The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted

[jokerwho]

Hi!
I've got this problem on a friend of mine's notebook, running XP Home.
Suddenly (at least he says that he hasn't done anything) when I choose a user at the logon screen,
XP asks me for a password (never been set any) and if I don't enter any password, I receive the message:

"The specified domain either does not exist or could not be contact"

fact is that the notebook is not connected to any network, neither domain...
I've already tried, with no success, the following:

- normal start, choose one of the users, without entering a password
- fail safe mode, tried user Administrator, without entering a password
- with hawkpe I've tried to reset the password of two usere, Administrator and another one, but no success
- at logon screen, tried to press ctrl-alt-del twice to get the "plain" logon dialog and put Administrator a user and no password

If I look up the error message on google, I get all olution regarding PC actually connected to a domain, but this one, as already said, is not!!

is there anything I could try? or should I do a format??
thanks in advance!!

[foogoo]

First off you're dealing with a tweaked system, normally XP Home cannot join a domain. So who knows what they have done to the system. But at boot, when you Ctrl-Alt-Del make sure the drop down option is set to whatevername - (this computer) and use the user name and password.

Try rolling the system back to a previous point.
Restart your computer, and then press and hold F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in safe mode with a Command prompt.
Use the arrow keys to select the Safe mode with a Command prompt option.
If you are prompted to select an operating system, use the arrow keys to select the appropriate operating system for your computer, and then press ENTER.
Log on as an administrator or with an account that has administrator credentials.
At the command prompt, type %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then press ENTER.
Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to a functional state.


The tweak used possibly:
Xteq X-Setup 6.1 by navigating to the "Network \ Auto Login \ Windows NT/2K/XP \ Settings" option within X-Setup. Simply enter the appropriate information and click "Apply Changes" - upon your next reboot, you can then join domains with WinXP Home Edition. Problem solved. X-Setup includes many other useful Windows XP tweaks / hacks / etc. for Windows XP as well, all free for personal use.

[jokerwho]

Hi! first of all, thanks for you reply!
the problem is that this PC has never been connected to any network...
and I doubt that any tweak has been added...
anyway...
at the boot, when I hit ctrl-alt-del there is no drop down option, only username and password...

I can't rollback, neither start a safe mode with command prompt, because I'm asked for a password even if I start in safe mode or in safe mode with command prompt...

but, if I launch the recovery console from a XP installation disc, I can log on as Administrator without a password...

this x-setup you're talking about, where could possibly store the information?
because, I can't run any software, as I can't access to windows, but, using hawkpe I can edit the registry, loading the hive...

[jokerwho]

for this time, I've solved this way:
I've botted from hawkpe and manually restored old registry files from "system volume information" folder...
Anyway, I'm still curious about how that could have been happened...
thanks

[achetwood]

Did you ever find out what happened? Can you email me what you specifically did? My sister-in-law has the same problem. She was working on her computer fine yesterday, shut it down and then this morning it has the traditional log-in screen with her name and the Administrator. We tried the passwords that I had set--no go. I use ORPHCRack and, yep, the passwords were the same as what I entered (no change); rebooted again and tried the passwords---no go. Used PC LOgin 2.0 to reset the passwords---still no go. Tried everything else you did as well (except the Hawk thing) and to no avail.

[jokerwho]

Hi!
sorry for the delay!!
I did a system restore :(
So, unfortunately, no actual solution :(