no icons

My HP laptop starts, but I only have the background picture. The icons and the toolbar w/the start button, etc. is missing. It was working fine yesterday morning. It has not been connected to the internet since last October. I can run programs by using control/alt/delete and choosing new task and browse through the task manager. I tried msconfig and told it to do a normal start. I tried safe mode. I tried restore. Any suggestions?

 

For one, by using taskmanager and new task, run explorer.exe and that will bring up your taskbar and icons.

 

When you 'shut down' your computer, does it go into hibernate or normal shut down?

 

Explorer.exe shuts down with an error message every time I start XP. I thought it was referring to IE so I didn't mention that in my original post. I usually hibernate my computer, but I do get the welcome screen and have shut it down from there. I tried running the battery down in hopes that it would clear up the glitch.