win7 no sound, start button tuned grey

hi friends
i am using win7 64bit home premium
facing something unusual....want to show
through 2 screen shots i am posting....

1st one is......my windows start button has turned grey
2nd is...........the window personalization side pane has turned dark

another thing is their is no sound in my laptop, even it shows all drivers
are installed and working properly......

need help
please reply

To check your sound settings, navigate to Start>Control Panel>Hardware & Sound>Sound>Manage Audio Devices.

Also, make sure you haven't hit the Mute button on your laptop's sound controls.

And one more suggestion...download the free Malwarebytes and (also free) SuperAntiSpyware and make sure that MSE is up to date (or whatever AV you use). Do full scans, esp. with SuperAntiSpyware. Viruses, adware and malware take many forms.

hi
bongo / seavixen32 / james
thanks a million for your replies guys
it was all because of that stupid Explorer.exe
what i did was, i opened command prompt and typed
and scanned with sfc/scannow as bongo said. and it worked.
the sound is back / start button turned to its original color / windows opening
chyme is back......etc......hurrah :) i am happy
thank you all of you guys.....and specially bongo.......i love you :)

You're welcome chlorocode and thanks for letting us know.

Looks like you're in luck bongo!