Start up string corrupted

[RangerDK]

I know little about XP. A friend of mine somehow corrupted the start up string on her home PC. The PC attempts to boot XP, fails and only shows the wallpaper on the screen. Unfortunately she does not have the original XP operating systems disk. The PC, a clone, does not start from the CD. Is there any way I can access the start up string without the operating system booting? Is there any way to change the PC configuration so that it will react to the CD drive first?

 

[cmegha2001]

Have you tried Last Known Good? What about safe mode?

 

[eyec]

reboot
hit the key (F2, F8, F12, etc) to enter the setup/bios and set the boot sequence to floppy, cd, hard drive and save & exit to reboot - make sure you have the system cd or boot floppy in the drive.

 

[linney]

Setting in the Bios control the order of "Boot" devices, you may need to change this order to boot from any CD ahead of the hard drive.

Desktop missing!
thread779-613953

 

[RangerDK]

I did indeed attempt the "Last Known Good" but to no avail. When I start it in the "Safe Mode", I get the same problem booting.

Thanks for the ideas but those two didn't work for me.

 

[bcastner]

Assuming you can boot from the XP CD:

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

 

[J741]

I have seen this problem many times before, where Windows does start but when the user login is processed (usually by clicking on the desired user name, but this may be automatic if only one user exists with no password) Windows gets stuck on something after displaying the user's background wallpaper, but before displaying any desktop icons or the start menu. When I have seen this occur, it is usually due to a virus affecting Explorer.exe (which is used for most of Windows' GUI functions).

Sometimes you can hit ctrl-alt-del to activate the task manager, select the 'Processes' tab, click the 'User Name' column title (to sort the list by the user that started the process). Go through each item in the list that is associated with the current user's name (Not 'System', 'Local Service', or 'Network Service'). Right-click on them one at a time, and select 'end process tree'. Keep a note of the name of the process you are killing, because when you find the offending one, the user's desktop icons and start menu will be displayed. You can then begin the process of identifying and removing the virus or offending software (the name of the process causing the problem will help with this).

- James.

My memory is not as good as it should be, and neither is my memory.

I have forgotten more than I can remember