[Earl W]

I'm not sure whom to curse on this one -- HP, Microsoft...or myself.

I'm running Windows XP SP1 on a 2004 model HP Pavillion 3000. I have a bad DC jack that needs repair, so in the meantime I've been running the comp off the wall current. This morning, while shutting the system down, I accidentally unplugged the comp during shut-down, so it died immediately. The next time I start, I get a message box as its trying to load XP titled "User Environment: Windows cannot load the locally stored profile. Possible causes include security rights or a corrupt local profile. ... An I/O operation initiated by the registry failed unrecoverably. The registry could not read in, write out, or flush one of the files that contained the system's image of the registry."

It then tells me it'll load a "temporary" profile which basically logs me in as if I just installed XP on day one. One more error message then pops up while loading the temp profile: "RUNDLL: The specified module could not be found. C:\Program Files\Messenger\msgsc.dll "

Starting in safe mode doesn't change anything.

System Restore doesn't change anything. (I tried 2 restore points, one I generated, another automatic -- and both went through the process before telling me System Restore couldn't restore my system).

I created a second administrative account, which at least allows me to log in normally. The data on my hard-drive appears intact (though for some reason, in the new account, I can't access the desktop of my old account (which still appears as if it is a valid account option) -- it says "access denied" -- though I can access the Documents & Settings folder on the old account by going through C:\. I need to get at the desktop some way though -- I have data there too)

I'm also dealing with a (previous) Vundo.Trojan infection that I've been trying to sort though for the last 3 days (it evades all the anti-spyware...I WAS working on some instructions from another forum)

For some reason, all this sh*t is happening in the last 2 weeks...when the system has been clean and stable for 3 years.

I guess I'm wondering:

1. Is the old profile recoverable?
2. If not, are "pieces" of it recoverable such that I don't have to re-customize Windows, Outlook, Word, etc.
3. Is my system heading toward complete destruction? Or should I just suck it up and customize a new account? I have to take timed law school exams with my laptop in a month, and a sketchy/inoperable system during Administrative Law would just about cause me a nevrous breakdown but, being a starving student, I ain't got no money for a new box.

Thanks for any insights on this.

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If a profile is corrupt, the best thing to do is copy out all the data from it's appropriate folder on the hard drive under Documents and Settings, make a new profile and delete the old one.

[Neil Jones]

If a profile is corrupt, the best thing to do is copy out all the data from it's appropriate folder on the hard drive under Documents and Settings, make a new profile and delete the old one.