Now what...
 

My wife was playing some game when some warning message came up and evidently it shut itself down. I wasent here so I dont know wtf happened.

All I know is that the toolbar was all foobar and most apps will not launch.

No problem I'll run a system restore.

"System restore is unable to protect your computer"

Sonofa...

Okay Ill start in safe mode !

Get to safe mode prompt.... system reboots gets to safe mode prompt... system reboots... you get the idea.

Ive done some searching on the system restore issue and found advice on how to 'correct' the issue including checking registry keys and everything looks in order. Yes I had it turned on.

This has got to be some flippin virus that slipped by mcaffee ... of course now I cant start any system accessories, let alone mcaffee.

Running a chkdsk from the command prompt now.

I'm stumped... oh yea nfi where the winders disk is. :oops:

Could this be it?

http://www.computerworld.com/s/artic...taxonomyId=125

Ya beat me to it Castout :yeah:

Definitely looks like something similiar - and the timing is highly suspect.

Using McCrappy av?

Hrm probably is but symptoms are a little different.Thanks Ill look into this.effin Mcaffee

http://vil.nai.com/vil/5958_false.htm


Workaround 2

If the false detection has deleted or quarantined svchost.exe on your system:

IMPORTANT: Ensure that you have applied the EXTRA.DAT to suppress the false positive detection before restoring svchost.exe.

Copy the svchost.exe from a working system

1. On a computer that is not affected by the issue, navigate to the location below:
   
   C:\WINDOWS\system32
2. Copy svchost.exe to a network location or removable media device.
3. On the affected system, copy svchost.exe to the location below:
   
   C:\WINDOWS\system32
4. Restart the affected computer.

All you need to try is to get an svchost.exe from another XP machine and copy it into the affected PC and if that worked then it was it. Of course after applying the extra.dat file first to prevent the AV from mistaking the svchost as a malware again(see the above link)


:DL

Biggest problem is he cant get to safe mode.

My suggestion would be command prompt only - do everything needed at the command line and that SHOULD get you going.

Since its XP - you also have the option of using an old boot floppy (if you stayed with FAT) or a cd.

Yes I saw that extra.dat thing.

Curious thing is I do not have the directory in my Mcaffee install that they tell you to put it in /Mcaffee/Engine does not exist.

In fact I cant find any effin .dat files anywhere

Oh and just to make things a little more challanging I cannot copy paste between devices anymore.

Cannot get to command prompt only in safe mode.

I was wondering if anyone could send me a certain sv file :salute:

I'm using 7 - or I would offer to. I have 3 machines handy - my 7 box (this one) - and 2 vista home premiums (YUCK!). I have an XP machine at work though - so if you haven't gotten it soon tell me the name of the file - pm me your email addy and I will email it in the morning when I get to the office.

Hmm, when i had XP on my old rig, i got similar symptoms, endless reboot, could not reboot into safe mode.
The only difference was that i, after a XP update, was advised to reboot system to have updates take effect, when this issue ocurred.
Had to do a complete re-install. :damn:
Prognosis: More than likely a dll file or such missing from a crucial Microsoft update.

I'm using Vista myself so I don't think I can be of any help to you.

Thats okay after working on the damn thing for 4 hours straight and making no progress whatsoever and absolutly exhausted I went to bed.

Here at work I grapped an XP disc and the svchost.exe file from a machine here.

I'm really hoping to not have to reformat the machine.

Only took me about 3 hours tonight but she is back on the air :haha:

All told almost 9 hours lost to this ... sigh...

Almost woulda been easier to just rebuild from scratch - and faster too.

Now what you asked in the OP - I should answered "Now you cuss like a sailor for a solid workday".

Glad its up!

3 Hours? So was it the AV that caused it?!

How did you solve it?