Question

Login followed by Immedite Logoff

Asked by: rwotherspoon

A formerly "clean" XP-Pro box became hammered with ads, pop-ups, spyware, etc.  I installed Adaware 6 yesterday.  Following a re-boot the system performs properly up to the fast-switch logon screen.  Only one user is listed.  When logging on with that user account or the administrator account (ctrl/alt/del * 2) the machine plays the hello wav file, very quickly spashes the desktop and immediately logs the user off.  This occurs in safe mode as well.

Other Notes:
* Symantec AV up to date; applications and signatures
* All available Windows updates are in place.

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Asked On
2004-06-07 at 16:13:11ID21016711
Tags

windows

,

xp

Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: sunray_2003Posted on 2004-06-07 at 16:14:29ID: 11254253

Have you tried last known good configuration going to boot menu by pressing F8 at bootup  ?

CHeck these


How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from Starting

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307545



Resources for Troubleshooting Startup Problems in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308041


How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;315341

SR

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-06-07 at 17:39:18ID: 11254590

First, can you get into the system in Safe Mode..??  (F8 at startup)  (you might try LKG from Sun's comment above first though..!)

If so, I would run System File Checker first..

Start > Run > type "sfc /purgecache" {enter}

Start > Run > type "sfc /scannow" {enter}

Have your OS cd in your cdrom drive.

(You can also run these commands from the Command Shell – dos prompt)

Also, turn off the Automatic Restart feature so you can view any errors that are ocurring..

Open up System Properties > Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery button > uncheck the Automatically Restart

FE

 

by: rwotherspoonPosted on 2004-06-07 at 18:08:15ID: 11254692

FE - The issue was not whether I could get to safe, normal, shell, etc.  It is rather a problem with immediately being logged off the system following successful logon as any user in any startup mode.  Thanks for your attention to my problem though!  See note to SR for why LKG did not work....

SR - Unfortunately, the problem here with XP restoration points will not work because Adaware simply quarantines suspect keys and files... does not actually delete or overwrite them.  Therefore, I have no LKG or a reliable RP from which to recover.

However, I did determine that when Windows Search Assistant (WSA spyware) installs itself, it replaces the userinit vales in the registry with its own.  Therefore, when Adaware removed wsaupdater.exe from \\systemroot\system32 the machine must then rely on userinit.exe to load the shell.  Userinit.exe looks in the registry for for appropriate, corresponding values and cannot load the shell.  So, I copied userinit.exe to wsaupdater.exe and rebooted... now I can login with only a bridge.sll error... but can at least log in.  So, essiantially I had to put WSA back in order for the shell to load successfully.

Now back to the drawing board on cleaning up the garbage lving in the system, without breaking the system in the process.

 

by: the-lan-manPosted on 2004-07-20 at 17:46:29ID: 11598829

Take a look at this if you're still having troubles, I recovered from an error much like the one your are describing on Windows 2000 Server...

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20972739.html?query=wsaupdater.exe&clearTAFilter=true

 

by: pmarchessaultPosted on 2004-08-26 at 18:04:00ID: 11908932

I understand exactly what you are saying because the same thing happened to me when I ran and updated version of PestPatrol.
It told me that one of the files in \windows\system on my XP box was adware so I opted to have it removed.
I believe it was undel.exe or something of the like.
Samething happened with me too when I rebooted, I couldn't sign on to my user profile. It would try to log on for a second and then would say: Logging off and back to the logon screen.

The only way I knew to recover from this is by doing a fresh install and use my backup CD's and DVD's. Didn't loose any work but it's really a pain to have to reinstall everything.

Anyway, thanks for your message because today PestPatrol would like to delete the c:\windows\system32\wsaupdater.exe so I guess it's not a good idea to do it from what I understand!

I will leave it alone until maybe you can find a solution how to clean it up.

Pete

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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