Windows XP Home Edition Welcome Screen Problem

Hi,
Has anyone seen this befo?

After my PC boots up and reaches the Welcome Screen, the mouse and
keyboard appears to be functional, however when moving the mouse over any of
the user account icons, or even the "Turn off Computer" icon nothing
happens! The cursor does not change to a "hand" - just remains a pointer. I
cannot do anything from here, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Assuming your system is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive and you have an
actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, boot with the XP
CD in the drive and perform a repair install as outlined below. If the
system isn't set to boot from the CD or you are not sure, you need to enter
the system's BIOS. When you boot the system, the first screen usually has
instructions that if you wish to enter set press a specific key, when you
see that, do so. Then you will have to navigate to the boot sequence, if
the CD-ROM drive is not first line, set it first in the boot sequence. Save
your settings and exit with the XP CD in the drive. The system will reboot.

NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

If you only have a recovery CD, your options are quite limited. You can
either purchase a retail version of XP will allow you to perform the above
among other tools and options it has or you can run your system recovery
routine with the Recovery CD which will likely wipe your drive, deleting all
files but will restore your setup to factory fresh condition.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"amitm" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Has anyone seen this befo?

After my PC boots up and reaches the Welcome Screen, the mouse and
keyboard appears to be functional, however when moving the mouse over any
of
the user account icons, or even the "Turn off Computer" icon nothing
happens! The cursor does not change to a "hand" - just remains a pointer.
I
cannot do anything from here, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Michael,

That solution worked great!
Thanks very much for your help!

Still not sure what caused it, but working now anyway.



"Michael Solomon (MS-MVP Windows Shell/User)" wrote in
message ...

Assuming your system is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive and you have an
actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, boot with the XP
CD in the drive and perform a repair install as outlined below. If the
system isn't set to boot from the CD or you are not sure, you need to
enter
the system's BIOS. When you boot the system, the first screen usually has
instructions that if you wish to enter set press a specific key, when you
see that, do so. Then you will have to navigate to the boot sequence, if
the CD-ROM drive is not first line, set it first in the boot sequence.
Save
your settings and exit with the XP CD in the drive. The system will
reboot.

NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD,
it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if
you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement.
Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

If you only have a recovery CD, your options are quite limited. You can
either purchase a retail version of XP will allow you to perform the above
among other tools and options it has or you can run your system recovery
routine with the Recovery CD which will likely wipe your drive, deleting
all
files but will restore your setup to factory fresh condition.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"amitm" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Has anyone seen this befo?

After my PC boots up and reaches the Welcome Screen, the mouse and
keyboard appears to be functional, however when moving the mouse over
any
of
the user account icons, or even the "Turn off Computer" icon nothing
happens! The cursor does not change to a "hand" - just remains a
pointer.
I
cannot do anything from here, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

You're welcome.

Difficult to say what might have caused it, any recent change, update or
crash could have been the culprit. If you have automatic updates turned on,
you may have hit an update that might have caused a problem. Often, it's
just a case of making sure your drivers and software are all updated and
patched because updates can and often do change the system environment.

Conversely, it might be caused by some older software on your system that
has always worked before or not caused any problems but may have been pushed
over the edge by an update, they same might be true of older hardware.

These are just some examples. A repair install might have cleared out the
Event Log but if you see problems starting to develop but you are still able
to navigate your setup, a good place to start with regard to diagnosis is
the Event Viewer. Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event
Viewer and check the various sections for errors that correspond to when the
problem occurred.

Something else you can do is place the XP CD in the Drive, when the setup
screen appears, select "Check System Compatibility," the report it generates
may give a clue as to problem areas on your system that you should consider
resolving. NOTE: this one often begins setup when complete, just exit setup
the first chance it is offered and boot back to your desktop.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"amitm" wrote in message
...
Michael,

That solution worked great!
Thanks very much for your help!

Still not sure what caused it, but working now anyway.



"Michael Solomon (MS-MVP Windows Shell/User)" wrote in
message ...

Assuming your system is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive and you have an
actual XP CD as opposed to a recovery CD, boot with the XP
CD in the drive and perform a repair install as outlined below. If the
system isn't set to boot from the CD or you are not sure, you need to
enter
the system's BIOS. When you boot the system, the first screen usually
has
instructions that if you wish to enter set press a specific key, when you
see that, do so. Then you will have to navigate to the boot sequence, if
the CD-ROM drive is not first line, set it first in the boot sequence.
Save
your settings and exit with the XP CD in the drive. The system will
reboot.

NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data files intact, if
something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be forced to
start
over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your data backed
up,
you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD,
it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if
you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a
reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a
screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you
to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement.
Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

If you only have a recovery CD, your options are quite limited. You can
either purchase a retail version of XP will allow you to perform the
above
among other tools and options it has or you can run your system recovery
routine with the Recovery CD which will likely wipe your drive, deleting
all
files but will restore your setup to factory fresh condition.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"amitm" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Has anyone seen this befo?

After my PC boots up and reaches the Welcome Screen, the mouse and
keyboard appears to be functional, however when moving the mouse over
any
of
the user account icons, or even the "Turn off Computer" icon nothing
happens! The cursor does not change to a "hand" - just remains a
pointer.
I
cannot do anything from here, any thoughts would be greatly
appreciated.

Many thanks