Stuck in XP Restore

[Rich24]

Hi all,

I'm working on a Friend's XP Home PC. From her description, it sounds like its loaded with virus' and spyware. It will not boot beyond the blue XP splash screen. I booted to the XP CD and ran the Restore program. It gets all the way to asking for the product key, I enter it (the # is on the side of the PC, so I know it is correct), the screen flickers a little and reboots. When it restarts it is almost back to the start of the install, asks for the CD, runs through the whole process again, and reboots after I enter the product key again.

I tried Safe Mode and Last Known Good Config and get the same result. Is my only choice to format from a floppy and reinstall?

Thanks in advance,
Rich

 

[stuuked]

that sounds like that msblaster virus or one of its many younger sisters. It wont let you reinstall windows, you could try the recovery console, but im 95 percent sure that wont work either.

save yourself the headache put the cd in the drive, turn it on and do a fresh install. XP does not need to boot from floopy, it will boot from cd.

peace

 

[linney]

You could try running ChkDsk /r from the Recovery Console or you could look at BartePE, which can run AntiVirus and Ad-Aware software as well as ChkDsk, it will also offer you the opportunity to get some data off the drive if you wish.

BartPE (a mini XP self contained on a bootable CD and run from CD) which includes virus scanners etc. via plugins.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

The same might be possible with a parallel install of XP.

266465 - HOW TO: Perform a Parallel Installation of Windows 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;266465&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

You can do the same with XP. Don't install any unnecessary programs just some virus scanners, keep the parallel installation as simple as possible.

Or the paragraph in this article.

"To install Windows XP to a new folder (to perform a parallel installation):"

How to install or upgrade to Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316941&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

If it all gets too much there is always Format and Reinstall to consider.

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP (Q313348)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q313/3/48.asp

Read the paragraph,
"How to Partition and Format Your Hard Disk by Using Windows XP Setup."


For more help (shows enlargeable screenshots) go here.

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPPro/installxppro1.htm

 

[Rich24]

Hi again,

Thanks for the help, but I'm still in the same rut. Every time I turn on the PC it says "Setup is being restarted." I made a BartPE (BTW thanks linney, that is going to come in real handy in the future), made sure the bios is set to boot from CD, I even disabled the boot from hard drive option, and it still tries to restart the setup. Any ideas how to get around this?

 

[jujet84]

Try to restart in safe mode
Bring up System Properties/Advanced/Startup and Recovery/Settings/Uncheck Automatically Restart/Ok/Apply
and restart

 

[Rich24]

jujet, thanks but I can't get it to go into safe mode. Like I said in my first post, I'm stuck in this loop. It will boot to a floppy. Is there anything I can do from there?

 

[jujet84]

Try this Start/Run/type in msconfig and enter
This will open the System Configuration Utility. In the General tab of the utility, make sure the "Normal Startup" option is checked; in the Boot.ini tab, make sure the "Safeboot" option is unchecked.

 

[Rich24]

jujet, I can't get into windows, at all. Whatever I do it runs setup to the point of asking for the product key and then reboots.

 

[linney]

Run the Recovery Console or BartPE and copy a new Boot.ini to C: without the line to boot into Setup, or amend the current one. This is a Hidden and System file and maybe Read Only, so you may have to change its Attributes.

HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP (Q289022)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q289/0/22.asp

Is it showing an operating selection screen for just a split second when you boot? You can sometimes hold the down arrow key (while booting) and drop down to the next choice after the Setup choice.

But you should be able to Boot BartPE or the XP CD or the Recovery Console (requires a Windows folder) before it loads setup and that way bypass it.

In any case it is your current Boot.ini directing it to setup. If there is nothing worth saving on the drive you can always format it.

 

[linney]

You should only have to press the "Any Key" while booting from the XP CD to bypass the old Setup and start afresh.

 

[bcastner]

I have some thoughts about dealing with an aborted installation/repair reinstallation, but I cannot recommend anything other than letting the reinstall go to completion.

The key fact is that the machine is resetting when it tries to go from text mode to its fully protected mode. This is an unresolved BIOS or hardware issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310760

 

[Rich24]

Thank you all for your help. I am in the process of doing a fresh install. Oh well. I'm sure that will work the best in the long run. I did finally get BertPE to work and that is one awesome tool. The virus scan found over 4000 virus'!! Even after cleaning up that mess I still could not get past the "enter the product key, then reboot" tango. I already spent way more time on this than I wanted to.

It still amazes me how someone as smart as my friend (the owner of the PC I've been working on) can not have updated virus protection. I held training at work (she is one of my users) a few times in the last 12 months about virus protection and spyware, and half the session ends up talking about home PCs. Yet she, and many others, still don't get it. I just hope that any important personal info didn't get sent to the bad guys.

Thanks again everyone!!

 

[bcastner]

At least get them to install the free MSFT Anti-spyware utility. It is currently in Beta, but still excellent.

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

 

[Rich24]

How is the MS product compared to SpyBot or Ad-Aware? I have had a lot of luck running those 2 on my home PC.

 

[bcastner]

Rich24,

The consensus at the moment is that the original Giant/Counter Spy engine (bought by Microsoft for its Anti-spyware) is tops.

The MS Anti-spyware is in Beta, but freeware, and will in late summer become final and still freeware. But there are a lot of features missing from the original full-blown Giant client, the one most noticed is that it ignores "Cookies" at the moment.

But the best advice I can give you is to use more than one. You want one actively scanning: my choice would be the Microsoft product, but SpyBot S&D with Teatimer or Adaware SE with AdWatch enabled are both good.

Just one active scanner.

Then see faq608-4650 as there are regular scans that should be done with non-active but thorough system scanners. The link information is discussed in the FAQ.