This was easy to spot since the owner had installed a better video card. To have it show the BIOS I had to unplug that card and move the VGA cable back to the onboard VGA connection.
Remember I can only guess using the clues you provide. Without make or model and details all guesses will be my best and nothing more.
Bob
When I start up the computer, the computer screen remains black until it loads to the desktop. At this time I can open any program, but none of them show at all. Yet, only one does. Firefox is the only program that shows. My whole desktop is devoid of any programs yet I still have my task bar. I can open programs and see them in my task bar but when I click on them nothing shows up. I try to open task manager to try to run explorer.exe because I thought this was the initial problem but it doesn't show up either. I tried to run cmd to format my computer completely. The program runs but again, I see nothing at all. I have no clue why firefox is the only program that appears. I have tried opening up other internet browsers as well to see if it was only IB that open but again, firefox is the only thing that appears. I would like to format my computer but when I start up, I have no chance to even go into BIOS because my screen remains blank until it gets to my desktop
Please help me, this is driving me to insanity.

Chowhound
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