Evening all,

 

On Friday night I used my PC to check my email before I went to bed. No problems.

 

On Saturday night, after I got back from the pub, I put my PC on. I typed my password and pressed enter. I got the "Found New Hardware" window which is fine: that relates to a webcam I have plugged in but no software installed for. But after that it failed to display the PC's desktop. No icons, even after a few minutes during which I pressed no keys or mouse buttons. So I rebooted and got the same thing again so after that I gave up.

 

Today, Sunday, I have again had the same problem. No desktop icons even though this time I gave it longer than a few minutes after logging in. So I have now come to the conclusion that the PC is probably bust and I will have to replace it.

 

The question is this: anyone out there know what might be causing the desktop not to load up and what I can do to get rid of the problem? I have my eye on a suitable desktop PC to replace the current one if nothing can be done and a laptop would be no good as I play games that are best played on a desktop and the game in question is not of the arcade variety.

 

Thanks,

Dave

Your best solution would be to reformat - fresh install of windows. You could try booting in safe mode and doing some scans on your pc, if not back everything up and swipe the lot. There's nothing wrong with a laptop, I've got a gaming one and it ****es all over the latest games. I7 3.2ghz, 8gb ram and a 2gb 660gtx, fantastic piece of kit. Although it did set me back just short of £1,000.

Your best solution would be to reformat - fresh install of windows. You could try booting in safe mode and doing some scans on your pc, if not back everything up and swipe the lot. There's nothing wrong with a laptop, I've got a gaming one and it ****es all over the latest games. I7 3.2ghz, 8gb ram and a 2gb 660gtx, fantastic piece of kit. Although it did set me back just short of £1,000.

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I have had the PC from new since 2007 but Windows was pre-installed and the CD did not come with the system. In terms of budget for a replacement system £1000 tends to be more than a month's wages for me so spending that much is not something I want to do. A look in the showroom of a well-known chain this afternoon (Sunday) turned up a system from the same manufacturer that made my Mum's laptop and that was being sold at £550 which I could spend and then have money left afterwards. I would want MS Office installed as well though and I don't know how much that would add onto the cost.

 

Dave

Edited 29 September, 201312 yr by DaveHarries

It's likely windows is trying to check and repair your profile.

I get it a lot on the works xp machine which has started routinely blue screening. Upon restart it can take minutes or a hour before the desktop appears correctly.

Next time try holding down the shift key as you log in and keep it held. That'll stop stuff loading and make the repair quicker

He hasn't mentioned if the keybd lamps flash or he gets boot up sounds or beeps. Or if he gets bios options. At 2007, i'd suggest it is XP ,but if no lamp flash/ bootup beeps/noises ,are fans powered up meaning failed PSU .

mY CHECK LIST -

I'm not a PC expert, just someone who applies his faultfinding training to PC problems.

First -Operating system ? I'd suspect XP or Vista. Booting into safe mode- press F8 ( USUALLY WHILST BOOTING) .

Secondly - what happens at switchon - do you get any beeps /sounds etc /any keyboard lights flash? If not -you might have to take off a side panel and check that fans are operating. And if not -possible PSU problems ( easy and not too expensive fix) does the PSU fan run . And with side paneloff- get out the hoover and dust brush and clean up the CPU AND OTHER FANS .

Thirdly do you get any bios selections ( e.g -press esc for this/ del for that or any pre Windows messages). If so - go into set up and check that PC sees HDD .I've had problems with HDD connections .

Answers to those questions will help any IT Pro that comes in to help you further , if the above fails to get you going.

I would leave it running for a while, I have had this happen and it took over 20 minutes before the icons reappeared., it could even be a M$ update trying to install, some of them take a LOOOOONG time.

 

Fan failures or dust clog-ups are a possibility, the CPU is running flat out when the OS loads, so a dirty fan heat sink will not keep the CPU cool enough and the machine can lock-up; I open and clean the fans and heat sinks at least twice a year (hoover with soft brush attachment).

 

Ré buying a new PC, you dont need to spend anything like £500, a PC fair will build you a computer for under £200 if you want a real budget job., then just pick your preferred flavour of OS and move over your old HDDs (to access your data), DVDRW drives, keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Another option, short of buying a brand new pc. Have you looked on ebay for computers near you? Obviously there's a great deal of variety in price, but I have shopped there on behalf of a friend of mine around 6 months back, got him a quad core i5 with gtx 260 and a proper gaming psu for a couple hundred quid.

Worth checking that out, or gumtree. I prefer that to a laptop as if one part goes bad, a cheap and quick fix to pop in a replacement part.

Silly question, what happens if you remove the webcam, or have you already tried this?.

 

Also, depending on the pc brand, you may have a recovery partition that may be accessed by pressing a key combination, meaning you can reinstall the os from that information.

Unplug ALL usb connected things and try booting again, especially if it has started playing up since trying to install new hardware drivers.

Worst case scenario, you need to do a profile rebuild. It's not hard, just a bit time consuming.

He hasn't mentioned if the keybd lamps flash or he gets boot up sounds or beeps. Or if he gets bios options. At 2007, i'd suggest it is XP ,but if no lamp flash/ bootup beeps/noises ,are fans powered up meaning failed PSU .

mY CHECK LIST -

I'm not a PC expert, just someone who applies his faultfinding training to PC problems.

First -Operating system ? I'd suspect XP or Vista. Booting into safe mode- press F8 ( USUALLY WHILST BOOTING) .

Secondly - what happens at switchon - do you get any beeps /sounds etc /any keyboard lights flash? If not -you might have to take off a side panel and check that fans are operating. And if not -possible PSU problems ( easy and not too expensive fix) does the PSU fan run . And with side paneloff- get out the hoover and dust brush and clean up the CPU AND OTHER FANS .

Thirdly do you get any bios selections ( e.g -press esc for this/ del for that or any pre Windows messages). If so - go into set up and check that PC sees HDD .I've had problems with HDD connections .

Answers to those questions will help any IT Pro that comes in to help you further , if the above fails to get you going.

Thanks for the reply on this. Firstly, yes the system is XP.

 

I don't get any beeps when it boots up but then again I have never had those. I do, however, get flashing lights on the keyboard. Also I have tried hoovering out the PC in the past and get out as much as I can. As for blue-screening I have had some of that but, like a constipated owl, if hasn't been regular. 

 

When booting up you get the manufacturer's logo on screen and then the next screen you get gives the Windows logo.

 

As for the fans in the system one sometimes does rattle but a tap to the side of the unit seems to get rid of that although the rattling fan doesn't prevent the system booting up as normal.

 

 

I would leave it running for a while, I have had this happen and it took over 20 minutes before the icons reappeared., it could even be a M$ update trying to install, some of them take a LOOOOONG time.

 

Fan failures or dust clog-ups are a possibility, the CPU is running flat out when the OS loads, so a dirty fan heat sink will not keep the CPU cool enough and the machine can lock-up; I open and clean the fans and heat sinks at least twice a year (hoover with soft brush attachment).

 

Ré buying a new PC, you dont need to spend anything like £500, a PC fair will build you a computer for under £200 if you want a real budget job., then just pick your preferred flavour of OS and move over your old HDDs (to access your data), DVDRW drives, keyboard, mouse and monitor.

Thanks for this tip. I did wonder if I was leaving it too short a time so I gave it half an hour first thing on Sunday morning before I gave up on it then.

 

Thanks to everyone else for the replies received so far.

 

Dave

It might assist us to help you if you could let us have the pc brand and model number, from that we may be able to point you in a better direction.

It might assist us to help you if you could let us have the pc brand and model number, from that we may be able to point you in a better direction.

Manufacturer: Viglen

Serial Number: 1920362-GGF (found on stickers on front & rear of PC: nothing saying "Model Number".)

 

Dave

It's likely windows is trying to check and repair your profile.

I get it a lot on the works xp machine which has started routinely blue screening. Upon restart it can take minutes or a hour before the desktop appears correctly.

Next time try holding down the shift key as you log in and keep it held. That'll stop stuff loading and make the repair quicker

Gadgetman,

 

Just booted up the PC, held down the SHIFT key and it worked. Will buy you a pint if I ever catch up with you  at a forum meet somewhere.

 

Cheers,

Dave

Edited 30 September, 201312 yr by DaveHarries

Thats great news you've sorted it.  The next reboot might also take a while, but should be ok after around 10 mins max or at least min is.

 

It's likely a crash or an update screwed your profile, and windows just needed a while to sort it.  Vista would just send you into a boot cycle :(

Thats great news you've sorted it.  The next reboot might also take a while, but should be ok after around 10 mins max or at least min is.

 

It's likely a crash or an update screwed your profile, and windows just needed a while to sort it.  Vista would just send you into a boot cycle :(

 

Vista would of sent you to the insane asylum before a boot cycle...?!?!?! 

Vista would of sent you to the insane asylum before a boot cycle...?!?!?! 

I had a Vista machine any never had any of the commonly reported issues/gripes.  Win 8 however.....

I had a Vista machine any never had any of the commonly reported issues/gripes.  Win 8 however.....

 

Some people did....and some people didn't.......win 8 most certainly does but 8.1 is far better....more stable....

I'd sugest W7/possibly 64 bit , for an XP pc upgrade. I run an ATHLON 2.5Ghz with 2 Gb memory. I dual boot with XP 32 ,and XP IS slow. It boots slow and runs far slower than 7 and is less stable.. I keep it - well I'm a dynasor,who'd like to keep every possible OS on his PC.BUT UNFORTUNATELY modern PC don't like certain OS. 95 fe was good and so was 98 FE. Then came 98 SE- crash after crash . And then millenium ,and a decent one -W2K. And then XP . Then along cme the creme de la creme- W7. w8- not convinced it's not another Vista.

I (partially) agree with VWD, if you have the available drivers for Win7, it runs faster and smoother than XP on the same hardware - as long as you can get the drivers - that can be the issue; 7 runs really well on my little 1.6GHz netbook, but Intel have never written a proper W7 compliant gfx driver for the chipset inside, so I had all sorts of issues and went back to XP.

 

I also tried W7 on my main PC, but fast as it was, it was lacking in some areas that XP did well, and wouldnt support either my expensive printers advanced features OR my ancient SCSI scanner - BOTH of which are better built than anything new I could afford to buy, so out went W7 and back came XP.

The clocks ticking on XP though.. Next April....

The clocks ticking on XP though.. Next April....

...nothing will happen; especially to people who dont use IE or OE, and who use software/hardware firewalls from reputable companies.

 

With over 500,000,000 machines still LEGALLY running XP, and untold millions running XPe or unauthorised copies like TinyXP, there will still be companies making money from XP based programs and security updates for the next decade.

 

I wont ditch my XP box until my industrial grade Epson scanner and HP printer dies, cos the last sets of drivers issued for them were Win2000 and Vista!!!!

GG- I AGREE - especially as I've got an Apple Laser printer that showws on XP, but not on W7 .

...nothing will happen; especially to people who dont use IE or OE, and who use software/hardware firewalls from reputable companies.

 

With over 500,000,000 machines still LEGALLY running XP, and untold millions running XPe or unauthorised copies like TinyXP, there will still be companies making money from XP based programs and security updates for the next decade.

 

I wont ditch my XP box until my industrial grade Epson scanner and HP printer dies, cos the last sets of drivers issued for them were Win2000 and Vista!!!!

 

GG of course we know nothing will happen before then....I mean its a no brainer that XP is on plenty of machines. NHS for one http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/ehi/8898/eight-in-ten-nhs-desktops-still-on-xp . I work as a consultant for years fighting with the other companies to get there software up to date so it would be compatible but never succeeded. Cost implications is another factor for many companies but we all have to accept that its curtains for something which has been around for a number of years. 

But i am afraid to say the security flaws in XP, without patching is something I for one don't want to be part of. You could have the best firewall from the most reputable company and for sure will protect you from the most dia attacks but once one machine is exposed then you will start to see the rest follow. A security expert taught me that one....

I (partially) agree with VWD, if you have the available drivers for Win7, it runs faster and smoother than XP on the same hardware - as long as you can get the drivers - that can be the issue; 7 runs really well on my little 1.6GHz netbook, but Intel have never written a proper W7 compliant gfx driver for the chipset inside, so I had all sorts of issues and went back to XP.

 

I also tried W7 on my main PC, but fast as it was, it was lacking in some areas that XP did well, and wouldnt support either my expensive printers advanced features OR my ancient SCSI scanner - BOTH of which are better built than anything new I could afford to buy, so out went W7 and back came XP.

I took the middle road- I used to triple boot -W2k+xp+W7, BUT LAST hdd crash I ditched 2k. I now double boot XP & W7 -mainly as my old trusted Apple laserwriter cant run on W7, and some older programs don't like W7, and I can't find drivers . I used to be a big fan of XP, til I played wit W7. XP takes ages to load properly . But then one main advantage is looking for anything you've given a funny name/misfiled. An XP search is more comprehensive than a W7 search . I seldom get lockups on w7/64 ,which I did get with XP -almost reminiscent of 98FE/95.

Another thing about W7 is security. I do run both a firewall and an Virus program, but both me & son tried the Norton/symtanec site with nothing on ,and results were amazing. Total secure. But I believe in belts+ braces and a bit of string aproach to security I use a seperate firewall ,with Windows one/Windows defender  and an anti virus program. With various other checking programs.

Edited 3 October, 201312 yr by VWD