Do I have a virus? XP login issue

[blitzman1]

OK, so I have a problem I cannot solve. Here is the turn of events:

* I have Windows XP SP2, Norton Antivirus 2005.
* I accidentally ...im so ashamed... opened up a file that I believe may have contained a virus. Norton did not catch the executable, nor warn me of an impending problem, so the thought that this executable contained a virus is theory.
* The executable did nothing noticable.
* When I restarted my computer, however, XP took a bit longer than normal to boot. When it did come up, the desktop wallpaper showed, but no icons. I could not Ctrl-Alt-Del either. Then, after about 1 minute, I was reverted back to the XP login screen. When I clicked on my account to see if it would log me in, it tried to load my settings, and I was quickly (less than half a second) forced back to the login screen.
* Any attempts to reboot after this were met with the same issue.
* Windows safe mode showed the same results. No ability to gain control of the desktop.
* At this point, I could not execute System Restore, so I got out my trusty XP disk and did a Windows repair.
* The windows repair worked! I was able to access all my files, and everything seemed normal, UNTIL...
* I reboot the system. Once XP comes back up after the second reboot, the same problem detailed above applies.
* I've tried rebuilding XP then running a full system scan to find no inherent virus. I cannot upgrade to SP2 due to the system requiring a reboot to complete.

I know thats long-winded, but I'm at the end of my rope. I'm about to go through a complete data migration and full re-install if I can't figure something out soon. Any ideas??

Thank you much -
Russell

[lostplanet]

you may have a virus, so i would try one of the following programs if you can get into windows at all.
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/
if you cant network, beg borrow or steal a USB pen drive with 10 MB free spaces and save/install AVG from there.I THINK you can run AVG without a restart.
it shouldn't need updating if you DL the latest version.
if you can network you can also try:
http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com/cons...all_launch.php
and
http://www.pandasoftware.com/actives..._principal.htm

and loads of cleaners here as well if you find its blaster worm or sommin:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads29.html

once you get sorted, personally i would dump norton and stick with AVG as its free and free updates
if you must have a norton product try getting NAV 2003 as its less bloated than the newer versions.

And Welcome to the forum

[8raker]

Do you have the lastest update for Norton? I suggest using Win-Repair or whatever you did before and then access norton, then do a quarantine search. If it finds anything delete it.


8raker

[blitzman1]

Hey thank you for the great links! I am going to go home tonight and re-repair XP and try everything out. I will let you know if anything surfaces.

As for the latest Norton update, I fortunately had it - dated I believe from Dec. 14th or something. Anyhow, if it does turn out to be a virus, I would be disappointed if Norton couldn't find it.

Thank you thank you for the quick response.

Russell