Icons/task bar disappeared, can't get into safe mode.

Hello,
I'm completely stuck. My system froze, and upon hard restart, my icons/taskbar/start menu are all gone. I only have a backround. Cntrl-Alt-Delete is disabled.

When attempting Safe Mode, the system hangs on AGP440. I disabled it from recovery disk, then it hangs on MUP. After disabling it, it hangs on NDIS.

I have no idea what to try.

Thanks for any guidance.

 

hard drive could be shot, you have a windows cd? if so, see here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058
and do step 2, starting recovery console from windows xp cd
once it's loaded, use the command chkdsk /p command..

 

Thank you for response. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention I did attempt a chkdsk /p with no change.

I was hoping not to hear the hard drive is cooked, but maybe that's the case.

I'm still confused though, about how my icons and start menu all disappeared and if this was caused by a virus/malware...

 

those things you listed before, while booting into safe mode, doesn't mean it's hanging at that point, or on that particular file/driver.
how about a repair installation?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341

you might just want to run a scan with the hard drive manufacturer's software, to check the disk's health