BleepingComputer.com: Xp stuck in continuos no boot loop

AVG detected a virus this morning and I thought all was well after scanning with SuperAntispyware and removing,healing or sending to the vault. Thought all was well after that. then I did a google search on the virus detected by AVG and it was suggested to safe boot and run an application from there. I could not F8 so I did another google for safe booting in XP and was told to do a boot.ini after msconfig in the run application. Now my PC is stuck in a continuous loop and will not boot in any of the modes offered and a blue screen quickly flashes so fast I cannot make out what it sdays and the whole cycle will repeat itself if allowed while it is powered up.

Any suggestions other than reformatting.

Thanks in advance.

How to fix

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/...#force_safemode

All the way at the bottom of the page

Did you edit your boot.ini wrong? then rebuild it using this process : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330184

from the bottom of the page provided - and thank you

"then you can typically boot off the Windows CD that came with your computer in order to access the Windows Recovery Console"

I have a Gateway and not sure how boot from the recovery disc that came with it.

Ok I inserted recovery disc pressed R for recovery and it is giving me 2 options:

1. Destructive install

2. Install with backup

Not quite sure where to go from here. Would like to get to the command prompt the link provided suggests.

Any suggestions?

You can download Windows XP Recovery Console ISO image : http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/files/rc.iso

You need to burn it to a CD using an ISO burning software like ImgBurn ( http://www.imgburn.com/ )

Then boot off this CD and press R when prompted to go into Recovery Console.

Thank you soooo much Romeo29 and Garmanma. I was able to start windows from the disc created from Computer Paramedics.

Just one question about renaming C:\Boot.ini.bak to C:\Boot.ini as instructed:

"Once the file is renamed, you can then remove the boot disk and reboot your computer to get back to normal mode. When booting up after the rename, do not be surprised if you see an error stating that you do not have a valid Boot.ini file. When you get back to normal Windows mode, you can then rename C:\Boot.ini.bak to C:\Boot.ini and run Msconfig again to remove the /safeboot flag."

Do I reinsert the boot disc created from Computer Paramedics and rename it there?

Just want to make sure i m doing this correctly.

Thanks again. You guys are the best.

Oh by the way this was the post was following when all this began.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic176761.html

Scroll down to post #10.

The bug I had was that win32/cryptor.

Quote

First boot off Recovery CD, and rename boot.ini to boot.ini.bak. Type Exit when done to restart. Remove CD.
Now you can boot into Normal mode and rename it back. No more CD needed.

"and rename it back. No more CD needed."

How do I rename it without the CD in normal mode.

Sorry I am not that computer literate.

bump

Sorry for not getting to you sooner.

To rename boot.ini.bak from within Windows :

1. Open StartMenu > Run and type cmd and press Enter. This would open command prompt window.
2. In the command prompt window type the following exactly as it is shown, one line at a time :

cd %systemdrive%\
attrib -s -h -r boot.ini.bak
ren boot.ini.bak boot.ini
attrib +s +h +r boot.ini

OR

1. Open StartMenu > Run and type %systemdrive% and press Enter. This would open Windows Explorer. If you see These files are hidden click on the link Show the contents of this folder
2. Make sure you can see hidden files. To do so select from Explorer menu, Tools > Folder Options > View and
- select Show hidden files and folders
- uncheck Hide extension of known file types
- uncheck Hide protected operating system files
and click OK to save settings.
3. Now you would be able to see boot.ini.bak. Select it by left-clicking on it, and hit F2. Type in new name, boot.ini and press Enter. Click yes to any warnings that appear.


I hope this helps you.

Romeo29.

I tried both methods and did not see it in the second method and in the 1st method the command response came back and said:

C:\>attrib -s -h -r boot.ini.bak
File not found - boot.ini.bak

C:\>ren boot.ini.bak boot.ini
The system cannot find the file specified.

C:>attrib +s +h +r boot.ini

Any suggestions?

I want to add I really appreciate your patience with me.

Did you rename boot.ini to boot.ini.bak in the first place using the CD boot recovery console?

Yes, after that the computer was finally able to boot to windows instead of the loop it was in.

Now every time I reboot I get the system configuration error box that appears in the middle of the screen you said I may get.

When I do a msconfig in the RUN application the "boot.ini" tab that was there before all this happened is not on the tab anymore.

Can you do a search for boot.ini.bak on your computer? Look for hidden and system files too. I suspect you saved it somewhere else on your computer.

I did do that yesterday and confirmed once again today.

"Search is complete. There are no results to display" is what came back.