Help w/ computer problem? (sorta)

[Dragnskull]

id post this in tech but then itd take over a week to get answered, soooo

i havnt changed -anything- but for some reason its changed out of the blu eon its own.

first i noticed some icons now became blank [you know, that generic icon of a white screened window instead of what its suppose to be]

then, i opened up a folder and realized something

normally, when i open a folder and highlight a file, the left side of that window has a table that gives information, it would show me things like the icon, the name of hte file, the date it was made, and the size of the file (dont remember what else it told me)


well, about an hour ago i realized that its not there anymore, and i have no idea how to brin git back


suggestions plz

 

[Arkillo]

Reformating is your only option.

 

[x42bn6]

The first one I don't know - which icons go berserk? .jpg files? .png files? Folders?

The second one varies depending on your OS. In XP, go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance > Make sure "Use common tasks in folders" is checked.*

 

[Jimbo]

Besides theese two minor problems, has your computer been going slow? What programs have you uninstalled recently(would lead the to icon problem)

 

[Dragnskull]

x42: just checked, its on, upon further inspection, more strange things are going on:

picture 1: just realized this, normally i have icons located where i put the blue bar showing the picture of the folder, now its blank.

Picture 2: shows a new problem i just realized while trying x42's solution, its pretty self expanitory...this is my control pannel.

Problem 3: upon further inspection, it looks like ALL .exe files are now the default window, not just the one i reported in my first post. However, it looks like the files still function properly


the only thing ive done recently is reinstall Counterstrike Source about 2-3 days ago. it has been currupt for about 3 months now [when i run it it starts steam, but when css tries to load it errors and closes] im jus tnow getting aroudn to reinstalling it cause i was lazy...

im not sure when this started happenining, i noticed the icon problem just today and im positive the icon was normal yesterday.

 

[Metal Gear Flash]

try and revert back to the original XP theme...i had that problem a while back and that seemed to fix it

 

[Arkillo]

I'm telling you, the only solution is to reformat.

 

[x42bn6]

Not necessarily. If you have System Restore enabled, revert back to a couple of days back. Failing that, try re-installing Windows XP. It looks like a registry corruption to me.

Then you probably do need to reformat if all this fails. It could well go beyond registry corruption - it could also be DLL corruption or missing files.

Your problem seems unique - I've never seen that red exclamation mark icon before but it suggests Windows XP is trying to say there is a serious error.*

 

[LordNevar]

It's your theme, looks to me like the icons package, and them package is missing some files, and has been corrupted. Try reverting back to the original theme as previously stated before. If that fails, assuming your using something such as windows blinds, or stylexp, or something along those lines, uninstall and reinstall the icon package, or just trying changing it. If none of those seem to help, downlaod or get the original copy of uxtheme.dll, and load into safemode, and replace it with the original.

 

[Dragnskull]

this theme has been installed for 4+ months before this happened

i did the first rule of troubleshooting: restart

i guess my computer beign on for 1+ weeks was the problem, it all fixed and hasnt been a problem since