Windows will not boot up except in safe mode

[funhousegroup]

The PC will not boot up normally. If you try it just gets to a C Prompt that reads C:\WINDOWS> . I can overide by goin into safemode. I tryed to boot from CD after setting the sequnce in the bios but I think the CD rom is shot. This all started happening after my friend got a trojan. Dont know which one.
Any Ideas, Thanks FH

[funhousegroup]

I was wondering how I could tell if maybe she was hit by a boot sector virus. I dont suppose I have had the occasion to deal with one yet. Is it possible for a virus to break out of the logical dos partition to cuase damage to the actual hard drive that can not be fixed?
FH

[Quantax]

One file you might check is the msdos.sys which is a hidden, read only type. It contains an entry called BootGUI and you'd want to make certain it has a value of 1. So it would then read BootGui=1(change to this if the value is 0).

[classicsoftware]

When did this happen?

Is this a new install?

Has the system been running poorly recently?

Have you recently installed new software?

Have you recently installed new software?

Please provide a whole lot more information.

[funhousegroup]

The computer belongs to a friend of mine who claims there have been no recent changes whatsoever(but you know how acurate that is).
I ran scandisk from dos since all I could get to was either safemode or C:\Windows prompt. It found no errors. I also went into selective startup in safemode and told it to just proccess autoexec and one or 2 more at the top of the list. Then before rebooting I shutdown and then went back into dos.. I searched for the cabs on the hard drive to reinstall but could not find them. I gave up and decided to reboot. To my suprise it booted up in normal mode. Then I disabled selective startup set it to normal and rebooted. Same thing. Started up in normal mode no problems. So it seemed that it was not a problem with any of the boot files or the physical drive. What the heck??
Also I installed a different CD rom drive cause I could not get to the cd rom from dos or windows. I still couldnt see the new one untill after I did the scandisk and messed around in DOS.

What the heck.
FH

[Paul Komski]

Scandisk probably rewrote the bootgui entry referred to by Quantax.

There was DOS and then there was Windows. Windows 3x, 9x and ME all sit on top of DOS in one way or another. When you boot up and arrive at a command prompt you have only reached the DOS platform. Entering win at that prompt will usually take you on into Windows (which is the GUI or Graphical User Interface). The bootgui entry (0=false 1=true) emulates and automates the second part of starting-up the Windows you know and (he he) love.

[funhousegroup]

Thats why I ask. If I am not learning than whats the point.

I appreciate your time guys,
I am glad the sucker is back running.