Windows XP problem. Please help!?

Question

My gf called me to help her fix her computer, but it turned out that I only made it worse. Her desktop was broken meaning: none of the icon shortcuts appeared, the keyboard nor the mouse had any functions and the start button didn't work.So I tryed to go into safe mode, and tryed to use System Restore. Unfortunately Safe Mode instructed me to enter again not through a Safe Mode, but through a Rewstore mode something (when you turn your computer , you get all those options like start windows normally, safe mode, last known good configuration that worked), well there was a System restore mode there, and I selected it. The computer was doing some scanning or so I think, and when It was done, I tryed to enter windows. I got a "Enter your username and password window". That sure was strange since my gf didn't have any of it, so I just typed "Administrator". The window accepted it and than I got a message, loading windows and immediately after that, logging off, and I was back at the Username and password button. I tryed again and the same thing happened. Please help me with this. Thanks

Answer 1

If there is a virus, then it could have gotten into your system restore. I would call your computer manufacturer at their 800 number or online website and order a system restore disk to bring the computer back to factory condition. I bought one from HP for only $17 and it came fast. I use it everytime my computer starts acting up. The only thing is you lose any data on the computer and it takes all day to load it in along with everything else (printer, microsoft office, Norton anti-virus, etc). But it erases any viruses. The only time it won't work is if your motherboard is breaking down. Then you have to get a new computer.

Answer 2

If BIOS and not Windows, You may try the generic password that most manufacturers use and don't say anything about it. Most of the time it is simply the brand name like Dell or Gateway or ect. ect. You can find a list doing a web search, but it doesn't necessarily mean it will work. Are you sure this isn't set up in BIOS or does it actually show a Windows screen.



Second are there files that need to be saved and does it have a Factory Default Recovery partition, that can be used to restore the computer back to the way it was when it was bought (new within the past two years). You can use a Linux LiveCD to get the files off the hard drive. There are several different programs you can download, that deal with this kind of situation. Some work and some don't work. It's a shot in the dark. Best of luck.

Answer 3

You should scan your registry to find out the reasons! Because most computer problems are born in a part of your system which hardly anyone knows or understands - the registry. This is the central database of Windows, which actually stores some of your computer's most important files and settings. Everything from your latest emails to your desktop wallpaper are kept in this database, making it one of the most used parts of the Windows system.Because it's used so much, the registry database is actually prone to becoming corrupt and damaged, which makes Windows struggle to read the files inside it. Unfortunately, 100's of registry files are corrupted every week and Windows has no way to protect against it - it's this problem which causes most of your computer's problems. The problem is that when these files are corrupted, your PC actually takes longer to read them and often can't read them at all.This causes errors on your PC which seem to appear randomly. You can use a Registry cleaner. http://make-computer-run-smoothly.com

Registry cleaners are tools which have been created to scan through the registry. They work by scanning each file and then checking to see if it's corrupt or causing problems. If they find that it is broken, the registry cleaner will replace or fix the file for you to make your computer speed up and become free of errors. You should have a try! Good Luck!

Answer 4

It sounds like the computer was barraged with malware and/or viruses. I highly recommend formatting the hard disk and performing a clean installation of Windows. If you must, remove the hard drive before formatting and back up whatever important data you must save, performing virus/malware scans on the files to make sure they're not infected.

Answer 5

What was here user-name before you restored?



Like at the start-up screen where you chose a user, with a picture of a frog or something and "Becca" or whatever. Think she needs to log in with a valid User. Administrator isn't a standard user in Windows XP since you can have a different name on your Administrator account, like mine is "Kaizer"

Answer 6

Download and run a complete scan with Malwarebytes. It is possible that you may have a virus

Answer 7

I thanked God the day i passed to Macintosh because i knew that i was never going to have problems with viruses anymore in life. I'm so sorry for you, little poor windows user...

Answer 8

download this, burn this image file to a cd, boot from it and it will scan your machine and tell you the username and password.

I've used it loads and it works.



http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/download.php?type=livecd