although i have never used one.

yep...puppy linux will...go here..
right under where it says Is there a Manual? in blue click on the manual...
you can get a 1 GB usb flash drive for $6.99 here...but without a cd drive to burn data to you should get a larger one like this 8GB here for $22.00

Edited by happyrock, 15 May 2009 - 10:08 PM.

[edge2022]

Puppy Linux would work well if your BIOS supports booting from USB.

[kenbarber]

well i am not sure what the bios supports. i'll try to get a 8 gig flash drive and then i'll reply once i have it and we will give it a try. i think i probably could keep flash drive for use on my desktop even if it will not work on his desktop.

i do not know how the kid let machine get to this point before coming home and dropping it on me.

btw i have a for sure boot up to a safe mode selection screen. i can go safe mode, safe mode with command prompt and a few more choices including directory services restore and last know good configuration.

don't know if any of these will be a help.

be back with you when i get the flash drive.

[kenbarber]

oh i will check in occasionally just to see if there is anything you tell me new while i try to hustle up the flash drive. stores in this little town are horrendous so i may have some time involved in getting the flash drive.

[Onaipian]

What about C:\WINDOWS\System32\ServicePackFiles\explorer.exe?

Can you get into Safe Mode with Command Prompt?

Edited by piano9playa5, 16 May 2009 - 11:32 AM.

[kenbarber]

i have normally not been able to get it to safe mode. i press f8 and it normally goes to a 3 choice thing at the bottom of the screen: "press esc to change boot sequence", "press f10 to boot in setup" "press f12 to boot from lan"


one time it came up in actual safe mode pressing "f8" while it booted. that one time i had a chioce of safe mode, safe mode with command prompt. if i can get it to take safe mode path, i can choose with command prompt.

pressing the esc usually just boots it. the f10 gets some setup utility but i do not know what to do with that. i have not tried the f12.

one time it actually went to safe mode and i saw the option of with command prompt.

i did nothing different in pressing the f8 key that i know of that caused it to get to safe mode as compared to other times when it would not go safe mode.