NT4 is now so secure, I can't log in!

Oleron

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Oleron
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Feb 17, 2004
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I connected an NT4 workstation (service pack 6a) to windows update and let it do it's stuff. It downloaded a lot (20MB worth) of cumulative-type updates and re-booted.

The keyboard is now disabled (so is the mouse) and I have a message on my screen telling me 'at least one driver failed to load...'

I tried 'last known good' and 'VGA mode'. No luck. I tried reading the event log by connecting the disk to another NT machine. It claims the log is corrupted. I've tried swapping the keyboard and mouse etc. Nothing.

I have no ERD for this machine. Am I going to have to rebuild NT? Has anyone seen this before?
 
Oops! Something in the service packs and/or the updates has bitten you.

You will probably need to install NT4 on the same machine but on another disk/directory. And then use various nefarious means to break into the original installation of NT4. These will depend on what the problem was, and that's a long and tedious subject that can't be dealt with in one post here.
 
I should have known better than to trust MS to update the machine freely.

I've banged my head against this particular wall for too long. I'm doing a parallel install and moving the data over.

I'd still like to know what caused it though.
 
Oleron said:
I should have known better than to trust MS to update the machine freely.

I've banged my head against this particular wall for too long. I'm doing a parallel install and moving the data over.

I'd still like to know what caused it though.
Click to expand...
bill-gates.jpg
 
Aaarrgh, My eyes....

And HE can wipe that smile off his face for starters...
 
The dreaded "parallel install."

The problem: I lost a frisbee on my roof.

Micro$oft's solution: Build another house right next door, jump across, grab the frisbee, jump back, bulldoze old house.
 
Oleron said:
I connected an NT4 workstation (service pack 6a) to windows update and let it do it's stuff. It downloaded a lot (20MB worth) of cumulative-type updates and re-booted.

The keyboard is now disabled (so is the mouse) and I have a message on my screen telling me 'at least one driver failed to load...'
Click to expand...
You installed the first release patch to prevent the new Sasser worm. Microsoft have already admitted that this patch can, with certain hardware configurations, cause NT4 to repeatedly try to load drivers that don't exist. I believe they've posted a workaround on the windows update site.
 
Re: Re: NT4 is now so secure, I can't log in!

Iconoclast said:
You installed the first release patch to prevent the new Sasser worm. Microsoft have already admitted that this patch can, with certain hardware configurations, cause NT4 to repeatedly try to load drivers that don't exist. I believe they've posted a workaround on the windows update site.
Click to expand...
\
Oops, the flaw in that patch apparently only affects Wiin2k environments, not NT4.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1578752,00.asp
 
Bootable CD's

What you need is a CD with a Skeletal Windows on it that lets you boot up and access the drives and make registry changes :)

Of course, these tend to only be available from your local tech school nerds :)

It's also useful if you forget your windows password as it lets you bypass it and reset it.

SSR
 
I remember a couple of years back, I installed a critical update cumulative patch for NT4 SP6a. The blurb under it did say it might cause problems with (I think) a Compaq controller. I thought no problem, as I didn't have any Compaq parts, to my knowledge in the machine. The patch destroyed my machine (not physically) and I ended up having to reinstall. I have never installed that patch on a machine since.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
Uh_Clem said:
The dreaded "parallel install."

The problem: I lost a frisbee on my roof.

Micro$oft's solution: Build another house right next door, jump across, grab the frisbee, jump back, bulldoze old house.
Click to expand...
SO true! :D
 
Uh_Clem said:
The dreaded "parallel install."

The problem: I lost a frisbee on my roof.

Micro$oft's solution: Build another house right next door, jump across, grab the frisbee, jump back, bulldoze old house.
Click to expand...
:biggrin:


Before the parallel install I cloned the disk and tried it in a different PC. Normally this is a sure way to blue screen NT but to my surprise it booted. Same problem though, no keyboard or mouse.

Oh well, at least I've ruled out any hardware issues. If I get bored I may have another go at this and try to get to the bottom of it.
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
 
If you can drive the keyboard somehow (was the original one USB and not PS/2? Or vice versa?) then you should be able to get most stuff back - do a Hardware Scan again (Control Panel).

For 2K and XP, this is not really possible without major hiccups - they put something in there to "detect" if the HD had been put on another PC. Something about security... DOUBLE BAH!
 
If you're on a network you can boot up the failing NT box and (possibly) connect to it from another system to check the event viewer, and/or edit the registry. This is provided all the network services are functioning. Might give you an indication of what's failing.

When I run into this situation on NT I usually just Ghost the os out to an image file and reload from scratch.
 
If you can download a knoppix iso somewhere, you can at least mount the computer to access the files off it. You're staring at one of the key reasons I back up images of my boot partition a lot.

I hope you at least seperated your important files from the boot partition, and have backups of the rest that couldn't be moved: the simplest solution is to reformat and install from scratch.

I.e., the circuit breaker popped, so you have to bulldoze every house on the whole block.

At least you'll get rid of a lot of random hair doing it. The Microsoft Patented Technical Support Answer (at $1.90 a minute) would be: "Why didn't you upgrade to Windows XP?"
 
Uh_Clem said:
If you're on a network you can boot up the failing NT box and (possibly) connect to it from another system to check the event viewer, and/or edit the registry. This is provided all the network services are functioning. Might give you an indication of what's failing.

When I run into this situation on NT I usually just Ghost the os out to an image file and reload from scratch.
Click to expand...

That's my next move, just as soon as I get some time to spend on it. Hopefully the network services are still running.
 
evildave said:
If you can download a knoppix iso somewhere, you can at least mount the computer to access the files off it. You're staring at one of the key reasons I back up images of my boot partition a lot.

I hope you at least seperated your important files from the boot partition, and have backups of the rest that couldn't be moved: the simplest solution is to reformat and install from scratch.

I.e., the circuit breaker popped, so you have to bulldoze every house on the whole block.

At least you'll get rid of a lot of random hair doing it. The Microsoft Patented Technical Support Answer (at $1.90 a minute) would be: "Why didn't you upgrade to Windows XP?"
Click to expand...

Data is OK and living happily ever after on the new machine with the parallel install.

Haven't tried knoppix before but I've heard good things about it. Does it have decent hardware support?
 
Found a fix!

For anyone who's interested I found that the problem was covered in MS KB article 305462. Problem with intellipoint mouse driver.

The advice in the article fixes the problem.

Edit - Zep, bring back the lizard - that frilly freak scares the bejayzus out of me!
 
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