[RESOLVED] Device Manager

5 year old Dell optiplex,intel pentium 4, eset nod 32 antivirus.
locks up and you do the control/alt/delete it pops up with no close box.
It doesn't have a close x on the top of the device manager or any other marks, it is a total blank line and no box on the bottom toolbar to right click it and close. So you have to shut it down. Any ideas? It has xp pro sp1,2 and 3. For a friend . the only thing i could find was a conflict or something with norton and Sp3 . not the problem .
Thanks .

Will it boot up in Safe mode?

Will find out . Thanks .

control/alt/delete Should bring up Task Manager;)

Task Manager Menu Bar and Tabs Are Not Visible in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;314227

No Items Appear in the Device Manager List When You Open It
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;311504

Thanks Steve , Will pass it along and post back .

Reply from friend .

Well the windows link is ok on my computer. What do I do in the safe mode when I get there? Thanks

Try to do a System Restore back to a date before the problem occurred.

How to restore Windows XP to a previous state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084

Thanks , will post back .

Friend says he can't access safe mode .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drs Orders

locks up and you do the control/alt/delete it pops up with no close box.
It doesn't have a close x on the top of the device manager or any other marks, it is a total blank line and no box on the bottom toolbar to right click it and close.

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Is it device manager or taskmanager?
If it's taskmanager, (wich should pop up after ctrl-alt-del) just doubleclick the grey border on the edge. This will bring back the buttons.

device manager DeP

To exit device manager, go to File and select Exit.

Or
Alt+F will open the file menu, arrow down to Exit and hit Enter.

Lots of ways to close something, even from Taskmanager it can be closed.

What happens if you go to Start>Run and type in mmc
Does it have the close/minimize boxes?

If so you can recreate the device manager from there.
Or copy the file devmgmt.msc from another computer. It lives in c:\windows\system32

thanks

Problem solved . he was able to get into safe mode and restore .
Thanks for all the help .

Thanks for posting back.

FYI. Shutdown, wait 30 seconds and you should be able to boot XP to safe mode.

You're Welcome