place volume icon in taskbar unchecked at startup

[ljsilver]

XP Professional SP2, Pentuim 4 2.8Ghz processor, 503 MB ram.  Everytime I start the computer the USB hardware, network and volume icons do not come up in the taskbar.  I go to the control panel - Sounds and Audio Devices - and "place volume icon in taskbar" is unchecked.  I check the box and press apply and all the aforementioned icons show up in the taskbar.  I've run virus and spyware scans (Norton Anti-virus Corporate Edition, Spybot Search and Destroy, Adaware and A-squared) and no malware is detected.  I've also run Registry Mechanic and repaired errors.  I've also run SFC.  This is a minor annoyance, as it doesn't cause any lack of functionality in the computer, but it bothers me.  I've also surfed the net for information about this problem, but haven't found an exact match so far.  Oh yeah, I get the same result if I log on as administrator, so the problem doesn't appear to be profile related.  Any suggestions would be most welcome.  Thanks.

[Raptor]

Did you disable any services?

[ljsilver]

I actually went so far as to set all services to automatic.  Didn't help.  I tried disabling UPnP service (read that on some forum somewhere), but that didn't help either.  Thanks for the thought.

[street1 (RIP)]

Did you go to add/remove programs-Add/Remove Windows Components..
Uncheck everthing that is checked then recheck same items,Then Click Next?

[2k_dummy]

Perhaps the icons are hidden. Have you checked the system tray properties?  You can select how the icons behave. Hide inactive, always hide, always show.

[ljsilver]

Street1: I haven't tried that.  I'll give it shot.  The problem is on my comupter at work, so I won't be able to try until monday (it's friday night now), but I'll update as to whether that works or not.

2k_dummy: Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm pretty savvy around a computer and I always have my taskbars set to show everything all the time.  I like to know what my computer's up to.  Still, you never know when one might overlook the obvious.  I appreciate your help.

[Raptor]

I actually went so far as to set all services to automatic.  Didn't help.  I tried disabling UPnP service (read that on some forum somewhere), but that didn't help either.  Thanks for the thought.

But did you disable any beforehand?

[Demache]

sometimes that happens to me. I guess Windows just being lazy.

[patio]

sometimes that happens to me. I guess Windows just being lazy.

HuH...?  ?

[Raptor]

sometimes that happens to me. I guess Windows just being lazy.

HuH...?  ?

What the...

Anyhow, Windows does get lazy. Yesterday it refused to load my profile and it gave me a temporal profile instead. Weird.

[soybean]

Specifically, what USB devices do you have connected to the computer?  Have you checked the setting for volume icon on Control Panel, Sound and Audio Devices?

[ljsilver]

Good morning everyone!  Okay, I tried the unchecking and rechecking of items in add/remove windows components.  No change in the symptom.  My taskbar properties are set to show everything, hide nothing.  I usually have a USB floppy plugged in to the puter, but tried unplugging it and restarting this morning, still no change.  As far as the properties in the Sounds and Audio Devices in the Control Panel go, every time I start the puter "place volume icon in taskbar" is UNCHECKED.  At this point no icons are visible in the taskbar.  When I check this box and press "apply" the icons in the taskbar magically appear.  The problem is that I have to do this EVERY TIME the computer is started or restarted.  Thanks for the suggestions so far, but no winners yet     Arrrrgh!

[ljsilver]

Okay folks, here's the deal.  After a fair amount of tweaking services, taking snapshots of the registry and looking at the task manager here's what I figured out. For some reason systray.exe was not loading.  I added it to the startup folder and voila!  Icons at startup.  I wouldn't call this a fix, as I still don't know why systray.exe isn't loading, but it's a workaround.  I would still love to figure out the root cause of the problem, so if any of you out there wish to keep the ideas coming I welcome the support.  Thanks.