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    Vista Start Menu Problem

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by The Commodore, Dec 12, 2008.

  1. The Commodore

    The Commodore Notebook Consultant

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    Ok so I recieved my Sager NP5793 two days ago and it is great. But yesterday when I turned it on it took about 5 minutes to boot up and then said their was something wrong with the HDD and it was going to run a check, I allowed it to and it did it's thing and started windows up. When Vista came up, I noticed that my sidebar had disapeared and that my start menu was completely clean(I could still see "Programs" and "Documents/Games/Computer/Control Panel etc."). I have since gotten my sidebar to show up again but I still have a huge blank space in the start menu where say the internet explorer, or MS Word icons go up. I just wanted to make sure there is nothing wrong with my OS. Does anybody have any clue to what it is?

    Thank You,
    The Commodore
     
    The Commodore, Dec 12, 2008
    #1
  2. gerryf19

    gerryf19 I am the walrus

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    Is this the top of the start menu, the bottom, or both?

    Sounds like your Hkeycurrentuser key was corrupted and windows loaded the default. If it is the top, you will need to recreate it, if it was the bottom, it will repopulate on its own eventually.

    You could also run a system restore, but get the one two older than the last time it worked
     
    gerryf19, Dec 12, 2008
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  3. The Commodore

    The Commodore Notebook Consultant

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    It's both. It's just an empty white space now. I have used it for 24 hours since this happened and the bottom has not repopulated. How do I recreate the top?

    Thank You,
    The Commodore
     
    The Commodore, Dec 12, 2008
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  4. gerryf19

    gerryf19 I am the walrus

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    I would run a system restore to two days ago first

    Also, is it your name on the top of the vista menu?
     
    gerryf19, Dec 12, 2008
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  5. The Commodore

    The Commodore Notebook Consultant

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    I have installed 5 games onto my HDD, if I do a system restore will it delete all the stuff I have done? If this is a serious problem then I won't hesitate to do it. Also I have not checked if it is my name at the top, I am at work so I will have to wait to check.

    Thank you for the help.
     
    The Commodore, Dec 12, 2008
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  6. jjgoo

    jjgoo Notebook Deity

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    I dont think system restore will delete anything you did. It will bring your system back to the way is was 2 days ago.
     
    jjgoo, Dec 12, 2008
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  7. gerryf19

    gerryf19 I am the walrus

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    A system restore will not do anything to your personal data files.

    The only possible downside is that if the game install created the problem, the game would need to be reinstalled.

    If you review your event viewer, I suspect you will see an error along the lines of a registry hive was corrupted and could not load and windows installed a default hive. In that case, I think you will notice that your name is not on the top of the menu.

    Either way, the easiest first step is a system restore.

    Easiest way to do this

    Start Orb > in the bottom search box, type
    system restore
    <enter>

    wait a few seconds an the gui will start
     
    gerryf19, Dec 12, 2008
    #7