This is getting frustrating

[ColdFusion]

Helping a friend out with her computer. Basically she started receiving notifications that her copy of windows was not genuine (she purchased the laptop in thailand ... go figure) ... and now when clicking on a user account the computer logs in (plays the sound), then immediately logs out back to the welcome screen. Funny enough though in safe mode the computer actually shuts down after 30s of being logged out.

I used to work for the geeksquad and have had this problem so many times ... simply loading barts offline reg editor and changing the userinit value back to C:\windows\system32\userinit.exe, sorts everything out.

Ran 6 virus scans against it (using GS MRI tool ... just like BARTS except with all the major virus scanners), major infection was TDSS but I was not able to find any .sys files ... only .tmp and no registry references to tdss so i think there was just some leftover files. Anyways I copied over a brand new userinit.exe from my computer and still no luck.

I used some methods to bypass WGA so there aren't any more notifications (could that cause the log in/log off?? I have never seen an unactivated version of windows cause this?)

What else ... system time if OK, nothing suspicious looking starting up, none of the adv boot options make any difference.

This is getting very frustration trying to stay positive haha? Anyone else have any ideas??

Thanks!!

[The Dude]

Tack drive out, slave in another PC, recover files. Put drive back, format and re-install windows. Assuming you have the install media that is. I'll only work on a PC for so long. If it's heavily infected or really messed up its usually easier and faster just to start over and not worry that you missed something. If there is no sticker with the product code on the laptop see if you can get it running long enough to run a utility to retrieve the product code. If its failing WGA though I'm not sure how much good that product code is to you.

[ColdFusion]

Well, I was just about to give up when I came across this:

http://thinkinginpixels.com/quick-fixes ... -off-loop/

You basically end up burning 2 CDs - 1 vista recovery, 1 tool he made

Used the extremely easy to follow instructions, let it run - rebooted, and we're back in windows!

Hope this helps someone else out!

[CableDude]

Thanks for updating us.