MIssing Task Bar and Start Menu?

Okay i'm working on a friends computer and for some reason there is no start menu or task bar. And on top of that I've got F8 to get it to start. At start up I get an Drive 0 Seek failure. When I get to the desktop I can Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring up task manager but that is about all I can get out of it. Anything try running it always says windows can't not find explorer.exe He has missed placed his OS disk or I'd just format and start over This is a dell desktop running windows xp what version I'm not sure. Many Thanks Jeremy

Hi, sorry to hear of your friends problems….. on the information provided so far….it could be practically anything..that is causing the issues…. First steps may be to consider the following: 1 Make sure that his back up copy archive of everything important on the machine, is accurate up to date, reproducible, and kept safe on removable media. If he doesn't know how to do this then inform him, or post back here for full instructions…..(don't even consider any other steps until the back up copy archive is safely completed) 2 Enter BIOS and manually note down all settings…..this will take some time as there will be many avenues to explore..don't alter anything, just note the settings…paper and pencil is OK for this 3 Now start your repair log, again on paper and pencil so each step you do is recorded with the time, and the effects, so that you can undo things if necessary. 4 Note its important to alter only one thing at a time and then test for effect with at least one reboot…..unfortunately, there is a great temptation to alter several things at the same time……….( I make quite a substantial part of my income in fixing up machines, so they will work again, from folks who do this! !) 5 Get your friend to find his installation disc……………its no use saying he misplaced it….. he needs to find it!………. in extremis its OK to borrow the correct disc from a chum…….however if it ever comes to typing in the product serial key then he must use the one that he is licenced to use and no other! 6 The installation disc must be for the correct version of Windows………..Right click My Computer>Properties details will be found under the "General tab" 7 Now he can start to try and fix things……. the machine may be trying to boot from a non existent disc, so enter BIOS and reset to default/conservative 8 next check that boot priority is set to 1 CD, 2 Hard drive O, 3 Hard drive 1, 4, Floppy drive, 5 Network drive….note its important that the first 2 are correct, as the BIOS concerned will always show these first two but perhaps not the other ones…. 9 Next disable the entry for "Seek floppydrive" ( or similar words), disable any floppy drive controller. Dont forget to save changes before exiting the BIOS 10 the machine should reboot with a message saying " press any key to boot from CD"……do not press anything just wait… it should start to boot in about 30 seconds or so 11 see how the machine goes, if its still problematical then insert the correct Windows installation CD,close down the machine wait 30 seconds with a blank black screen and then restart it…..press any key once at the "press any key to boot from CD" prompt and carry out a windows Repair install………… if he doesn't know how to do this inform him or post back here for instructions. 12 Most recent Dells have a recovery partition that will restore the machine to its factory state (ie do a format and reinstall) without the need for a disc, so check this out, but remember this is a destructive process so all data will be wiped…everything will go…repeat everything! Have another look at step 1 again just to make sure he is "fireproof" Good luck regards paws

Ok thanks I'll try this and get back to you

It is simple case of malware. I have also found this problem last month and the simple reason was that the file explorer.exe is missing. To find it you can search it in your anti-virus reports or somewhere in anti-virus section. Just restore it and you are done with it.