vanishing icons in notification area

Hello,

When I first bought and started my computer my volume icon was shown in the notification area for quick access, but has since vanished. I am able to restore it by one of two methods, but neither is a permanent solution.

1) I go to "sounds and audio devices" and click "place icon in notification area" and it appears.

2) I log off and log back on and it restores it.

The problem is, when I turn off my computer and restart it later, the icon has disappeared again. This also happens with my "desktop weather alert" icon.
I tried customizing the taskbar to always show these icons and apply the changes but, once again, when i restart the computer they disappear. Please help me....this is the least of my daily problems but still is very annoying. Thanks for any advice you may have.

Ry

 

~ What is your Windows version (+ service pack if applicable)?
~ How long you had this problem? If it started after a while of using it do you remember what kind of software/hardware changes you have done prior to it?
~ Are you using any kind of system tweaking utility?
~ What is "desktop weather alert"? I hope it is not a part of Wether Bug?

 

Oh yeah, it might help if you knew I had windows xp. I don't remember any changes I made that would affect the notification area. I am not using any tweaking programs. Desktop weather alert is from channel 4 news.

 

I just bought this computer about 2 months ago and have had this problem for a couple of weeks. I just don't understand why logging on and off would correct the problem but when I restart the icon disappears again. When I go to control panel the "show icon" option is already checked, but I have to uncheck it and re-check it to get the icon to show.

 

Anyone have any ideas? Heck, lie to me I don't care, just give me some hope with this problem.

 

Well, let's continue...what the heck:

Go ahead and download HijackThis. Unzip the contents like this:
C:\HijackThis\ all the program files or like this C:\Program Files\HijackThis\ all the program files
run the program (using the tope option) create a log and PM it to me if you like.

But you want my educated guess as to what might be causing this problem?
IMO, 3 possibilities that I can think of (I dont care how odd they may sound):
~ Settings or corruption in Windows registry
~ Some sort of a malware infection (but doubt it)
~ Problem with RAM

 

Halo........I love you



p.s....why would upnp interfere with my volume control icon? I never would have thought of that as a solution!

 

Haha, it made no sense at all to me either so I tried it the same on 2 XP machines one with sp1 the other with sp2 and did NOT experience the same problem at all.....very odd indeed. I am guessing there is something in your system a non-uPNP HW component or a system configuration that is creating the problem when the uPNP service is activated... so somewhat a workaround not a fix perhaps?

Good call Halo!