Extremely weird comp problem - help

[Lady Jedi]

Today when I started my computer, everything looked really off; rather than the typical WinXP classic blue theme, gray was the main color. All of the taskbars and the like looked all flat rather than the 3D effect that it typically has. See pic here *prob fixed; link removed*. That's just of a folder so you can see what the colors and menus look like. My browser window, documents, everything looks like that.

 

Then, while someone was trying to print it gave a message saying that there was no printer installed. It did this on both comps connected to the same printer. When we checked the printer settings it was showing that we did not have any installed, so we got the disk to go ahead and reinstall it. Well, it wouldn't allow it to be installed at all. It gave some message saying that it wasn't able to or some such thing.

 

We were going to do a sytem restore from 2 days ago, but the only checkpoint that it's showing is from this morning. I had gone through and uninstalled some unneccessary programs that I don't use any more, but I made sure to stay away from any system files or anything that might cause problems if messed with. That was the day before yesterday and everything was just fine yesterday, so this has got me stumped.

 

I tried changing the theme in the display properties, but the WinXP theme isn't even available on any of the lists. I've also done a virus scan, but that didn't find any infected files.

 

Any of you know what may have made this happen? Help is greatly appreciated.

 

EDIT: FYI, I'm not going to change my OS, or comp system. I know that reformatting is an option but that is my last resort so I'd like to hear some other options before I do that.

[MTV2]

reinstall windows and all ur programs. do u any shell themes on? or like windowblinds?

 

(666th post )

[RoxStar]

It looks to me like its starting up in Safe Mode (no drivers mode) Which would explain the look and lack of printers. Hit F8 when your computer starts up to make sure that you have "Normal Startup" selected.

[manoman81]

Easier way to check for safe mode is using msconfig. Can you change any of the display settings?

 

Edit: You know, I guess it would help if I read the full thread before I post.

 

 

It does seem that you are running in safe mode.

[Lady Jedi]

Mtv: I don't have any shell programs.

 

RoxStar: When I selected Start Computer Normally, it still looked the same. Then I went and made it start up in safe mode, then back to normal. Still no good.

 

Manoman: Heh, you posted while I was typing. Anyway, like I said undoing safe mode didn't help.

 

Anyone else, please?

 

BTW, the message that it gives when I try to add a printer is this: Operation could not be completed. The print spooler service is not running.

 

Also, when my little brother was trying to play a game that he played yesterday just fine it gave this message: Error initializing DirectSound. Sample will now exit.

 

I don't know wtf it's doing.

[manoman81]

The only thing I can tell you is to reinstall windows. I don't beleive you have to reformat your drive. You should be able just to do a repair install. I would also try to update all of your driver for your sound card. Otherwise, start backing up everything you want and do a format. I can't think of what else to do. I'll see what I can find.

 

 

Edit:WAIT!!!! Go back into msconfig. Under the Services tab, check and make sure that the print spooler is checked. Reboot and try again. And just for whatever's sake, make sure that all of the services that are made by MS are checked.

[TiE23]

Start backing up your files to your CDs LJ.

[Lady Jedi]

TiE: Not yet. I have hope.

 

Manoman: Everything was already checked in msconfig sevices, but I didn't see the print spooler in there. Would it be labeled as such or something different?

 

EDIT: Little bro put in a different game and said that he could play the game, but there was no sound. So obviously whatever happened, it also effected the sound card. When I try to play music it says that there was a 'problem with the sound device' and that 'there may not be one installed'.

[swphreak]

It'd be so much easier if I was in front of your computer, and could play around with it.

 

My first response would have been checking msconfig and system startup. Have you checked device manager to see if there are any conflicts? I'd also suggest googling to find an answer.

[ZeroX2]

You say the XP theme is no longer available. Have you tried going to the display properties, themes tab, and manually selecting (with the browse option) the theme /WINDOWS/Resources/Themes/Luna.theme? This should restore it to the list.

 

Edit:

Manoman: Everything was already checked in msconfig sevices, but I didn't see the print spooler in there. Would it be labeled as such or something different?

This probably won't be helpful but - you don't have 'Hide all Microsoft services' checked, do you?

 

Edit: Oh, and you should use Start>Run>services.msc when you play around with the services, not msconfig.

[manoman81]

At least on my msconfig, it is called Print Spooler. The actual file is should be C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe. Also, what games is your little brother trying to play? You might to start seeing if they cause conflicts or not. Or has anyone tried installing something recently? Do what ZeroX2 said. As for the sound card, install the latest drivers. Hopefully that should clear that up. That is unless it's a hardware issue and maybe the card is dieing or the slot that it is in is dieing.

[RevanA4]

Mtv: I don't have any shell programs.

 

RoxStar: When I selected Start Computer Normally, it still looked the same. Then I went and made it start up in safe mode, then back to normal. Still no good.

 

Manoman: Heh, you posted while I was typing. Anyway, like I said undoing safe mode didn't help.

 

Anyone else, please?

 

BTW, the message that it gives when I try to add a printer is this: Operation could not be completed. The print spooler service is not running.

 

Also, when my little brother was trying to play a game that he played yesterday just fine it gave this message: Error initializing DirectSound. Sample will now exit.

 

I don't know wtf it's doing.

 

 

to fix the spoller issuer its

 

run services.msc find the service Print spooler and make sure the property box looks like this one

 

if it already does try stoping and restarting the service

 

try reinstalling your sound card driver also

 

run dxdiag and do all the check it has for your directx components

this will tell you if it is a directx problem in which you reinstall directx9.0c

[Lady Jedi]

StarWarsPhreak: For some stupid reason the device manager isn't showing any hardware devices.

 

ZeroX2: Trying that for the theme didn't work. I probably did it wrong.

 

Revan: All right, I went into services.msc and a ridiculous amount of services are disabled. When I go to enable them a dialog box shows up with this message: Configuration Manager: The Plug and Play service or other requested service is not available.

 

Manoman: My little bro is just playing kid's games; one wouldn't start because it written to do some sort of sound test before it starts, whereas the other will still run with no sound. Obviously somehthing is up with the sound device ( I tried playing music and it said that there was no sound device installed). Or it's the motherboard seeing as how the two are linked. We're gonna check that out and see what happens.

 

We're also going to update the latest drivers and the like. Btw, if we were to just reinstall the OS, would all of our data still have to be backed up as if we were reformatting?

 

Thank you all so much for your help.

 

EDIT: I played around a bit with services (sevices.msc) and I've gotten some of them to start working. The system now reconizes that I have printers installed (yay!) and I've got sound. Do you think that I should just keep turning on the disabled services or are there any that I should leave alone?

[RevanA4]

We're also going to update the latest drivers and the like. Btw, if we were to just reinstall the OS, would all of our data still have to be backed up as if we were reformatting?

 

Thank you all so much for your help.

 

EDIT: I played around a bit with services (sevices.msc) and I've gotten some of them to start working. The system now reconizes that I have printers installed (yay!) and I've got sound. Do you think that I should just keep turning on the disabled services or are there any that I should leave alone?

 

 

its aways a good practice to back up all your files before reinstalling the os

 

as for the services yes you should turn on many I'll have some screen shots of what it sould look like up in a minute or two

 

aslo for your device manager make sure you have the plug in play service on and a few more

 

edit: here they are click to enlarge them

 

[manoman81]

Well it's awesome that you got your printer and sound back. I can't understand why they just turned off on their own. Stupid Windows. Yes, I would begin to back up just in case something goes wrong. If you are using cds, remember to burn your music to a folder instead of directly to the cd. This way you can keep all of your tag information for each song. Unless someone else knows of a better way. It's been a while since I reinstalled Windows. But, again you should be able to do a repair install. You'll probably need to update your Service Packs and the like after the install. Hope we've all been helpful.

[ZeroX2]

ZeroX2: Trying that for the theme didn't work. I probably did it wrong.

Hmm. Did you select the luna.theme file located in the /WINDOWS/Resources/Themes/ folder, or was it not there? If it wasn't there, you can try downloading the file yourself at http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/Resources.zip, but that won't be helpful if you already have the file. Manually selecting it with the 'browse' option should just easily restore the theme to the list so that you can select it as usual. =/

[Lady Jedi]

Oh! You guys are so great! It's all fixed now. Yay!

 

It seems that for some reason, all but about five of the services had shut off. One of these was the themes, and as soon as I started that one the layout went back to normal. I went through and manually got them all started properly and everything seems to be normal. Now, the only thing I'm wondering is how the heck it got so messed up.

 

Revan: Thank you so much for those screenshots. They were ever so helpful.

 

All the rest of you: Thank you all so much. I really appreciate it ..... and the fact that I didn't have to reformat, or even reinstall my OS. I think you all deserve some cookies but, unfortunately, I can't get you any, so you'll have to settle for some imaginary ones. Hehe.

 

Thanks again, guys.

[RevanA4]

Oh! You guys are so great! It's all fixed now. Yay!

 

It seems that for some reason, all but about five of the services had shut off. One of these was the themes, and as soon as I started that one the layout went back to normal. I went through and manually got them all started properly and everything seems to be normal. Now, the only thing I'm wondering is how the heck it got so messed up.

 

Revan: Thank you so much for those screenshots. They were ever so helpful.

 

All the rest of you: Thank you all so much. I really appreciate it ..... and the fact that I didn't have to reformat, or even reinstall my OS. I think you all deserve some cookies but, unfortunately, I can't get you any, so you'll have to settle for some imaginary ones. Hehe.

 

Thanks again, guys.

 

your welcome

 

it would be a good Idea now to set a restore point just incase this happens again

[manoman81]

No problem. Glad its all back to normal.