changes to MSCONFIG: comp wont boot anymore

hello,

I had some trojan attach problem and downloaded a s/w called SDFix.exe. To run the program it is necessary to log in the Safe Mode. Due to the trojan attach even my PC wont log on in the safe mode. When I wud press F8 at startup it would take me to the screen where I can see all the posible options to log in but then when I wud select safe mode (and all variations thereof), it will run thru a lot of dll files and then wud abruptly come to a stop. Then it will again go back to the initial selection screen and this cycle would cotinue.

Somewhere i read a method of getting into the safe mode and accordingly i did the following:

I logged in normal mode and then Start-Run-MSCONFIG

MSCONFIG screen opened and i selected the "Selective startup" radio button in the "General" tab. Then I went to the "BOOT.INI" tab and clicked the checkbox in "/Safeboot".

The machine went for a restart and then it again automatically came to the F8 screen and then the same problem would happen and the pc wont start in safe mode or any other modes also. I tried the "most recent config that worked" mode and even that failed. I tried loggin in thru "start windows normally" and now even that wont start.

As of now the PC just wont boot anymore under ANY of the modes available in the F8 screen.

PLEASE HELP.

Kind regards.

 

:wave Welcome to Major Geeks! :major

Hopefully you have your XP install CD. Pop it in the CD drive, make sure your PC is set up to boot to the CD drive first (you may need to check the BIOS first), then when you see "Press any key to boot from CD...." you'll press any key. The space bar is a perennial favorite. You'll see a blue screen with various things listed at the bottom. Wait until you're asked if you want to "Repair XP via the Recovery Console, Start an XP installation, etc....". You'll press "R" at this screen and eventually you'll be at an old school DOS-like prompt (it isn't DOS, but it looks like it). At the prompt, type del boot.ini and press Enter. This command erases your current boot.ini file. Then type bootcfg /rebuild and press Enter. This command scans your hard drive and rebuilds a basic standard boot.ini file based on your Windows installation. When it's done, type exit and press Enter, and remove the XP disc from the drive. Your Windows should load normally. If you have another method of editing the boot.ini file (like booting to a PE CD or something), a basic boot.ini for XP Home file looks like this:

Good luck! Keep us posted!

[dlb]
:-D

(NOTE: there's a space before the slash "/" in the "rebuild" command I posted above; if you don't include the space, the command won't work)

 

Hello,

many thanks. When I pressed R it took me to the screen where it showed C:windows. I typed del boot.ini and then it said No matching files were found. So i typed dir *.ini and i found that indeed the boot .ini file doesnt exist. What do i do next?

regards.

 

Hello Dlb,

i am sorry i had missed out on the space you specifically mentioned. Now when i have typed bootcfg /rebuild, it is asking me "add instalation to boot list? Yes, No, All.

If I select yes or all, then it is asking enter load identifier. What should I enter?
If I select no, then it is taking me back to the command prompt.

Please help.

Kind regards.

 

I read frm the net that the load identifier should be microsoft windows xp. When i pressed ener, it asked for Enter Load Options. Someone said in a different website to type /fastdetect there. What shud i do?

 

Dear dlb,

Many many thanks for your kind help and guidance. This is what I did:

i followed the instructions you provided and selected "microsoft Windows XP professional" as load identifier and did not enter anything for the 'enter load options'. I pressed Enter. It again took me back to c:\windows. here I typed EXIT and pressed enter.

It took me to a new screen where the load ientifier i just typed a few minutes back was showing. i selected that and then the system restarted and this time I could log on in the Normal mode. But one thing. Even now when I am trying to lookup the boot.ini file, i am not finding it. Hope I have been able to restore it in the proper fashion.

Thanks you very much for your kind patience and guidance.

Kind regards.

 

Hello,

I am sorry but the problem has recurred. When i followed the procedure I could successfully log in the normal mode. But then shortly after that the computer went for an automatic restart and then it came back to the old F8 screen. No matter how many times I wud try to log in using normal mode, the system just keeps rebooting.

can you pls help?

Kind regards.

 

hello,

I inserted the XP CD and booted from CD. And then pressed R (for repair). I dont have an administrator password. So, at C:\Windows, I typed bootcfg /rebuild. It asked for the load identifier. I typed Miscrosoft windows XP professional. Then it asked for Enter Load Option. I didnt know what to type so i left it blank and pressed enter.

Again the C:\windows prompt showed up. I typed exit. The system restarted and I could see the Losd identifier name on the screen. When I seleced that and pressed enter the system logged in perfectly.

THEN the trouble began again. Shortly after the startup the system on its own rebooted and again went back to the F8 screen. This time it just wont start up anymore, in any of the modes.

PLEASE HELP.

Kind regards.

 

Hmmm... so you got the PC to load up normally, but then after a restart it goes bad again? Hmmmm.... not cool. Go back to your recovery console and type attrib -s -h C:\boot.ini and press Enter. Then type del C:\boot.ini and press Enter. Then try the bootcfg /rebuild again, but when it asks for Load Identifier, type Windows XP Professional as you did before. For the OS Load Options, type /fastdetect /noexecute=optin with a space before "/noexecute=optin" and press Enter. Running the bootcfg can take a minute or two (or more), so a delay here is normal. When it's done, type fixboot and press Enter, and answer "Y" to the question "Are you sure you want to write a new boot sector?". This command will write a new boot sector to the hard drive and should remove any problems that may have been in the boot sector (like corrupt file system info or a possible virus). When you're all done, type exit and press Enter to restart the PC. When the PC loads in to Windows, immediately start running some antivirus/antimalware scans. Follow the steps in this guide to clean your PC; it's the world famous Major Geeks Guide to Malware Removal (also known as READ & RUN ME FIRST). Do NOT run SDFix.exe. Follow the steps in the guide precisely and you should be able to get the PC all cleaned up.
Good luck!!!

[dlb]

(NOTE: in the "attrib" command above, there is a space before each "-" and a space before "C:\boot.ini"; there's a space after "del" in that command)
:-D

 

hello dlb,

In the recovery console I got C:\Windows.
I typed the foll:
C:\Windows>attrib -s -h C:\boot.ini
the system responded : The parameter is not valid. Try /? for help.

When I tried to delete the boot file using del c:\boot.ini, the system responded "Access is denied".

regards.

 

hello,

I nevertheless carried out the rest of the procedures it took less than one sec for the c:\windows to appear after i pressed enter for the bootcfg \rebuild (so i guess the operation was NOT successful). I said YES to the write a new boot sector and the writing was successful.

Now when the system is restarting the first page shows me the names of the load identifiers that i have created since yesterday, including the one that i created just now. After selecting that i am taken to the next F8 screen where I am selecting normal startup. In that case again the system is restarting and the cyclical loop continues.

If i select the safe mode, then a long list of .sys files are shown before the screen freezes at mup.sys before going for an auto restart et al.

regards.