Stuck in Windows loop

[Joanne]

Using my laptop - Windows XP Home Edition. Was working fine, as always. Had a couple of registry changes windows, for Macromedia - allowed them. Ran SpyBot, allowing a restore point first, and after updating it on 7/2/08. After SpyBot found some problems and I allowed them to be removed, I rebooted.

Now, Windows won't let me in.

I get the window to select my name or a guest, and my computer previously
wasn't set up that way - it used to load and go right to my desktop.
Selecting either shows settings loading, then a quick screen flash, briefly
showing the desktop, then right back to that selection window, showing the
settings are being saved, then the two choices again - me or a guest.

At the bottom left is the option that gives the three choices. I've done the
restart and the shut down, twice each. Same result. I've unplugged, and removed the battery and let it sit for a while.

Started in safe mode, several times, using different choices. Each time, it
gets me to that same choices windows - administrator or me, now, and smaller - with the same flashing result and back to the same window.

Two other people on a Windows bb reported the same problem yesterday, one who also ran SpyBot just before the problem occurred. Don't know about the other person yet.

I've used SpyBot Search and Destroy for years, on both this laptop and my
desktop PC, with no problem. Right now, am on my fiance's computer, but I
have a lot of "stuff" on the laptop I need to get to.

HELP!!! Any suggestions?

Thanks - Joanne

 

[md usa spybot fan]

Joanne:

I'm sorry that you are having problems. If you were running either Spybot 1.3 or Spybot 1.4 and did a fix on a detection for HellzLittleSpy, a registry entry would have been changed that causes you to be logged off immediately after you log on.

For methods to fix the problem caused by fixing the HellzLittleSpy detection in either Spybot 1.3 or Spybot 1.4, see this blog entry:

• Userinit Issue
  http://forums.spybot.info/blog.php?b=14

 

[Mopeyone]

I've been having the same problem, which Joanne and I have been discussing on a Microsoft thread as well. I'm here at work on my day off, downloading to disk some of the programs you've recommended, and I sincererly hope they fix my home computer. WHEN that happens, a huge question: What happens about running Spybot after we're back on-line? Should we delete the software and start over with the latest version? My husband usually runs our spyware programs, and I thought he had all the latest installed. Is the infected version the latest?

I'm not exactly technologically advanced, but your instructions seem straightforward. I believe I've downloaded the software for Method #2 correctly, and will try that later.

Another question: On Bart's additional help links, he gave some free registry cleaning programs. What is the safety of using registry cleaners? (And this is a registry issue, if I'm understanding it correctly, yes?)

Thanks for the advice. Luck to us all,

Mopeyone (new poster)

 

[Joanne]

None of the many fixes referenced worked. I went out and bought the program that someone else had posted about here, before his post was deleted. It was also suggested on another post referenced elsewhere at this site. It may have been a blog.

Fix-It Utilities 8.0. $40, Staples had it with a $10 rebate. Great program! It restored to a previous point. All is well. I was VERY concerned before, and not happy with SpyBot, as it seems this problem was already reported on this forum.

Whew!

Not sure if I should trust SpyBot again. Am wary now of updating it.

- Joanne

 

[HP_XP_User]

Glad Fix It Worked !

None of the many fixes referenced worked. I went out and bought the program that someone else had posted about here, before his post was deleted. It was also suggested on another post referenced elsewhere at this site. It may have been a blog.

Fix-It Utilities 8.0. $40, Staples had it with a $10 rebate. Great program! It restored to a previous point. All is well. I was VERY concerned before, and not happy with SpyBot, as it seems this problem was already reported on this forum.

Whew!

Not sure if I should trust SpyBot again. Am wary now of updating it.

- Joanne

Joanne,


Glad my post helped re: Fix It and resolving the Hellz nightmare!

HP_XP_User

 

[Joanne]

On the Microsoft board, there are a lot of people with this same frustrating problem.

 

[Mopeyone]

I can't get Fix-It Utilities to run on my system. Don't know if I bought a bad disk, or my system is so screwed it won't let it run. Now I'm waiting for Avanquest support to give me options. I am incredibly frustrated right now. My holiday weekend is ruined....

Joanne, I assume when you used Fix-It it loaded fairly quickly and did it thing? It is doing nothing more for me than quickly showing the Fix-It helicopter logo, then seeming to run until it stalls on a black screen. Sigh...

Mopeyone

 

[Joanne]

Wow, mopey - that's terrible. Lynn (fiance) did it for me, while I watched over his shoulder. He booted up with the disk in, then followed directions. One option was to choose a restore point, which he did, to just before I ran SpyBot. Hope you figure it out!

- Joanne

 

[HP_XP_User]

Can't Get Fix It to run

I can't get Fix-It Utilities to run on my system. Don't know if I bought a bad disk, or my system is so screwed it won't let it run. Now I'm waiting for Avanquest support to give me options. I am incredibly frustrated right now. My holiday weekend is ruined....

Joanne, I assume when you used Fix-It it loaded fairly quickly and did it thing? It is doing nothing more for me than quickly showing the Fix-It helicopter logo, then seeming to run until it stalls on a black screen. Sigh...

Mopeyone

Mopeyone,

This is HP_XP_User, the one who has posted about Fix It.


I am assuming you bought the product from a store and did not get an online version. The product works on XP, and Vista

The actual cd is an emergency Bootable Rescue Disk.

When you first load the cd and it boots, the first thing it does is a general scan to analyze your hard drive before
displaying the Rescue Wizard. So it does not really start to do its thing right away.

Are you letting it run its full course?

After that scan, the Rescue Wizard comes up, helicopter logo, with 3 options, Recovery Commander, and two others which you don't need right now.

See my other posts about which option to choose under the main category of Recovery Commander (Restore a System CheckPoint).


Also, if for any reason, you do not see the Rescue Disk option block, in the very bottom lower left corner, where it says Avanquest and a logo, click that logo and name and like the Windows Start menu, a selection of options will pop up, one being Recovery Commander, Rescue Disk Wizard.

Hope this helps

HP_XP_User

 

[SlmJon]

Hellzlittlespy - What Now???

Hey Guys,

I'm still stuck too. My XP is toast & I guess I'm gonna try to buy the Fix-It software. My Vista machine (I'm on it now) went through the same install with Spybot but I haven't shut it down in a few days so I'm still alive. What do I do to this machine before it dies, too? Will a system restore work?

 

[HP_XP_User]

I'm still stuck too

Hey Guys,

I'm still stuck too. My XP is toast & I guess I'm gonna try to buy the Fix-It software. My Vista machine (I'm on it now) went through the same install with Spybot but I haven't shut it down in a few days so I'm still alive. What do I do to this machine before it dies, too? Will a system restore work?

SlmJon,

See my post just above yours, regarding Fix It.

You will have to reboot the pc with the cd in the drive, for it to work. Make sure you change any Bios/BootUp settings prior to shutting down, you need the pc to boot from the cd rather than the hard drive. If you don't then you most likely get that Logon-Logoff loop.

I realize you are concerned but thats the way it works. Now if Vista creates restore points, you should be OK. I do not use nor intend to use Vista, so I really do not know if this will work 100% on Vista, on XP it works like a charm.


Good Luck, hope it works, let me know, let others know if it works.

HP_XP_User

 

[Joanne]

Hey Guys,

I'm still stuck too. My XP is toast & I guess I'm gonna try to buy the Fix-It software. My Vista machine (I'm on it now) went through the same install with Spybot but I haven't shut it down in a few days so I'm still alive. What do I do to this machine before it dies, too? Will a system restore work?

System restore worked for me, using Fix-It. On your Vista machine, do a restore before the last SpyBot before shutting down.

 

[Joanne]

I can't get Fix-It Utilities to run on my system. Don't know if I bought a bad disk, or my system is so screwed it won't let it run. Now I'm waiting for Avanquest support to give me options. I am incredibly frustrated right now. My holiday weekend is ruined....

Joanne, I assume when you used Fix-It it loaded fairly quickly and did it thing? It is doing nothing more for me than quickly showing the Fix-It helicopter logo, then seeming to run until it stalls on a black screen. Sigh...

Mopeyone

Mopeyone -

If you're still having problems: Lynn said your computer may be set up to NOT access the CD first. If that's the problem getting Fix-It to work for you, you have to go into BIOS and change that. He said to get there, it's different on all machines. May be hitting F2 or F12 or F1 when rebooting.

 

[chi-va]

@SlmJon

If the restore point is not damaged then you can fix this problem with the restore point as well. I don't understand the benefit for you using the software Fix It because you have the Windows XP CD, don't you?

Here is an instruction for using the Windows recovery console:
http://www.housing.hawaii.edu/resources/support/restore-point.htm

Before you can boot from CD it maybe necessary to change the BIOS settings. Here are some examples how you can do this:
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bios-boot-cdrom

Do you have fixed HellzLittleSpy with Spybot 1.3 in your Vista system as well or do you have used another version. Please don't turn off your Vista system yet. It should be easy to confirm if it is corrupted or not.

 

[Mopeyone]

Huz-zah!! I'm IN!! Joanne, thanks to you an Lynn for sticking with me and offering suggestions. I had figured out to change my BIOS to accept a CD boot, but that was about the extent of my (NOT) grand computer technology knowledge.

All - I actually got in using Method #2 from the Spybot solutions. I don't even know if I got it all right - I just kept entering the commands they posted, in an order as suggested when prompts were presented. I rebooted and held my breath - IN! Sigh.... now the cleanup.

HP_EX_User - I used the Fix-It disk as suggested as a boot disk, but it didn't seem to be working. It would load up, but I'd get a quick flash of the helicopter logo saying something like "wait while loading" then my CD would sound like it was working, then quit and I'd be left with a black screen forever. I mean, how fast did everyone else's Fix-It go to a prompt screen? Even though I waited a long time, I never got any choices. That's why I tried the Spybot system, and thank goodness it worked for me. I'm gonna try to load Fix-It now that my ssytem is up and use it to help clean up my system after this fiasco. Thanks for being there to offer a solution.

Now, some questions for the Spybot team: I did check my Spotbot version, and somehow we'd never updated past version 1.3, although my husband does twice a week updates. I know when Adaware did a major program update, they sent a very clear message to their users to "update now". Can ya'll be little more clear when an update is available? I know it is up to the user to maintain their software, but your program is used by a lot of people like me who are not technologically advanced. A little handholding goes a long way.....

Also - what should I do now about my system? I am afraid to shutdown without majorly cleaning my system up. Did the Method #2 system reboot clear my system of that registry issue for good? Or is it still lurking somewhere? Also, can I safely uninstall my current (old) Spybot program without screwing up anything else?? And does the newest Spybot version (1.5 I believe??) contain any issues of its own?

Any and all advice with recovering from this welcome!!! Good luck everyone - I have felt - and continue to feel - your pain.

Thanks again Joanne and HP_Ex_User!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mopeyone

 

[md usa spybot fan]

SlmJon:

Hey Guys,

I'm still stuck too. My XP is toast & I guess I'm gonna try to buy the Fix-It software. My Vista machine (I'm on it now) went through the same install with Spybot but I haven't shut it down in a few days so I'm still alive. What do I do to this machine before it dies, too? Will a system restore work?

I did think Vista would be a problem because I didn't believe the versions of Spybot involved involved in the problem ran properly under Vista.

Please note: I don't run Vista so the following instructions/suggestions are for a Windows XP system:

What version of Spybot - Search & Destroy are you running (Spybot » Help » About) on the Vista system?

If you were running either Spybot 1.3 or Spybot 1.4 and did a fix on a detection for HellzLittleSpy a registry entry would have been changed that causes you to be logged off immediately after you log on.

If you are running an old version, delected HellzLittleSpy and did a fix, I suggest that you do not attempt a system restore. I suggest that you attempt a recovery through Spybot. Go into Spybot » Recovery, highlight the entry for HellzLittleSpy and do a "Recover selected items".

Then verify that the following registry entry exists. On Windows XP the normal entry is looks like this from a registry export:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
"Userinit"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\userinit.exe,"

Or like this in Registry Editor (regedit.exe):

Userinit REG_SZ C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

Where:

• Name: Userinit
• Type: REG_SZ
• Data: C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

 

[Joanne]

Mopeyone - so glad you're okay! Whew, right??

We tried that #2 suggested solution, very carefully, several times. Didn't work for us. At one point, we didn't get the choices it said we would. Tried workarounds, but nothing worked. Lynn's very computer savvy (builds his own, since the 80s), but after looking at, and trying, all suggestions from several sources, we gave up and had to use Fix-It. For us, it loaded right away. Maybe you got a bad disk?

Thanks to others here who have stuck with us. Now, what do we do about SpyBot? Do we have to uninstall the old version before downloading the new? And how come we didn't know there was a newer version? When we selected the update, shouldn't that have taken us to a place to download the newer version?

Thanks - Joanne

 

[walker]

Mopeyone - so glad you're okay! Whew, right??

We tried that #2 suggested solution, very carefully, several times. Didn't work for us. At one point, we didn't get the choices it said we would. Tried workarounds, but nothing worked. Lynn's very computer savvy (builds his own, since the 80s), but after looking at, and trying, all suggestions from several sources, we gave up and had to use Fix-It. For us, it loaded right away. Maybe you got a bad disk?

Thanks to others here who have stuck with us. Now, what do we do about SpyBot? Do we have to uninstall the old version before downloading the new? And how come we didn't know there was a newer version? When we selected the update, shouldn't that have taken us to a place to download the newer version?

Thanks - Joanne

Note this post Pepi.....not everyone is against you...people just tell the truth sometimes.....maybe you need a visit to a Cardiologist after all!!

 

[SlmJon]

Vista's Still OK?!?!?!

I did a program update on both machines before I ran S&D. After shutting down the XP & booting the next morning is went everything went south on it. The Vista machine hasn't been turned off since the update so I haven't rebooted. Everything is running OK for now. I'm afraid to turn it off.

I'm not sure what version of Spybot (should have been the latest since I did the update on Monday). I uninstalled Spybot last night.

I looked in the Vista comparable folders & couldn't find anything close to what you said.

Should I try a system restore?

SlmJon:


I did think Vista would be a problem because I didn't believe the versions of Spybot involved involved in the problem ran properly under Vista.

Please note: I don't run Vista so the following instructions/suggestions are for a Windows XP system:

What version of Spybot - Search & Destroy are you running (Spybot » Help » About) on the Vista system?

If you were running either Spybot 1.3 or Spybot 1.4 and did a fix on a detection for HellzLittleSpy a registry entry would have been changed that causes you to be logged off immediately after you log on.

If you are running an old version, delected HellzLittleSpy and did a fix, I suggest that you do not attempt a system restore. I suggest that you attempt a recovery through Spybot. Go into Spybot » Recovery, highlight the entry for HellzLittleSpy and do a "Recover selected items".

Then verify that the following registry entry exists. On Windows XP the normal entry is looks like this from a registry export:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
"Userinit"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\userinit.exe,"

Or like this in Registry Editor (regedit.exe):

Userinit REG_SZ C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

Where:

• Name: Userinit
• Type: REG_SZ
• Data: C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

 

[md usa spybot fan]

Joanne:

... Now, what do we do about SpyBot? Do we have to uninstall the old version before downloading the new? ...

I personally recommend it. What version of Spybot - Search & Destroy are you running (Spybot » Help » About)?

... And how come we didn't know there was a newer version? ...

As I understand/remember it (but I could be wrong with the dates/details):

• Spybot 1.2 did not offer detection file updates after 2004-03-04.
• Spybot 1.3 (released officially 2004-05-12) continues to receive detection file updates but did not offer upgrades to Spybot 1.4 because it was not built into the Spybot 1.3 program to recognize them.
• Spybot 1.4 (released 2005-06-01) offered upgrades to Spybot 1.5 shortly after Spybot 1.5 was released on 2008-01-31 as:
  • Main update 1.5.2 - !Main application update, release 3 (284 KB) - 2008-01-31
• Spybot 1.5 (released 2008-01-31).