No desktop, Explorer won't run. 2

[G0AOZ]

Acer laptop running XP Home SP2, reputedly with all latest patches. Machine running smoothly up until the point it crashed. Appears to have suffered hard disk corruption, with boot partition unreadable. Several bad blocks on the drive probably account for this problem.

Ran CHKDSK /R which reported several faults, and got machine to boot. Goes through logon ok, but no Desktop, no Taskbar, no Explorer. Exactly the same in Safe Mode. Tried various System Restore Points - makes no difference. Also tried SFC /SCANNOW, tried running an XP Repair, etc., but still no joy.

Disk has been checked (passively) with several different scanners for viruses, trojans, adware, malware, etc. Nothing found at all. HijackThis all clean.

Running Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer from Task Manager produces nothing, no error messages.

Since machine has a lot of apps installed user would like it repaired rather than wiped and fresh installation.

Any thoughts please...?


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[linney]

Save your valuable data any way you can. You might have to make (if you can) an image of your failing drive from DOS or use something like BartPE, or a parallel install of XP.

See this thread for details of the several options open to you.

Cannot logon to winxp...losing lots of valuable documents
thread779-975236

Terabyte Unlimited (Image for DOS)

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/prodgrid.html

Also have a look at TBIView in the free list via the above link.

"TBIView allows you to open and view image files created by Terabyte Unlimited's Image or BootIt NG software programs".


The drive manufacturer will have free diagnostic software to thoroughly check the condition of your drive.

 

[G0AOZ]

Thanks Linney. Documents are already secured, and I have managed to get an image of the drive, as is. Also have already run the Samsung disk diags. The bad blocks are locked out now, that is until any more appear! So, "as is", the existing installation is stable for the moment, but won't display desktop, taskbar, or allow Explorers to run. This situation is the same for all accounts and in Safe Mode.

However, to save all the hassle of trying to load all the user's hundreds of apps again, I was hoping to coax this installation into working properly once more...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[firewolfrl]

I have worked in this same situation.
you will have to load the apps again.

and You have to replace the harddrive.

I see alot of harddrive failure due to lack of cooling of the drive. a cheap laptop cooler is worth its weight in gold.
something else that kills drives is flutuations from a bad battery

your best bet is to clone the drive to a new drive and do a repair reinstall

wish you luck

 

[linney]

Have you looked in the Event Viewer to see if there is any other problems in there, apart from the missing chunks of hard drive (and the data therein)?

 

[G0AOZ]

Firewolfrl, I have actually now made a clone of the drive, but the problem remains exactly as before. A repair reinstall makes no difference - same problems remain.

Linney, nothing of any consequence. Warns me that the network link is down and a Logitech monitor failed to start, and that's it.

In view of the fact that Explorer won't run (no error message at all), I presume it must be dependent upon other service(s) being started and running beforehand. Any idea what they might be? Or maybe it's still missing some files depite the repair...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[firewolfrl]

Ok this may get difficult.
Some of this info is from the expert-exchange forum.
First and for most you have to check for the MyDoom variant

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA04-028A.html

Removal tool

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.mydoom@mm.removal.tool.html

I doubt you have it but it is worth the check.

What I do think is going on is your registry and/or the main System hive file is corrupt.
How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545

The best fix I have seen is to load BartPE to rename the windows, program files and documents and settings folders…..Then reload windows

My best suggestion is to Start fresh and copy over the User’s data

Most of the fixes I have found has resulted in a format of the drive and fresh start

Here are some Ideas:

• Try a restoration to an earlier point where you know it was working.
To run from the taskmgr ---- File ---> New task ( run ) paste this ---> " %SystemRoot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe " and enter
• Download this scrip file and run it by a command line or by taskmgr on the computer that doesn't work and see if it works.

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/crashexplorer.vbs

Or on the command line EXPLORER.SCF works just as well. And/or: Start/Run and enter: ""explorer.exe/n,/e,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}"" from command, or make a shortcut.
• Press Alt+Ctrl+Del to bring Logon Screen > Open Task Manager > Select New Task > Run > type regedit.exe
navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

then in the right hand window find the following two entries: -

Shell=Explorer.exe
Userinit=C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

if you don't see these two entries or values, change the key and then try to logon running userinit.exe or explorer.exe manually from Task Manager

if that allows you to login/or bring up your desktop = then winlogon is corrupted, when your in, run

sfc/ scannow

and it will replace the files
• Boot up into the blank screen 1. Press ctrl+alt+delete, and then click on Task Manager 2. On the File menu, click New Task (run). 3. Type cmd.exe, and then press Enter. 4. Change the directory to C:\Winnt\System32 5. Rename the Shdocvw.dll file by typing ren shdocvw.dll shdocvw.old and hit enter. 6. repeat step 5 with the following files a. Browseui.dll b. Comctl32.dll c. Comdlg32.dll d. Mlang.dll e. Ole32.dll f. Oleaut32.dll g. Shell32.dll h. Shlwapi.dll I. Urlmon.dll j. Wininet.dll k. Setupapi.dll

this may cause Stop c000021a {Fatal System Error} The windows logon process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000135 (0x00000000 0x00000000).

Do another reinstall/repair of windows to replace the files

this fix may not work and the system will be FUBAR



Good luck

 

[G0AOZ]

Firewolfrl, that's great! Will give it a go later on tonight. In appreciation, stars for you and Linney for your excellent help so far...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[G0AOZ]

Went through all your suggestions but no joy unfortunately. Am doing a final repair then will have to call it quits. I hate having to give up on problems like these - like to try and understand what is actually stopping it from working... Thanks anyway.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[gatofalla]

I had the same problem early this year with my PC - had to use trial-and-error methods on the command line, and it took me weeks, but I managed to figure it out after some persistence, and was able to run programs from the command line... but it was time-consuming. Fortunately, I had partitioned the drive before - during my previous install, so I was able to re-install WXP on another partition and restore my backed up files into that.

In case you haven't backed up your files yet using the methods suggested by the others here, you can use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. Don't know if it'll work in your case, but try this:

Bring up Task Manager.
Click File->Run, then type:
%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\usmt\migwiz.exe

OR

type cmd then type the above at the command prompt to start the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard.


When you're done backing up files, set up at least two partitions. If your client has a large drive, and you're only planning to install only Windows XP, I'd recommend at least two primary partitions and one extended partition.



....
In case you want to try running Control Panel applets, they can be found in:
%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\

Use the command line to go to this directory and type:
dir *.cpl for a listing of available Control Panel applets.