Runtime Error 68 help

[nathan20032006]

i have a dell 2400 with windows xp and what my problem is when i start up my computer everything logs in well until i get to the welcome screen where it sits for a minute then brings me to my background with no icons and says "Runtime Error 68 Device Unavailable" which i have no clue what it means. i thought it could mean i have some device on my computer that doesn't work though that can't be cause the night b4 this happened everything was working well and i didn't install no devices. i'm able to get around this by doing a control + alt + delete bringing up the task manager and clicking new task and starting my D drive, then my icons come up. i also get a different runtime error on yahoo too but it has no number for it. its leaving me clueless. any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[gbhall]

simple things first

It suggest one of your devices is no longer working correctly at boot-up time (e.g. a second HD, etc). First thing is switch off, open the case and gently unplug and plug in again every single connector cable and power connector.

if no joy, open settings > control panel > system > hardware > device manager. Any exclamation marks against any devices (i.e. device not working or not responding) ?

 

[nathan20032006]

see the thing is everything on my computer works. there aren't any yellow exclamation marks. that was the first thing i did anyways.
thank you for trying to help.

 

[gbhall]

Device not available

A quick google on your exact message will yield considerable possibilities - 68,000+ possibilites actually! Generally speaking, some activity is started by windows which is attempting to use a device, or path or even a file which no longer exists. A virus is a likely possibility, apparently.

I would proceed to look at the registry for objects trying to run - see 'runonce' or just 'run' entries. You could also click 'run' on the start menu, enter 'msconfig' and carefully check everything that starts in autoexec, config.sys, system.ini, windows.ini, boot.ini, services, and startup. Anything suspect - google for it on the web.

I would also download as many free antivirus packages, and other malware checking as you possibly can and let them look.

Failing that, there is lots of help available on this site on looking for malware. Dont just ignore this problem!