Y
yerk5
Flightless Bird
This is a company laptop, and Im in the IT dept. Never saw anything
like this before on XP.
For the record, it's XP Pro, SP2 on a Lenovo T61. (My company hasnt
"blessed" SP3 for use yet)
Someone went to install some software on it. They claim the problem
started before they could, although I see evidence of the software in
question partially installed on there. so maybe they're lying, maybe
not. But anyway, here's the problem & symptoms...
Windows boots up ok and internet connectivity works fine, but the
first thing you notice is no window creates a taskbar buttong.
Furthermore, you can't minimize windows to the taskbar. Instead they
minimize to just above the taskbar. The taskbar just always stays
blank. Alt-Tab works fine.
Also, pressing the Windows key, or control-escape doesnt activate the
Start menu, but clicking on it still works.
If you choose to hide the Quick Launch toolbar, the Start button
vanishes as well, and the right-click optiong of Lock Desktop becomes
disabled. Bringing the Quick Launch back restores the Start button and
the Lock Desktop menu choice.
Unable to drag the taskbar (even while unlocked) to any of the other 3
edges of screen.
All this behavior is identical in Safe Mode.
----------
Whew! Ok, resolution attempts:
My first instinct was to do a System Restore and go back a day or two.
When trying to start System Recovery (rstrui.exe) it comes up as just
a blank window... even in safe mode. So I figure I'll rollback to a
restore point via Recovery Console. However, even though system
restore is turned on, there were no freaking restore points! I looked
in windows, and via recovery console. There are just none. C
System~1
only had one _restore* folder, and it had no snapshot folder.
Ok, so scratch system restore. I boot to a XP-SP2 slipstream CD and
choose to do a repair function on Windows. I go through the whole 45
minute process only to find it did absolutely nothing to help with the
problem. It persists exactly the same.
I've also already been to http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
and tried:
Line 240: Programs Aren't Minimized in the Taskbar
Line 164: Restore Taskbar to Default Functionality
No change.
Tried chsdsk. It did find & corrent errors, but no changes.
Tried to uninstall the software mentioned in the beginning (a voice
dictation application, but it errors out and fails to uninstall)
Anyone have any other ideas.
like this before on XP.
For the record, it's XP Pro, SP2 on a Lenovo T61. (My company hasnt
"blessed" SP3 for use yet)
Someone went to install some software on it. They claim the problem
started before they could, although I see evidence of the software in
question partially installed on there. so maybe they're lying, maybe
not. But anyway, here's the problem & symptoms...
Windows boots up ok and internet connectivity works fine, but the
first thing you notice is no window creates a taskbar buttong.
Furthermore, you can't minimize windows to the taskbar. Instead they
minimize to just above the taskbar. The taskbar just always stays
blank. Alt-Tab works fine.
Also, pressing the Windows key, or control-escape doesnt activate the
Start menu, but clicking on it still works.
If you choose to hide the Quick Launch toolbar, the Start button
vanishes as well, and the right-click optiong of Lock Desktop becomes
disabled. Bringing the Quick Launch back restores the Start button and
the Lock Desktop menu choice.
Unable to drag the taskbar (even while unlocked) to any of the other 3
edges of screen.
All this behavior is identical in Safe Mode.
----------
Whew! Ok, resolution attempts:
My first instinct was to do a System Restore and go back a day or two.
When trying to start System Recovery (rstrui.exe) it comes up as just
a blank window... even in safe mode. So I figure I'll rollback to a
restore point via Recovery Console. However, even though system
restore is turned on, there were no freaking restore points! I looked
in windows, and via recovery console. There are just none. C
System~1only had one _restore* folder, and it had no snapshot folder.
Ok, so scratch system restore. I boot to a XP-SP2 slipstream CD and
choose to do a repair function on Windows. I go through the whole 45
minute process only to find it did absolutely nothing to help with the
problem. It persists exactly the same.
I've also already been to http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
and tried:
Line 240: Programs Aren't Minimized in the Taskbar
Line 164: Restore Taskbar to Default Functionality
No change.
Tried chsdsk. It did find & corrent errors, but no changes.
Tried to uninstall the software mentioned in the beginning (a voice
dictation application, but it errors out and fails to uninstall)
Anyone have any other ideas.