Laptop Won't Boot Up

[BillB]

I have a Toshiba laptop with Windows XP operating system. I don't use it very much & yesterday when I tried to boot it up I got a screen that said Welcome with a picture & my name beside the picture. I don't remember seeing this screen before. When I last used this computer - maybe 2 weeks ago - it booted up right to my desktop.

In the lower left corner the screen shows a symbol for "Turn off Computer". In the lower right corner the screen shows "After you log on, you can add or change accounts. Just go to the Control panel and click User Accounts".

When I click on the picture beside my name a message says "Loading your personal settings". Nothing happens & then it says "Logging Off". Then it says "Saving Your Settings".

I don't remember ever putting any personal settings on the laptop & I don't remember ever seeing this screen before.

What can I do to bypass this screen & get to my desktop? Thanks for any help.

[LottaKash]

I have a Toshiba laptop with Windows XP operating system. I don't use it very much & yesterday when I tried to boot it up I got a screen that said Welcome with a picture & my name beside the picture. I don't remember seeing this screen before. When I last used this computer - maybe 2 weeks ago - it booted up right to my desktop.

In the lower left corner the screen shows a symbol for "Turn off Computer". In the lower right corner the screen shows "After you log on, you can add or change accounts. Just go to the Control panel and click User Accounts".

When I click on the picture beside my name a message says "Loading your personal settings". Nothing happens & then it says "Logging Off". Then it says "Saving Your Settings".

I don't remember ever putting any personal settings on the laptop & I don't remember ever seeing this screen before.

What can I do to bypass this screen & get to my desktop? Thanks for any help.

BillB,I am quite certain there are others here who are much more clever and acquainted with any ideas relating to what may have happened to your machine, but for me just off the top of my noggin, I suspect that your machine has been "commandered" and if it were me I wouldn't touch a thing until I learned more about the problem....

best,

[headhawg]

Bill,

Windows XP will boot right to the desktop bypassing the Welcome screen if there is only one user account created (unless that has been changed in SP3). If there are more than one, or just the built-in Admin account, it will stop at the Welcome screen for user log on.

You can bypass the Welcome screen by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys twice in succession. That will bring you to the traditional User Name/Password log on screen. You could try your log on name there with password (if any, and you really should have one -- a strong one). If not, try using Administrator as the user with no password to get into the system. assuming that whoever installed XP did not put a password for the built-in admin account.

My concern is that your user profile ("personal settings") is being loaded and then saves/exits right away. That's not good, regardless of how you log in. It sounds like you might have a corrupt user profile. Not a big deal to fix for someone tech savvy, but maybe a little hard to explain the process here.

Also, it is very possible that there is something malicious on your system as LK suggested. Or, maybe someone else used the laptop after you used it last (it booted right to the desktop, remember?) and made some changes that are causing your problems now.

[BillB]

Thank you both for your replies.

I got to the User Name/Password screen. It shows "Bill" as the user name. I have entered several different passwords that I have used in the past and every time I get a response "The systen could not log you on. Make sure your User Name and domain are correct, then type your password again. Letters in passwords must be typed using the correct case."

I don't think I set up a password when I bot the laptop several years ago. I have had computers in the past that were password protected and I thought it was a pain to have to type the password every time I turned the computer on so I stopped using them. This is a home computer & I am normally the only one using it.

Is there any way to find out was password the system may have?

By booting up in the safe mode I am able to get a screen which has both Administrator & Bill on it. Clicking on Administrator gets the same results as clicking on Bill.

[JustRalph]

try just canceling the password screen or using a "blank" password

then post what happens

[headhawg]

I don't think I set up a password when I bot the laptop several years ago. I have had computers in the past that were password protected and I thought it was a pain to have to type the password every time I turned the computer on so I stopped using them. This is a home computer & I am normally the only one using it.

Is there any way to find out was password the system may have?Under these circumstances, Safe Mode will not help. Computers don't suddenly prevent users from logging on, so now I suspect that someone has gotten into your system. And this is one reason that everyone needs to use strong passwords and no automatic logon even if it's convenient.

There is no way to know what the password is; that's a security measure. Have you tried just the username with no password, meaning just press the Enter key? If you can log on as someone with administrative rights then you could reset the password -- even to "blank" if u like (cringe).

There are other third party password...um..."reset" programs but I don't think that I should provide that info here.

[raybo]

Don't know if this will help but if you have a boot disk try it.

[BillB]

Ralph -When I press enter with a blank password it sends me back to the Welcome screen with a picture & my name. How do I cancel this screen?

When I can get to a screen that has Administrator on it & click the picture I get the usual message of loading my personal settings, then logging off and then saving your personal settings.

[headhawg]

I want to be clear -- you can't log in to the system with the user name Administrator and no password? You get the same results?

If that's the case, some malware causes the infamous login/logoff loop, and there was a known problem that M$ had a hotfix for but I believe that was pre-SP1 so I assume that the fix is already in place on your machine.

If this were my laptop I would run an anti-virus program from a bootable cd like the one found on Avira's site under Rescue System -- Data Rescue (http://www.avira.com/en/support/support_downloads.html)

After that, I would take my Windows XP installation CD, boot from it, and run a repair, which is basically a reinstall without the loss of data. This will replace userinit.exe which I think is corrupt or infected from the description of your problem. But if you do have a virus/malware, the previous step needs to be done first, otherwise it's likely that you'll be back in the same place even after the virus removal.

If you don't know how to do these things, find someone that does. Maybe JR has an easier solution, but I think that your problem is fairly nasty and likely requires someone tech savvy to repair it.

[headhawg]

But if you do have a virus/malware, the previous step needs to be done first, otherwise it's likely that you'll be back in the same place even after the virus removal.I meant, back in the same place even after the Windows repair.

[BillB]

I am going to try to find the CD that came with the laptop & try to boot up from that. I probably bot this about 6-7 years ago so I may not be able to find it. It probably is due for replacement anyway so I think I will by a new laptop.

And this time I will set up a user account and put the name & password someplace where I can find it.

I thank everyone who took time to reply to my problem.

[JustRalph]

see if you can do this


1) Re-boot your PC
2) As the PC is booting up keep tapping the F8 button
3) When the option menu appears on screen select the Safe Mode with Command Prompt option.
4) At the safe mode command prompt type:
%systemroot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe
5) System Restore will now open and you can choose the relevant restore point.
6) Restore back to before the problem started.......... try multiple dates if you can't get in the first time

**Please note that all of this is done BEFORE you have to log in to Windows. This should get you into Restore.

[raybo]

see if you can do this


1) Re-boot your PC
2) As the PC is booting up keep tapping the F8 button
3) When the option menu appears on screen select the Safe Mode with Command Prompt option.
4) At the safe mode command prompt type:
%systemroot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe
5) System Restore will now open and you can choose the relevant restore point.
6) Restore back to before the problem started.......... try multiple dates if you can't get in the first time

**Please note that all of this is done BEFORE you have to log in to Windows. This should get you into Restore.

Wow, didn't know you could do a system restore from safe mode. Cool!

[BillB]

Ralph- When I select Safe Mode with Command Prompt I get a screen which asks me to select my operating syestem. I select Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition which is the only choice. Then I get 2 black screens one right after the other full of scrolling about hard drive partion & drivers. I do nothing & then I get a black screen with Safe Mode in the 4 corners and across the top is writing about Microsoft Windows Home Edition XP. The screen disappears too fast to copy it all. In the middle of this black screen is my cursor but no command prompt. Then I get sent to Windows where it shows Administrator & Bill. Click ing on either one gives the result I have noted abouve.

Thank you for your help. Any other suggestions? I am ready to buy a new laptop & am researching them now.

[headhawg]

I don't mean to step on anyone's toes here, but yes you still need to log in in Safe Mode. And you also need administrative privileges to do a System Restore from the command prompt.

You could do what I suggested but apparently you only want JR's advice. So be it. Good luck with your new laptop.