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Start , Taskbar, and Clock, etc..GONE!!!

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19 replies

by brentc76

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I have got a problem, I booted up my laptop (Windows XP Pro SP2) this morning and low and behold I found that the taskbar, Start button, clock, etc are all gone... I have done all of the basic troubleshooting, it is NOT moved to a different part of the screen, it is not hidden below the normal area. I do have the space where it is "supposed" to be. I cannot click or right-click on this space and get anything at all to show up. I have been to google and searched this, I have only found items to tell the users to "unhide the taskbar" I have also been to another site to run a program that will get your taskbar back, and I do see it flash for a brief second and it then goes away. I have done an antivirus scan, adaware scan, removed cookies, temp internet files, etc... rebooted several times, and shut down and let it sit for about 30 minutes and powered back on, and I still have nothing. I have logged into the machine as another user and it is fine for them. I cannot do a system restore(I have that turned off). I have not dug around in the registry, due to not knowing what exactly to look for. I have not made any changes to anything on my laptop, i used it all day yesterday, shutdown and went home. Any Ideas?? HELP!!!???? :)

19 replies

by joseph moore

You know, try this. Log in, and hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, and choose the Task Manager button, to bring up old Task Manager.
Then in the Processes list, select explorer.exe and End Task it.
Then click File -> New Task (Run), type in explorer.exe, and click OK.
Basically, I think refreshing the Explorer process might straighten this out.
It's worth a shot!

by brentc76

Sorry, I have already tried that too, and that did NOT fix anything, when I do end the task of explorer.exe, and then restart it, I do see the taskbar flash for about 1 second and then it goes away AGAIN.....geesh.....this is driving me banannas....

by brentc76

Sorry, I have already tried that too, and that did NOT fix anything, when I do end the task of explorer.exe, and then restart it, I do see the taskbar flash for about 1 second and then it goes away AGAIN.....geesh.....this is driving me banannas....

Brent

by black panther

Have you tried opening the Start Menu by pressing the "Windows" key on the keyboard to bring it up?

From there you can get into the Settings > Taskbar and Start Menu to check settings.

by brentc76

I am on a laptop, and I do not have a windows key on here, Although, I can press CTRL + ESC to get to the Program files, etc... The Start button still does not appear.

by dmiles

If you have system restore then go back to restotore point before the problem happened

by brentc76

Sorry, I have already tried that too, and that did NOT fix anything, when I do end the task of explorer.exe, and then restart it, I do see the taskbar flash for about 1 second and then it goes away AGAIN.....geesh.....this is driving me banannas....

Brent

by brentc76

SubTropicalMist - I have logged in using safe mode as well, i DO get the start button and taskbar, I also can log in as other users and it will appear for them.

by black panther

You say you have logged into the computer as another user and it works? Does it work if you log in as 'administrator'?. Is this laptop stand-alone or on a 'network'?

Can you re-create the user?

by black panther

If you open Windows Explorer and look in c:\Documents and Settings\'user name' ie yours can you then see the Start Menu Directory underneath

ie Check another profiles ie user name to see if its the same.

by brentc76

OK, now this is strange... I have been using a program from StarDock for about 3 months. And several people I know are using it and have no issues at all. Regarding your suggestion to look in the startup folder I was the only one that had the "Stardock ObjectDock" icon in the start folder. yea, I installed it, I used it all the time and I like it; Same as other users I know. I removed the Stardock ObjectDock icon, and removed it from the task manager, and logged off and logged in and low and behold I had my task bar back. I am going to talk to other people I know that use it and see if they have had any issues, but I am sure they have not... This baffles me. I am going to rename my profile and log back into the network, and when my profile is recreated, i will install Stardock ObjectDock again and see if I encounter the same issue. Thanx for the tip.... U da Man...

by peab4yougo

Maybe this is too simplistic, but I think your taskbar got resized. Hold your mouse at the lower edge of the screen. When it turns to the double arrows, to resize, drag it up. It might come back. I've seen it a hundred times. It's in my Stupid-User-tricks main page!! LOL

Greg

by yodebeer

Afternoon

Have you managed to resolve this matter. I have a Laptop user with the exact same problem and ever via Control Panel I am unable to access the Taskbar & Start Menu folder. Please help
Thank you in advance

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