constant restarting

[Doug]

I ran a full virus scan and afterwards the program wanted a restart. Now it
restarts, gets up to loading the user profile, then says it is shutting down.
It shuts down, restarts then says it is shutting down.

What can I do to fix the problem?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I ran a full virus scan and afterwards the program wanted a restart. Now
it
restarts, gets up to loading the user profile, then says it is shutting
down.
It shuts down, restarts then says it is shutting down.

What can I do to fix the problem?

Try booting into Safe Mode (Press F8 during the early boot
phase to select it), then use System Restore to restore the
machine to an earlier state.

 

[Doug]

Sorry, Pegasus, I'll give you more info.

It doesn't actually restart, it just keeps flashing "Applying settings" then
"Shutting down". It does this over and over, even in Safe Mode.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

This is beginning to look serious. If you're lucky then you're
only dealing with a corrupted profile. Reboot the machine in
Safe Mode and park a finger on the Shift key while it reboots.
You should then be prompted for an account name. Use
"Administrator" plus the password that goes with it. It is often
set to a blank. If you get in with this method, use System Restore
to set Windows back a few days.

 

[Doug]

Unfortunately the same thing happens in Safe Mode. It flashes very quickly
but the sequence is something like "Applying your settings" then "Loading
profile" then "Logging Off" then back to "Applying your settings".

It doesn't matter which of the 3 users I use after holding Shift down.Surely
there is a startup procedure I can edit. I have a Cd which boots to WinXP
with all sorts of software so I can edit anything, unless it is an executable
program.

Is there a controlling script for the startup, or is it all hidden in win.com?
What happens after win.com?

BTW Do you know why a Vista search for win.*, brings up everything with win
anywhere in the file name?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I'm getting a little confused. In your first post you reported
========
It restarts, gets up to loading the user profile, then says it is
shutting down. It shuts down, restarts then says it is shutting down.

But in your latest post you say:
========
The sequence is something like "Applying your settings" then "Loading
profile" then "Logging Off" then back to "Applying your settings".

In other words: Your first post suggested a reboot loop and the
second reported a logoff / logon loop. That's not the same at
all!

 

[Daave]

1. Which anti-virus program did you run?

2. It's possible that BlazeFind is causing your problems. See:

http://www.winxptutor.com/wsaremove.htm

Scroll down to:

"Unable to logon to Windows after removing BlazeFind using a spyware
removal utility?

Logon - Logoff loop, also caused by BlazeFind"

You will need to enter Recovery Console using your Windows XP CD
(hopefully you have one!).

3. This newsgroup is for XP issues. For Vista issues, try:

microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

 

[Doug]

You're right, Pegasus. Thats why I added the second post. The words flash
so quickly. Sometimes I can see "Shutting Down" but it does not actually
shut down. It is going through the startup procedure that is done once the
desktop picture appears, but, before displaying any icons, it starts a
shutdown procedure. However this procedure doesn't even get to the point of
removing the desktop picture before it restarts the startup procedure. My
selected desktop picture is always on the screen, with lots of little windows
flashing up the various procedures it is going through.

Do you know of a way to extract the product key for XP and Office, using the
registry files on the systems C: drive, after booting from a CD?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I know of tools that can extract the product keys while Windows
is active but of none that can do it when Windows is down. This
is why you must record all product keys in a safe place after
resolving your current logon problem. Remember what it said
on the WinXP CD box? "Do not lose this product key" . . .

About your booting problem: I think that Daave hit the nail
on the head with his reply. You should follow his advice.

 

[Doug]

Thanks, Daave. The PC doesn't have Blazefind.

However, there is no Userinit.exe, nor wasupdater.exe in system32. The only
userinit.exe is in an i386 folder.

 

[Daave]

Try this then:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/138998-45-logon-loop-screen

Distilled, in the event "you have an ATI card and you are using the ATI
Catalyst drivers and you have disabled the ATI Hotkeys and ATI
Smartstart services then you need to re-enable them."

If this is not your situation, then see:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_wel_screen.htm

Also, I believe it is spelled wsaupdater.exe.