Windows ME won't complete boot up

A friend has a Dell Dimensiodesktop, approx. 2 years old with the original Windows ME. One day recently when booting up, it went into safe mode but did not complete the boot-up sequence (i.e. the wallpaper shows up with the safe mode indicators but no start button, no icons). Without being able to get to the start button, I can't do much with it. Any ideas? Should I try booting up with an emergency boot disk?

Thanks.

 

Since this started for no obvious reason I would first run an antivirus rescue set to check for virus activity. I'm assuming your friend has an up-to-date set. If that doesn't find a problem then you could boot to an emergincy disk and run diagnostics from the dos prompt.