XP Pro blank screen after login

Situation:
XP Pro
During a large file copy operation (pictures) that operation was cancelled.

Since that point, after the login screen (successful login) only get wall paper and mouse pointer, nothing else.

Of Note:
Ctrl-Alt-Del does not bring anything up
Ctrl-Shift-Esc does not bring anything up
Can log into safe more
Disable everything via msconfig, no changes
Have run multiple malware removals, no changes

Ideas??

 

If possible,in safe mode, preform a system restore to a date just before the problem.

 

Thanks for the quick response.

I failed to mention:
recover point tried, no change.
reinstalled xp, no change.

One more oddity:
Well before the incident LogMeIn was installed, and is used for remote support.
After a normal boot, I can remote into the PC via LogMeIn, but of course still the blank screen.
This tells me at least some services are being loaded.

 

deleted post

 

To clarify the XP reinstall: I first did a repair install, then did an install over the current installation.

This whole process is about saving a piece of software that will only run in XP & will be very expensive & time consuming to upgrade & train folks on.

It is not a corporate pc, but does exist on a small network.

 

If you create a new account and log in is the desktop still empty?

 

Great suggestion, will try that in a few hours.

 

adding a new user does not change things.

 

At the blank desktop, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up task manager. Select New Task and in the box type explorer.exe Does it bring up the desktop?

 

Ctrl-Alt-Del does not bring anything up
Ctrl-Shift-Esc does not bring anything up

 

In your second post you stated you tried a restore point but no change. How did you get to the restore menu? Do you still have a start button?

 

I am able to get into safemode.

 

So all the icons on the desktop are there in safe mode?

 

Yes.

Logged in as the (only) user, also there in safe mode logged in as admin.

 

Can you right click on the blank desktop and select View>show desktop icons or View>auto arrange icons.

If right click does not work, press shift+f10. It should bring up the box.

 

nothing for either of those

Note:
I just ran combofix from safe mode.

Now I'm getting a notice I must activate windows.

I can't do that from safemode apparently, and this blank screen doesn't let me either.

 

Since you can still log into safe mode, I would go to the Malware Removal Forum and post your logs according to the sticky post. If you are clean, you can come back here. For some reason, it seems that explorer.exe is not being allowed to run when logged into normal mode. And Task Manager is not available either. Were you trying to copy files to the desktop of the computer?

 

Will do.

It is possible the copy was going to the desktop, I'm not sure and the user is not around.