no icons

[froggie9]

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?

 

[Paladin-X]

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

 

[Paladin-X]

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

 

[froggie9]

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.