HELP !!! Cannot logon to XP system

[tfinan]

My daugher's Win XP PC recently became infested with viruses. I reinstalled Norton and removed all of the viruses. I also ran a spyware scrubbing tool, which identified and removed several of those as well.

Everything looked fine until I rebooted. Now I am not able to login under my daughter's accout OR as Administrator. When I click on the user name, it briefly says "loading personal settings", as if it is going to work, but then the screen flashes and the display says "saving personal settings" and I get returned to the welcome screen !! As I said, this also happens for Administrator.

What can I do to fix this ??? ANY help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to TechSpot

Your PC is obviously not clean yet.
Go to this post here first, and follow the instructions EXACTLY.
How to remove Begin2Search/Coolwebsearch and Other Nasties
Then see How to post your Hijackthis log-files.

Try to press F8 a few times right at startup, to boot into Safe Mode. You should still have internet access. Otherwise download and burn those required programs onto a CD in another PC. Print the instructions.

 

[tfinan]

Cannot get into Safe Mode

I am not able to get into safe mode. Even in safe mode I am require to login, but as I said in the original note, I cannot login to any account.

Is there a way I can get these cleanup utilities onto a bootable disk ?

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Do a "repair if you can't boot into XP" as described here: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html

 

[tfinan]

Ok...regarding doing a "repair", do I need to use the same installation CD that came with the PC ? If I use a different installation disk, will there be a installation Key issue, or an authorization key problem ?

Thanks for your help on this.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

If yours is a proper XP disk (not one of those restore jobbies) even if it is not your own, you will not be asked for any Key or authorization.
Those restore disks are no good for doing a repair. In that case, borrow a proper one from someone else, that is perfectly legal. Just make sure it is the same type as your installation (Home or Pro).

 

[odin673]

you can always slave your daughter's hd to your comp and clean out viruses like that. Won't help if system files are damaged though.

 

[tbrunt3]

A restore will more than likely work but as was stated you need a full version of the xp install not a OEM version (DELL GATEWAY HP) ..

here is something else you can try get a copy of knoppix try to recover as much as possible of the harddrive... Knoppix boots form a cd rom so will have acess to entire system..

What you need to back up Important files like docments and stuff like that as well as your book marks C/docments settings/ you name they will be here as well as all users.

As soon as you tell us what system you have such as home built or OEM Dell,gateway,HP we will go form there for the rest..

 

[tfinan]

It is a DELL PC running XP Pro. However, I do have an actual XP installation CD (it is an Upgrade CD...upgrade to Pro from Home) that I can restore from.

 

[tfinan]

Correction....my XP installation disk is a full install, not an upgrade.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

You are fine then, go ahead and do the repair as posted earlier.

 

[tfinan]

Hijack This Log

Here is the log from Hijack This. Could someone tell me what nasties
I should have removed ???

 

[tbrunt3]

First update windows so it has all the patches I see you only have SP1 installed
you need to update your os with all current fixes .

Make sure you antivirus is up to date personally I never recommend norton not worth it there are many more better ones out there and good free ones such as

Avast this is the best free one you can get this here..

http://www.avast.com/eng/down_home.html

also download and install a program called A-Squared which can be found here

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

run this program with all windows closed when it finds soemthing let it take care of it..

Last part get a good spyware program such as spybot which can be found here

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html?part=104443&subj=dlpage&tag=button

run this program also

NOTE when you run the scan disable system restore becuse if there is a virus here it will come back


let the above programs do there job then repost your log after you have doen all the updates..

 

[tfinan]

Latest Hijack This log

I have run all the tools that have been suggested. The PC seems much much better now. I have attached the latest hijack this log. Could someone tell me if my system is looking clean ?

 

[rowan]

Hi all,

Just joined your forum cos i have the same problem with logging on to XP Pro as tfinan.

I have just spent a week recoveing 3 computers here in East Timor from the Brontok.C virus. The last one now will not me logon.

I get:

Logging in
then saving settings and back to the welcome screen.

Interestingly enough the turn off computer option then becomes:

You can can now turn off Super Power ????

Anyone got any ideas...

This happens in all modes - normal, safe mode, safe mode with comand prompt etc

This is urgent so if anyone can help that would be a great relief.

I read the solution re: checking the registry but as i cannot log on at all i cannot review it.

Regards

Rowan Mitchell tired and dsperate :-(

 

[N3051M]

so you've tried RealBlackStuff's cleanup procedures?

if that fails, then the only option is to do a repair it as posted above

Do a "repair if you can't boot into XP" as described here: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html