Stuck, frozen, going nowhere... with "Preparing network connections..."

[Herring]

I have spent 3 nights looking at this one. I cleaned the machine by hooking the sick PC's HD to my PC via USB setup.

AVG found these :
"E:\0xf9.exe";"Trojan horse Downloader.Generic8.XXW";"Moved to Virus Vault"
"E:\Documents and Settings\Wes\Local Settings\Temp\tmp4CED.tmp.exe";"Trojan horse Agent2.EFT";"Moved to Virus Vault"
"E:\Documents and Settings\Wes\Local Settings\Temp\tmp4F50.tmp.exe";"Trojan horse Downloader.Generic8.ACOU";"Moved to Virus Vault"
"E:\Documents and Settings\Wes\Local Settings\Temp\tmp7755.tmp.exe";"Trojan horse Downloader.Generic8.ACOU";"Moved to Virus Vault"
"E:\Documents and Settings\Wes\Local Settings\Temp\tmp95A4.tmp.exe";"Trojan horse Downloader.Generic8.ACOU";"Moved to Virus Vault"
"E:\Documents and Settings\Wes\Local Settings\Temp\tmpA0A6.tmp.exe";"Trojan horse Downloader.Generic8.ACOU";"Moved to Virus Vault"
"E:\Documents and Settings\Wes\Local Settings\Temp\tmpC438.tmp.exe";"Trojan horse BHO.IJP";"Moved to Virus Vault"
"E:\WINDOWS\Nvitulaqocuba.dll";"Trojan horse Downloader.Generic8.ACOU";"Moved to Virus Vault"
"E:\WINDOWS\system32\config\systemprofile\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\0F4ZMHGV\album3[1].exe";"Trojan horse Agent2.AMC";"Moved to Virus Vault"

I also scanned with MalwareBytes and Super-Antispyware that came up with a couple of hits in the _Restore folder (I disabled System Restore afterwards when I managed to boot up, in Directory services restore mode, so they are now gone)

After running all these cleaners from my PC, I set the sick PC up and tried to boot. (I tried all the boot options and the only one that I could get to boot was Directory Services Restore mode). It goes through Starting Windows (which it didn't ) and on to Preparing Network Connections, after which there is about 20 seconds of HD activity and then nothing.

I disabled the onboard Ethernet via BIOS, and removed the modem to see if that would help; to no avail.

The one time I almost managed to get past the "preparing network connections.." dialogue I got the following.
"The system is shutting down... NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ... Message: The system process C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe has unexpectedly... code -1073741818 (something like that)"

It rebooted and then I was stuck with the preparing network connections message again.

I'm at a loss as to what to do next.

[fink]

Hi Herring...

Since the infections, now presuemably gone, probably aren't the issue... the issue being the damage they did..
I'll move this to another forum where others can assist.

What's the operating system? If it's XP I'd try either a recovery console/last known good config or an over the top repair install.

[Herring]

Thanks Fink - The OS is XP Home with SP3.

[Shinma]

Link/tutorial,

• How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install

[Shinma]

Sounds as if the system is running without any AntiVirus.

... "The system is shutting down... NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM ...
It rebooted and then I was stuck with the preparing network connections message again...

Link/article,

• Blaster

[Herring]

Thanks Shinma - I had been trying to avoid doing the repair reinstallation, but I did finally take that course. I then reinstalled SP3 and updates. Re-ran AVG, Malwarebytes, SuperAntispyware and downloaded and installed Spyware Blaster. I also installed Opera and suggested he use that instead of IE.