can't even logon in safemode

[Andy]

Hi,

New to troubleshooting, but trying.

I am entering the correct password, but the screen keeps
reverting back to the ctrl/alt/delete prompt to logon to
windows, when booting normally and also for safemode.

although this is not my pc, the person I am attempting to
help says: startup has recently gotten slow, to the point
of not being able to get into windows the other day/
nothing has been installed or uninstalled/ no updates
have been made to the SP1 (which I was going to update
the same day the issue started occuring).

Is there something I can do with the OS CD-Rom...is there
a repair option?

Thanks for your suggestions,
Andy

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,

New to troubleshooting, but trying.

I am entering the correct password, but the screen keeps
reverting back to the ctrl/alt/delete prompt to logon to
windows, when booting normally and also for safemode.

although this is not my pc, the person I am attempting to
help says: startup has recently gotten slow, to the point
of not being able to get into windows the other day/
nothing has been installed or uninstalled/ no updates
have been made to the SP1 (which I was going to update
the same day the issue started occuring).

Is there something I can do with the OS CD-Rom...is there
a repair option?

Thanks for your suggestions,
Andy

This sounds like a bad case of a spyware and/or virus
infection. If this was my machine then I would do this:
- Temporarily install the hard disk as a slave disk in some
other Win2000/XP PC.
- Scan it with an external virus scanner, e.g. on
www.antivirus.com ("free online scan").
- Download, install & run a spyware removal tool such
as adaware.