Can't advance past Windows log-on screen.

Hello all,

I'm hoping someone here might have some advice for this unusual problem with my home desktop!

I restarted my computer the other day and it loaded up to the Windows Log-on screen. This is very unusual since I've always had it set up to start-up directly to my desktop.

The maddeningly frustrating part is that I can't get past this screen! I click on my profile, it says, "Loading your personal settings... ", then IMMEDIATLEY changes to "Logging off... ", and then "Saving your settings... "

Note that I've never had a password and it doesn't ask for one. It just goes from Loading to Logging off to Saving.

I've tried starting up into Safe Mode which gives me the "Administrator" profile at the Log on screen in addition to my own, but I have the same issue. I also tried the option to revert to the last working configuration with no luck.

My PC is essentially useless at the moment...I'm typing this from my work laptop.

The only two things that I think have changed recently is that I deleted some type of adware file that came up in a virus search and also my friend was messing around with the printer sharing settings trying to get my broken printer to work.

If anybody has any ideas on what might be wrong and/or could help or point me in the right direction, I would GREATLY appreciate it! Please let me know if I could provide more detail.

Thanks for reading,

Chris

 

I was able to fix the same problem using this walkthrough.

 

Thanks for the welcome and the quick responses. Sorry that my response is a bit delayed...my internet time is fairly limited due to this problem!

I think malware or the Spybot issue may be valid causes. I had a bit of a problem with the "Antivirus 2009" malware a few months ago and I also use Spybot...so I may have updated that software without uninstalling previous versions.

I don't have a Windows XP CD...I have a Dell Resource CD that has XP on it. Do you think I might be able try the recovery console option or Windows Repair option with that disc or do I need to get a "standalone" version?

Also, to boot from a CD, do I go to "Boot options" in system setup and bring the "boot from CD-drive" option in front of the "boot from hard drive" option? I tried this a few days ago but I couldn't get anything to boot up. Maybe I'm doing something wrong or have the wrong disc.

Thanks for the walkthrough link Spyderturbo. That looks exactly like the problem I'm having. I'll have to dig into that this weekend when I have a bit more time.

Thanks for the assistance guys...if you have any further input on my booting from a disc issue, please let me know. Once I sort that out, I might be on the way to fixing this thing!

Thanks again!
Chris

 

Hey all,

I did track down a Windows XP disc and the tried the recovery console and got the dreaded "blue screen ".

I also tried Spyderturbo's link and the various methods on there didn't work for me.

I think my plan of attack now is to go ahead and reinstall XP, BUT I'm thinking I might be able to save most of my data.

Spyderturbo's link led me to a program called Bart PE. In booting up from the Bart PE disc, I noticed that there's a file management utility on there where I could see all my files. I happen to have a second large HD in my computer just for file storage. Is it conceivable that I could copy all of my important data (mainly music, pictures, word files, etc...) over to this HD and reinstall XP on the C drive? Or would the reinstall wipe out the files on my backup drive as well?

If this would work, then my main issue would be just reinstalling my programs (which would be inconvenient, but I think I could handle it).

Are there any potential issues that I'm overlooking here?

Thanks,
Chris