A problem with shortcuts

I've finally got my "new" PC up and running but have ran in to an odd problem.

Let's let the pictures do the talking





Yakumo

 

In my time as a PC support techie I've never run into this. Have you made sure you're up to date with all of your drivers (especially mobo ones)? Are you up to date with your service packs? Have you tried Ccleaner's "fix problems" thing? None of these is anything close to a guaranteed fix, to be honest.

Is this a new install of XP? If you just swapped your old HDDs into the new hardware and let XP detect the new stuff then there's all kinds of problems that could be caused there.

 

I've never heard about anything like that before, but like shortcuts don't work in My Computer it's possible you have some corrupted file there, have you reinstalled Windows since you changed your hardware? If you didn't you have to do it as soon as possible since probably this won't be the only trouble you'll have.

In my personal experience I always had troubles after changing major components without reinstalling Windows (mostly lots and lots of BSOD's due to hardware conflicts).

 

delete the shortcuts and make newones, That might fix it.

 

i like your desktop pic.

 

It won't, because the icons in Windows Explorer don't work either. It's an odd one.

 

What error message are you getting when you click on the Drive icons in explorer? If you change the view to Details rather then list do you get the size of the drives and free space? I had a problem with DVD drives which would demand I insert a disc in the drive even though there was one.

Delete all the desktop drive shortcuts first then go to Settings, click control panel, click system, click hardware, click device manager then click Disk Drives, click a drive, goto the Volumes tab and click populate to see if they are being detected correctly.

If they are then right click on the drives and uninstall them, do this for all the drives, the computer will ask you to reboot, reboot and it will detect the drives again and hopefully fix the problem. (Do make sure you have a Windows recovery or installation disc before you do this though, just in case...)

 

What do you mean by "new"? Is it or isn't it? More specifically, is the Windows a fresh install? Did this happen from the start, or has it been running OK and just started happening?

Yes, what error do you get? Does it tell you that you need something to run this? That would be caused by a virus.

If you had it working before and it has just started, do a system restore. You won't lose anything.

 

The PC is the used 2.8ghz P4 I bought from Yahoo. The seller re-installed Windows XP Pro before sending it to me. When I got the PC I made all the short cuts my self. They worked for one day then after that the missus said the PC was broken. In other words the short cuts wouldn't do anything. No error message, nothing at all.

The C & D drives are original while the other 2 are ones I've ported over from my old PC.

I'll try what Jamtex said. Seems a like good solution but thanks to everyone who gave a suggestion.

Yakumo

 

Sounds like an iffy install of Windows. I'd reinstall it personally, then at least you have piece of mind that it was a good install.

 

Reinstalling is a pain in the arse though. I'll leave that as the final option.

I did what Jamtext suggested but no luck I'm afraid.

 

Hmm,are you sure your PC has no spyware or anything at all.You could always run Nod32 which is one of the best anti virus programs.

Also you could try and do a system restore from when your shortcuts worked.

 

What happens when you double click them in explorer?

Try running this program too

http://www.techsupportforum.com/sectools/sUBs/Flash_Disinfector.exe

I take no responsability if it messes up your drives, converts your pictures folder into porn, gives you a desire to write stern letters to Nintendo, etc. however it should fix what you describe.

 

Reinstalling is easy. If it was a new PC then surely you can just slam your files on an external drive. Reinstalling is probably the best chance at fixing the problem (or identifying it) and it'll be easier than chasing other solutions..

It separates the men from the.. er.. men who don't reinstall..

 

If I re-install windows does that mean I'll have to re-install all the other programs I've added and the Windows serial code as well?

Yakumo

 

Pretty much.

I'd try a system restore first, given it used to work ok.

 

Yes.

Something you might want to try is reassigning your drive letters to something else and see if that forces windows to bring them back up in windows.

I'm no longer on XP so I can't remember how it's done but a quick google should help you. I often find that re-assigning non essential drives (i.e those that don't contain the windows installation) to the lower letters of the alphabet stop me from accidentally installing anything I don't want to them or mistaking them for the main drive.

The virus check was also a good idea.

 

Did you run that program I posted in a previous post yet Yakumo?

 

So what are the error messages?

 

I'm afraid too just in case it all goes tits up. I'm running Spybot on it right now and it's picked up a few nasty items that probably got on there while I was using IE7 before I installed Fire Fox. I'll let you know how it goes.

@Barcode - There are no error lines or pop-ups. The links just don't go anywhere, nothing happens. They did work but now don't. Hopefully due to some Trojin shit that Spybot has now picked up.

Yakumo