Taskbar and All Desktop Icons Disappeared

So, I just burned a DVD last night and that took about 10 hours total. After that, I went to work. I get a call from my sister, she says computer is running really slow (this is after DVD is done). I say restart, no problem. She does and now on all accounts only the desktop wallpaper appears. Desktop icons and taskbar are gone. I tried to run explorer from Task Manager (which P.S. I am running firefox from the New Task... thing in the task manager), but then the taskbar just blinks and is gone again, like something is preventing explorer from staying running. I tried editing things in the registry that other sites said cause this, but none of the keys even existed anyways, so I didn't even edit anything. I tried running Internet Explorer to do an online virus scan, but that won't load either. I have now even done a repair install of XP, but still, same thing. I've also ran registry editing things from some Kelly place and other tweak places, but no gat dang luck. Just so you know, I have typed in and tried solutions from such queries in search engines as:

• "desktop shortcuts and taskbar completely gone"
• "all desktop icons and taskbar disappeared"
• "explorer won't work"
• "explorer.exe"
• "only background shows"
• "only wallpaper appears"
• "taskbar and shortcuts gone"
• "taskbar gone"
• "nothing appears on desktop"
• "something is preventing explorer from running"

I was wondering if I can avoid a total reformat and reinstall of XP. Any ideas???

Wow ... sounds like you covered the bases re: any XP error. You actually did a Repair Install?
The whole reinstall? Like the 45 minute setup?

If yes to that & nothing changed then I would suspect possible hardware issues.

From the task manager you can run/ new task:

Device Manager: devmgmt.msc

Event Viewer: eventvwr

System Restore: %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

If you actually ran a Repair Install then System Restore would be moot, but, the Device Manager might show some "!" or the Event Viewer might have some relevant "X" errors.

Are things any different in Safe Mode?

Don't know if this will help but here is a complete list of where each registry enty is for group policies like hiding desktop etc. May be worth having a look and making sure these entries display 0 not 1 if they are there.

Here

__________________

Yes I did the whole 45 minute deal for Repair Install. Things are no different in safe mode. I will look in Event Viewer and see what's there, also Device Manager. And Tassie Devil thanks for that list, I'll be looking through those items as well. I'll let you guys know when I'm done exhausting those options.

Nothing helped. There was a yellow exclamation dealie in device manager next to "Windows System Management BIOS Driver" but I tried to update it, no luck, searched on Google, tip said to just remove it, no luck there either. I'm gonna officially re-install SP2, but if that does nothing, I gotta do some back-ups and reformat because I leave for college next week and I can't leave the computer like this.

**EDIT**
Reinstalled SP2, no change. I gotta reformat I think. If anyone else has any ideas, please let me know ASAP. I will reformat soon if there are no responses.

Sorry for triple-post, but I thought I'd let everyone know I will reformat tomorrow, then I will let you all know the new status. For today, I'm goin' to Jersey, so I won't be back until like 9PM.

Thanks for the update. Wish I could think of something...

I am surprised a Repair Install didn't set things right!

I have never seen that fail before.

Anyway let us know how it goes...

Soundeds like you have a trojan horse!
Whats your AV?

I have Ad-Aware SE 1.06, SpyBot whatever newest is, and I use TrendMicro Online Virus Scanner. I had AVG, but it was no good, just trial version and it cost too much to get the real one. I can't use TrendMicro cause it needs IE. Ok well I am reformatting now no matter what cause I told my siblings I would. So I'll get back to ya tomorrow morning folks.

Ok, i've done a clean format and install of Windows and we're back in business. Everything is dandy and there are no errors to report!... yet! Ok folks thanks for the tips and all your support. Peace.