Winlogon.exe Application Error on Windows XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sandeep Pulla
  • Start date Start date
S

Sandeep Pulla

I'm getting this error dialog box everytime I try to boot up my XP
machine.

winlogon.exe Application Error
"The instruction at "0x10018fe4" referenced memory at "0x31000005".
The memory could not be "read"".

If I click OK, the machine instantly reboots. There is a Cancel button
(to debug), clicking it hangs the machine. Early on, if I just avoided
clicking on this dialog box, Windows would start up just fine and
everything would work nice an dandy as long as I didn't close the
dialog (which would cause an instant reboot). The next day, the
machine refused to go beyond this dialog box.

Just before this error I usually get a dialog box which says:
Windows cannot load. "A required privilege is not held by the client".
This dialog has a 30 second countdown timer.

The last change I had made which might be of relevance was to block a
lot of adware programs from accessing the internet using my firewall.

Here is what I tried:
1. I tried to boot into safe mode -- same problem.
2. I tried safe mode with command prompt and this doesn't have the
problem.
3. I scanned my computer several times using an anti-virus software --
nothing reported.
4. I scanned my computer for adware and removed a whole bunch --
nothing related to winlogon.exe though (I'm using spybot).
5. Finally, I tried to rename winlogon.exe to something else. I knew I
could rename it back if anything went wrong by booting from the XP CD.
Unfortunately, the machine keeps rebooting now (duh!) and now I cannot
even boot from the CD (what's up with that?). I did change the boot
order in the BIOS and even removed the HDD from the boot order and it
still tries to load from the hard drive.

Some info:
OS: Windows XP Home with SP1 and all updates/patches up to a month
ago
Hardware: Pentium III

Thanks in advance for any help,
Sandeep
 
Forget it. I've asked this question three times already and still no
answer. For me, I get the same error whenever I try to switch user or
lock the computer. I get it at startup rarely.

I'd do a System Restore, except I've made radical changes since then and
would rather not do that.

If anyone can help, we'd greatly appreciate it. Seriously.
 
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