Start menu is empty

[NRGeti]

My laptop drive apparently overheated and corrupted some files. I think the registry was damaged because now clicking on Start | All Programs doesn't do anything. It just sits there.

I tried several System Restore dates but that did not help. I also ran SFC, CHKDSK and a registry cleaner program.

I am running Windows XP Pro.

 

[linney]

Have a look at this thread, ignore things that you have already tried, there are plenty of other things to consider.

START MENU EXPLORE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thread779-1344318

The Hard Drive manufacturer will have free diagnostic software to thoroughly check the condition of your hard drive.

Any clues in the Event Viewer?

 

[NRGeti]

The event viewer did not show anything. There are just too many other squirrelly things wrong. I am just going to reformat the drive and reinstall from scratch.

 

[linney]

Before you go down that path and lose your data, back it up to some other location.

It might be worthwhile to check your RAM and hard drive anyway.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

 

[NRGeti]

One more thing I tried was to change the Start Menu to classic and then drop shortcuts into the Programs field of the Start Menu. This works on a good PC but this one seems to be locked out.

The registry shows the correct keys for the locations of the Start Menu shortcuts. So there is some kind of error in the registry preventing updating the applicable key.

I am currently backing up to an external drive to save all my data.

 

[linney]

If it is a Permissions problem (did you check the locations mentioned in that first linked to thread) this may help.

How To Reset Security Settings Back to the Defaults

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=313222#1