Need help with logon problems

[srwike]

One of my Win2K systems suddenly developed this problem: I logon as always and it starts to load then just brings back the logon screen again. This is all it will do now. I've tried safe mode and repair to no effect. There's no error message when logging on and the password is correct. The logon user is administrator.
Is there a way around this without having to reinstall the OS again?

 

[Shift838]

it is possible you may have run out of free space on your system drive.

 

[srwike]

It lists 38% free space of a total of 19GB, so I don't think so.
I had a raid mirror of this drive over a year ago so I can it up as a slave to the old one, but I'm not sure what would need correcting.

 

[search66]

Do you think this could be virus related? This has characteristics of Blaster.

 

[srwike]

I thought of that, but unlike the Windows98 version of NAV, the one for Windows 2K doesn't have an emergency boot recovery set up (using NAV that came with System Works 2001). I currently set up the problem system drive as a slave to another drive. Is there a way to correct it in this configuration?

 

[search66]

Is this on a network? If so, can you access it with Dameware... or even ping it?

If it's on the network; you can do a remote scan.

 

[srwike]

I can ping it (what's Dameware?) but I can't access it from other network machines. It's not even listed as an available network machine.

 

[bguerra904]

It sounds alot like you may have been hacked. Many times hackers will change bin files so they log your user name and password. doing this causes odd things to happen.

Another option could be your profile. Have you tried loging in as another user?

 

[search66]

Well, download dameware (

http://www.dameware.com)

and see if you can access it.

But if you are getting an IP address but it's not fully on the network *and* you can't log in; you've got serious issues.

Can you log in locally? If so, try and release and renew the IP.

 

[srwike]

I have no other logons.
I can't log in locally. I will try Dameware and see if that helps.

Can the profile be replaced if the drive is setup as a slave? If so, where is the profile stored?

 

[search66]

I've never heard of anyone of changing the master and slave settings.

I guess you could go into the BIOS and change it.. no?

 

[srwike]

I have an old Windows 2000 setup on a drive I disconnected over a year ago (it use to be a raid mirror drive). I reconnected that one as master and set the problem drive up as a slave and I can boot that way. The trouble is the old drive is OLD - has many missing settings and apps and rather than reinstall everything again I thought there may be a way to tweak the profile or registry of the problem drive, that's now acting as a slave, so I can reinstall that as a master and keep all the recent stuff.

 

[search66]

Well, it wouldn't hurt to blow away the profile and see if that helps.

You may want to check the security settings under "manage" and make sure you have full control.

 

[srwike]

Where do I find the profile settings to do that (folder)?
I'm more familar with Windows98SE - I've recovered from several disasters on that system but Windows 2000 makes my head spin.

 

[search66]

C:\Documents and Settings
Don't nuke the "All Users" directory!

 

[srwike]

I'm not sure exactly what files I should be nuking.