start button gone, task bar blank after installing updates

I'm running Win XP Home and recently installed some automatic updates upon
reboot, several of my icons on the desktop were gone (including "my
computer"), the taskbar is still at the bottom of the screen but there is no
"start button" and nothing is showing in the "quick launch" space. The
system tray looks okay. Several of the icons look a little "fuzzy" - the
Recycle Bin has jagged edges, for examples. If I type ctrl-alt-delete
nothing happens. Ctrl-esc will bring up a modified version of the start menu
but there's pretty much nothing in it. Trying to run msconfig brings up an
error message that "the application has failed to start because the
application configuration is incorrect. . ."

I've tried rebooting into safe mode but the same problem still occurs; I've
also tried creating a new user account and still no luck

Thoughts?

i'm having the same problem. i'd love to undo whatever was don,e but i don't
even know what got done in the mysterious update. nearly impossible to
navigate. i'm considering reinstalling windows and skipping all the updates.
can anyone help?

"MissingStart" wrote:

> I'm running Win XP Home and recently installed some automatic updates upon
> reboot, several of my icons on the desktop were gone (including "my
> computer"), the taskbar is still at the bottom of the screen but there is no
> "start button" and nothing is showing in the "quick launch" space. The
> system tray looks okay. Several of the icons look a little "fuzzy" - the
> Recycle Bin has jagged edges, for examples. If I type ctrl-alt-delete
> nothing happens. Ctrl-esc will bring up a modified version of the start menu
> but there's pretty much nothing in it. Trying to run msconfig brings up an
> error message that "the application has failed to start because the
> application configuration is incorrect. . ."
>
> I've tried rebooting into safe mode but the same problem still occurs; I've
> also tried creating a new user account and still no luck
>
> Thoughts?

I had a client's computer come into the shop with the _exact_ problem.
To expand some more on the symptoms (including what is written below)
if you right-click on 'My Computer' the 'General' tab is missing and
many windows programs will not run (winver, notepad, MMC).

[THE FIX]
The way I fixed it was to do a 'repair install' using a windows xp cd
W/ SP2. Be sure to use the right ~edition~ for your install (Home, Pro)
or it will want to install a new xp on your computer.

The way you do a repair install is to start the computer with a normal
windows xp SP2 install cd, boot from the CD, hit enter to install
windows (Don't be tempted by the repair option here) hit F8 to agree,
then select the repair option. let it do it's thing and after it's all
done windows should work fine.

To be more specific, you need a windows xp cd w/ SP2 already built into
the CD. I am not saying that you need to apply/install SP2... from what
I've read, that will not fix this problem. Also, a repair install with
a SP1 CD will not work.

More info here...

slipstream SP2 into a new CD using your existing XP install cd:
http:\\www.nu2.nu

More on the repair install:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

-Jason


start button gone wrote:
> i'm having the same problem...

> "MissingStart" wrote:
>
> > I'm running Win XP Home and recently installed some automatic
updates upon
> > reboot, several of my icons on the desktop were gone (including "my

> > computer"), the taskbar is still at the bottom of the screen but
there is no
> > "start button" and nothing is showing in the "quick launch" space.
The
> > system tray looks okay. Several of the icons look a little "fuzzy"
- the
> > Recycle Bin has jagged edges, for examples. If I type
ctrl-alt-delete
> > nothing happens. Ctrl-esc will bring up a modified version of the
start menu
> > but there's pretty much nothing in it. Trying to run msconfig
brings up an
> > error message that "the application has failed to start because the

> > application configuration is incorrect. . ."
> >
> > I've tried rebooting into safe mode but the same problem still
occurs; I've
> > also tried creating a new user account and still no luck
> >
> > Thoughts?