Thomas;
this may be a long shot, but I have encountered a similar
problem on a couple of XP machines recently.
 Both were caused by ad-aware removing the malware "Blazefind"
the computers would start to log on and then immediately log off
info here:
http://www.lavasofthelp.com/articles/v6/04/06/0901.html
also a google search for "xp log on log off + blazefind"
will give more information.
I could however boot from the xp disk and did a repair install
and then did the registry fix mentioned in the Lavasoft article.
which fixed the problem in both cases, so this might not apply to your
instance.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas J. Holmes, Jr." <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 10:17 AM
Subject: [PCBUILD] SP Pro log on / log off


We have a station running XP Pro that will no longer complete the start up
process.  It boots to a slightly distorted, discolored Welcome Screen with
all user names displayed.  However, just as one has entered the matching
user & password and the personal settings are loading, it commences the Log
Off process.  The result is similar when booting in Safe Mode or even when
booting from a XP Pro boot disk rather than the HDD.  Hence, we can no
longer access it.  No telling if this is caused by a hardware
disappointment, by a WinXP Pro problem, or a virus.

So, we tried changing the boot sequence to CD-ROM first and booting from the
Dell System Restore disk with the same result.

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