Laptop gone blank - help!!

superstar_2

It happened suddenly, when I was surfing the internet yesterday. Now, when I switch on laptop, this is what happens:
1. Start as usual
2. The music of starting a laptop appears.
3. The screen turns into my background page.
4. That's it, no icons, no start up menu, nothing - just a blank screen.
5. Mouse doesnt work, i.e. no left or right click.
6. Only one keyboard function that works - task manager - I realised that there's less processes running - eg. msn messenger isnt there etc.

Can someone help me. Ta.

superstar_2

anyone!? ..........

HTML200

Which version of windows is it?

Is explorer.exe listed as running in the task manager? Try closing it and see what happens.

Do you have log out option when you press ctrl-alt-del?

And (warning: classic, but true, IT support line...) have you tried rebooting it?

superstar_2

HTML200 wrote: »

Which version of windows is it?

Is explorer.exe listed as running in the task manager? Try closing it and see what happens.

Do you have log out option when you press ctrl-alt-del?

And (warning: classic, but true, IT support line...) have you tried rebooting it?

Its XP

Will check if explorer is there later when back home.

When ctrl-alt-del was pressed, the task manager comes out, no option to log out

Havent reboot it, how to do it? Ta.

asininity

Go into File then Run and typre "explorer.exe" hopefully thatll sort it.

superstar_2

asininity wrote: »

Go into File then Run and typre "explorer.exe" hopefully thatll sort it.

How do i get into 'file' in the first place? ta.

HTML200

explorer is almost certainly already running, hence I suggested you shut it down. If you do that, windows automatically restarts it and that often fixes the sort of problem you're describing.

If you'd like to try asinity's idea, and assuming you don't have access to the Start button then you'll need to press the windows key and 'r', and hopefully that will bring up the run command. Failing that, you may have access to the run command by pressing 'file' at the top of the task manager and choosing New Task (Run)

Certain versions of Windows give you the option to reboot when you press ctrl-alt-del, some allow the option from the menus in task manager. In some cases you may need to resort to a hard reset, i.e. cut the power.

Hope that helps.

superstar_2

OK.

I checked windows task manager and explorer.exe was NOT there. So, went to new task > run > explorer.exe and i got an error message as below:

windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have appropriate permission to access them.

I tried firefox.exe which worked - got my firefox opened, so can post it here now but the explorer.exe is not working.

Help please. Ta.

HTML200

Some problems are really tough to fix without being in front of the computer. For me, this one of them.

You're running XP, is that right?

Do you normally choose a user ID and enter a password to log in to windows, or does it normally all just happen automatically?

If you use a user ID (e.g. your name), if you press windows-r, and type 'cmd', and press return, what does the line of text in the black box say?

superstar_2

HTML200 wrote: »

Some problems are really tough to fix without being in front of the computer. For me, this one of them.

You're running XP, is that right?

Do you normally choose a user ID and enter a password to log in to windows, or does it normally all just happen automatically?

If you use a user ID (e.g. your name), if you press windows-r, and type 'cmd', and press return, what does the line of text in the black box say?

Its XP. Normally, it logs in automatically.

windows+r does not work, but got to run via task manager, it just says owner.

totalsolutions

First is not a "Blank" display is it??? Shows your desktop, thats all you get on a fresh Vista install anyway

Windows key + R gives you the RUN dialogue box then type explorer