[Razxr]

I have researched this problem on several tech help sites, including this one. This seems to be common problem, but there does not seem to be a fix other than a clean reinstall. In my case, I know what caused the problem and maybe there is a fix without formating.

Using Shareaza, I searched for 2 albums: 'Hip-Hop Tribute to Metallica' & 'The Blackest Album' and both resulted in.zip files containing 1 file, 'Setup.exe'. I was not sure if this is how an entire album would be packaged & was obviously suspicious. I extracted the file & scanned for virus/malware, but none were found. I attempted to run the 'Setup.exe' file, but nothing appeared to happen.

The system seemed fine, except Firefox would no longer open, but Internet Explorer & Seamonkey browsers worked fine so I just restarted Windows. The system booted as normal, the Windows loading screen was displayed and my custom animated splash screen was normal. But instead of going to the Welcome screen, a black screen is displayed with my mouse cursor. i can move the mouse cursor around the screen, but there is no response from keyboard with any key combinations.

I have rebooted, pressed f5 & tried every mode with the same results. The exception is that the mode I am in is also displayed on the black screen.

I have a Windows XP Pro SP2 installation CD, so I started Recovery Console & performed chkdsk /r, replaced boot.ini using bootcfg /rebuild, fixboot & fixmbr.

I have also repaired the installation with the same results. Except now when it gets to the black screen, I get a series of application error messages indicating lsass.exe & services.exe failed to load. This is probably due to the repair operation replacing those files or something as the system was SP3 and installation CD is only SP2.

Anyway, I was hoping that because I know what caused the problem (running the suspicious file downloaded from Shareaza), maybe one of you geeks could investigate & come up with a solution. In the meantime, I may do a parallel installation so that I can at least access files that I need.

FYI: Windows XP SP3; no floppy drive; no CD/DVD burner on the affected system

----- ----- -----
Update: I have since done a parallel installation and it does not seem to be affected by whatever the malware did to the other Windows installation. -- Razxr

Edited by Razxr, 06 July 2009 - 08:18 AM.