Re: Never came across such an issue... Can anyone help???

Saajan <Saajan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Well.. This is quite long, so please bear with me. I have tried to explain
>everything in detail in the best possible way I can.
>
>I was troubleshooting one of my friend's laptop who is using Windows XP
>Professional with Service Pack 1. His desktop wallpaper has been changed to a
>screenshot of windows blue screen error which said problem caused by
>malware/adwares. The display settings have been disabled. I tried running ad
>aware and spybot with updated definitions and that didnt help. I tried
>changing the wallpaper using the group policy editor. That didnt help either.
>And after I took him off from the company's domain (which I had to) and log
>in to the local computer, it doesn't even show any of the desktop icons, task
>bar or properties forcing us to believe that it is actually a blue screen
>error. I tried logging in as other user, then it shows the deault XP
>wallpaper, but still not any of the icons or properties. I tried few of the
>options like the group policy editor using the task manager>new task option
>unsuccessfully. Now that is the only way I am able to gain access to this
>computer. I have tried almost all the options, deleted all other profiles,
>etc. I am not able to launch explorer.exe or iexplore.exe using the task
>manager>new task. And am able to see the desktop icons as well while I access
>it this way. So basically, something is just preventing the deskop from
>appearing. I tried installing Srvice Pack 2 by burning it on a CD, but
>surprisingly that file doesn't show on the CD on this laptop whereas in all
>other PCs it does. So I had to finally resort to the good old way of
>re-installing XP Pro after spending ages to resolve this issue. I feel
>someone has hacked into his computer and played around. I was using a new XP
>CD with Service Pack 2 and was trying to upgrade. I couldn't run boot setup
>as the laptop didn't have a boot from cd option. So I tried disabling the
>hard drive, but then it said operating system failed. So I ran setup from CD
>using task manager>new task. It launches the installation and very soon says
>that a previous software installation was not completed and exits the setup.
>I tried removing the Symantec antivirus using System Mechanic Pro, but still
>the same problem persists. Now what do I do? I shouldn't be loosing any of
>his data. How do I install XP now as I am not able to run the setup from the
>CD or boot from the disk and install. Please note that this laptop doesn't
>have an internal CD drive, so I had to use HP external CD writer (of which I
>had great trouble installing the drivers and to get it working).
>
>I feel this is highly unusual. Can anyone help me with this? Any help will
>be highly appreciated. Thank you for your patience.


Hopefully the laptop does have a 3.5 diskette drive.

1. Backup the user's data files, configuration settings etc. by using
the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard in XP and then burn the
resulting file to a CD or copy it to a network drive. See MVP Gary
Woodruff's article on using FASTW at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm


2. Get copy/wipe from www.bootitng.com and run it to totally wipe the
hard drive.

3. Reinstall Windows XP. You will probably need to the the boot
diskette set from http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=310994 in order to
do this.

Note: Test the boot disks and make sure you can use the CDROM drive
before you wipe the hard drive.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
.

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