Windows 10 "Freeze" after PIN Sign In

[Mr.Mike]

Hi All:

A client's Acer TC-780 Series with a 7gen Corei5, 2TB Toshiba HDD desktop with Windows 10 Home "freezes", that is, throws up the background photo, does not populate with icons. The pointer appears, can be move with the mouse, but left clicking anywhere on the background or taskbar results in the small blue circle that rotates "forever". Right clicking calls up the display properties window, but does nothing. The only thing that shows up after 4 or 5 minutes is a request for Malwarebytes to update to an new version and if clicked, it disappears and again nothing happens except the blue circle remains spinning. With Ctrl-Alt-Del I can get the option to run task manager. Yet, when I click on it, the task manager will not load (goes back to background). I then went to safemode and ran troubleshooting and advanced options including:

1. Startup Repair - no changes.
2. Recovery Options - no changes.
3. Restore from earlier point in time - unsuccessful, restore points failed.

Then I slaved the drive and ran:

4. Chkdsk - no bad sectors
5. Sfc scannow /r /f /x - no changes

Factory reset is not an option the client wants to take. Maybe you DOS wizards out there have a solution.

I am about to suggest to the client that I copy their most important files to a thumb drive and deliver those and let them at least have that and use another computer to access them. When faced with that choice, he may agree to a Reset knowing he will have to purchase new software to

Your responses are very much appreciated.

Mike

 

[Moltuae]

If the problem does not exist in safe mode, I would use msconfig to find the cause by process of elimination.

 

[Porthos]

Then I slaved the drive and ran:

4. Chkdsk - no bad sectors
5. Sfc scannow /r /f /x - no changes

What about some actual diagnostics on the drive. Crystal disk info, gsmartcontrol?

Safe mode?

 

[Mr.Mike]

If the problem does not exist in safe mode, I would use msconfig to find the cause by process of elimination.

Thanks Moltuae, I did the recovery and startup repair attempts in safe mode. Sorry I didn't mention it but i could not get the computer to invoke msconfig by Win +R or search.

 

[Mr.Mike]

What about some actual diagnostics on the drive. Crystal disk info, gsmartcontrol?

Safe mode?

Hi Porthos: Yes, I have run EaseUS Surface test option. No errors. Will check out Crystal disk & gsmartcontrol.

 

[Moltuae]

Thanks Moltuae, I did the recovery and startup repair attempts in safe mode. Sorry I didn't mention it but i could not get the computer to invoke msconfig by Win +R or search.

So mscofig won't run in safe mode? What if you use the full path (usually C:\Windows\System32\msconfig.exe) or navigate to it (to check its actually there)?

 

[Mr.Mike]

Whhhaaaa? I navigated that path and it isn't there. (?) Never seen that before. Hmmmm.

 

[Moltuae]

Hmmm. You could copy the mscofig.exe file over from a working system. Sounds like that system could be badly messed up though.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Hmmm. You could copy the mscofig.exe file over from a working system. Sounds like that system could be badly messed up though.

Thanks for that Moltuae. I'll give it a shot. Agree that missing msconfig.exe is a real mess. Wonder what else is missing? Weird.

 

[Mr.Mike]

What about some actual diagnostics on the drive. Crystal disk info, gsmartcontrol?

Safe mode?

Thanks. Ran GSmartcontrol. No errors except: Number of Mechanical Start Failures: 6

 

[Mr.Mike]

Hmmm. You could copy the mscofig.exe file over from a working system. Sounds like that system could be badly messed up though.

Found the msconfig.exe file and just to be sure, replaced it with a good one. Same problem. Cannot run that or any other exe file.

 

[Moltuae]

I vaguely remember seeing that issue before, usually following a malware infection. If I remember correctly, the cause is a registry entry that gets changed by the malware. I'll see if I can find some info ...



EDIT: I believe this might be what I'm recalling ...

https://www.bitdefender.com/support...-files-open-with-other-applications-1900.html

Or ...
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/555067

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Did you check to see if the actual taskmgr executable is there?

Edit: Oh executables don't work? is that even a thing in windows 10? its been a long time since ive seen that. Try rkill

 

[symbatech]

May be a corrupted user profile. See if you can create a new user account in Safe Mode, then try to log in under that one. I've had that issue before and had to create a new account for the user and transfer all their files over.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I vaguely remember seeing that issue before, usually following a malware infection. If I remember correctly, the cause is a registry entry that gets changed by the malware. I'll see if I can find some info ...



EDIT: I believe this might be what I'm recalling ...

https://www.bitdefender.com/support...-files-open-with-other-applications-1900.html

Or ...
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/555067

Thanks again. I'll follow up on these links.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Did you check to see if the actual taskmgr executable is there?

Edit: Oh executables don't work? is that even a thing in windows 10? its been a long time since ive seen that. Try rkill

Well, Task Manager is there, but I can't run it from the frozen screen. Same issue. I'll try rkill. Haven't had to use it in a good long while.

 

[Mr.Mike]

May be a corrupted user profile. See if you can create a new user account in Safe Mode, then try to log in under that one. I've had that issue before and had to create a new account for the user and transfer all their files over.

Thank you symbatech. Great idea. I will follow up after the rkill run. Cheers.

 

[Mr.Mike]

So, none of the executables can run in the "frozen" environment of the slaved HHD. How do I get beyond that? Windows 10 safe mode doesn't give me a desktop screen to run exe's. I need software where I can choose to target the faulty drive and then run it for that drive. Am I missing something? I mean, I can boot it as an external HHD but can't get around the freeze.

If it is a corrupted user profile, I should be able to go into safe mode with command prompt and activate the administrator then create a new user profile. Will the "net user administrator /active:yes" string work with windows 10 Safe Mode command prompt?

 

[glennd]

Sounds like a hijacking or some other form of extensive corruption of Windows. I recommend you grab the latest version of Fabs Backup. Do the backup. Nuke and Pave. Fabs Restore. You haven't said what version of Windows but given the hardware spec I'll assume Win 10 in which case it can all be over in an hour or two.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I recommend you grab the latest version of Fabs Backup. Do the backup. Nuke and Pave. Fabs Restore.

Hi glennd, Yeah, it's 10. Possible that the MS update could be at fault as well. You're right N&P would be quick but a bit painful for the client. I've also used Fabs in the past and will probably do that in the end. I'm always trying to discover the reason issues like this are triggered first, just in case I stumble on to a workaround. Thanks mate!