[kevinmkr]

Here's the problem:

1) I live in Michigan
2) My girlfriend lives in North Carolina
3) I have extensive usage of NT/2k/XP but NOT Millennium
4) She is a very bright girl but has no serious computer troubleshooting experience
5) When starting Windows ME, her background image will show up, but none of the icons, task bar....etc
6) The system worked fine until last evening (Wednesday Jan 12th)

Troubleshooting so far:

1) The last software added to the machine was on Thursday Jan 5th. (Ad-Aware 6)
2) In addition to a current Ad-Aware 6 (and Ad-Watch 3), she has McAfee Virus and Firewall (also updated to current)
3) No other software was installed (with the potential exception of automatic Windows Updates)
4) Right click on desktop to bring up the properties menu...nothing happens. This, in addition to the lack of icons and taskbar, leads me to believe that the system gets "hung up" before these objects are created
5) Unlike my familiar NT/2k/XP, ME does not list all processes when you Ctrl/Alt/Del....it only lists a few running apps. I have had her End Task on all these apps, hoping to terminate the stalled process, to no avail.
6) I have had her "restore" back to days before the issue first came up, to no avail. (System Restore is such a weak substitute for ghosting......IMHO)
7) She can get into safe mode, but the Internet does not function (therefore, no downloads of HijackThis or anything of that nature)
8) The last scan with AdAware and McAfee was earlier today and nothing odd was found.

I am very computer literate so I can handle (remotely via my GF....ikes!) any request that you make in helping to debug.

Can you help me help my girl? It would be a shame that I have all these resources and can't even use them on this sweet teacher gal!

Thanks Thanks Thanks!!!!

[Advertisements]

Try the following link. It takes a long time for the page to show up. Give it time.

http://support.gatew...330790523.shtml

[macten]

Try the following link. It takes a long time for the page to show up. Give it time.

http://support.gatew...330790523.shtml

[kevinmkr]

Thanks for your reply! I'll have her try these tonight and then I'll post back here if they are successful or not!

[kevinmkr]

Hmmm....thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it did not work for her. I expected that it wouldn't as we had run her virus scan and Ad Aware in safe mode and it didn't find any infections. But it was definitely worth a shot! Thanks again.

Any other ideas?

[macten]

Did you scroll down the page and try all 4 methods?

[macten]

After taking a closer look at that page, it probably doesn't apply to your situation.....

[macten]

I would try System File Checker....

[macten]

OK....It took me awhile....I remember fixing a computer for a friend awhile back. It was a similar situation....like you he had a screen that was unuseable. I used a boot disk which got me to A:\ I then ran a command called 'scanreg'. This command repaired or replaced the registry. All I did was type 'scanreg' without the quotes and all the fixes were automatic. I then rebooted and he was up and running.

It may not work in your case but it won't hurt anything. Here's a link:

http://www.putergeek.com/scanreg/

I would think that the problem is either a corrupt registry, corrupt system file or perhaps a corrupt dll file. Off hand I can't remember if you can run 'system file checker' from a boot disk or not. But you can look that up on the Internet.

[macten]

I just noticed that the link is for scanregw. From a boot disk you will be using 'scanreg'. On my friends pc, I can't remember if we were at the desktop or not. I just remember that we were at a screen that was unuseable. If scanreg by itself doesn't work try it with the /fix switch.

[kevinmkr]

Sorry for the lack of replies....I've been waiting for her to get a floppy disk (if you can believe that!)

We will try this tonight. If it does not work, I will probably just pull the trigger on a re-install (using the data-saving method described on this very website) -- she needs to get her Internet back up and running and as much as I would like to be her hero (via GeeksToGo, of course), we may just need to go ahead and do it.

I'll comment back, either way.

Thanks!

[kevinmkr]

Ok. She tried running the System File Checker from safe mode, but for some reason, now her taskbar and icons were gone from there, too. So, she couldn't even attempt your latest suggest.

Sooooooooooo, we set up the bomb and blew the bugger to oblivion. Fresh install.

However, I do indeed appreciate your assistance on this matter and hope that others may be able to use the great advice that you've provided to troubleshoot their own WinME issues.

Worst........OS.........EVER!

Thanks again!