PC will not go past windows 2000 splash screen

[T_Dogg21]

i have a user who i suspect has the blaster worm, however, his machine will not go past the splash screen. it did start one time, but he then tried to restart and it hasn't come back up. any ideas on how to fix this?

[Telexen]

the blaster worm won't cause Windows to not boot...have you tried booting to safe mode?

[zskillz]

it's not the blaster virus...

it's a virus called stealtherB

go to symantec and download teh killer for that....

see if that helps

[MitaDC]

Has he changed mobo's recently? If he has he needs to reinstall windows over the previous version. have fun

[T_Dogg21]

i've tried booting in every safe mode and last known good and every other option. none of that got through the splash screen

he didn't change anything. he doesn't have the rights to be able to change anything on his machine.

if it is that virus you mentioned, how do i run the fix if i can't get it to boot?

thanks for the suggestions.

[ova_clocka]

If you know its a virus!

A simple way to clean it is to pull the C drive from the infected machine, and place it a known good machine as a slave. Have the virus scanner (with the updates) go over the infected HDD, and clean it. Replace the HDD and boot into safe mode. Then do your maintenance.

Works for me.

This will only work if there is a virus keeping this machine from booting

[T_Dogg21]

the problem is i don't know it's a virus. and with 300 machines to take care of, i just don't have time to do that if it's not a virus. if i have to that's what i'll do, but i'd like to have a better idea of what it is first.

[ova_clocka]

How long you got...

Pull the HDD anyway and try booting from a different machine...THat'll at least tell you if its a hardware (the rest of the system) or a software problem (or isolated to that HDD)

Do you have a generic system for just such an emergency to replace that one while you work on it?

[T_Dogg21]

well, i have as much time as i need, but the longer i spend on one user, that means less time for my other users. and right now i busy making sure the worm is contained within my building and is not spreading to other buildings in our corporation.

this user is on a cad workstation and no i do not have a loaner for him.

i know it has to be software. it's just not acting like a hardware problem.

any ideas will be greatly appreciated

[ova_clocka]

The only software problems i have logged on this end with win2k "freezing" on startup are:

1. Misc. Viruses (of course)
2. Improper dismount of OS

With the improper dismount, we experienced automatic reboots during the OS mounting. Then an extended mounting of the OS "seemed to freeze". Then the boot options appeared. Tech was then able to boot into safe mode...