[leneal]

I cleaned infections from my pc (running XP sp3), and now I can't get it to boot up. If this is not the right forum, do please point me to the correct one.

Here is the sequence of events.

My teenage son downloaded what he thought was a safe patch to a game. As is our practice, he scanned it with AVG, Malwarebytes, and SUPERAntispyware before clicking on the downloaded file. All three said it was clean.

When he doubleclicked on the executable, ZoneAlarm asked if the patch could access the internet, and he allowed it. Suddenly the computer started doing strange things (he described it as screens flashing by), so he immediately powered the pc off, and came and got me.

I disconnected it from the network and tried rebooting. When it powered back up, it would almost immediately crash and reboot again. I would get a quick glimpse of a blue DOS-like screen, then it would disappear before I could get any of it and reboot. I powered the pc down, unplugged it from the power source, and waited a few minutes. On reboot, it performed the same way.

On this reboot, I got the "sorry for the inconvenience" screen, and selected the last safe configuration. It booted fine.

So I then ran Malewarebytes, and it found the following four problems (the first three trojans, the last a rootkit):

C:\documents and settings\[name]\local settings\temp\nxf.exe
C:\windows\system32\spool\prtprocs\w32x86\0000101f.tmp
C:windows\msa.exe
C:\windows\temp\000075e8.sys

I selected to fix them and answered yes to the prompt to reboot. On reboot, however, my pc hung on the Windows XP loading screen (the one with the moving blue bar). I waited 15 minutes, thinking that it might be Malewarebytes cleaning the system, but there was no indication that anything was happening (e.g., no hard drive noise). So I powered it down, let it cool, then rebooted again.

Now, when I reboot, nothing seems to do the trick. Here is how each option plays out:

"reboot normally" — loading screen, nothing happens (it's been going a good half hour now)
"last known configuration" — blue DOS-like screen flashes by and reboots
"boot in safe mode" — reboots
"safe mode with command prompt" — reboots
"safe mode with networking" — haven't tried

I'm uncertain what to do now. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

[leneal]

An update. By trial and error, I was able to boot up by using the "debugging option" under F8, although curiously no other options have worked. I'm running my malware programs again; so far everything appears to be clean. (Will continue to run them one by one to be certain.)

Despite getting in, however, my situation has not changed. I can't reboot properly, so I still need sage advice on what to do! (And whether I should post in a different forum.)

[leneal]

Just in case anyone comes across this post later, I was able to fix my problem. It took a while, but I was finally able to get a restore point from a day ago to stick, and my pc now boots okay. I'm now running every malware application I have before reconnecting to the internet. Fingers-crossed, it's clean and will work again tomorrow!

Thank you to everyone who took the time out to consider my problem.