Could this be a hacker, "System file missing or corrupt"

[Guest]

Hi Everyone,

I have a situation, and I would like to know if it is a strange coincidence,
or I should be very very concern, and if you know what could cause such a
thing.

2 workstations both running windows 2000 professional with the latest
service patch and updates were working fine up until the end of day. On
reboot they both gave the following error message Windows 2000 could not
start because the following file is missing or corrupt
"Winnt\system32\config\system".

One of these workstations is not used very often so user intervention can be
ruled out, I check the Antivirus server and it did not report any viruses
from last virus scan on each, Microsoft website talks about Mcaffee and
exchange server causing this problem, but I run Symantec and the only Mcaffee
product I Have is an epo running on machines to do some reporting. The only
thing these machines have in common is operation system and machine model.
Has anyone ever had this problem, and could it be a hacker? The firewall did
not report any intrutions, but still perfect paranoia is perfect awareness.

Regards
Sam

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Hi Everyone,

I have a situation, and I would like to know if it is a strange
coincidence, or I should be very very concern, and if you know what
could cause such a thing.

2 workstations both running windows 2000 professional with the latest
service patch and updates were working fine up until the end of day.
On reboot they both gave the following error message Windows 2000
could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt
"Winnt\system32\config\system".

One of these workstations is not used very often so user intervention
can be ruled out, I check the Antivirus server and it did not report
any viruses from last virus scan on each, Microsoft website talks
about Mcaffee and exchange server causing this problem, but I run
Symantec and the only Mcaffee product I Have is an epo running on
machines to do some reporting. The only thing these machines have
in common is operation system and machine model. Has anyone ever had
this problem, and could it be a hacker? The firewall did not report
any intrutions, but still perfect paranoia is perfect awareness.

Regards
Sam

Were these computers set to autoupdate from Windows Update (download &
install)?

 

[Jerold Schulman]

Hi Everyone,

I have a situation, and I would like to know if it is a strange coincidence,
or I should be very very concern, and if you know what could cause such a
thing.

2 workstations both running windows 2000 professional with the latest
service patch and updates were working fine up until the end of day. On
reboot they both gave the following error message Windows 2000 could not
start because the following file is missing or corrupt
"Winnt\system32\config\system".

One of these workstations is not used very often so user intervention can be
ruled out, I check the Antivirus server and it did not report any viruses
from last virus scan on each, Microsoft website talks about Mcaffee and
exchange server causing this problem, but I run Symantec and the only Mcaffee
product I Have is an epo running on machines to do some reporting. The only
thing these machines have in common is operation system and machine model.
Has anyone ever had this problem, and could it be a hacker? The firewall did
not report any intrutions, but still perfect paranoia is perfect awareness.

Regards
Sam

See tip 6224 in the 'Tips & Tricks' at http://www.jsiinc.com

Jerold Schulman
Windows: General MVP
JSI, Inc.
http://www.jsiinc.com

 

[Guest]

Hi Lanwench,

Yes, but to do so I would have to logon as administration so the updates on
one might have been slightly out, but the other should have been fine.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi Everyone,

I have a situation, and I would like to know if it is a strange coincidence,
or I should be very very concern, and if you know what could cause such a
thing.

2 workstations both running windows 2000 professional with the latest
service patch and updates were working fine up until the end of day. On
reboot they both gave the following error message Windows 2000 could not
start because the following file is missing or corrupt
"Winnt\system32\config\system".

One of these workstations is not used very often so user intervention can be
ruled out, I check the Antivirus server and it did not report any viruses
from last virus scan on each, Microsoft website talks about Mcaffee and
exchange server causing this problem, but I run Symantec and the only Mcaffee
product I Have is an epo running on machines to do some reporting. The only
thing these machines have in common is operation system and machine model.
Has anyone ever had this problem, and could it be a hacker? The firewall did
not report any intrutions, but still perfect paranoia is perfect awareness.

Regards
Sam

How to Troubleshoot Registry Corruption Issues
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;822705

Registry Repair Utility download for Windows 2000-based computers
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;830570



--

Bruce Chambers

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