WINLOGON.EXE corrupt (I think) on an XP Home installation

[Guest]

My new Dell with XP Home has been working perfectly for weeks. Last night I
put the system into Standby, and when I took it out of Standby today it
failed to load Windows and gave this error message repeatedly:

winlogon.exe - Application Error

The instruction at "0x10004935" referenced memory at "0x10004935". The
memory could not be "read".

I reinstalled XP and got it to finish booting up, but the same error box
pops up during the boot process. The boot process completes normally now
except for this error popup. If I terminate the error popup, Windows shuts
down and reboots again. I have to leave the error box running or Windows
quits and shuts down.

During the debugging process I booted into the Dell's utility partition and
ran hours of hardware and disk tests, with no errors reported. I swapped my
memory sticks around, no help.

The XP reinstall apparently didn't replace WINLOGON.EXE with a new copy, or
there is a much more not-so-obvious bug in a corrupted DLL, or something.

Any ideas?

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

It's probably not winlogon that is the problem, but rather some spy/adware
or virus that is. Boot the system to Safe mode, does the error occur there?

How to start in Safe mode:
http://www.rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Safe mode

If not, then you need to start looking at the startup load, these can help:

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP [Q310560]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310560

HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316434

Ultimately though, you will need to run a scan for malware, some additional
links:

Free virus removal tools:

http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/8/lng/us/tpl/v5/nid/3001#3001
http://www.f-secure.com/download-purchase/tools.shtml

Also, you may use this free on-line scanner:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Many are best run in Safe mode to minimize interference. Most will resist
removal in normal mode where they are active. Same goes for the antispyware
stuff:

AdawareII www.lavasoft.de
Spybot www.safer-networking.org

From MVP Richard Harper on cleaning up malware infested systems:
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

This one can help you avoid these programs from being installed in the first
place:
Spyware Blaster: www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=827315

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

My new Dell with XP Home has been working perfectly for weeks. Last night I
put the system into Standby, and when I took it out of Standby today it
failed to load Windows and gave this error message repeatedly:

winlogon.exe - Application Error

The instruction at "0x10004935" referenced memory at "0x10004935". The
memory could not be "read".

I reinstalled XP and got it to finish booting up, but the same error box
pops up during the boot process. The boot process completes normally now
except for this error popup. If I terminate the error popup, Windows shuts
down and reboots again. I have to leave the error box running or Windows
quits and shuts down.

During the debugging process I booted into the Dell's utility partition and
ran hours of hardware and disk tests, with no errors reported. I swapped my
memory sticks around, no help.

The XP reinstall apparently didn't replace WINLOGON.EXE with a new copy, or
there is a much more not-so-obvious bug in a corrupted DLL, or something.

Any ideas?

WOW! Couldn't ask for more good advice than that! I contemplated doing
some of these things already, but decided to check with folks with a whole
lot more exposure to XP first. Thanks!!!!!