bump...

can't do anything other than bring up Task Manager and reboot.

FWIW, Ctrl+Esc will get your start menu up and from there you can start OD and disable the 'hide taskbar' option if you want to troubleshoot the problem.

I have all icons hidden (incl. Recycle using TweakUI) and taskbar hidden for over a year now i.e through many builds of OD+ with no problems.

There must be something in the combination that's giving you problems.

Have you deleted the current ObjectDock cache (folder) from "C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Stardock"? Note - you may need to tell Windows to "Show hidden files and folders" under "Folder Options\View tab".

Normally, you would unload ObjectDock > delete cache folder > reload ObjectDock (which will load with the default settings) > use the ObjectDock configuration panel to load your saved theme. Note - you can use Task Manager to stop the 'ObjectDock.exe' process to unload if you can't invoke the taskbar or the configuration panel, if needed.

From the description, it sounds like the system may be experiencing an issue reading a saved setting during load-up, and this may be the ObjectDock ".ini" file in the cache folder.

Just a possible fix.

Hi i have had a very similar problem. One day I had my computer goin and it was getting late so i just held my power button to shut it off. When i turned it on the next morning i didnt have OD or my taskbar up. I ended the OD process and explorer.exe and then restarted explorer.exe and i got my taskbar back. Then i tried to startup OD again and my taskbar went away again and all i had was huge icons of OD at the bottom and only showing open windows. I lost all my shortcuts that were on OD i think and i cant seem to get them both running at the same time. I hope someone can help.

One thing I also noticed is the fact that when you have two docks opened at the same time and you decide to apply a stored theme, it will close both docks and open just that one theme instead of just replacing it for one dock.. hope it makes sense

ZeroXero,

I suggest you try deleting the ObjectDock cache and then load ObjectDock, which should load with the default settings. If you have not saved the current theme, then you will need to rebuild it from scratch.

Note - ObjectDock must be unloaded before clearing the cache.

For a mini tutorial on clearing the cache, you can go here http://corkyo.wincustomize.com/Articles.aspx?AID=82461 

Thanks Corky. I will give that a shot.....

No it is not necessary to delete anything in zero's or the topic starters case ,right clik on an empty area on the loaded dock that appears ,clik on settings and untick hide taskbar then clik on "my docks" , as i use tabs and not dock it was a matter of reinstalling saved theme, tho in your case zero it maybe necessary to start again by removing the dock in the config(assuming you have plus) and then clik on "add dock' etc ,either way the problem lies in the config and needs to be reset and will be fine or in my case it was once i restarted later on as i also turned off my comp abruptly instead of normal logoff and it obviously created a corruption

EDIT: I did'nt delete any cache either and resetting and reinstalling saved themes worked, tho if you were using the free version it maybe necessary to delete all and reinstall rather than installing plus over the free version

I dont have plus sorry i forgot to put that but i just uninstalled OD and reinstalled a newer one and redid what i had but when i reinstalled it the problems still existed but with the newer version i downloaded it had a hide toolbar and i unchecked it and it was back i couldnt even get eh old one to have any settings it originally had so i figured this was the best way to fix it. thanks for the help though.

One thing I also noticed is the fact that when you have two docks opened at the same time and you decide to apply a stored theme, it will close both docks and open just that one theme instead of just replacing it for one dock.. hope it makes sense

Is that true something will happen if two of your docks are open and change the current theme of the other one????

Putting that a side question what will happened if you click quit the tab thingy??? Im just wondering what will happened...

Is that true something will happen if two of your docks are open and change the current theme of the other one????

First you have to realise that a 'theme' is different to a 'background'.

A 'Theme' is like a complete backup of all the docks, backgrounds, docklets & icons that you have setup.

A 'Background' (or 'Tabs & Styles' for a tabbed dock) just changes the look of the dock you've selected. I have 4 docks all with different Backgrounds & Tab Styles.

So changing the background of one dock does not affectg any other docks, loading a theme may affect all docks depending on what was in the the theme when it was saved.

what will happened if you click quit the tab thingy

Not sure what you mean... If you mean Tabbed Dock->Rightclick->Quit then it unloads ObjectDock.

HTH