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Restart at Log-on

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I recently had some issues with my laptop, issues which were resolved (video card unseated and HDD errors), but now something else has come up.

My laptop boots until it arrives at the Windows Welcome screen. Then it restarts. I started my machine with auto restart at fatal error disabled to see what the error was. It was a logon failure (don’t have the stop code but could get it if needed). First, I disabled the welcome screen, same error, then I disabled logging in entirely. Same error. Then I deleted all user accounts. Again, same error.

All of this was done in safe mode.

There should be no logging on happening!

I suspect this is a virus, but I am uncertain. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Topic

Clarifications

In reply to Restart at Log-on

Clarifications

This appears serious.

In reply to Restart at Log-on

There are a number of things you could do to diagnose and resolve this glitch, but ultimately you may lose the data on your hard drive. The problem could be a corrupted Master Boot Record (MBR), or a failing hard drive.

If this were my laptop, assuming it’s worth repairing, I would do the following:

1) Replace the hard drive. These run ~$60 for 80GB capacity (NewEgg.com). Installation is a 10-minute do-it-yourself project.

2) Reinstall the operating system from the installation disc(s). The HD should be pre-formatted (NTFS).

You can expect some excellent postings on this intriguing subject, and I hope you will give us a follow-up report on what ultimately succeeded in fixing your laptop.

Rick/Portland, OR

Might be the RAM

In reply to Restart at Log-on

I would go with the suggestion of the last post try getting a new HDD and then putting a fresh OS on it.. Funny thing is, that I had this happen on my desktop. I found out in the end it was a bad stick of RAM..

All I can say is If it still does this after the fresh install, it might be a bad Mem sector on your RAM. I do know that they make mem testers that run in the BIOS but the name evades me right now if you have a seconday computer google one of these mem testers, anything at this point is worth a shot..

I hate to suggest buying more parts for your laptop if it never fixes it. It might almost be cheaper to just build a new one. But hopfully this helps you out some.

Good luck to you

Microsoft has a free Mem tester

In reply to Restart at Log-on

Maetaris raises a good point. There is a free Memory Testing program published by Microsoft:

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Apparently you burn it to a CD and then boot the computer from the CD. The test can take up to 30 minutes. So you might be able to check the memory modules before deciding upon HD replacement.

I hope you’ll give Maetaris a [i]thumbs up[/i] for his excellent suggestion…

Rick/Portland, OR

First

In reply to Restart at Log-on

I would run diagnostics on the HD. Assuming you know how to pull the HD out, look at who the HD manufacturer is. Then go to thier website and download thier diagnostics. Most have an .iso file that will make a bootable CD that will run the diagnostics. Determine your HD needs replaced before replacing it. If it passes diagnostics, then there is obviously something else going on. I doubt you have a memory issue if the machine ran fine before, but it’s not impossible. That being said, if you had HD errors, then some files probably got hosed. You can try running CHKDSK /r from the recovery console and see if that fixes the corrupt files. If not, then you can try a repair install of Windows with the XP CD that should have came with your notebook.

If the HD fails the diagnostics, replace the drive, reload Windows. The drive isn’t totally hosed because it will start to load windows so getting data off of it is worthy of a fresh POST probably. Too many different ways to go about getting to it.

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