I recently cloned my Windows XP Pro with SP2 from a failing Hitachi harddrive to a new Samsung HD in my Tecra S1. Everything went smooth and the system immediately recognized the new harddrive. The transfer was perfect.


Then for some unknown reason about a week later I decided to upgrade to Service Pack 3. I've read where they got the kinks out. Hmmmm... Anyway, the first reboot afterwards loaded my background but that was it. No Icons, No Task Bar, No Start Menu was displayed. I had to do a hard shut-down and when I rebooted all screens loaded fine with all icons, etc.


Today I turned on the laptop and it loaded to the Windows screen and then my desktop with no icons, etc. to be seen. I shut down via power button and tried again. The same thing. Eventually the Icons, etc., loaded.


How do I rectify this problem? The boot up time is definitly quicker since upgrading from 512 megs of RAM to 2 Gigs and going from a 42000 rpm HD to a 54000 rpm. It is only when I get to the desktop that a full load fails to happen.

Uninstall or otherwise remove the service pack.
Reboot.
Defragment the drive.
Reboot.
Use RegEdit by Juoni Viourno to clean up the drive and get rid of any suspect registry lines. (Find on MajorGeeks.com).
Reinstall Service Pack 3 once more, watching carefully to assure that everthing was installed, and the Service Pack was fully installed. As you probably know, with your experience, this darned thing can take forever... Sometimes it is still running processes and install bits, when you think it has finished.
Regardless of whether you are sure you did it right the first time, shut down, then do a cold boot.
Reinstall Service Pack 3 and give it up to an hour to finish.
Good luck. Let us know if this works. It worked for me.