Start button menu won't work

Fool Community Help Desk Help with this STUPID computer!
1

Hi,
On my wife’s computer, clicking the start button does nothing. We rebooted and still can’t get to the menu.
For other reasons, I want to get to settings to get to the reset procedure. I want to reset her computer to factory settings.
Any thoughts on how to either:

  1. Get the start menu button to work, or
  2. Get to reset another way
    ?
    Thanks,
    Rick
    PS - on my computer, pressing the windows button and “I” at the same time brings up settings. But that does nothing at all on my wife’s. Both have Windows 10. I’m often at a loss as to why Windows 10 acts differently on different computers. It’s the same darn program!
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2

Do you have a search box at the bottom of your computer? If you type reset in it you should come up with Reset PC with system settings. Click on that and at the top of the page on the right hand side is a reset button.

Andy

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3

Just like the start button, the search box doesn’t work either. The cursor will not show up there, so no way to type in it.

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4

when rebooting the computer did you try hitting the f12 key? Then you can go in and pick factory reset.

Andy

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5

Thanks, I’ll try that when I have a chance a bit later.
Is there a way to reboot without just pressing the power button on the CPU? Since I can’t get to the Windows menu, I can’t power down the usual way.
If memory serves, one could do ctrl-alt-delete and then do that again to reboot, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
Thanks.

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6

I’m afraid I am going to be of no help at all, but purely for my own understanding, I have to ask. What is a Start button? I don’t see anything marked as that on my laptop keyboard, and not on my Microsoft ergonomic keyboard. Is it the Windows key?

(I’m also wondering if the keyboards on the two computers could be swapped and tested that way.)

7

The start button is in the lower left corner of the screen. It looks like a Windows icon. If you hover the mouse over it, you will see it says “start”.
I tried swapping keyboards. No change.

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8

I don’t want you to think I am an expert like some people are around here actually are Rick, I am just someone who like computers. I have my computer keyboard plugged into the din on my computer.

Definition of AT keyboard connector | PCMag

Do you have a usb keyboard that you can try? It might be that you have a virus and the usb keyboard would work.

If you hit CTRL+ Alt+ del you will see a picture of the power button on the lower right hand of the screen. If you hit that you can restart or shutdown the computer. Hope that helps

Andy

9

Sorry about that, your mouse isn’t working. Try this.

Win + X

  1. On your keyboard, hold down the Windows (Win) and X keys.
  2. Use arrow keys to arrow down to sign out or shutdown.

Andy

10

Hi Andy,
Both our keyboards are USB.
Thanks for the tip on restarting/shutting down the computer!
Rick

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11

Got it. Thanks!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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12

I know it is cold comfort, but apparently you aren’t the only one this has happened to. :sunglasses:

https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+start+button+not+working

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13

I haven’t had time to do a factory reset yet. I may do it tomorrow, trying your F12 method. In the meantime, do you know any way to get to the Windows Update setting? I want to pause my wife’s Windows Updates for now. As you may remember, above, we can’t get to her Start Menu or Search box, which is the same reason we can’t get to Factory Reset the normal way.
Thanks.

14

Try this RB. Hit the windows key logo + i then Type update in the search box. Then press your tab key to get to the update section. Hopefully that will work.

Andy

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15

I pressed the Window key and then “i” and nothing at all happens :frowning:

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16

Are you still holding down the Windows key as you then type “i”?

17

Yes. I tried that also.

18

Ok RB try this. Hold down the Windows key and hit “R”, then type in services.msc in the search box. Go down to windows update then double click that. Then change startup type to disabled… Then restart your computer.

Andy

1 Like
19

Try this:

George

3 Likes
20

Hi,
I’m finally getting around to trying your suggestion: “when rebooting the computer did you try hitting the f12 key? Then you can go in and pick factory reset.”
I don’t see any reset choice on the list when I do this. What I see for choices is:
Windows Boot Manager
Bios Setup
Device Configuration
Bios Flash Update
Diagnostics
SupportAssist OS recovery
Change Boot Mode Settings

Is it one of these?
Thanks, RB