XP Pro shuts down before login complete

[Lloyd]

XP Pro installed on one of our computers is shutting down
before login completes. That is, after typing in the
password at the welcome screen XP appears to be logging
in then abruptly reverses and closes back to the login
welcome screen.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Lloyd

 

[Guest]

ADDENDUM: This happened while I was in the process of
troubleshooting what appears to be a virus on the XP
box. ONe of the Symantec Responses suggested deleting
the "userinit" = "%windir%\system32\userinit32.exe" entry
in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS
NT\CURRENTVERSION\WINLOGON area of the registry. After
doing that I attempted to reboot, but was unable to get
past the login screen. I backed up the registry before
doing this, but can't get back into the registry to
restore it, incase the deletion was not done correctly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lloyd

 

[davetest]

ADDENDUM: This happened while I was in the process of
troubleshooting what appears to be a virus on the XP
box. ONe of the Symantec Responses suggested deleting
the "userinit" = "%windir%\system32\userinit32.exe" entry
in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS
NT\CURRENTVERSION\WINLOGON area of the registry. After
doing that I attempted to reboot, but was unable to get
past the login screen. I backed up the registry before
doing this, but can't get back into the registry to
restore it, incase the deletion was not done correctly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lloyd

Try selecting f8 during the boot and logging
into safemode as Administrator.
click the start button/RUN type CHKDSK /f
reboot if necessary for the check to occur.
Login in safemode again and run the Panda scan,
selecting all the options:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/

See if it finds anything.

If some files are corrupted, you can try the command
SFC /SCANNOW (from the RUN box) which will replace system files if
any are damaged. It may or may not need an XP cdrom.

Take a look at the startup items using msconfig and see if there
is anything suspicious there.
Dave

 

[Lloyd]

Dave,

Thanks for your suggestions. The problem is confounded
by the fact that I can't login to safe mode. When
booting to safe mode I'm still prompted for a login, when
I try to use the Administrator login it behaves in the
same manner as when I use the other user login, ie., I'm
unable to get into safe mode.

Any thoughts on how to get into safe mode under these
circumstances? I guess I need to somehow bypass the
login feature.

Lloyd

 

[davetest]

Dave,

Thanks for your suggestions. The problem is confounded
by the fact that I can't login to safe mode. When
booting to safe mode I'm still prompted for a login, when
I try to use the Administrator login it behaves in the
same manner as when I use the other user login, ie., I'm
unable to get into safe mode.

Any thoughts on how to get into safe mode under these
circumstances? I guess I need to somehow bypass the
login feature.

Lloyd

Lloyd,
Try logging into the recovery console. On some PC's this
accessible directly from the boot menu; in others, you
have to boot from the XP cdrom.
Try running chkdsk /r c:
Sometimes this fixes things. If it doesn't work you may need
to do a repair install:
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/tips/dougknox/doug92.asp

Dave