I have to boot with "Last known good..." every time

[Robert]

When I turn on the computer it gets to the XP screen then freezes. I
have to turn the computer on/off. The next round I get the option to go to
safe mode, normal, or last known good configuration. Selecting last known
works. When I shut down the computer I go through that again on bootup -
again I have to power on/off and then select last good. So how do I make
"last known" be the one it uses next time? I would think this would happen
automatically.

Today I got the NASTY virus that I think a lot of people got just after
July 4th. I download ComboFix to fix it, which it mostly did - this bootup
problem is left.

Any suggestions?

BTW- The symptoms of the virus were it replaced my desktop background
with a message in the middle saying I was infected and to download something
to fix it, my homepage was replaced with a message that my current security
settings restricted the site (the correct URL was shown, and other pages
worked), and a fake anti-virus program called MSA.exe was running.)

(Also, regarding the current boot-up issue - I tried Safe Mode, and I get
a loop where it gets back to the same bootup selection window again (safe
mode, norma. last know good). I don't know if that's what this computer did
before the current problem.)

 

[SC Tom]

When I turn on the computer it gets to the XP screen then freezes. I
have to turn the computer on/off. The next round I get the option to go
to
safe mode, normal, or last known good configuration. Selecting last known
works. When I shut down the computer I go through that again on bootup -
again I have to power on/off and then select last good. So how do I make
"last known" be the one it uses next time? I would think this would
happen
automatically.

Today I got the NASTY virus that I think a lot of people got just after
July 4th. I download ComboFix to fix it, which it mostly did - this
bootup
problem is left.

Any suggestions?

BTW- The symptoms of the virus were it replaced my desktop background
with a message in the middle saying I was infected and to download
something
to fix it, my homepage was replaced with a message that my current
security
settings restricted the site (the correct URL was shown, and other pages
worked), and a fake anti-virus program called MSA.exe was running.)

(Also, regarding the current boot-up issue - I tried Safe Mode, and I
get
a loop where it gets back to the same bootup selection window again (safe
mode, norma. last know good). I don't know if that's what this computer
did
before the current problem.)

Download, install, update, and run a couple of other AV/malware programs
such as Avira, MalwareBytes, etc., and see if they find anything that
ComboFix may have missed.
It's entirely possible that the virus removal also removed some necessary
system files (that's not unusual). If you have your XP install CD and your
latest service pack, you might try a Repair install of XP, or do a Start,
Run, sfc/ scannow.
How old is your system? If your system clock is incorrect, you may have a
bad CMOS battery on your motherboard.

SC Tom

 

[Robert]

Download, install, update, and run a couple of other AV/malware programs
such as Avira, MalwareBytes, etc., and see if they find anything that
ComboFix may have missed.
It's entirely possible that the virus removal also removed some necessary
system files (that's not unusual). If you have your XP install CD and your
latest service pack, you might try a Repair install of XP, or do a Start,
Run, sfc/ scannow.
How old is your system? If your system clock is incorrect, you may have a
bad CMOS battery on your motherboard.

SC Tom

sfc /scannow completed successfully. There were, however, a couple of
windows icons named file protection... at the bottom of the screen I
couldn't maximize/open, and there was the hourglass cursor while at the
bottom of the screen. I had to ctr-alt-del then stop explorer.exe and then
start explorer again. That cleared it up.

I have also ran AVG (which was installed and running at the time of the
infection - so I replaced that with Antivir - which found many viruses
(mostly webpage gen something) and a couple trojans than AVG missed.

BTW - I'm running Windows XP Media Center 2005 Update Rollup 2.

There are other symptoms I didn't mention. Combofix had me install the
windows recovery console. The bootup goes through that so fast I don't know
if I could select it. Also, I'm getting the XP bootup screen, not the XP
Media Center bootup screen (when you get to loading with the bar moving back
and forth. Media Center is loading, however, and TV plays fine. I see
something about Media Center (black/white text at that bootup point) and then
more text and then the three options (safe, normal, last known).