i'm running on safe mode w/ networking. this afternoon after my gf turned off the sony vaio laptop, i turned it back on after 10min.... i type in the windows xp login password under her username and it acts like it's going to load for like 5 seconds... then all of a sudden, it restarts... it does that repeatedly... i tried to restore the last good known setting when i press f8, but it's still not working.
i also used the recovery by going through start, help and support, and using the recovery wizard to recover it back to sunday but it also doesn't work... i tried to use my friend's windows xp install disc to do the bootup and recovery by pressing "R" at the prompt but it doesn't seem to be working... it just jumps straight to the c:windows prompt (dos)

what shall i do? any help is appreciated!

*i have also scanned adaware, spybot, and doing the norton computer scan... but nothing showed up

If you can get to another computer that uses XP, copy the file: userinit.exe to a floppy (it should be in Windows\System32. Then, pull out your System CD and boot from the CD to bring up the repair console. (Choose Option 1) then copy the userinit file to C:\ typing the following:
copy a:\userinit.exe c:\windows\system32\wsaupdater.exe
Restart. This should let you then log in.

i'll try that and let you know the outcome... thanks

Originally posted by shystrdygsrtdy:

"i'll try that and let you know the outcome... thanks"

Please do... I am interested in the outcome of this one, as it may turn up to be a new way to get around this "RASH" of folks we've seen lately that cannot seem to logon to their rigs!

(This is what? The 5th person in 2 weeks we've seen here @ these forums that cannot login to their Explorer shell desktops? Seems rather odd... or rather, against the odds, assuming no virus is out there doing this!)

APK

Since we're speculating, Alec, I wonder if this is not a two-fold problem. These later viruses seem to go after passwords particularly and I have the feeling they may be modifying the profile to allow their monitoring to use a computer as a bot for a DOS attack later on. That is the first step. The second is that the user runs Ad-aware and this, in turn, targets the profile as problematic. Since there is a lot of confidence in Ad-aware, the user pays no attention to the programs targeted for quaranteening, and erases their profile. Just a theory.

<rant>

OK, not to sound like a BOFH, but I think there really should be a basic computer literacy level required before a user can access the internet.

Maybe a solution would be for the local machine to run in an extremely locked down account, until such things like real-time automatically updating Anti-Virus software was installed, a firewall, and automatic OS updates were enabled.

Just so many problems that you, I, and the readers of this forum encounter daily could be avoided with an ounce of prevention.

Prevention and threat elimination is the key to security, not putting out brush/forest fires...

Food for thought, from a network administrator/security analyist.

Excellent idea, adamvjackson. It may be the direction Microsoft is going. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that a majority of these things are produced by the File Sharing software out there. In any case, this is a program, which is not a true firewall (which often is alarming to run for many people) that closes down certain ports targeted by spyware: http://www.pivx.com/qwikfix/ If is free and you have to email them to download a copy. It is only one tool in protecting a system, but it works well.

Hi everybody. I had the same problem. i started my computer and logged in. the computer then looked like it was going to login but came up saying 'saving your settings' and went back to the login screen. I decided to follow 'Sampsons' instructions and they worked a treat. wot a genius!

I have a system here suffering from th is Instant Logoff syndrome.

I have replaced the file with one from a working XP machine, as per the post above. the problem still exists.

Anyone have some further steps, aside from Repair install? repair install didn't solve issue.

i have the same problem but i have another extra problem

PLEASE HELP ME!

http://www.ntcompatible.com/thread.php?id=28939

I am also having this problem. I'm trying the solutions suggested but not having much luck so far. Mine packed in after I had run an Adaware scan, and was rebooting to complete it, and now windows logs me straight back out when I try login. Please keep the suggestions coming!! Thanks.