Heelllpp!

Ok i got one BIG problem! First of all i have XP home edition. I start my computer and i put my password in adn then it "loads." BUT! It only loads to the desktop!! It won't load anything else. I can bring up the task manager and do anything from there but i don't want to do that all the time. I tried many of time to reboot and hope the problem would go away but it doesn't. The only way i can get it back to normal it turn the guest account on then log on under the guest then switch user to my log on name. Then while i'm in my name i log off the guest user. From there i can restart my computer and log on to my name. But i don't want the guest log on! If i turn the guest log off then it goes right back to not being able to get past the deskstop! This is soo frustrating! If any body knows anything i would apreciate it much! Thanks

Can you get into safe mode with your user id? Press F8 multiple times at boot and you should get options to start. Try safe mode...

-Or-

Have you recently loaded any new software/drivers or made any significant configuration changes?

If so, and XP doesn't like what you've done, you can try a "roll back"
I'm not positive that the home version of XP has this feature, but I know Pro does.

It simply restores to a "known good point" where you knew everything was working fine.

Depending on the size you allocated for "roll back" and how big your hard drive is to start, you should have several "known good points".

Click on Start --> Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> system restore.

NOTE: Choose a recent date. If you don't, any program/change you have made since that point will be lost. Your data will still be there, just the configurtaion or program install may not be.

When you do this, it will record how your current status is. You can always undo the system restore.

I would try this only if you know you have made significant changes to your configuration or have loaded any new software/drivers that may be incompatable with XP.

hum, to be honest, I don't view what could be the exact source of your problem (if we except Microsoft and XP home edition obviously). It doesn't seem to be in your users rights. Maybe in some options related to your account start up that you could have turned on/off (services).
If you have already tried to verify services and system configurations without any success, I advice you to make a backup and to reinstall Windows.

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If you have already tried to verify services and system configurations without any success, I advice you to make a backup and to reinstall Windows

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With all respect to KissCool, I wouldn't jump to reinstall just yet. I would try to restore to a previous configuration that M$ has already done for you using my instructions above.

Or, a further detailed set of instructions for XP system restore can be found here.

Though backing up your system is a given. ;)

Well safe mode doesn't work. And system restoration doesn't work either! No i haven't download anything or installed anything recently. i was on the computer last night and it was working just fine. Well. I did do one thing. there was a post last night that said a gift for antionline members. it was a picture. a blue background with antionline in the center. i but it as my background. that is the only thing i can think of. i doubt that has anything to do with it.

I doubt that setting your wallpaper did that either...

Did you check your services, like KissCool advised? Do you get errors in your event logs?

none when i log in in my name but when i logged in under the guest it did but i can't remember what it was.

Nyroca,

It was my AO wallpaper the one you has as your background now, don't be afraid, it just a JPG image.

By the way, which video card are you using?, have you tried installing its last drivers? Sometimes, when display gets wrong, it could be because of a driver issue... and it doesn't matter if a few days ago (or yesterday) your PC was OK, computers get crazy from one day to another. :D

Bye.

Edit: Check for virus too!!!

Yes it was your wall paper but i don't think that is the problem. :P but i only know sooo much about computers and i dont' understand how my viedo card has anything to do with it. i mean it works fine when the guest account is in abled! i hate windows

What about your event log? There are two sections that you should look at here.

Both your application and system logs. While you're at it, you might as well take a look at security, just in case it is user rights, but I doubt that is it.

If there are errors in there, you may want to look them up. M$ technet is a good place to look them up or google will usually do the trick.

You are probably going to be looking at a system error because you said that you haven't installed anything recently.

Nyroca,

With Windows you can never be sure about nothing...
Windows it's like a wrong fairy tale, anything can happen in it (but always bad things).
It's not a bad idea to upgrade you video card drivers then.
I start to see that this is that kind of problems that you never know what caused it and how to fix it. So try all you can before reinstalling... or turn to Linux :D

Good luck!!!

Edit: Have you tried looking for system errors with Norton Systemworks for example?

i never used linux. what are the differences in them? I'm guessing linux is better huh?

Nyroca,

Well the differences are relly big... LINUX is much better. It doesn't have this kind of stupid errors Windows have, when Linux have errors they're because it's more difficult to use than Windows (for normal users), more if you don't know anything about Linux. If you ask the rest of the AO members, the majority of them will confirm my words saying Linux is better. I have Linux Mandrake 9.0 and XP in one same PC, and got XP just while i learn to use Linux programs for editing, web development, etc.

It's never too late to change to Linux and start learning it, remember it's open source and its constantly upgrading its programas and fixing its "little" errors. :D

Bye.

Sometimes in NT4...5...etc.. user accounts become corrupt and the easiest way to solve the problem is to delete the profile and then log in again. You should (create if you have to) a user account with admin rights. Then log in using this account and delete the old profile. Copy out favorites and docs etc...first though. The new profile will be created from scratch (copied) from a default and will in fact work. User profiles are stored in C:\Documents and Settings. Good Luck.

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Sometimes in NT4...5...etc.. user accounts become corrupt and the easiest way to solve the problem is to delete the profile and then log in again. You should (create if you have to) a user account with admin rights. Then log in using this account and delete the old profile. Copy out favorites and docs etc...first though. The new profile will be created from scratch (copied) from a default and will in fact work. User profiles are stored in C:\Documents and Settings. Good Luck.

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Good suggestion... but one thing missing.

If you have "encryped" anything using XP encryption, you will loose that data.
Well, you will still have it, but you won't be able to read it.