Questions about reformatting XP

He can access safe mode options.

Initially, just some applications wouldn't run. Things like disk defrag, device manager, nero, malwarebytes (his antivirus) and command prompt would just ignore you. You'd click them and nothing would happen.
We were able to uninstall and reinstall malwarebytes and run it but the computer shut off half way through. We ended up running a scan until we detected something, stopped the scan, deleted the virus, scan again, repeat. We ended up running a full scan with nothing detected but things got worse.

In addition to the above problems Mozilla no longer worked right. It said it couldn't access the server or something. I looked at his network connections and he had no registered IP address, subnet, or any of that good stuff. Mozilla worked before we started scanning.

I figured some system files in the background were corrupted or still infected. I took the computer back to my house where we could access the internet. I found this program called Sysclean that was supposed to clean the files and ran it on his computer. It found a lot of viruses and spyware but was unable to clean all the files.

Once it was done I rebooted and now my friends user account isn't recognized. It wants me to log in as Kim (friends dad, likely the administrator) but I don't know the password and neither do they (it may have reset the password too for all I know). I tried booting from my system recovery disks which obviously failed. He can't find the recovery disks that came with the computer either.

How do I correct this? He has a HP Pavilion a610n. Beforehand he had said something about his dvd-rom not working properly. That may or may not be a symptom.

Thanks for your help.

This is the HP web site System Recovery page for that HP a610n PC model;
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bph07145&lc=en&dlc=&cc=us&lang=&rule=21882&product=425994

The section "Recovering during Startup" seems to give guidance on how to use a hidden recovery partition to reset the system back to factory default. All personal files, and software installed by the user, will be lost.

I can't be sure if your friend's PC has a hidden recovery partition or not. If it does, then you should be good to go.

The fact that you can get to the Safe Mode list of options may be significant though. Is it possible that the other Administrator's account has no password? Have you tried just pressing Enter when that password request displays?

Also, as that other account has been named Kim, then there should be a 'hidden' System Administrator account available. All XP systems come with a System Administrator account, to allow the user access, and then set up their own Admin account with a name of their choice. If Kim did that, then the System Administrator account should still be available. It hides itself except in the Safe Mode welcome screen.

Finally, again in the Safe Mode list of options, is the "Last known good configuration". Did you try that?

If all Safe Mode options fail, then the only recourse is that hidden recovery partition if there is one. If not, then HP can supply recovery disks for a small fee.

Good luck.

Mark

I tried repeatedly pressing F10 to activate the Recovery Menu but the Recovery Menu never appears.

I tried just pressing enter on the Admin account and on Kim and each time I got the message, "The system could not log you on. Make sure your user name and domain are correct, then type your password again. Letters in passwords must be typed using the correct case."

I booted into safe mode and tried accessing the Admin account and it would attempt to load the user settings but almost immediately started saving them and went back to the log on screen. Same with my friends account.

I tried the Last Known Good Configuration but my friends account did the load & save thing again and the admin account said, "Unable to log you on because of an account restriction."

I think I'm going to have to contact HP for those disks.

Thanks for your help! I appreciate it.

Try F11 in stead of F10.

Kees

Tried it. Led me to the BIOS. At startup it says that recovery menu is F10.

So the problem is why that doesn't work.

Kees

Just sharing what I'd do next. I'd boot with my NTPASSWD CD and clear the administrator password. I would make no other changes and try again.
Bob