Unable to Log On to Windows 7 (rpc failure)

When I returned home from work yesterday, I booted up my computer and attempted to log in. It hung up on the welcome screen for a bit, then gave me an error message "The Remote Procedure Call failed.". Subsequent attempts gave me the error "The RPC server is unavailable.".

Safe Mode gave me the same error. I tried running the Windows Repair, but it found no problems. I tried using System restore, but every restore point I used gave me the same error. I'm able to use my Windows 7 dvd to get to the command prompt, but not sure what I can do to fix it from there.

Is there any way to fix this problem without reinstalling my OS?

 

At the command prompt using your DVD, type the following. Does it solve the problem?

net start RpcSs <enter>
exit <enter>
close the command prompt. Restart.

 

I tried that, said the service was already running. Restarted, still have the problem.

 

When you tried the System Restore, did it complete and then give the RPC error or was System Restore not able to start because of the RPC error?

 

It completed, then gave the error after restart.

 

You are not able to access a desktop, correct?

If you go to a command prompt. Type C: <enter>

If you type msconfig <enter>, does the utility open? If not try typing

start msconfig <enter>

Under the General tab select Normal Startup if it is not selected.

Can you log on now?

 

No, I can not get to the desktop.

I tried running MSConfig, but it says I need to run it as an administrator. How do I do that from the command line?

 

I would have thought that booting from the DVD would let you run cmd as administrator. At the command prompt type

net user <enter>

You should see an account named Administrator

type net user Administrator <enter>

Does this work?

 

net user showed an Administrator account.

net user Administrator gave me all the details of the accout, but did not let me run MSConfig.

 

I am not sure if this will work. I think it has something to do with the set command. What if you type the following

At C:\> type
CD Windows\System32\ <enter>
then type
msconfig.exe <enter>

Does that work?

 

Nope. I actually I had to go there to even try to run MSConfig.

 

When you ran net user and it listed the accounts on the computer did it list any accounts with admin privileges? Does the account with admin privileges have a password and do you know the name of the computer? On my laptop the computer name is "laptop" If you do not know it you can get it at the command prompt by typing....

echo %computername%

I am kind of shooting in the dark now. I thought the runas command could work but I could not get past the request for a password even though I do not have a password set for administrator. This may be because the administrator account is disabled in Windows 7. It will also not work if the password for the admin account is blank.

You may have to do a repair install which will let you keep your files and programs if you have the install DVD.

 

It only listed Administrator and Guest; didn't have any of the regular user accounts. The default admin account has no password, and I do know the name of the computer.

How would I go about doing a repair install?

 

Can you go into Safe Mode with command prompt?

Edit: when you pressed F8 for safe mode, did you try Last Known Good Configuration?

 

Yes. Safe Mode with Command Prompt still requires me to login, so that didn't work. Last known configuration gave me the same error as well.

 

Sorry, I was thinking about XP for the repair install. Windows 7 can be repaired but it has to be done within windows which kind of defeats the purpose.

You said the default admin name did not have a password. Do you mean the account named "Administrator"?

 

Yes, the Administrator account did not have a password.

 

Okay,
First we will give Administrator a password and then we will enable the Administrator account.

Type:
net user Administrator<space>*

You will be prompted for a password then to retype it.

Then to enable the Administrator Account type:

Net user administrator /active:yes

Then at the C:\ prompt type the following

runas<space>/user:<computername>\administrator<space>"%windir%\system32\msconfig.exe" (quotes required)

Does msconfig start?

 

Unable to run c:\windows\system32\msconfig.exe
"The specified service does not exist as an installed service."

 

The only other option I see is to manually copy the system hive from the system restore folder to the config folder (if you have the restore points). But the only way to do this easily is to use something like Puppy linux to do it offline and I am not sure this would work as you have said System Restore did run. If you have to do a new install, you can use the Puppy CD to copy any files you need to an external drive. Other than that I have run out of ideas. Hopefully somebody here can give their thoughts on this. Sorry I was not able to solve your problem.

I am not sure if this is malware related. You could download Dr Web Live CD. Burn the iso and then run it. It may or may not find anything.

 

Burned the Dr Web to a cd, but it's not letting me access the cdrom drive from cmd.

 

It does not need to have cmd access. You need to burn the iso file with Imgburn. Then boot the computer with the CD. It will automatically load.

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=61

 

Tried booting with the cd; went straight to windows login.

 

You will have to check your BIOS and make sure that the CD/DVD drive is set to boot first.

 

I did. It will briefly say Boot from cd, then go into Windows

 

If you have a USB port, you can boot the iso from a flash drive. Download Unetbootin. Launch it in a admin account. Check Disk Image, select iso in the drop down box and browse to where it is located. For Type make sure USB is selected in the dropdown box and the make sure the drive letter corresponds to your flash drive (you do not want to install to your hard drive) Then press okay. The flash drive must be formatted to Fat32. You can do that with this utility.

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

 

I just went ahead and reformatted. Thanks for trying to help, though, I appreciate it.

 

Thank you for the feedback.