Windows Xp loads, but icons+tool bars don't

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Spaceace - May 16, 2008 at 01:18 PM
 AA - May 14, 2010 at 04:35 PM
Hello,
I am running windows XP, and after moving this past weekend, my computer does not seem to be running properly. Windows will boot up, and go to my desktop, where all the icons are visible. I can move my mouse pointer over the screen, but I am unable to click on anything, and when I move it to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, the hourglass comes up like it is thinking. I do not hear the hard making the nosies that it normally makes. I checked the task manager, and saw nothing that looked out of the ordinary. Any help or sugestions would be greatly appreciated. I am having to use my work computer to write this so I may not reply as quickly as I would hope.

I am running windows XP, I have a pent. 4 2.6giz with 512 ram.

Thanks in advance!!
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4 responses

Hi --

Have a similar problem and wondering if you ever found a resolution.
6
Hi!

I just got the same problem. And it happend after downloading windows updates. When turning off the computer Windows promts "installing automatic updates 1 of 1, do not turn of your computer". This text is visible and you can hear the hard drive ticking constantly but almost like it is stuck, or extremeley slow. After 5 hours the same message is visible and the computer has not restarted yet.

When turning off the computer manually it does start again but when explorer.exe starts it becomes extremely slow. You will not be able to open any programs, menues or anything else. But if you push contrl alt del and turn explorer.exe off, you might be able to open some programs and maps.

I had this problem for a week. Then I managed to turn off the automatic updates via msconfig. After restarting the computer everything worked as normal again. But on the second restart the same message turned up again "Installing windows updates, do not turn of your computer" "Installing update 1 of 1". This message has now been up for about 45 minutes...I am pretty sure that this imples that Windows Update is the problem.

Your computer probably is so slow because Windows is trying to install an update that does not work...so what you have to do is to turn this automatic installation off i guess...not sure how to do this yet, but maybe you can find something on the Internet.
5
For anyone still looking into this, the answer offered by Baluba is incorrect. The noise heard was the hard disk crashing. To be more specific it was probably the motor and read/write heads making those noises. Windows update did not cause the problem, do not turn Automatic Updates off.
1
i have a similiar problem, but my task manager doesnt even show up, nothing does. i think it might have to do with my internet, seeing as it usually happens when i close a client and browser.
0