Hello all, I just discovered this board and it is amazing! I am trying to help my friend's sister fix her laptop (Compaq Presario). Here is the problem: No icons on the desktop appear and neither does the taskbar, clock, etc. Supposedly the problem manifested when my friend tried to install Verizon Online DSL by CD. I guess the machine locked up or something and on reboot only the wallpaper survived. I don't have any of their disks. I own a laptop that has WinMe if that helps. Any help in this would be greatly appreciated! What does happen: 1. wallpaper appears 2. mouse icon appears and is movable 3. the little windows jingle plays What I can do: 1. Get into safe mode with all icons and taskbar present What I tried so far: 1. used msconfig to do a selective startup and uncheck all of the checks (called a clean boot I think?). This had no effect at all upon rebooting. Thanks for looking!

Have you right clicked the mouse anywhere in the blank area of the desktop to see what is selected? Have you used the mouse to see if the toolbars can be dragged up, if they were at the bottom of the screen?

Have you tried Ctrl+Alt+Delete, to see what, or if anything is running. Have you tried a system restore? Have you tried to roll back the registry? After reading your post again :-) I guess you haven't. Might want to give them a try.

Wow, quick replies! Right click does nothing, nor does dragging the taskbar up. Ctrl-Alt-Delete shows that only Explorer is running. I have not done system restore or roll back of registry. As a matter of fact, I have never done either. What do I lose file-wise, etc. on a restore or roll back?

You said, you tried a clean boot. Like this; (267288) How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows Millennium Edition This also might be of intrest. (273738) How to Troubleshoot Windows Millennium Edition Startup Problems Also #281995, 221512. Just change the number at the end, in the address bar. (267951) Description of the System Restore Utility in Windows Millennium Edition Have you tried uninstalling, what was installed? Got a phone call, got to run. I'll check back later. File wise, do you mean pics, music, data of what kind? It puts the registry back to a good state. You would have to reinstall software that you installed after that date....... I realy have to run. Jump in capt, please Later

Yes, I tried a clean boot as is described in 267288. 273738 an 281995 did not help. I tried 267951 system restore and after rebooting it said that the system could not be restored to that point. I tried all points even since August and none worked. However, when the system reboots after the restore, the restore window is at the correct resolution, not the resolution of safe mode. The only thing I have not tried is 221512: How to Manually Restore the Windows 98/Me Registry. Would this do anything if system restore couldn't? I don't know whether to try it or not. Does there seem to be any hope to fix it, or will I need to format and reinstall? Once again, thanks for the help.

hello try this link m.e wont start http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/30687.html