Problems When Logging Back In to User Account After Using "Switch User", XP Pro

Discussion in 'Software' started by Lapinne, Nov 15, 2010.

  1. Lapinne

    Lapinne Private E-2

    Coming up with a title to this problem was difficult.

    I'm certain I'll have probably put this in the wrong area of the forums, and if I did, I am quite sorry. I honestly don't know what my problem is, but I believe it's software or core Windows-related.

    As for the problem, I have XP Pro and a fairly old computer. I mention both only in case they are relevant. :)

    Typically, I leave my computer running most of the time. I have for years. My sister and I both have user accounts (though she rarely uses hers), and I'm very paranoid. So at night, before sleeping, I just "switch accounts" and let the computer stay on the user login screen until I wake. Upon which point I log in and carry on where I left off. This has never ever been a problem before. Until three days ago; and it's gotten progressively worse for some reason.

    A few days ago, I woke up and powered my monitor on, and the screen was black. The computer is old enough to lock up on rare occasions, but this looked more like the computer was trying to shut down or restart and just hadn't sorted itself out yet. I was confused, but not too alarmed. I let the computer sit for a long time (I think perhaps a couple of hours) before realizing it was not going to do anything.

    I tried running task manager (the only thing I ever know to do when something seems to be locked up), but of course, it did nothing. As I was probably not even logged in anywhere.

    Eventually, the only thing I could think to do was power down my computer manually (by pressing the button on the tower and all that). It did the trick. Starting the computer again and logging in went flawlessly, and I was able to use my computer all that day with zero incidents. That night, I switched accounts to the login screen as is usual and went to bed.

    When I woke up and powered my monitor up, everything looked normal. No black screen, which was excellent. However, upon typing in my password and logging in, I got a warning that ipoint.exe hadn't started (or initialized, or something similar). I'm fairly certain that's the program that controls my cursor and mouse activity (Intellipoint).

    Naturally, I couldn't use my mouse, but everything else appeared to be running properly at first. I tried navigating through things by keyboard (intending to try to get ipoint.exe running otherwise), but pressing the buttons I would normally press to do so did nothing. No amount of tab-ing, ctrl/alt/del-ing, or elsewise did anything at all.

    Reluctantly, I was eventually again forced to power down with the hardware. At this point, you may be thinking that I'd have come here to get help, but I honestly didn't think the two issues were related or all that major. I figured a couple of programs that usually don't run at the same time may have done so and just caused the first lock up and second program failure.

    Powering up the computer after the hard restart and logging in went perfectly well, as it did the first time, and I had no problems all day. As usual, I switched accounts when logging out that night.

    Then today happened. I woke up and turned the monitor on. Everything looked normal. I logged in and immediately had an error saying one of the pieces of my antivirus (Avira) hadn't initialized properly (I think it was avwsc, or something similar). This time, however, my mouse was working, so I was able to click OK and check my antivirus out. Which was still running and seemed to be doing so properly. Out of paranoia, I did restart it, in case it wasn't actually running in full.

    I then opened my browser (Firefox) from the start bar (it had been running overnight, of course), and it pulled up normally enough, but no text was visible anywhere. I had a Gmail tab opened, for instance, and I could see the colors and layout of my chosen theme, and even that I had three emails. However, no text for them was visible at all. The text was visible on most of the browser otherwise (that is, I could see my bookmarks toolbar almost in full, and the File, Edit, etc).

    As I usually do in odd situations, I went to run Task Manager to look things over. While I waited for it to start up (on occasion, it takes some time, so I thought nothing of it), I went to close Notepad which I'd also been running overnight, but I wanted to save it first. Naturally, there was no visible text (though the cursor indicated it was all still there). I tried saving it anyway, but it automatically suggested I save it to my Windows folder (very odd), and there was no text otherwise in the "save file as.." window (which otherwise looked normal).

    Then the error popped up saying taskmgr.exe had failed to initialize properly. Perfect. So I just closed out of Notepad, not caring too much about the text within, and closed down my browser. I figured I would log out and back in. Maybe cause whatever was failing to start up or something similar.

    Upon clicking the appropriate button in the start menu, the usual box to switch accounts or log out came up, but without text. I still clicked the log out button, since I'm familiar with the icon, and it logged me out quickly and easily enough. Except instead of taking me to my usual screen with the list of accounts and a background picture, I was given a window that just had my account name already typed in and was awaiting my password. Very odd.

    I decided I should restart, and there was an option on the window, so I clicked it. The screen did go black, and after a few minutes, another window error popped up saying update.exe had failed. However, after OK was clicked and a few more minutes had passed, the computer did restart and brought me back on with no visible problems (as seems to be the normal case).

    I did check out Windows Update to see if maybe there was some very recent update I hadn't gotten yet (since update.exe failed prior), but there was nothing new for me to download or install.

    I have to assume now that something is very wrong. Whether with some Windows component, some software conflict, or whatever else. It could very well have something to do with the "switch user" process. The only other odd thing I recall happening at all lately is that Avira has been needing updates far more regularly than usual. That is, it usually checks for updates daily, but it's informed me of product/software updates almost daily for about a week now. Which seemed odd, but otherwise inconsequential.

    I do run an antivirus scan nightly (which has never posed a problem before, nor does it ever find anything), and I usually go through this website's malware removal guide process monthly or slightly less often just out of that sense of paranoia I mentioned earlier (I'm usually pretty good with reading logs and such, or thought I was; I could be infected and ignorant).

    I know this is a long post and could annoy anyone otherwise willing to help, but I wanted to be as descriptive as possible. This problem is really ruining my usual routine, and the only solution I could think of would be to never let my computer run overnight. And while that would probably be a good idea anyway (energy and all that), I'd really rather just figure out what the problem is.

    Any help would be excellent, welcome, and potentially used as a stepping stone for idle, albeit ferocious, idolization.
     
  2. Caliban

    Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

    Greetings, Lapinne.

    I just wanted to be the first in line for some of that 'ferocious idolization'. ;)

    Frankly, I've had bad experiences with XP's 'switch user' protocol - it's been my experience that it's a problem waiting to happen.

    Until I (and others) can wade through your symptoms, you might consider some consolidation: copy/transfer any important data to a central location, and trim your user accounts until you are left with the bare minimum (one Admin, one Guest). Then see if your issues persist (what I'm aiming at here is the possibility of corrupt user profiles - a common occurrence).

    Hang in there, be patient, and welcome to MG! :major
     
  3. Lapinne

    Lapinne Private E-2

    The problem only seems to occur when the computer is left on the screen you use to login to user accounts overnight (I can switch user and switch right back with no problem), so I'm not sure I'd be able to test your solution so easily anyway.

    Also, I only have two user accounts to begin with: mine, which is the admin account, and my sister's (which is a limited one). However, you would absolutely know better than I would (see, idolization), so perhaps one of the two accounts did somehow become corrupted in the last few days. I'm incredibly reluctant to destroy and attempt to rebuild my own admin account, as I've changed it gradually to my liking over the span of literal years. :(

    However, if you honestly think it will be the solution, I will find some way to talk myself into following your clearly unquestionable suggestion. ;) Unless you think there is a chance of some other solution and are willing to let me wait until then if I ask you very, very nicely. Haha.

    I am not known for my patience, but the computer works rather normally when I haven't just stumbled out of bed and try to log in, so I'm capable of waiting indefinitely if I put up with the hard restarts until someone comes up with something. That being said, is there any chance I could keep my account until there is no other option, please and thank you?
     
  4. Caliban

    Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

    By all means, keep things in your comfort zone - the accounts thing was basically a shot in the dark.

    Usually, if issues occur spontaneously, something happened in the background. Is the machine set for Automatic Updates? The possibility exists that something was downloaded and installed which led to the problems. Check your Windows Update for anything that may have been installed at or near the time you first started noticing the symptoms.

    I'm not familiar with Avira, but its change in behavior might be something that needs exploring. One thing you might try is disconnecting from the internet, disable Avira, and see if you can reproduce your symptoms.
     
  5. Lapinne

    Lapinne Private E-2

    You're my favorite.

    I do not have the machine set to Automatic Updates; I just check the site regularly to make sure I need none. As far as I know, I really had my bases covered. I'm rather surprised the problem started up at all, truthfully.

    I do control (as far as I'm aware) the things that install or update on the computer, so aside from the odd Avira product update issue, nothing has really gone on in the last few days (or beyond that, probably). I will try disabling Avira before switching users tonight (since I will need the computer in the meantime). We'll see if that keeps errors from occurring.

    Any other suggestions before then will be read promptly and create a one-way cemented bond between myself and the suggesting party with or without their prior permission, so thank you in advance and all that.
     
  6. Lapinne

    Lapinne Private E-2

    I know we are not supposed to double post (because it comes across as bumping, which hurts us), but I have an honest question.

    Avira just informed me that there is a new product update available, to please install it. It is certainly possible Avira has just updated its program several times in the past week or two, but now it's starting to worry me with the new problems occurring.

    Should I not install the new product update or would that be foolish considering it's my antivirus software?
     
  7. Lapinne

    Lapinne Private E-2

    I'm not sure if I should post the results of disabling Avira or wait for someone to say something in reply. However, I figure if anyone is working on this problem, they need the new information. As usual, I'm sorry (and a bit embarrassed) if I should have just made note of the attempt privately and then mentioned it when I got my next reply.

    Disabling Avira didn't seem to make any difference at all. Upon powering on my monitor today, everything initially looked normal. However, hovering over anything clickable caused it to turn into a white box (though the cursor still changed to a hand icon, so the clickable items were still there, naturally). I just clicked on my user account name and typed in my password, and it let me into the account despite the odd issue.

    Once there, I had the text problem again. That is, I couldn't see the text in open Notepad windows, on the menu/status bar of Firefox, etc. I went to save the Notepad documents, and as it did last time, it initially directed me to save it to my Windows folder. [In case that doesn't make any sense to anyone, when I go to save something, it usually suggests I save it to the last location I saved to or the last place I accessed the file from, if it isn't new; it's instantly starting at the Windows folder, however, as if it was the last place I saved to or accessed from.]

    In either case, I was able to navigate to the Desktop folder by knowing it's the second button on the left and saved both Notepad files without any other problems. I also closed out of Firefox, the only other thing open, and then tried opening one of the Notepad documents again. Just out of curiosity. The text was visible, so I initially thought the problem had worked itself out.

    I tried opening Firefox again (to report the latest issue and check for any replies), when I got this error message:

    firefox.exe - Bad Image
    The application or DLL C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\xul.dll is not a valid Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette.

    I clicked OK, and tried Task Manager (it's like a habit, I think), and got the more generic "failed to initialize properly" error I'd been receiving. Though it may be relevant to point out that it didn't actually say taskmgr.exe anywhere in the box (could have still been the text issue in play).

    As is usual, I restarted my computer and now everything seems to be fine. For the moment. I have no idea what this problem could be at all. Is it Avira? Firefox? Am I missing something in the Windows folder that only tries to start when I've switched users for awhile or just after several hours of the computer being on?

    By the way, I do have my OS installation disk. If that makes any difference. And I never updated Avira; I won't until I get further direction. Way too paranoid. Haha.
     

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