Trust laptop died

SallyD

My trusty 10 year old Sharp laptop gave me a message last night.

"Isass.exe-system error"

security account management initially failed device attached to it not functioning. Please click OK to shutdown this system and reboot in safe mode.

Check event log for more detailed information.

Error Oxc0000001

I tried the Safe Mode - same message
I tried the last known working - same message

I only use the laptop for surfing the web and emails. I do surf a lot!

I did get a message a few weeks ago saying that my memory was very low, and I followed the instruction to click a symbol on the bottom right of the screen and it carried on working okay. I have noticed over the past few months that on start up if is very slow to get going.

A chap at work explained to me that everytime I look at a webpage all the images are saved and unless I clear the history properly (which I know I have not done over the years) the hardrive will fill up and I could reinstall the service packs (which I do have) - is this right?


Any advice would be greatly received.

GeoffX

Hello SallyD,

There seem to be a number of possible causes for this problem. One is that your machine is infected with the Sasser worm, but I'll presume that you're running XP and it was regularly updated.

Another possibility - and given that Safe Mode won't boot it seems more likely - is that the 'Security Hive' has been damaged. If you have a Windows XP CD then you could follow the instructions here:
http://web.mit.edu/ist/products/winxp/advanced/registry-corruption.html
I would only backdate the 'Security' file though, not the 'System' or 'Sam' files - unless perhaps ChkDsk reports them damaged.

If you don't have an XP CD you could download a Linux distribution - Ubuntu should do the job - and burn it to a CD or DVD, then delete and replace the 'Security' file as instructed above.

SallyD

Wow, thank you for your advice and suggestions. I shall bring my laptop to work tomorrow and hopefully a colleague can help me run through your suggestions - I am too much of a novice to have a go myself. Thank you.

southernguy_2

Quote
chap at work explained to me that everytime I look at a webpage all the images are saved and unless I clear the history properly (which I know I have not done over the years) the hardrive will fill up

Sorry to hijack your thread

Can anyone explain how you go about clearing out
Thanks

rhythmsoup

GeoffX wrote: »

...download a Linux distribution - Ubuntu should do the job - and burn it to a CD or DVD, then delete and replace the 'Security' file as instructed above.

As GeoffX says use the linux CD to rescue, this is something thats a shame more people dont know about and what Ive used so many times to rescue data for people Ive lost count long ago. I detailed it all in an post here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2359753

rhythmsoup

southernguy wrote: »

Quote
chap at work explained to me that everytime I look at a webpage all the images are saved and unless I clear the history properly (which I know I have not done over the years) the hardrive will fill up

Sorry to hijack your thread

Can anyone explain how you go about clearing out
Thanks

A simple "clearing browser history" in google will render the information you need, replace "browser" with your browser:

"clearing firefox history"

hope this helps

Basil1234

in xp
start> control panel> performance and maintenance>
then list of 5 options if memory serves correct 3rd one down in the list 'free up space on your hard disc' after doing all of that do same again but then do 5th one down in the list 're-arranage files on you disc' which is basically disc defragmentor which rearranges all the files into on effective track like a record and helps access reading and speeds a machine up also if this has never been done before the last option will take several hours in some cases i would leave it running overnight.

never heard of google dumping temp files before though lol can dump temp files thru internet explorer if you wish provided on a new enough version but is always easier to control thru the control panel.
also if you wish after doing all of that in the performance menu can manually adjust if needed the virtual memory which also runs from the hard disc and helps speed up the machine i have only had need to do this to one machine once only.

sallyd my advice i would try reinstalling xp a new with disc provided you have one if is something terminal it will not intsall , it may just be corrputed files in the registry on the hard drive if not the saaser worm. anyhoo a full format and full reinstall should return it to newish condition provided you have no hardware issues and also speed it up but you will lose anything you did have on there such as photos but is just used for surfing and email it shouldn't matter.
just make sure you have anti-virus software on there after reinstalling also some anti-malware software such as malwarebytes
http://filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/ will help also click download install it click update tab and do so then run scans every so often.

Donnie

southernguy wrote: »

Quote
chap at work explained to me that everytime I look at a webpage all the images are saved and unless I clear the history properly (which I know I have not done over the years) the hardrive will fill up

Sorry to hijack your thread

Can anyone explain how you go about clearing out
Thanks

CCleaner Install and Run Cleaner.

SallyD

sallyd my advice i would try reinstalling xp a new with disc provided you have one if is something terminal it will not intsall , it may just be corrputed files in the registry on the hard drive if not the saaser worm. anyhoo a full format and full reinstall should return it to newish condition provided you have no hardware issues and also speed it up but you will lose anything you did have on there such as photos but is just used for surfing and email it shouldn't matter.
just make sure you have anti-virus software on there after reinstalling also some anti-malware software such as malwarebytes
http://filehippo.com/download_malwar..._anti_malware/ will help also click download install it click update tab and do so then run scans every so often.


Last edited by Basil1234; 25-08-2010 at 1:38 PM.

Thank you, colleague at work is going to have a go for me. I have the original discs so hopefully fingers crossed.