wolfie78uk
Programmer
Hi,
I have an annoying problem with a Windows XP (Version 2002) SP2 install on an Acer Aspire 1691WLMi laptop (Intel Pentium M 1.6, 512MB RAM).
Basically, after logging in, the desktop and taskbar all load OK (I am even treated to the Windows login music) but nothing loads in the systray and I am unable to execute any apps from the desktop. The mouse cursor becomes the "egg-timer" when hovered over the taskbar.
The only solution is to kill explorer.exe and then "File->New Task->explorer" from task manager to restart explorer. This will obviously cause explorer to restart and this time the systray programs will appear and everything is OK.
I have tried narrowing the problem down by disabling startup services in msconfig but the problem can be intermittent. I have noticed that applications such as GTalk and RealPlayer have caused it when they have decided to start up at boot time. However, loads of people run these apps so I suspect they are somehow "clashing" with another process rather than being faulty themselves.
I really don't know where to start diagnosing this. The Windows Event Log is useless.
What is interesting though is that this problem appears on an old desktop too (an AMD machine that has nothing in common with the laptop). This leads me to believe that it is a Windows XP problem that occurs under certain conditions.
I have disabled Background Intelligence Transfer after reading a suggestion to do so but that made no difference.
Please help me. This problem really annoys my wife and things that annoy my wife annoy me
Let me know if you need more detail. I appreciate that this is a bit light on detail but, not knowing where to start, I do not know what info will be of interest.
Thanks in advance,
Si
I have an annoying problem with a Windows XP (Version 2002) SP2 install on an Acer Aspire 1691WLMi laptop (Intel Pentium M 1.6, 512MB RAM).
Basically, after logging in, the desktop and taskbar all load OK (I am even treated to the Windows login music) but nothing loads in the systray and I am unable to execute any apps from the desktop. The mouse cursor becomes the "egg-timer" when hovered over the taskbar.
The only solution is to kill explorer.exe and then "File->New Task->explorer" from task manager to restart explorer. This will obviously cause explorer to restart and this time the systray programs will appear and everything is OK.
I have tried narrowing the problem down by disabling startup services in msconfig but the problem can be intermittent. I have noticed that applications such as GTalk and RealPlayer have caused it when they have decided to start up at boot time. However, loads of people run these apps so I suspect they are somehow "clashing" with another process rather than being faulty themselves.
I really don't know where to start diagnosing this. The Windows Event Log is useless.
What is interesting though is that this problem appears on an old desktop too (an AMD machine that has nothing in common with the laptop). This leads me to believe that it is a Windows XP problem that occurs under certain conditions.
I have disabled Background Intelligence Transfer after reading a suggestion to do so but that made no difference.
Please help me. This problem really annoys my wife and things that annoy my wife annoy me
Let me know if you need more detail. I appreciate that this is a bit light on detail but, not knowing where to start, I do not know what info will be of interest.
Thanks in advance,
Si