Missing all user icons at logon screen!

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Hello

I have a problem - there are no user icons on my "interactive logon screen" - only the "Turn off Pete's Laptop" button down at the bottom left. I normally use the XP-click-on-your-username-next-to-the-sunflower-or-snowboarder logon screen. Pressing ctrl-alt-del does not bring up a logon dialogue box - at my logon screen I usually just click on one of my user profiles. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary on my computer before shutting down last night, and I have antivirus / malware software running always and nothing showed up prior to logging off - in fact nothing has shown up for ages.

Now I can't get into my computer at all, even using different safe modes - there are just no users shown. I've searched for "fixes" on MS-KB but can't find anything that resembles this problem except for an old post on this forum here. And what folk were saying to do on that thread was a little above my head. Sorry to be really thick, but can someone help me please?

My OS is XP SP2; I have 2 user accounts that usually show up - one is "Pete" (my usual one, a limited account) and the other is "System Protection" (admin account that I only use to install programmes and make system changes - habit of mine left over from Linux days) - I was using Pete last night. Guest and admin accounts do not usually show up as options to click on - never enabled them. My laptop came with a recovery section loaded onto a hidden (and hopefully protected) partition on the HD - unfortunately I don't know how to access this if I can't get into the comp. When I first loaded Windows I remember being prompted to make a Vaio recovery disk (actually there were 8 and it took a while) - but I'm also unsure how to make them work, and also on the original post about this people suggested I may just end up with the same problem, although please correct me if I've misinterpreted this.


Thanks in advance for people's input if there is any.

Pete
__________________
If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?
~~~Albert Einstein​
 
Sony VAIO. Typical problem. You need to call their tech support if still under warranty. If out of warranty, reinstall the 8 disc recovery set.
It may be a spyware, trojan, or virus problem, but that is not helpful if you cannot boot up to fix it.
The Sony VAIO does not allow a Windows XP repair... only recovery or restore of the original install set... so you may be forced to reformat and reinstall.
 
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