Vista Laptop loads but will not allow login

[Nach0]

Greetings my fellow Tech's

I come to you once again asking for help, I have a Vista laptop that refuses to allow logins to either account be it fro normal boot or safe mode.
There are no error messages that pop up, you simply click to login, it loads, the screen flashes black and it goes back to the login screen.

ONCE while in safe mode it displayed an error with logonui.exe memory address error.
RAM with memtest shows OK
HDD scan shows no bad sectors
booting off vista DVD -> command prompt
chkdsk shows ok
sfc shows a process is pending, reboot and try again
sec forced to OS after a long wait shows the same thing (reboot needed)

im not that experienced with Vista and there doesn't appear to be a repair install option like there is with XP
There are no restore points.

not sure what else to try

any help would be appreciated.
thankyou!

 

[FoolishTech]

Checked for malware?

 

[Nach0]

Yes sor, one of the first things i tried, took the HDD out and scanned on a known goos system, i know its not 100%, but *NOTHING* was found, customer says there was an update that had 'some error' so I'm thinking possible OS corruption issue, but without restore points or a specific file to address I'm flying blind.

 

[DSep]

Are you sure that you have the right password?

Try resetting the password using ERD Commander or some linux based hacking tool.

 

[Nach0]

Are you sure that you have the right password?

Try resetting the password using ERD Commander or some linux based hacking tool.

Yeah, this isn't a password error as both accounts don't have any passwords

 

[KM@ Dave]

Malware or not, Winlogon process could have been damaged by Malformed code that has been removed, could have been hooked to a process and removed by an update, for example; A Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool from Windows Update.

Anyway you can download or make a Vista repair disc from a working Vista install, or download an ISO online.

I recommend using SFC /SCANNOW via the repair disc, use shift+f10 in the repair menu to bring up a CMD Window.

Can you see the memory address error at all, and possibly post it?

 

[Nach0]

Anyway you can download or make a Vista repair disc from a working Vista install, or download an ISO online.

I recommend using SFC /SCANNOW via the repair disc, use shift+f10 in the repair menu to bring up a CMD Window.

So having a separate vista repair disc is different from booting a vista install DVD, and going into repair options having access to the CMD prompt there running the same scan? does the 'standard' install DVD lock the file system somehow that a specially build vista repair disc doesn't?
if there is a difference do you have any links on building a repair disk from an install dvd??

thankyou.

 

[KM@ Dave]

If it's a Retail, or purchased Vista OEM disc the repair menu is the same and you won't need to download one, on the other hand if it's an OEM from a provider such as Dell, Acer etc it won't have a repair menu.

So if it's a Retail Disc, or purchased OEM disc just go ahead and go to the repair menu and do sfc /scannow via the CMD Prompt.

Do you know the memory error at all? It might help me, help you, quicker.

 

[Nach0]

So if it's a Retail Disc, or purchased OEM disc just go ahead and go to the repair menu and do sfc /scannow via the CMD Prompt.

Do you know the memory error at all? It might help me, help you, quicker.

Well I'm back to square one, as the SFC /SCANNOW was the command i used that gave me the 'you need to reboot first' afterwards i tried the forced option with no luck.
as for the exact error, I'm afraid not, it only appeared once and does not show up any more.
thanks for the help everyone!

 

[ZenTree]

Check the winlogon registry key, it should be set to userinit. If there is another entry tagged on behind it, remove it.

If this still doesn't work then it normally means that your userinit is corrupted or been replaced by something bad, so look to replace that file.

This was very common in xp a while back, though the registry keys are the same in vista/7.

and because I'm feeling nice, my notes have the reg key as :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\


Let us know how you get on

 

[Nach0]

Check the winlogon registry key, it should be set to userinit. If there is another entry tagged on behind it, remove it.

If this still doesn't work then it normally means that your userinit is corrupted or been replaced by something bad, so look to replace that file.

This was very common in xp a while back, though the registry keys are the same in vista/7.

and because I'm feeling nice, my notes have the reg key as :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\


Let us know how you get on

Thank you, ill give this a try, but I'm about to call T.O.D, the amount of time spend trying get this sucker working.. aurgh.

 

[Jeffreynya]

as stated above: here is a bit more detail

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Userinit string value should be:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

On the damaged installations it's one of these:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\wsaupdater.exe,
C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,C:\WINDOWS\system32\wsaupdater.exe,

 

[Nach0]

So i fired up a B.A.R.T CD to access reg editing, im afraid that this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
string has this:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,
for the userinit key.

ok so out of the box, can i boot from a Windows 7 DVD and 'upgrade' the OS to possibly repair this issue or can 'in place upgrades' only be done from the booted OS?

Thanks everyone, hair torn out , seems I'm out of options.

 

[Nach0]

even booting off the B.A.R.T CD, the file checkers give errors, no apparent bad sectors, but something has seriously stuffed up the filesystem, so i don't think trying to 'upgrade' to 7 is going to help..

Im calling it.
Thankyou everyone for your help and suggestions, but i have spent too much time on this already.
I hate being those 'format and reinstall' at the drop of a hat tech, but corrupted filesystem, no restore points and no actual error that i can track down I'm out of ideas/time/patience

thanks again guys!

 

[ZenTree]

You're doing the right thing, I tend to get obsessed and waste too much time on things like this. The only thing that springs to mind is the userinit.exe file is not valid, i keep a copy from a clean machine on my usb drive to replace it if needs be but just get nuking the damn thing and then start gluing the torn out hair back into place!

Thanks for the update. Nothing worse than never hearing if it worked or not.

 

[Nach0]

You're doing the right thing, I tend to get obsessed and waste too much time on things like this. The only thing that springs to mind is the userinit.exe file is not valid, i keep a copy from a clean machine on my usb drive to replace it if needs be but just get nuking the damn thing and then start gluing the torn out hair back into place!

Thanks for the update. Nothing worse than never hearing if it worked or not.

i thought of that too, to i checked the CRC of the file and it matches another system, but every system file checker is saying the filesystem has errors but checking individual files shows ok,

yeah i like to report back, even on the miserable failures and thank those who have tried to help

 

[Tekguy]

That's totally understandable. The only thing worse than not figuring out the problem is spending too many hours trying to figure out the problem while other customers are waiting for your help.

 

[srdrgz11]

I'm sure you did a n&p by now but in your original post, you mentioned there was no repair insall in vista like there is in xp. I have done a repair install in vista once, that actually fixed whatever was wrong with the pc, which i dont remember know. Anyways, I followed the instructions on the folowing site. http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html