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I am trying to troubleshoot a PC for a friend but can't get the unit to stay booted long enough to load any diagnostics.

I get several messages when it is booting but the main one that seems to cause an automatic shutdown is this:

The unit subsequently does a timed auto shutdown. The time from startup to shutdown varies.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/189618

 

Yukon,

Thanks. All I need now is to know how to keep the thing from getting an RPC call to shut down the unit before I can take any action. Would starting the unit in safe mode take care of that problem?

 

Hi Jim,

I am pretty sure that is spyware (blaster worm variants, maybe). Try the steps below to keep it from shutting down and run the scans in the Malware section.

Just a little more info, http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00035757

Steve

 

The thing has "Brave Sentry" and I have been able, through msconfig, to keep it from starting. Once I did that I was able to get to the control panel long enough to uninstall it. Since then, however, I have not been able to get to the services in time to start the RPC Locator which is stopped. The RPC service is started.

The other thing that I tried was to start th thing in safe mode but it never started at all so I hit the power button and it said that the pc was locked and only user "clara", or an administrator, could unlock it. My friend is not named Clara and I don't know where she got this thing. Hopefully, she can call Clara and find out the password. Otherwise, she may as well have gotten this clown show from Clarabelle.

It seems as though the shutdown has speeded up as it now nstarts shutting down before I can get the statr on the taskbar to come up.

 

I don't think just removing Brave Sentry in the control panel is going to help that much. The removal procedure is listed here, http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=88420

I am not sure what to do at this point. I don't think you will be able to remove everything (probably more) on your own. I would start a thread in the Malware section http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35

Steve

 

Well, I managed to eventually get into this thing and I was able to turn off much of the stuff that was clogging up the boot time. I am now at the point where I have downloaded the smitrem file and opened it but I am not able to boot the computer in safe mode. It just goes nto a black screen with the usual safe mode in each corner of the screen.

Unfortunately, I do not know any passwords for the admin on this thing and have tried the usual -- admin, administrator -- to no avail. Unless I can get into safe mode this exercise is moot.Is there any way that I can fake my way into safe mode? Could I set up another user account and use that to get into safe mode?

This is becoming an exercise in futility and I have been through the boot process at least fifty times. It gets more frustrating every time.

 

This thing certainly must be a little smarter than people seem to be giving it credit. I am now locked out of the user accounts and am unable to access them whatsoever either through Control Panel admistrative services nor through User Accounts. I am unable to start the unit in safe mode so I am unable to open smitrem as instructed. It is as though the program is learning as I make attempts to circumvent it.

Can I try smitrem without going in to safe mode or will all efforts fail due to that one failure?

On top of everything else, boots, of which there have been mant, take about five minutes and even the simplest command, such as a right click on an icon, takes between one ans two minutes to execute. Those are real minutes, not just perceived minutes.

This is all compounded by the fact that the desktop is nearly obliterated by the "Active Desktop Recovery" and I am unable to move icons on the desktop to where I can see them.

When I try to call up the Administrative Tools I get a message "Snap-in failed to initialize" which is a new message that I have never seen before. Is that part of the virus as well?

 

Well, it looks like I have had it. I tried going into msconfig and using the boot.ini to go into safe mode and it locked me out completely. I was able to initiate msconfig through the taskmgr to get back out of the loop but there appears to be no way to achieve the goal when all one gets for their effort is a black screen with "safe mode" in the corners.

Thanks for the help. I am going to recommend that my friend simply reformat this POS and turn it into a scratch drive.