XP logon loop

[GBGUY]

My desktop with XP Home Ed SP2 is in a logon loop. I get the standard logon with user name, press enter, then, within 5 seconds it logs off and returns to the logon screen. Tried going safe mode, but cannot get past logon loop. Removed the disk and installed into disk enclosure to hook up via USB to another computer. Can now read the disk and remove user files. Was hoping to correct something on the disk, but do not know what to look for. Anything I might be able to fix? Can I disable the logon?
:confused:

[DavidRyan]

I don't know how this ranks on the probability ladder for this problem, but have you checked that explorer.exe (it should be about 1 Mb, mine is 1,008 Kb) is in the c:\windows\ directory?
If it is missing , it may have been renamed or moved. A repair from your Windows XP disk should fix that.
If it is there, you might want to try sfc /scannow . That will check the Windows protected files for errors and tell you if you need to repair them.

[GBGUY]

Thanks. No prob on my explorer.exe, which is also at 1,008KB. I followed up with a google search on sfc /scannow. It looks like a good tool, but appears to work only on the booted system (does ask for XP SP2 CD also...will not take no for an ans). How might I check my corrupted drive mounted in the enclosure and hooked up via USB as disk J: ? Ideas? Other utilities avail? Appreciate your time and help!

[DavidRyan]

Boot from your Windows XP CD/OEM Repair disk. You'll probably need it to repair anyway.

[goldeagle2005]

Use the Windows XP CD to boot into recovery console and run the chkdsk /r command on the Windows drive. If that doesn't work, try a dirty reinstall (that's to say, a repair install) and see if this helps.

[xcellpro6]

Hi

Seems like the windows SAM file is corrupt !!!!

Switch on the machine get the standard logon with user name. ......STOP...... Press CTRL ALT DELETE and do this TWICE. A window will appear with the current logon name delete this and type Administrator and press enter NOTE! (if you added a administrator password when you first installed XP add it to the Password box and enter)

The Administrator account should now load click on start and control panel then click on accounts and delete all previous accounts

Restart

your XP should load without prompting for account information

HTH

Darren
South Africa

[GBGUY]

ALT-CTRl-DEL has no effect on my computer when I'm at the logon window. Tried once, then twice. Tried replacing my own logon name with "administrator", but got an error message. Am able to read this disk when reading from a 2nd computer as a "J" drive via USB port. Would like to delete all logon accounts on this disk from the 2nd computer, but don't know what to change. Ideas?

[caperjack]

ALT-CTRl-DEL has no effect on my computer when I'm at the logon window. Tried once, then twice. Tried replacing my own logon name with "administrator", but got an error message. Am able to read this disk when reading from a 2nd computer as a "J" drive via USB port. Would like to delete all logon accounts on this disk from the 2nd computer, but don't know what to change. Ideas?

the alt+ctrl+del twice need to be done quick ,like a mouse double click

[chunkmartinez]

This happend to me once. I just ended up repairing my sys with my repair disc. (i reccomend it). This problem might persist with either: explorer.exe,logonui.exe,winlogon.exe, or possibly something with the registry.