[Hazelwood Redneck Brain Trust]

Oh, and I tried my recovery disk but it didnt autostart like I thought it would when I put it into the CD drive, so I dont know how to access it either.

[vet7279]

It should be ok if you reboot... If not, oooppss

[ican'tbelieveit]

Restart.

[FReepaholic]

All you need to do is reboot.

[ThunderSleeps]

I think you can hit ctl-alt-del and pop up a task launcher window. Enter “explorer” and see if it restarts. Something like that - been a while since I had to do this kind of thing.

[AppyPappy]

Reboot works. And quit killing stuff.

[Ainast]

Go back to task list. Click file run (something like that) type explorer.exe. Hit enter

[RightFighter]

Press CTRL-ALT-DEL, then click “Run” and type in “explorer.exe” and click OK.

[TheZMan]

Same as the others. Reboot is easiest, but File->Run->explorer in task manager will fix it. I did that on a regular basis intentionally whenever XP lost its mind.

[Revolting cat!]

IBTJ (In Before The Jokers!)

[Ingtar]

Windows key - R, type in Explorer at the command prompt. Hit enter. Shut down your programs and restart the computer. Running Explorer this way can be unstable.

[Hazelwood Redneck Brain Trust]

This is why I LOVE!! Free Republic.

It is indeed a beautiful conglomeration of really smart people!

I posted my problem...
waited just a few minutes...
refreshed...
there were several responses!

Oh, and it’s working again!
Thank you all again for your help!

[TomGuy]

Just reboot.

It should restore everything

[American Constitutionalist]

It's ok, you only shut down a process for that session ( each and ever time you start a computer is a session ) .... just restart or reboot.
Hold the start button on the computer case until the computer shuts down.
Now, sometimes shutting down Windows suddenly without shutting down Windows properly might cause a error in Windows or your hard drive disk, but, if you don't have any other way to shut it down you have no other choice.
Once you get your computer back up and running ok, go to SCAN DISK and set up a scan disk operation when you start the computer again, now this may take some time to do, but it will scan your hard drive for errors.
I don't think you mess up or damaged your PC much, at worst ? just reinstall Windows XP again after you have backed up all your data.... besides ? if you reinstall Windows XP again you PC would run much better.

[American Constitutionalist]

Do you still see the recovery option on your screen ( while the PC is going into the BIOS screen ) like pushing the F-10 or F-9 button for setup or recovery ?
It sounds like your driver(s) for your CD drive took a dump or is lost/ or corrupted.
The CD you do have ? check out it's physical condition ? are there scratches on it ? is it clean ? maybe the Laser in your CD drive is dirty ? it could be many things.
Hopefully ? you still have a recovery partition still on your PC and you might be able to access it.
If you have not shut down the PC, please do, then ? with a paper clip put it in the small hole on front of the CD drive and push carefully, that will open the CD drive physically.
Put the Restore disk in it and start the PC again, hopefully it will read the CD drive again... make sure your recovery disk is not damaged in anyway like dust on it, scratches, dirt on it.

[cripplecreek]

My sister was warning me about a McAffee update that trashed her operating system.

[MarkL]

You’re OK, not a big deal, and it’s easy to fix, even if you didn’t kill explorer.exe in task manager. It happens now and then if you have a program crash it, or you lose a network connection.

If you don’t want to shut down the computer right now, simply open Task Manager, choose the Applications tab, click on the “New Task” button, and type in “explorer.exe” (without the quotes, of course.)

Or you can simply restart the machine.

It would have been way more interesting had you deleted explorer.exe from Windows explorer. That would be no fun at all.

Mark

[DFG]

Just reboot. I have done the same thing in Windows XP.

[imardmd1]

Oh, and I tried my recovery disk but it didnt autostart like I thought it would when I put it into the CD drive, so I dont know how to access it either.

Unless you want likely to erase all your new programs and saved work, do NOT use your System Recovery Disk!

Unless it has been manually turned off, System Restore always looks for the last good working configuration, and boots up from that. So try just:

o Clicking on Start then Turn off Computer
o Select Turn Off from the little window that comes up.
o Let the computer completely shut down.
o Then power on the computer and immediately --
o While the computer is booting, rapidly hit the F8 key constantly. (This might cause the "keyboard failure" error message to appear. Ignore it.)
o You will then get the Windows Advanced Options Menu
o Select the Safe Mode with Networking option
o On the next window, select the Operating System (Microsoft Windows XP Home or Microsoft Windows XP Professional, whichever).
o After startup, select/enter your username and enter password if required.
o Allow finish of rebooting.
o If there looks to be no hitches, shut the machine down, then power up the computer and see if it does boot ointo an acceptable configuration, from which you may continue to update your files.

If you do not know what you are doing, avoid deleting system files, please.

If you have a further problem, take it to the nearest professional technician. Amateurs wanna-be "helpers" will probably get you into more problems than you can create ignorantly, and will cost you more time and money than you want to afford.

20 years in the business, and knowing that no two customer fubars are alike.

Ciao

[Jack Hydrazine]

I have a strange problem with a friends computer I’m trying to connect a printer to.

When I try to install the printer driver (for an HP LaserJet 1012) the OS tries to install it in the “other PCI Bridge Devices” under “Other Devices” in the XP Device Manager. I’ve tried to manually install the printer but that doesn’t work either.

What in Sam Hill’s name is a PCI Bridge Device and what does it have to do with installing a printer? I have never come across this problem before.

[headstamp 2]

As a famous Freeper once said, First, adjust the impellances and then coil omnidirectionally.