Unusual error during XP Prof boot-up

[Bob]

My Mom is getting an error statement on her Dell Desktop
PC when she logs on that I've never heard of before! I
hope someone here can help us!

After seeing the Welcome screen, a window appears with:
the following message:

"Windows cannot load the users profile but has logged you
on with the default profile for the system."

The only option is an OK button. Meanwhile, a counter
ticks down from 30 secs down to zero. If she clicks OK,
Windows reboots and the same message reappears. If she
waits 30 secs, again a reboot and again this message.

I scoured through all the messages and the Microsoft KB
for this error, but came up empty. My only guess is that
this might be a virus, but she was very diligent about
keeping her Norton A/V software up-to-date.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q318011

 

[Bob]

Thank you Michael. Before I received your message we
successfully managed to logon as Administrator while in
Safe Mode, ran Ad-Aware, Norton A/V, even SpyBot, but
still received the same message. Your answer makes
sense, and we'll try it over the weekend. Again, our
thanks! --Bob

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You're welcome, Bob, good luck.