Vista Business 64 does not allow login

Recently-built engineering workstation running 64-bit Vista Business is on
peer network -- no server nor domain. As of last Friday, began exhibiting
funky behavior and could not get past login:
a) Login screen showed two users - one correct, w/ no password, and one
named "user" with unknown password.
b) Selecting correct user (and no password) showed wait state mouse icon for
a few seconds, then displayed message "The network connection was aborted by
the local system" and returned to the login screen. Subsequent attempts to
login without rebooting displayed message "Invalid Handle".
c) System shutoff button in lower right corner of screen displayed NO
options on dropdown only a horizontal line, and did not appear to restart the
system.

Problem exists with either NIC connected on both client and test networks.
System restore to previous (working) occasion did not have any effect. "Safe
Mode" (with or without Networking) didn't get past this problem. Hardware
and memory diagnostics all pass. There's no new hardware and no BIOS or
driver updates within the past 60 days.

All suggestions are welcomed, thanks in advance!
--
Regards,
Brian

Is it possible the "user" made some changes so that "no-password" user can't
logon. Restart the Vista as safe mode and assign password to the No-password
user and restart. This search result may help too.

Vista Password IssuesVista password protection on after rebooting · Why do I
need password · Post your questions, comments, feedbacks and suggestions.
Related Topics ...
www.chicagotech.net/vista/vistapassword.htm


--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com


"B Peabody" <brianpeabody@newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
news:3DBA0D4F-E6B3-4E61-89B5-799C5876BCF4@microsoft.com...
> Recently-built engineering workstation running 64-bit Vista Business is on
> peer network -- no server nor domain. As of last Friday, began exhibiting
> funky behavior and could not get past login:
> a) Login screen showed two users - one correct, w/ no password, and one
> named "user" with unknown password.
> b) Selecting correct user (and no password) showed wait state mouse icon
> for
> a few seconds, then displayed message "The network connection was aborted
> by
> the local system" and returned to the login screen. Subsequent attempts
> to
> login without rebooting displayed message "Invalid Handle".
> c) System shutoff button in lower right corner of screen displayed NO
> options on dropdown only a horizontal line, and did not appear to restart
> the
> system.
>
> Problem exists with either NIC connected on both client and test networks.
> System restore to previous (working) occasion did not have any effect.
> "Safe
> Mode" (with or without Networking) didn't get past this problem. Hardware
> and memory diagnostics all pass. There's no new hardware and no BIOS or
> driver updates within the past 60 days.
>
> All suggestions are welcomed, thanks in advance!
> --
> Regards,
> Brian

Hi Bob,

Anything is possible, but it's unlikely that this user made such a change.
I have the same behavior in safe mode, so cannot get past the login page. To
reiterate, clicking on the "no password" user behaves as though correctly
passing through to Windows before displaying the messages mentioned.

Item c) on original post did not display strange behavior until AFTER
clicking on user to login. Restored on reboot.

Additional item: Approximately 90 seconds after failed login effort, system
reboots.

Reinstalling Windows (and user applications) is a last resort. Anything I
can do short of that?

Regards,
Brian
--
Regards,
Brian


"Bob Lin (MS-MVP)" wrote:

> Is it possible the "user" made some changes so that "no-password" user can't
> logon. Restart the Vista as safe mode and assign password to the No-password
> user and restart. This search result may help too.
>
> Vista Password IssuesVista password protection on after rebooting · Why do I
> need password · Post your questions, comments, feedbacks and suggestions.
> Related Topics ...
> www.chicagotech.net/vista/vistapassword.htm
>
>
> --
> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
> http://www.ChicagoTech.net
> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
> http://www.HowToNetworking.com
>
>
> "B Peabody" <brianpeabody@newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
> news:3DBA0D4F-E6B3-4E61-89B5-799C5876BCF4@microsoft.com...
> > Recently-built engineering workstation running 64-bit Vista Business is on
> > peer network -- no server nor domain. As of last Friday, began exhibiting
> > funky behavior and could not get past login:
> > a) Login screen showed two users - one correct, w/ no password, and one
> > named "user" with unknown password.
> > b) Selecting correct user (and no password) showed wait state mouse icon
> > for
> > a few seconds, then displayed message "The network connection was aborted
> > by
> > the local system" and returned to the login screen. Subsequent attempts
> > to
> > login without rebooting displayed message "Invalid Handle".
> > c) System shutoff button in lower right corner of screen displayed NO
> > options on dropdown only a horizontal line, and did not appear to restart
> > the
> > system.
> >
> > Problem exists with either NIC connected on both client and test networks.
> > System restore to previous (working) occasion did not have any effect.
> > "Safe
> > Mode" (with or without Networking) didn't get past this problem. Hardware
> > and memory diagnostics all pass. There's no new hardware and no BIOS or
> > driver updates within the past 60 days.
> >
> > All suggestions are welcomed, thanks in advance!
> > --
> > Regards,
> > Brian
>

"B Peabody" <brianpeabody@newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
news:E0B04EAC-7EAF-4C7E-85EE-8E0B4B5F7452@microsoft.com...
> Hi Bob,
>
> Anything is possible, but it's unlikely that this user made such a change.
> I have the same behavior in safe mode, so cannot get past the login page.
> To
> reiterate, clicking on the "no password" user behaves as though correctly
> passing through to Windows before displaying the messages mentioned.
>
> Item c) on original post did not display strange behavior until AFTER
> clicking on user to login. Restored on reboot.
>
> Additional item: Approximately 90 seconds after failed login effort,
> system
> reboots.
>
> Reinstalling Windows (and user applications) is a last resort. Anything I
> can do short of that?
>
> Regards,
> Brian
> --
> Regards,
> Brian
>
>
> "Bob Lin (MS-MVP)" wrote:
>
>> Is it possible the "user" made some changes so that "no-password" user
>> can't
>> logon. Restart the Vista as safe mode and assign password to the
>> No-password
>> user and restart. This search result may help too.
>>
>> Vista Password IssuesVista password protection on after rebooting · Why
>> do I
>> need password · Post your questions, comments, feedbacks and suggestions.
>> Related Topics ...
>> www.chicagotech.net/vista/vistapassword.htm
>>
>>
>> --
>> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
>> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
>> http://www.ChicagoTech.net
>> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
>> http://www.HowToNetworking.com
>>
>>
>> "B Peabody" <brianpeabody@newsgroups.nospam> wrote in message
>> news:3DBA0D4F-E6B3-4E61-89B5-799C5876BCF4@microsoft.com...
>> > Recently-built engineering workstation running 64-bit Vista Business is
>> > on
>> > peer network -- no server nor domain. As of last Friday, began
>> > exhibiting
>> > funky behavior and could not get past login:
>> > a) Login screen showed two users - one correct, w/ no password, and
>> > one
>> > named "user" with unknown password.
>> > b) Selecting correct user (and no password) showed wait state mouse
>> > icon
>> > for
>> > a few seconds, then displayed message "The network connection was
>> > aborted
>> > by
>> > the local system" and returned to the login screen. Subsequent
>> > attempts
>> > to
>> > login without rebooting displayed message "Invalid Handle".
>> > c) System shutoff button in lower right corner of screen displayed NO
>> > options on dropdown only a horizontal line, and did not appear to
>> > restart
>> > the
>> > system.
>> >
>> > Problem exists with either NIC connected on both client and test
>> > networks.
>> > System restore to previous (working) occasion did not have any effect.
>> > "Safe
>> > Mode" (with or without Networking) didn't get past this problem.
>> > Hardware
>> > and memory diagnostics all pass. There's no new hardware and no BIOS
>> > or
>> > driver updates within the past 60 days.
>> >
>> > All suggestions are welcomed, thanks in advance!
>> > --
>> > Regards,
>> > Brian
>>

I'd remove the drive from the system and mount it via USB adapter to another
working PC. Then I'd run CHKDSK /F on the drive. And also Malwarebytes
Antivirus. Then I'd remount it in the original PC and try again.

-Frank

Thanks, Frank... but no cigar
Chkdsk /f didn't find anything, and client has current A/V. I scanned the
drive for nasties with AVG 8.x and didn't find anything there either.

Regards,
Brian