XP Pro keeps rebooting over and over and over...

[essayons]

Basically, I downloaded and ran a program from kazaaLite; it 'required' that I install it in Safe mode and then reboot. I have XP Pro with Norton Internet Security 2002 and up-to-date definitions for any viruses; when I rebooted the PC all it would do is start up until it was just short of the XP user menu, flash a white mouse cursor on the black background, and then reboot. It does this continuously; right before it reboots I can see that a small XP message flashes up on the screen, but it goes by so quickly I have no chance to see what it might say.
I cannot boot from the Windows CD - it does the exact same thing. I can't start the PC in Safe mode for the same reason. I run Norton Antivirus from the CD (it's all I am able to do) but it detects no viruses; I know it wouldn't detect the latest ones anyway, but it is one of the VERY few things I can do right now.

The only other thing I can do is to keep hitting ESC during reboot so it brings up the BIOS setup; this tells me that I failed to boot properly due to an incorrectly reported CPU speed. Now, I built this PC myself last year, and I installed a P4 2.4Ghz CPU, and this is what the BIOS is reporting, so that error message is erroneous; I don't know if I downloaded a virus that is causing this error to mess up my machine, or if I was just lucky enough to have my CPU go wacko on me after only a year. The timing of it all leads me to strongly believe that some kind of virus is involved, though. The only question is, since I cannot boot my PC to any state of readiness...what can I do about it?

Does this scenario sound familiar to anyone? If it does..... HELP!!!!!

Thanks -

Don

[Budfred]

Kazaa, in lite or full form, is a dangerous program and probably the cause. Installing in Safe Mode means that your antivirus was not running, so it could have installed an virus that is new enough to not be detected by the Norton AV CD. It may even be effecting you BIOS, in which case you are really out on a limb.

A couple of options:

1. Make a set of updated Norton AV floppy disks on a known good computer and write protect them, then use them to boot into your system. If you are using NTFS on your hard drive, you will need to check with Symantec about how to deal with that. Do a complete scan from there and fix the problem if possible.

2. Use the XP CD to boot into the Repair section if it will do so. I believe you get there by selecting Install, but then select Repair instead of Install. See if that can fix the problem.

Next - dump Kazaa and never go near it again.....

[essayons]

I agree it was a SEVERE lapse in good judgement to install anything in Safe mode, but I was in panic mode (I would like to think I would never be that stupid otherwise) - I was using (unnamed) tax software I had purchased legit, but the same ("Deluxe") version this year wouldn't do what it would do last year, and I needed that feature. Their website offered no option to buy an upgrade, so off to kazaa I went. Then, since my serial # for Deluxe was not recognized by Premier, I went back to get a crack, and the crack is what did me in. I will make some NAV boot disks on a safe PC and see if that does the trick; there is no way to get into Windows using the CD, including Repair mode. All that does is throw me into DOS mode, and I cannot cd to any directory except C:\Windows - I get an 'access denied' message if I try.
I'll keep this thread updated; at the very least it may keep someone else from being as stoopid as I was.

Thanks -

Don

[Galadriel]

there is no way to get into Windows using the CD, including Repair mode. All that does is throw me into DOS mode, and I cannot cd to any directory except C:\Windows - I get an 'access denied' message if I try.

That is not XP repair, that is recovery console and not what you need. You need to select to install XP, you will then have the option of formatting and installing fresh copy or repair existing installation. That is what you need to do. It basically is an overlap install on top of the other and should enable you to at least get back to Windows (It did for me on a few occasions).

I have to agree with Budfred, next step DUMP KAZAA! No one can say that enough...

Cheers,

Cat

[Budfred]

Of course, the XP Repair will only work if the problem is not malicious software attacking your system.....

[essayons]

OUTSTANDING!

Everything is back - thanks a WHOLE lot!!!!

Now for the virus def updates and the full system scan.

Don

[Budfred]

Great!!

Now I would urge you to run update security scans to try to get rid of whatever caused the problem in the first place..... And GET RID of KAZAA!

[essayons]

Get rid of kazaa?
Let me think about that. OK!!

[essayons]

Thanks again, one and all! Everything is back to normal (including having to initiate shutdown twice due to ZoneAlarm) - but I want to share an (to me) amusing irony of this experience.
Once I ran Repair and XP was installed, I had trouble getting an internet connection, specifically so I could get up-to-date again with NAV. Come to find out, once I got a list of XP upgrades from Microsoft - one of the patches I no longer had because of the Repair was a patch to fix a bug where, after running Repair, you could no longer open an internet connection. Apparently Microsoft felt compelled to write a bunch of code to fix that - even though, theoretically, the users having that problem would never be able to download the patch required to fix it. My solution was more basic - I kept jiggling my modem cable until the dang thing worked. It took several tries, but it worked. Does that make me as smart as Bill Gates?

Take care, everyone...and again, THANKS!!!

[Budfred]

"Everything is back to normal (including having to initiate shutdown twice due to ZoneAlarm)"

You may want to say more about this... This is not normal behavior for ZoneAlarm and could indicate some other underlying problem that will hit you later on...

[Galadriel]

Glad it worked!
But have to agree with Budfred again... I don't think Zone Alarm should cause you to shutdown. More trouble ahead...

You might want to DIUS (download - install - update - scan with) Spybot Search & Destroy fix the red entries it finds. The blue/green ones are usage tracks and optional (meaning it's your choice to keep 'em or not). Maybe that "version" of Kazaa left more than just itself hanging around...

Cheers,

Cat

edit - fixed url

[goober]

Budfred's right, you should dump Kaaza. I saw alot of people on this board suggest WinMix so I downloaded it. It works every bit as good, without all the hassle of Kaaza.

Uninstalling Kaaza is a pain in the ***!

[mjc]

want an easy way to kill Kazaa...

KazaaBegone

[essayons]

Regarding the issue with shutting down twice... what I mean by that is, I initiate PC shutdown the normal way (Start...Turn off Computer...Turn off) and all that seems to happen is that a few systray icons disappear. I have to initiate shutdown twice in order to actually shut down Windows. While I may have 'pointed a finger' at ZoneAlarm, I only did so because this began immediately after I installed it. I'll try Spybot and see what it comes up with.
And as far as WinMx is concerned, I gave up on that because about 95% of the time, a reportedly live connection turned out to be no good at all, and I had a loooong list of partial files I had downloaded that I could never seem to complete. At least with kazaa lite I was able to download the files I wanted quickly. And yes, I do see some kind of irony in what I just said.

Thanks again -

Don