Desktop only "half loads" then halts

[Shnell]

Hey guyss, basically my desktop pooped itself and hasn't been working in a month and idk what to do! (I
m using my desktop atm) I log into my account on my desktop and my desktop loads just fine, but only like 3 icons load on the taskbar and my desktop icons don't load or anything <__> and nothing opens, like no matter what i click and ctrl alt delete doesn't work either UGH. my boyfriends thinking its a hardware failure but WHO KNOWS, has anyone experienced this problem before? ): its really frustrating!

sorry for the lame description, its sort of hard to describe D:

[Kesarra]

I've never heard of that, but it sounds more like software. If you have a second computer somewhere, you could install the hard drive on it and copy all your necessary files (photos, documents, etc) over. After you get all that saved, put the drive back where it was and wipe and reinstall the operating system.

[Drewdle]

What kind of computer, and did you install any new software recently?

I would recommend trying the non-invasive approach first. Hold down F8 while the computer is booting and this should take you to the option to boot into Safe Mode. If you're running Windows XP, type "msconfig" once you've selected "Run" from the Start Menu, or just type the same thing into the search bar in Vista. That should start up a program that allows you to see what's starting up when you turn on your computer. Disable everything that you don't recognize as a program you installed yourself (or that is supposed to be there from the manufacturer, typically these have the manufacturer's name on them and control things like your volume buttons, etc), save the changes, and restart as normal. If that doesn't fix it, then yeah, perhaps a software reload is in order.

[Tonk]

What drew said. But i would recommend disabling everything in the startup tab and in services check hide all Microsoft services and disable all services. If that fails and you are on vista boot from the dvd and try a startup repair. If that fails the dvd will let you do a system restore.

GL

[Shnell]

Alright, thanks everyone (: I'll try those ASAP~

[Shnell]

Ughh so I tried safe-mode and the screen is basically completely black minus the start button on the non-existent taskbar and the time, I think... any suggestions?? ):

[Tonk]

Are you running XP or vista?

[Shnell]

I'm running Vista

[Tonk]

Sounds like you are probably going to need to reformat and start over. Can you backup your files with the condition it is in?
Also try running the start up repair here it a tutorial so i don't have to type the steps out: http://www.ehow.com/how_2138298_windows-vista-using-startup-repair.html
If the repair fails, try using the system restore tool. It is on the page you will see after the repair finishes.

If both of those fail here is a in depth guide on reformatting and reinstalling vista: http://vistahomepremium.windowsreinstall.com/installnewhdd/installnewhdd.htm
You of course will need to find your vista or recovery disk to do all 3 of these things.
If you have trouble with any steps i can help.

GL

[Drewdle]

Good luck. Vista is a royal PITA to fix when you've got software issues. A lot of the manual tricks XP had built in don't work on Vista.

[Shnell]

Ughh, thanks guys. D: What a pain!

[Okami]

Provided you haven't formatted yet. Since you do have another computer to use, I'd recommend pulling the HDD and hook it up to the other computer and do a virii and malware scan.

I've seen similar issues that may be caused by virii and/or malware from my IT jobs.

Preferably, use ESET NOD32, Symantec NAV, MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, SuperAntiSpyware... or any combination of decent scanning tools and make sure the HDD is clean of junk first.

If it's not possible, there are other ways to get around to fixing your boot issues but it'd be rather complicated without doing it in person. ^^;

[Shnell]

Alright, thanks! I'm trying to get any ideas of anything to do without having to reformat because it is such a pain... uuughh!!

I was hoping it had something to do with my ram. I don't even have enough to run Vista in the first place... yet I've been running Vista (slowly) for the past 2 years. Maybe this means some of my ram crapped out or something?

[Okami]

It's possible it's the RAM but if that were the case, safe mode would've had an easier time loading as it loads the bare minimum only. For the moment, software issue seems more likely. However, 2GB-3GB is recommended for Vista.

[Shnell]

Well, safe mode worked the second time I loaded it... haha. Ugh. I'll see if I can borrow a stick or two of my brother's RAM for like, 5 minutes to see if my computer works with that. Is it possible this could be my motherboard?

[Okami]

Usually motherboard issues would tend to be much more fatal (to the point of not being bootable). I'm still more likely to believe that it's a software issue over hardware atm though. Hardware issues are usually hard faults, not random on/off software issues.

[Kesarra]

Pull the hard drive out, install in another computer, copy the files you need to save, put things back together again, wipe the hard drive, reinstall the OS from scratch. You'll spend far less time doing this than the futzing about you're doing now.

[Shnell]

I'm just hesitant, haha... The concept of wiping everything is kind of scary for me because I did that once (copied all my files to another comp) and when I tried to put them back on my newly-reformatted comp and there was some error and the files wouldn't transfer... it was suuch a pain! But yeah, I guess thats what I'm gonna have to do. :\

[Shnell]

Is there a way I can back up my files to my external hard-drive thingy from a startup menu (considering my account doesn't load) So I can backup my files to that?
and if not how do I go about copying files from my hard drive to the computer downstairs? D: (sorry, I'm helpless lol)

[Tonk]

I know for a fact that ram is not a problem. If the ram was bad the problems would be random and mostly BSOD's.
Okami's idea was good but if it was a virus it probably already messed things up to much =(. However if you need to backup anything you can do it that way.

Once you have things sorted out this will tell you what kind of memory your computer can take:
http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/
Memory is extremely cheap these days.