Help with HijackThis log

No go. I did actually completely read the error message and it does say to make sure that the domain name and username are correct. My IT guy said I might have to change the domain name to get it to work but I am not being given an option to change it, not even with hitting the options button.

This is just bizarre.

 

Do you have the XP cd and is it Home or Pro?

 

I do have a disk that is titled "Operating System - Reinstallation CD - Microsoft Windows XP Professional Including Service Pack 1 "

Would that be the one you are looking for?

 

Yes........hang tight.

 

I just wanted to let you know that you can take your time. I am in no huge rush, it is Friday after all!

I work at my computer all day long so I can post fast responses and I have a temporary fix so that I can work off of my personal computer for the moment. I appreciate the help but I certainly don't want to be a true pain in the neck.

Thanks again.

Kirsten

 

Big sigh.......

I was concerned you wouldn't be able to work since you made reference to that previously. Glad it's not a major problem for you. We'll get this sorted and continue getting your comp cleaned out, just not from safe mode I guess.

 

Well, I did a little groveling with the boss and while I was given the ol' just this once speech I have until Monday to continue the way I am going as while I can do the work I can't put it on the system in the office and they need it there soon. So we have a bit of a reprieve.

I am kind of bummed that we hit this snag. I was really enjoying hearing those little nasty critters shaking in their binary boots! I can't wait to hit my personal computer (although that already has a working antivirus so it shouldn't be as bad).

 

Good. I've got some other things I need to get done too, so I'll check in later. Some other ideas may come along in the mean-time too.

 

Have you tried powering it off and restarting?

 

Yeah. I even tried both shutting it down and restarting it since I was given both of those choices under options on the log-on window. Neither worked.

I am such a jinx when it comes to computers. They seem to do things around me that they shouldn't do. My father teaches graduate level computer science at a major university. He didn't let me touch his computers very much once he learned my "talents ".

 

Does your login screen have a box on the left that you can check for workstation? Or right lower side that has advanced?

 

I tried this out on my machine, which is running XP Home and it worked. It should also work for your XP Pro installation.

You will need the Administrator Account password to do this. If it was never set, hit enter when prompted. You will also need a blank floppy disk. Additionally, the recovery cd may not work for this, in which case you will need six more blank, formatted floppies, on which you will download and create startup disks. Number them and use them in place of the cd to start the recovery console. You can get the download and instructions here if the cd does not work.

Insert the XP CD and start the machine. You will need to access the BIOS and set the boot order to start from CD first. Watch the screen during startup for instructions to enter setup. May be pressing enter, delete, ctrl+alt+enter or something similar. Look for an entry for startup order, boot order, device load order or something similar. The choices will be floppy, cd-rom and hard disk. There will be instructions on the page that tell you how to set the cd-rom to first. Save the changes (usually F10) and exit. The computer will restart and prompt you to press a key to start from CD. Press any key. At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, press 'R" to start the recovery console. When prompted which OS to start, type 1, for C:\Windows, and hit enter. Type the Administrator password and hit enter. At the C:\Windows prompt, type bootcfg /list (be sure to leave a space between bootcfg and /list) and hit enter. Post the entire contents of the results, exactly as they are shown. It should be similar to the text below.


[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /safeboot:minimal


Will continue with further instructions after this is done.

 

Okay, another couple of hitches. This computer does not have a floppy drive.

Plus when I asked the IT guy for the administrator password all he said was that my account is setup as an admin on the local PC. So does that mean that I can use my account info or do I need to wait until Monday when he is back in the office to get further info?

Thanks,

Kirsten

 

Probably means that the Administrator account never had a password set, so you would just hit enter. Did the cd not work to start the recovery console? Do you have a cd burner in the comp you are using? And a blank cd?

 

Sorry, busy Saturday here.

The CD or DVD drive is a play only type. If I put the reinstallation CD in will I lose any of the other programs on my computer (I have some custom ones for the work I do plus things like Internet Explorer)? What about things like macros and autocorrects that I have stored in my Microsoft Word?

I just wanted to make sure before I took the next step.

Thanks,

Kirsten

 

You just need to access the recovery console. It will not cause you to lose anything. Nothing will be changed at all doing what I posted previously, other than the boot order. After booting to the cd, if you are not given an option to press R at the Welcome Screen, go no further and post back with options.

 

Well, all was looking good. I got in and changed the boot order, I then was able to hit R for recovery and I even got to the point where I put in 1 for OS but then it wanted the administrator password and I just hit enter and it said that the password was not valid and that I needed to retype the password. So I went and put in my password just in case and that didn't work either. I guess I will have to put the screws to the IT guy to see if I can get him to give me a valid password to get me in.

Can I leave it hanging where it is until tomorrow morning or should I shut the computer down?

Thanks again. Of course this all had to happen over a weekend, huh?

Kirsten

 

Had a feeling that might happen. There is a possibility that there is no Admin password too. If the OS was installed with a sysprep image, the startup disk(s) are necessary for it to accept the password, be it blank or otherwise. Did you say you have no access to a cd burner? Do you want me to post the rest of the instructions now? you could leave it on, but personally I wouldn't. It's easy enough to get back to where you are.

 

I have a floppy, zip and a writeable CD drive on my personal computer but I have a feeling that that doesn't help.

Is there a way around this? The reason I have the reinstallation CD to begin with is that the IT guy accidentally left it in when my whole system crashed from some nasty virus (which is when he finally agreed to get us all antivirus software but mine has never worked). So he must have been able to do the restore at some point. It is just that I lost about 4 days of work the last time and I don't have that to spare this time.

Thanks for your continuing help,

Kirsten

 

Sounds like the Admin account password will be needed. If he was going to give it to you, he would have by now. Now that I think a bit more clearly, not having a floppy drive is going to be a problem anyway. Part of what was needed was to create a new boot.ini file, put it on floppy and replace the existing one. Unless there is something else going on, with the domain thing, none of this will be necessary with the Admin password anyway. That should allow you to go to safe mode, where the cleanup can be done and the /safeboot box can be unchecked allowing a normal startup. The IT guy has the ball in his court. ARRRRGH!

Just in case there is a problem getting to safe mode, even with the Admin account, I'm going to go ahead and post the rest of the instructions so that he can attach a floppy drive and replace the file. Since a floppy will be attached anyway, if even with the Admin password, the recovery console cannot be accessed, just start the PC with the downloaded startup floppy's and it should then accept the password.

After following the previous instructions, which retrieves the contents of the boot.ini file, create another in notepad on another PC, editing out the /safeboot line on the end, and save it to floppy as boot.ini
Back in the recovery console, at the C:\Windows prompt, type %systemdrive%:\boot.ini -h -r (note the spaces between i and -...h and -) and press enter. This will remove the hidden and read only attributes of the boot.ini file. Insert the floppy with the edited file and type copy A:\boot.ini C:\ (note spaces between y and A...i and C) and press enter. Remove the floppy and cd if present, type exit, then hit enter. The PC will restart in Windows.