On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:24:30 -0800, George W. Barrowcliff wrote:

I have 6 IBM WinXP Pro computers on the same subnet. Yesterday the one at
.242 lost all the icons and the task bar. Only the background was
displayed. Multiple reboots etc, no help.

Powered down .242 computer, and went to .246 which was working perfectly,
changed the address to .242 and rebooted it. Now this computer has the same
effect. No desktop, no icons, and no task bar.



I can bring up the task manager, run a command window and load and run all
sorts of programs. I changed the ip address to DHCP, and from the command
line iexplorer loads just fine, parts of the control panel will load, the
mouse works etc. (explorer.exe will NOT load)

Has anyone seen this where the problem follows the IP address?

Is there any option that would prevent the desktop from displaying? Like
some remote control setting?

Is there something that would force the desktop into active desktop?

How can I re-install this from hard disk? All the software is still on the
original install disk, these are all OEM computers from IBM so I don't have
the CD's.

I bought a new copy of XP Pro, started the upgrade installation and I got a
message that a previous install did not finish, logoff and log back on and
it will finish. I did that and nothing happened. Same effect.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Checked the systems for viruses yet? One bit of malware that showed up last
month decided to alter explorer.exe (win32.bube.a for example -
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/v....aspx?id=41518). I
haven't seen loss of desktop as a symptom but that you are able to end
explorer and restart it to regain a normal desktop, it makes me wonder if
something is up.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User