# Blank screen on startup **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222 "2010-02-01T09:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222/1 "2010-02-01T09:16:15Z")
I’ve set up my PC to multiboot Vista or XP. When I try to boot up in Vista it shows the startup screen. Then it tries to load the desktop, where it fails. It just shows the background, which I’ve set as a plain colour. It doesn’t show the taskbar or any desktop icons, and right-clicking on the desktop does not show the usual menu. I’ve restarted several times with the same result. Any ideas what I can do about this? XP works fine ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222/2 "2010-02-01T09:42:39Z")
Oh, there’s a single Windows Explorer window open on startup. I can open files and work on them. So it seems like the desktop is the only thing that doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222/3 "2010-02-01T22:02:31Z")
Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222/4 "2010-02-01T22:19:17Z")
That’s very odd because Windows Explorer is the desktop. Can you bring up Task Manager and click File, Run, Explorer? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222/5 "2010-02-01T22:35:49Z")
try starting in safe mode and resetting your screen resolution ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222/6 "2010-02-01T22:48:07Z")
Quartz, that has big step towards solving the problem. I tried your suggestion, and two things happened. 1. The desktop reappeared 2. I got an error message saying “Cannot open the following file: Y.exy” I tried restarting, and the desktop was missing again, until I did the same thing, and got the same error. I cannot find this file. I can’t see anything in my startup list that might try to open it. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222/7 "2010-02-01T22:55:35Z")
y.exy is a virus I’m afraid edit: in fact further looking at my googling of that, it may even be a backdoor in which case you’re in serious shit as will have to change passwords of everything, order new bankcards etc etc depending upon precisely what you’ve been doing with your computer ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blank-screen-on-startup/527222/8 "2010-02-02T00:27:56Z")
Okay, I found a fix for y.exy The problem appears to be fixed. I don’t have credit card info on my computer, so I think I’m safe. I probably wasn’t infected for long anyway. I did a full virus sweep only a few hours before the problem occurred. Thanks for the help.