Can't login to Windows XP home

[captainbaldo]

I'm working on a friend's computer. Its a brand I've never heard of before, but here are the specs:

V2 Premier
Pentium 4 2.66GHz
512MB RAM
120GB 7200rpm WD Hard Drive
SIS Pro 64MB integrated video
LG DVD-RW drive
DVD-rom drive
PRO-Gear 9-1 Media reader
56k v.90 modem
TV Tuner card
Integrated Audio
ECS L4S5MG3 motherboard

My friend tells me that what happened was he had a virus warning pop up on his McAfee that instructed him to do a full scan. He did and there were several infected files, which he quarantined. He couldn't quarantine them all though so he told McAfee just to delete the rest. He said he has no idea what the files are.

Once he restarted the system, it goes to a windows login screen (as if he were on a network) and if he logs in (the password is blank) it appears as if it is logging in and you see his cursor and his desktop background, but then it logs right back off and goes back to the login screen. He apparently went through a bunch of steps with their tech support on the phone but to no avail. They suggested he run their restoration disk and start over, but he really doesn't want to do that yet if there's a way around it, as he doesn't have a backup.

So, here are the problems I'm having or were having troubleshooting this:
1.) I can't get into safe mode. It just loads and loads and loads
2.) Last known good configuration doesn't work
3.) The company he got this computer from did not include a Windows disk, only a restoration floppy disk and some driver disks. NONE of the driver disks has any Windows files. I told him to call the company and get some disks, but thats still a few days off if they do send them to him. I have a Windows XP Pro disc, but I wasn't sure if I use it for a repair install of Windows XP Home or not
4.) Just to see, I tried the repair installation I mentioned in #3 with my XP Pro disc, and it doesn't give me the option...just says another version of Windows is installed on this volume blah blah blah

If it comes down to it I can yank the hard drive out and backup the files to my system and reload his system with either that floppy of his or get a copy of Windows XP Home from somebody just to fix his system. But, do any of you have any other ideas or have you even heard of anything like this?

 

[Elvandil]

If you can't do a repair installation in order to get into Windows, then it seems that restoring a saved copy of the registry may be the only way if his restore disks are going to wipe everything.

How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP from Starting

 

[mobo]

Another way would be to get a set of partition magic rescue disks ( flloppys created form cd) boot up and make another partition, then install xp on it and use windows explorer to retrieve those nessecary files..

 

[Bob Cerelli]

If you know someone with a copy of XP Home you could use that (with your product ID) to try a system restore.

Otherwise your original idea of just taking the hard drive out and backing up to your system is likely the only way to go.

 

[Whiteskin]

Be sure to see if you can get his product id though, when you do back it up, unless he has the install disks. Otherwise he will be soon investing in another copy of WinXP.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

I always thought you would want to use your own product ID when either installing or repairing XP.

 

[Whiteskin]

Its his friends computer.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

Sorry for the lack of clarification. Mean to say get copy of XP Home but use your your friend's product ID. Not the one from the borrowed copy. His XP Pro ID would certainly not have worked at all.

 

[captainbaldo]

Well, got it fixed. Not the way I would have liked, but got it fixed.

He needed it back as soon as possible so I ended up backing up all his files to my computer and wiping it out and starting over. Turns out his Windows XP "disk" was a Norton Ghost image on his hard drive and thats what his restore floppy was for. However, I tried using the floppy after I backed everything up and it said it had a corrupted Image file, so I still ended up having to borrow a Windows XP disc and installing from that.

The main thing my friend was worried about losing was his emails and email addresses, and I was able to back all of those up, so I guess it all worked out okay.

Thanks for all your help