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Help - no desktop!
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 17:26:18 Pacific OS: Win 98 CPU/Ram: P2 350 (296 RAM)
Comment:
I just reinstalled a new battery on to my motherboard and now I have a problem! The computer boots into Windows no problem, but when it gets to the desktop only the background shows - there are no icons, no taskbars .... nothing but the empty background!
Name: trophman Date: January 12, 2003 at 17:34:09 Pacific
Reply:
sounds like explorer is corrupt boot to c: type in c:\scanreg/restore [note the forward slash] in the menu, choose an earlier date to restore to. you won't lose any data
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Response Number 2
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 17:38:46 Pacific
Reply:
Thanks - I'll give that a try
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Response Number 3
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 17:44:42 Pacific
Reply:
I tried that but it gives me an error, Bad Command????
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Response Number 4
Name: Derek Date: January 12, 2003 at 17:45:28 Pacific
Reply:
Always best to try scanreg /fix first to rebuild your "current registry" rather than restore an old one which will not recognise any subsequent changes.
Nothing lost because if that fails then do scanreg /restore as suggested.
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Response Number 5
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 17:50:51 Pacific
Reply:
Good advice - thank you, but it is giving me the bad command error still??
Here is what I am doing -
Booting using my start up disk. At the command prompt changing to c drive and typing \scanreg/restore ..... I get an invalid command response ....?????
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Response Number 6
Name: Derek Date: January 12, 2003 at 18:01:29 Pacific
Reply:
Are you sure you typed it just like this:
scanreg /restore
The space and the forward (not backward) slash are important.
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Response Number 7
Name: Derek Date: January 12, 2003 at 18:05:48 Pacific
Reply:
.... and if you did type it correctly, try typing this:
cd c:\windows\command
Then try the fix or restore commands.
Derek
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Response Number 8
Name: david depin Date: January 12, 2003 at 18:11:29 Pacific
Reply:
since you replaced the battery... have you made sure all the BIOS settings are correct???
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Response Number 9
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 18:12:07 Pacific
Reply:
Thanks Derek - it now recognises the command but says "Can not read drive E" ... do I need the Win 98 cd in my cd rom drive?
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Response Number 10
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 18:17:03 Pacific
Reply:
Sorry Derek - ignore that last one - I used the Windows/Command directory and all is good.
David, I did go into BIOS and load default settings, plus I reset the clock to todays date and time .... should I be doing anything else?
Thanks to you all - much appreciate this by the way!
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Response Number 11
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 18:22:04 Pacific
Reply:
Okay, I got the restore command to run and chose yesterday as the restore point (everything worked yesterday) ... still no joy. No icons, just the background ... AGGGGHHHH!!!! :-)
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Response Number 12
Name: Derek Date: January 12, 2003 at 18:45:58 Pacific
Reply:
This is when I start getting thin on ideas!
Are you quite sure battery is seated properly and it was put the right way up for correct polarity?
Err.... Sorry about that but we can all make goofs sometimes so I mentioned it just in case.
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Response Number 13
Name: mmmmmmmmm Date: January 12, 2003 at 19:02:24 Pacific
Reply:
silly question but do you have a curser on the screen , if you do a ctrl-alt-delete does anything show up running ? I'm wondering is do you have explorer and sys tray running if not then you at least have found your problem if you do then try to boot into safemode ... does that work ? if so then it is a startup issue try doing a selective startup. if it didnt work then it is a window's issue .
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Response Number 14
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 19:38:39 Pacific
Reply:
Derek - bettery is definitely in and right way around ... :-)
mmm - cursor is on screen after start up but no programs show as running when I ctrl alt delete.
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Response Number 15
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 19:46:48 Pacific
Reply:
Ok, I think it could be that the explorer and systray are turned off from startup .... how do I run msconfig from a command prompt? I tried the obvious but got nowhere?
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Response Number 16
Name: mesich Date: January 12, 2003 at 19:57:05 Pacific
Reply:
Have you tried starting in Safe-Mode yet as suggested by mmmmmmm?
Mesich
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Response Number 17
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 19:58:49 Pacific
Reply:
How do I get into safe mode again?
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Response Number 18
Name: mesich Date: January 12, 2003 at 20:21:06 Pacific
Reply:
Boot the computer and tap on the F8 key until you see the boot options menu.
Select Safe-Mode.
Mesich
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Response Number 19
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 21:39:25 Pacific
Reply:
Thanks - okay it runs in safe mode. I can get into MSConfig now .... any ideas what to try from here?
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Response Number 20
Name: mesich Date: January 12, 2003 at 21:41:30 Pacific
Reply:
What is listed in msconfig startup?
Mesich
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Response Number 21
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 21:53:52 Pacific
Reply:
When I go in through startup, everything is checked. I see systray but no explorer?
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Response Number 22
Name: mesich Date: January 12, 2003 at 22:08:29 Pacific
Reply:
Uncheck everything but Systray for now and reboot the computer. Explorer is not normally listed in the startup for Win98.
Mesich
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Response Number 23
Name: Pegasus Date: January 12, 2003 at 22:19:24 Pacific
Reply:
Ok - I went in through safe mode and unchecked everything in startup except for SysTray. No change, I get the background but nothing else! Wow this is frustrating!!
IS it worth trying to install windows back over the top of itself as a repair? If so would I lose any data from my documents or elsewhere?
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Response Number 24
Name: mesich Date: January 12, 2003 at 22:22:58 Pacific
Reply:
Reboot to safe-mode. Run msconfig. Select the General Tab.
Uncheck config.sys and autoexec.bat
Reboot.
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Response Number 25
Name: Pegasus Date: January 13, 2003 at 05:22:42 Pacific
Reply:
Thanks Mesich, but these are already unchecked and are greyed out.
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Response Number 26
Name: mesich Date: January 13, 2003 at 05:37:56 Pacific
Reply:
Well there are still several other things to try. Uncheck system.ini and Win.ini.
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