Windows XP cannot load login screen

[joejoesmcgee]

A couple of months ago i downloaded a custom logon screen, and used
this Logon Loader program to install it. Then in the following weeks,
whenever I tried to boot the computer it would stop responding either
right before windows loaded, right after windows loaded, right after i
logged on, or sometimes 30 minutes after i logged on.

I'm not sure if the logon screen was the cause for this but today my
computer did this automatic disk cleanup thingy, and it deleted the
logon screen or maybe something necessary to load it. Instead of
showing the welcome screen, a window pops up that says "This
application has failed to start because LSASRV.dll was not found.
Reinstalling the application may fix this problem." After the OK button
is clicked then i'm left with a black screen and a cursor and I can't
log in. How can I fix this?

 

[A_DOG73]

Hi

Try doing a system restore to before you "downloaded a custom logon screen".
If that doesn't work I would uninstall and reinstall.

To do a system restore:

Click start
Programs
Accessories
System tools
System Restore

Restore to a time before you "downloaded a custom logon screen"

That's my 2 cents. Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[joejoesmcgee]

Since Windows can't find the screen, I can't log in... and booting in safe mode doesn't work either. How can I log in to do a system restore?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Try doing a windows repair as per this thread HERE. Hopefully it will solve your problem. If it doesn`t, you might have to consider doing a reformat and reinstall.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[altheman]

did you try "last known good config" option

 

[joejoesmcgee]

Yeah i tried that, it doesn't work.

Will following the steps in the system repair thread fix this? I'm not 100% sure and I am kind of scared to mess up my computer even more, though I do have backups for most of my files and programs.
Also I called this one person who knows computers and she told me that using the XP CD would not work and mess up the config or something but then people on the internet tell me something else, so I don't know who to listen to.

 

[WinDoWsMoNoPoLy]

She was probably referring to reformatting, which will delete everything.

Hmmmmmm..... the program edited the registry key for the logon screen to the path of the custom one. So you need to figure out where in the registry that key is at and what the default settings needs to be set at.

 

[Spike]

depending on how this program re-configured the boot system of your computer, simply using the recovery console to rebuild your boot.ini entry may fix it (command - bootcfg)

Otherwise, Howards instructions should work. Repairing XP basically involves deleting the core windows files and entries, then reinstalling them (without deleteing anything else).

 

[joejoesmcgee]

So, uh, I don't know the admin password.
My account is an administrator but the password for that nor the first password entered (when i first got the computer, before i changed it) work.
Usually if I log in through safe mode, I can just click Administrator user without being prompted for a password.
WHAT DO I DO

 

[joejoesmcgee]

So I pressed enter instead of entering the password, and it just sort of went on a restarting loop where it'd show the Setup screen, go back to the black screen with a mouse, and restart, and now I don't know what to do.