Windows XP login issue

[Guest]

I am attempting to help a friend with her laptop that has Windows XP
installed. She has it as part of a normal windows network, not a domain. It
has never been part of a domain. At some point, something changed (it is
unknown what changed at this time) and now after she logs in, it comes up
with this message "the system cannot log you on now because the domain
<domain name> is not available". I have booted to safe mode and attempted to
log in as the Administrator and have the same problem. I have tried changing
the software hive with the one in the 'repair' directory and still have the
same issue. I'm at a loss as to what to try next....short of reinstalling
Windows.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

In the Windows Classic logon box, try logging in this way:

<ComputerName>\<Username>

If you're able to login successfully, then use System Restore to roll back
the configuration. If you're unable to login, then restore the registry
hives from a recent System Restore checkpoint.

See Part 2 & Part 3 sections in this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

Warning: Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your
computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM
installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist
previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you
may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the
original registry hives.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your reply Ramesh.

I tried a few more things before I found your suggestions. Unfortunately,
one of the things I tried was a repair using the XP CD. I believe the hard
drive is starting to fail as I've had several errors, including files that
could not be written. I've run chkdsk from the repair console a few times,
and each time it finds more errors.

I believe this one may be a lost cause at this point, as a new hard drive is
probably going to be a necessity. I appreciate you giving me some
suggestions however, and if I run into this issue again, at least I'll have
some other options to try.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

No problem, Greg.