cant get pass the login screen

I am currently fixing my friends computer. I used Hijack and took out something. However, now i cant seem to get pass the login screen for windows. I would be able to login, and it will load for a second, then i would get the login screen saying "saving…" and then it shows the login screen again. It does the same thing in safe mode. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a fix. The OS is in chinese too, so im basically trying to fix this through memory. =T

The OS is in chinese too, so im basically trying to fix this through memory.

I sure don't know how you would do that. What is the Keyboard layout like?

You may have a file structure corruption on that Hard Drive.

Do you have the XP CD? If so can you get to Recovery Console?
If you can…..

try running CheckDisk - chkdsk /r - enter
Then, still in Recovery Console run - fixboot - enter

Both of the above can be run from the Start - Run - Command line, but is more effective if running from the pre-windows environment available via Recovery Console.

Next:
Run the System File Checker

Boot Normally - Start - Run (type)sfc /scannow <——- notice the space between "c" and "/"
Have the Operating System CD handy in case there are missing or corrupt files that SFC needs to copy and replace.
__________________

I used Hijack and took out something.

HJT is a powerful tool. Not a good idea to be doing that, unless you know what the item is, what it's used for, and what the anticipated result of removing it will be.

You can always reverse that HJT action, if you kept track of where the HJT Backup is being stored.

Best of Luck

Thanks for your suggestion, but i still have no luck in logging in successfully. I tried the first 2 steps that you suggested but i still have the problem. The OS is in Chinese, but you can use a normal keyboard to type. Most of the text are in Chinese, but some are in English, so its still manageable. Though, at the moment I just can't login into windows normally. Everything boots up fine, its just when i type in the password and hit enter, it logs in then i quickly get kicked out back to the login screen. I also don't have a copy of the OS, he said he never received one when he purchased the computer.

Rebooting and rapidly tapping F8 should get you to the Master Boot Menu (or some such terminology) in that Menu, you should see SAFE Mode SAFE Mode with Networking Command Prompt only Last known good configuration System Recovery Normal Mode I suppose if I just wanted to get into Windows, I'd select "Last known good configuration" If that fails, you might try SAFE Mode, which will boot the machine with limited features, lower visual resolution, but full access to the basic machine, including files, data, media, that you may want to Recover/Save If this machine came "pre-loaded" with XP as an Operating System, but no XP disk, then there should be a Partitioned Drive D:\ that holds a backup copy of XP to use in Restoring the system. If you Select - System Recovery, you will likely see an option to Repair. Do Not select this first option to Repair, because it will most likely initiate a Reformat - Reinstall procedure. Instead, Select - Install Then in the Next screen you will see an "R" for Repair option. This 2nd Repair procedure will most likely allow you to do an "over-the-top" Repair Installation that will simply check the existing XP Operating System and repair/replace any corrupted system files. The above options "should" get you up and running. Please keep us posted with your progress and post back with any additional questions/comments. Best Regards

thanks dough for helping me out however, the methods u suggested still hasn't solved my problem. I'm still not able to login into windows. The problem occurs in both safe mode and normal mode. If i choose any of the boot option, the login screen comes up. I still can't get it to stop sending me back to the login screen after i log in.

If you attempt to log in to SAFE Mode, the "default" Administrative Account Password is "blank" on any computer, unless the owner/user actually entered a password. Try going to SAFE Mode, and Select the Administrator account. When it asks for a Password, simply press "Enter" without typing anything into the password box.

i did that, the thing is, it'll load…you see the desktop background..and then it shuts down, you see the blue windows logo screen saying "saving…" (in Chinese)..then im back on the login screen again. Does this on safe and normal mode. And it does that for all accounts.

Hi,
In a previous post you say :

"Everything boots up fine, its just when i type in the password and hit enter, it logs in then i quickly get kicked out back to the login screen."

It is perhaps a long shot but could it be that when you type in the password to log in you are not using the correct combination of upper case and lower case letters? or maybe the Caps lock key is operating/not operating and so giving the incorrect password format….Well I said it was a long shot!

Personally I wouldn't have a clue how the Chinese characters were to be interpreted so I do congratulate you on your courage in trying to help.

If this computer was brought in to us for repair then we would want to get the data, info/files settings, and any important stuff off as soon as possible and safely copied for future use.

If you go here:

http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.php?showtopic=74712

post 6 will provide some methods of getting the data off, however if you are experienced in using a parallel operating system then you could boot from for example a UBCD or another pre-installed environment Barts perhaps, or even use a Linux live cd to quickly copy the data over.

Once the data was safe then we would reformat and reinstall.

There are however a number of other steps you could take before formatting and reinstalling and I would be inclined to try and get the password issue addressed as the second step (after getting the data off)

When the original password was set it is usually a very sensible step to create the password recovery floppy disc and then to hide it somewhere safe! It might take some finding but it sure is worth a jolly good search around to try and locate it. (assuming one was made, of course.

If you type in "Password Recovery" in your favourite search engine it will give you some sites to follow up however the following offers a free password recovery service :
http://www.loginrecovery.com/
However you need to wait 48 hours for the result to come through.

The UBCD (Ultimate Boot Compact Disc) referred to earlier (which we use extensively in our workshop) carries the offline NT Password & Registry Editor that has a good reputation although as always if the EFS (Encrypted File System) has been used then it could be problematic

I hope this will give you something to go on whilst Dough and the others on this forum put on their "thinking caps" to help you with a good solution. In the meantime,
Good luck
Regards
paws

thanks for your suggestion. I've been able to login before without any problem. It only happen after i remove a line from HJT that linked to a file winsys62_89511.dll (something like that). The OS is in chinese, but inputs shouldn't matter. The administrator account doesn't have a password, so that wouldn't be the problem. Also before I removed something from HJT, i was able to login without any problems. Im pretty sure if i can just get HJT to run, and put back the file i took out, things would be fixed. Im hoping that reformating this computer would be my last option, as i mention before, i don't have the CD for it. And there isn't a partition on it for a recovery. Its a custom built computer.

Hi, If you think it was definitely a line you removed using HJT then it should be easy to put it back. When HJT is installed, it is put into a named directory/folder or it should be (it is most unwise to run it from a temp location.) When you ran HJT and "fixed" a line HJT will have kept a backup in the same directory/folder that HJT was run from. So just boot from a live Linux CD or UBCD as per previous post and restore the line from the backup that HJT made. Regards paws

I loaded UBCD and got into the linux. Now im stuck on how to access my hard drive. Im not that familiar with linux.

If i hooked up the harddrive to my laptop, would it be possible to restore a backup of HJT. Or will it write the backup file to my laptop.

Hi, I have set up one of my machines to try and simulate the problem and I am having trouble in fixing it to! If you hook up to another computer you will be able to find the folder that you put HJT in, there should be a log file and this may help jog your memory on what you fixed. If you can move the files to Root or somewhere accessible to Recovery Console you might be in luck, but I have never done this myself and certainly with Windows XP Chinese version, adds a completely different dimension. Try and get into Recovery Console by booting from a Windows XP installation disc or the 6 boot floppies you can download from Microsoft. Regards paws