"mikeb" <> wrote in message
news:...
> After installing the recent batch of updates, following a reboot and logon,
> I cannot get to a desktop. All I get is a solid colored screen with a mouse
> pointer.
>
> Something strange is that as its logging in, there is a very tiny speck of a
> box that shows up and then disappears.
Big enough for a message or something else?
I had something like this happen after trying to follow a support worker's
suggestion to do a Windows Repair. It turned out that somehow my
partition table got two entries reversed. I don't know if that happened
during the Repair (which failed) or when I tried to use my alternate partition
and hadn't worked out the magic timing necessary to get out of the Repair's
forced boot command and into my normal boot menu. Unfortunately,
I wasn't aware of how destructive the Repair procedure could be and instead
of stopping to figure out how to get into my alternate partition properly
I ended up only being able to use the CD boot menu which meant trying
to "repair" the alternate partition.
Anyway, I wasn't able to stop that flashing error message either.
But by repeating it often enough and focusing on one word at a time
I was able to figure out that some API thought there was a shortage
of resources. I concluded that that probably meant that my pagefile
wasn't big enough, so I deleted it and used Load Hive to try to make
it bigger. (That's when I first became aware of the partition table problem
because the pagefile initially wasn't being regenerated on the drive
I expected it to be. ;] )
Eventually I worked out how to create a new page file anywhere
I wanted with whatever size I wanted but I was still getting that resource
shortage message. It was only later that I realized that the pagefile problem
just represented the tip of the iceberg and was really just a symptom
of the partition table problem. I may try and go back to fix that and try
again but it suspect that the total damage from all the retries will sadly
overtax the Repair's capability to restart itself or indicate more clearly
why it can't go on.
>
> But thats it, all I have is a blue screen (not a bsod), my backdrop color,
> with no desktop (no icons, taskbar, nothing).
Except for your "tiny speck of a box" symptom
this just sounds as if your Explorer.exe died.
If that's the case you can start another one with
your Task Manager. Even if Explorer.exe won't
start you can still start cmd.exe and poke around
with dir commands, notepad, etc. You could even
start progman.exe if you were so inclined to absolutely
need to see a GUI.
Who needs a Desktop (especially on a server)? <EG>
Good luck
Robert Aldwinckle
---
>
> I've tried to log in to different server accounts, including the
> administrator - NOTHING.
>
> Reboots produced the same results.
>
> My VSS client cannot access the server so I'm dead in the water.
>
> I can "see" the server from other computers though - network shares are
> available.
>
> Crap, can anyone help?
>
> Isn't there a FREE support line from Microsoft for Windows Updates gone
> sour???? I thought there was, but it seems to be too easily hidden on the
> MS site.
>
> -MIke
>
>
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