only wallpaper and mouse movement

I am working on a Dell 4700 and at login (normal or safe mode) only the mouse and wallpaper show up. No Taskmgr, no start menu, no regedit. Press the power button and windows does a user logoff. Press <Window> key and 'l' (lower L Key) and windows locks user and returns to login screen. since I can't run regedit or hijackthis I have no info to guide you on. It appears all process are running because mouse cursor changes to hourglass and back. I have used windows cd and did a repair and still the same. Help

 

hello There,

Sounds like your windows has corrupted is it possible to run a system restore on the computer and it should work then if not you might have to reinstall windows back on the computer

 

I know I may have to do a reinstall but I would like to try anything else first. Can't run system restore, as customer hasn't had one done since computer was new, thus might as well do a reinstall. Is their a display key in the registry that could be causing something. I have seen how having multiple anti-virus programs installed could cause something like this but safe mode shouldn't start any so this doesn't seem to be the answer either. Any ideas would be helpful

 

2 anti virus programs can clash together which can cause the problems but you have tried to run in safe mode and still hasnt solved the problem. Also running 2 firewalls can cause that problem aswell but I take it there isnt 2 firewalls installed on the computer. So sounds to me that only a reinstall of the OS will sort out the problem.

 

<windows key> does nothing but <windows key> and l (lower L) lock user, no other <window key> combination works. Computer acts like things are starting and running but wallpaper will not let them show. (ie. nothing can gain focus, Like Explorer.exe isn't running correctly or not allowed focus. Would try to kill explorer and start a new one but taskmgr, run or anything will show up. Any ideas

 

does ctrl/Alt/del work,you can start the explorer.exe process manually
if you can access task manager.
Once started the pc should act as normal

 

Not <CTRL><ALT><DELETE> doesn't popup. the computer seems like it is doing stuff, but nothing ever shows up on the screen except on a <WINDOWS KEY> + l (lowercase L) which locks user and brings up user login dialog, also nothing different in safe mode or safe mode with command prompt