[burchybabi]

On Friday night my laptop wasn't shutting down so turned it off using the power button.I turned it on yesterday,logged on but the desktop is just black,no icons,no start button or bar along the bottom.The mouse cursor is the only thing I can see (but can't click) but I can bring up the task manager & run certain actions etc.

I've done a system restore, ran several anti-virus /malware scans which have come up empty & opened up in safe mode,searching Google trying everything (that I can understand!) but with no success. From what I have read the explorer.exe function is not operating and when I try to do this with the task manager it says it is unable to do so. Also I created a new user to see if the same thing happened but when I tried to log in it said 'Welcome' then after a few seconds 'Logging Off' without actually doing anything.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,I'm not that technically minded so keeping it simple would also help

[Stig]

Do you have a recent backup of your data? If not you may need to mount your hard disk in another PC to retrieve it.

You have done all the obvious fixes. The only other option would be a startup repair after booting from a Windows DVD.

Otherwise, I think a reinstall of Windows might be required. What is the make/model of your PC? Does it have a recovery partition? If not, do you have a Windows DVD or a OS backup DVD?

[burchybabi]

Thanks for your reply.I have managed to transfer files from safe mode to my external portable hard drive so hoping its all backed up.

It's a Dell laptop,not sure of the exact model etc but there is a Recovery 'icon' when I go into My Computer,I've always noticed it but never knew how to use it or what to do with it. I don't have any of the back up DVDs, there is a couple of small local computer repair shops, so was going to see maybe what they suggest and / or if it is fixable. Thank you again

[Loobster]

Looking at the thread title, I just thought it was another Windows 8 installation thread ... lol.

[evil c]

The laptop should have the model on the underside of the case. Is your operating system Windows 7? Here's Dell's own guide to Factory Image Restore for Windows 7 (which means there is a mirror image of your operating system when you first bought it, on a recovery partition of your hard disk): http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...rting_DFIR.htm