I disabled some startup programs, now XP won&#x27;t start properly

ASKER

No, I can't find one.
I've tried a system restore to yesterday's settings, and it made no difference. However when I reloaded the utility, I noticed that Copernik was ticked. As I hadn't re-ticked it, then Restore must have done that. I also had deleted a couple of double entries the first time I used it, and they had been retreived from the "deleted" tab and were back under the tab where thay had been, so I guess all the other changes made by the utility are OK
Stuart

Hmmm. It sounds like you have the sort of logon-logoff loop that is described about 2/3 or the page down on this website, although I cannot for the moment see how disabling startup programs would cause it:

http://www.winxptutor.com/wsaremove.htm
Unable to logon to Windows after removing BlazeFind using a spyware removal utility?

Logon - Logoff loop, also caused by BlazeFind

Another critical symptom caused by this malware: This malware modifies the Userinit area in the registry (replacing the userinit.exe with wsaupdater.exe) and Ad-Aware (with a particular definition update) removes the wsaupdater.exe file from the system, thus causing the Logon - Logoff loop. That is, when you login to Windows, the 'loading personal settings" verbose will appear, but suddenly it will logoff. This issue was documented clearly by Lavasoftusa in it's Lavahelp Knowledgebase.

Here is the solution to the logon - logoff issue in Windows XP.

Enter the Recovery Console

Boot the system using the Windows XP CD-ROM. In the first screen when the Setup begins, read the instructions press "R" (in the first screen) enter the Recovery Console. Type-in the built-in Administrator password to enter the Console. You'll see the prompt reading C:\Windows (Or any other drive-letter where you've installed XP)

Type the following command and press Enter.

CD SYSTEM32
(If that does not work, try CHDIR SYSTEM32)

COPY USERINIT.EXE WSAUPDATER.EXE

Quit Recovery Console by typing EXIT and restart Windows.

You'll be able to login successfully as you've created the wsaupdater.exe file (now, a copy of userinit.exe)

Now, change the USERINIT value in the registry (see Phase II in this page) and change it accordingly.

NOTE If you don't have a Windows XP CD-ROM, you need to use Windows XP Setup floppy disks to enter the Recovery Console.

Phase II - Fixing a registry entry which causes the Quick Launch issue (not retaining the settings)

Click Start, Run and type REGEDIT. Navigate to:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]

In the right-pane, change the value of Userinit to "C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,"

Type the above value exactly as given, including the comma - exclude the quotes. Also, change the path to userinit.exe appropriately, if Windows is installed in a different drive.

Close Registry Editor and restart Windows. The Quick Launch settings should be retained now.

phototropic

Solution is here, I think:

http://www.mcse.ms/message616432.html

I had this problem on a client's machine after running a repair install. I followed the suggestion in the above post:

1.get the userinit.exe file from anywhere its in c:/windows/system32/
2.copy it into your windows setup location ie in your c:/windows/system32/
3.rename userinit.exe as wsaupdater.exe and then copy it on into th same fol
der i.e c:/windows/system32

You can do this from a DOS prompt, or mount the non-booting drive as a slave drive in a working machine.

phototropic

On second thoughts, before you try the above, why not just open the Run box in safemode, type "msconfig" (without the quotes), click on the Startup tab, and then just hit the big "Enable All" button. Then reboot, and you should be back where you started.

ASKER

Thanks for your suggestions.
LeeTutor, I agree, this is the last thing I expected. Sadly this is a Dell laptop with Dell-installed Windows and no recovery or restore disks given to the user. I suppose I could invoke their 24-hr help as a last resort as when I asked them for the disks they said that they would do this if needed, although i guess they'd just re-install windows. Anyway, I can't do what you suggest.
Phototropic, I tried what you said but it made no difference. I was able to copy and rename as you suggested in safe mode.

Do you have a friend with the same version of XP on it -- by the way is it Home or Pro? -- with an XP install CD that you can borrow for going into Recovery Console?

Hold it, you said you copied the file in Safe mode?! Then do the registry edit in safe mode, too, and see if that allows you to get back to normal mode.

SOLUTION

phototropic

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ASKER

OK. I missed your second post LeeTutor so I've tried Enable All. They were all ticked anyway, but I unticked and reticked and rebooted just to see - no change.
Sorry, no helpful friends with CDs to hand (sad really) It's XP Home. I've never used the Recovery Console but it always starts in safe mode OK
No, there's no OldUserInit
I'm not very au fait with registry keys. The path I've got is the same as yours. If I open Userinit, mine says "C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe," (the comma is correct)

sounds like a corrupt Ntoskrl file to me log into safe mode with command prompt and goto at the command prompt type sfc see if that clears it up

ASKER

If I run sfc in DOS I get (abbreviated)
File checker v5.1
SFC [/scannow] [/scanonce] [/scanboot] [/revert] [/purgecache] [/cachesize=x]
So I tried sfc/scannow
and it gave me
Windows file protection could not initiate a scan of the protected system files
The specific error code is 0x000006ba [The RPC server is not available]
I tried sfc/revert
and got a similar message.

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ok do it like this goto the recovery console and logon to the partitoin and type expand d:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ c:\windows\system32 see if that resolves the issue

Venom, he doesn't have an XP CD, so cannot go to the Recovery Console.

yes he can on dell it is set aside as a fat32 partition

ASKER

Yes, it quotes the same error code. I followed it through and it's similar to XP but slightly different, and the last part was completely different such that I couldn't follow it.
My long stop is going to be to export all my documents to an external drive using safe mode and then reinstall an Acronis image. Unfortunately the last one I did was several weeks ago so there'll be some repairs to do, but it's starting to sound appealing.
I'm doing another virus scan just in case now that it's offline. This has told me that
Partition table [MBR] Reading error
Boot sector of disk Reading error Path C:
shell32.dll Change
user32.dll Change
ntoskrnl.exe Change
Then it cut out, but looks like it had run out of battery power and not warned me. On restart, it found nothing.
Do those give you any ideas?

goto the recovery console and type fixmbr

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ASKER

I can't do this from RC. From safe mode, run, I got "Windows cannot find fixmbr"

ok on your dell it is located an a seperate partition when you boot up there will be 2 options one is windows xp home the other one is recovery console that is where u want to go.

ASKER

OK, I give in. Like you I am surprised and rather disappointed that an apparently healthy machine should go so completely wrong for no obvious reason. Any chance that there's a disk fault? Any hints on what to look for once I've reinstalled the image?

venom96737 must be talking about a recovery partition, not the Recovery Console. A recovery partition will just restore your computer to its original factory state. And certainly not all Dells have them. My Inspiron 1150 laptop came with an XP install CD. I used Partition Magic to create another partition on it for data. I also used the XP install CD to put the Recovery Console on my hard drive.

No lee it is the recovery console place on a partition in other words the xp cd placed on the partition any system that does not come with an xp disc comes with this partition. It will enter in just like setup and then you press r and enter the recovery console just like if you had the xp cd in your drive. If you do not press R it continues on with the format install or recovery just like if you had the CD in your drive. All systems are provided with either a cd OR this partition no if ands or buts about it.

Which models of Dell pcs have this? I have a Dell Dimension 4100 desktop (several years old) and a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop (a couple of years old?) and neither has it. Can you point us to a web page describing this?

aahh i stand corrected Dell switched over to making you buy the xp disc seperate and providing only the recover to factory setting partitions in order to make more money. Just another reason to hate dell but on another note you can use the ultimate boot cd to do all the commands desribed earlier which can be found here http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/ and reover can be possible without restoring an image or reverting back to the factory settings.