Hello

These are the steps I have taken so far on a Dell Dimension 2400 WindowsXP:

(1) Will boot into safe mode with no problem.

(2) When it finally boots normally (takes awhile ) all that is on the screen is the desktop (wallpaper), NO icons, no taskbar, no start button. Nothing else. You have to power PC down in order to get it to shut off.  When you do shut it off explorer.Exe shows "not responding... end program" error.

(3)Tried TWO separate WindowsXP repairs using the provided CD, seems to go along just fine UNTIL it gets to a black screen with the Windows logo (flags??) and it says please wait a moment.

I waited MANY moments. Nothing.

 

I really REALLY do not want to do a full re-installation if I can avoid it at all cost, sure all of you understand that!

Does anyone have a clue as to what is happening and/or what I can do to fix it. I am at my wit's end.

BTW: I am doing all of this on my own time for a friend, so really can't tell you what happened prior to this situation other then I was told it was properly shut  OFF before they left for a short vacation, but otherwise it runs 24/7 for the most part.

Upon returning home she noticed it would not boot normally as explained above.