Desktop Blank

Hello,
I tried a search but did not find my specific problem. After anti virus program(yahoo version of computer associates) removed latest worm virus my IBM laptop would not reboot to the desktop. screen is just blue. I tried several microsoft knowledge base suggestions but it only made things worse. Now win2000 is also looking for the graphics card driver and it cannot find its location. Unfortunately this laptop did not include a CD version of the OS. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Can you reboot in safe mode?
Do you know exacly where the system crash?

 

No, it won't boot in safe mode or any of the the othe options. Last thing I see is "loading personal settings" or something to that effect. It will also ask for the location of the display driver and it cannot find it. I can get to the task manager and it it blank. Nothing is running, but you can access programs and run programs through the task manager.

 

My bet is that the worm appended something to the system.ini file explorer entry and although you removed the worm, you did not go online and check for the manual followup cleanup steps before shutting down and you did not edit the entry.
It probably has an entry like
shell=Explorer.exe worm.exe
where it should just say
shell=Explorer.exe

So it is not loading your desktop or gui, it is waiting for the worm to load, and it is gone.

You could possibly edit this from the recovery console, or you may need to do a repair install.

How to recover from a corrupt registry
This may give you a starting point.


How to do a repair install

If you tap F8 once a second like you want to boot to safe mode, do you get an option of last known good?

 

"For grins, in Task Manager click in File->Run and type explorer.exe "

I tried that and windows explorer launches not the desktop.

"My bet is that the worm appended something to the system.ini file explorer entry and although you removed the worm, you did not go online and check for the manual followup cleanup steps before shutting down and you did not edit the entry.
It probably has an entry like
shell=Explorer.exe worm.exe
where it should just say
shell=Explorer.exe

So it is not loading your desktop or gui, it is waiting for the worm to load, and it is gone.

You could possibly edit this from the recovery console, or you may need to do a repair install. "

I did not get any prompt to check for manual cleanup nor was I aware I might need to do this. I don't have the recovery console and unfortunately the links supplied were for XP. I have win2000 pro are the instructions the same? I am not a very advanced user of windows, just enough knowledge to get myself in trouble. thanks for all the help

Tim