BleepingComputer.com: Windows XP won't boot after running Adware

Hi,

Probably should of come here before I made my problems worse, heh.

I'm running Windows XP professional with service pack 3 on a Dell latitude D620 laptop. The computer is a special deal through my fathers work so I don't have any software CD's including Windows XP and can't use their help desk to fix.

I've been having random and increasingly frequent crashes of my firefox web browser. So I downloaded the free AVG 2011, malwarebytes, spybot S&D, and Ad-Aware to try and clean up the problem.

Malware and Spybot S&D were run and items cleaned up with no problems. Successfully rebooted. I installed AVG and immediately started getting notifications that explorer.exe and winlogon.exe had viruses related to Win32/Patched.FM and Win32/Patched.FL but were "critical system file that should not be removed" so it wouldn't do anything with them. A full scan with AVG 2011 did nothing. Lastly I download Ad-aware today and updated to the latest version. It automatically fixed 7 items (not sure which). I did a reboot to make sure all was well and now windows won't boot up.

I get to the windowsxp loading screen followed by BSOD with the following message:

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The windows Logon Process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000005 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down.

I've tried all options available in F8 menu. All thee safe modes, last known good configuration, directory services restore mode and normally and nothing works.

I read the "Xp Boot 'fixes'" post pinned in this forum and created a recovery boot CD from http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/files/rc.iso

EDIT: However, when I try to boot from the CD I received a different BSOD that has the usual BSOD language of "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down[snip]..." Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xc0000005, 0xF748E0BF, 0xF78DA208, 0xF78D9F08)

*** pci.sys - Address F748E0BF base at F7487000, DateStamp 3b7d855c

Since I don't have access to a windows XP disc I'm not sure what to do? I'm sure i need to repair/replace the winlogon file that was corrupted but don't even know if that is possible if I could use a boot disc?

Let me know what else you need and thanks in advance for any help.

EDIT: Found a windows XP Dell CD for my Mom's laptop. Though I'm not sure if I should use the repair feature or not. If I boot using the CD I have the option to install XP or to repair. Advice?

This post has been edited by ChadR: 25 December 2010 - 03:06 AM

I'm excited to report that this post is being made from the laptop that wouldn't boot previously.

I read tons and tons of posts from way too many google searches and tried a bunch of different stuff. None of it worked. I read some concerns around replacing the winlogon.exe file due to version differences, especially from CD. But out of frustration I used the recovery center to replace both winlogon.exe and explorer.exe from my family's Dell Windows XP SP3 cd. I made backups before overwriting them just in case.

Welp the computer boot up normally and so far so good...

Now I just need to find out how to install recovery center on the laptop so when I go back home and have no CD again I will be prepared for the next time.

Pleased to see that Google is your friend too: No doubt you could find out how to install the RC using Google also, but to save you some time I will provide the following information.

There are two common methods of installing the XP Recovery Console on the system:

How to install the Recovery Console


Add "Recovery Console" to your Boot Menu -- Now!


You can also create your own XP Recovery Console CD:

Please download ARCDC from Artellos.com.

• Double click ARCDC.exe
  
• Follow the dialog until you see 6 options. Please pick: Windows Professional SP2 & SP3 <<< Replace "Windows Professional SP2 & SP3" with the OS required.
  
• You will be prompted with a Terms of Use by Microsoft, please accept.
  
• You will see a few dos screens flash by, this is normal.
  
• Next you will be able to choose to add extra files. Select the Default Files. <<< You have the option here to include other files on the CD if wanted (eg. userinit.exe, winlogon.exe, explorer.exe).
  
• The last window will allow you to burn the disk using BurnCDCC

Your ISO is located on your desktop.


I like to have both the bootable CD and the installed option available if needed.

This post has been edited by AustrAlien: 25 December 2010 - 03:49 AM