Travel Technology - fun little windows xp problem: can't login

So this is a new one. On my Lenovo Thinkpad laptop I'm starting to have a bit of an issue. Often when I boot up my laptop and click on my account to login, nothing happens. That is, the little box doesn't appear to type in my password and the computer just freezes. I have to power down and restart to be able to login. Most of the time the 2nd time around does the trick, but occasionally it takes 3-4 reboots to be able to login!

Very bizarre behavior. Any ideas?


Thanks!

Does it freeze at any other time? If yes, try checking if the memory is correctly "seated" in its slot.

/dnastudios

Is this the WinXP password, or the imbedded Lenovo security chip? Any drive activity at all?

Does it freeze at any other time? If yes, try checking if the memory is correctly "seated" in its slot.


Negative, everything else seems to be functioning as advertised.


Is this the WinXP password, or the imbedded Lenovo security chip? Any drive activity at all?

This is the WinXP password, not the Lenovo security password.

When I highlight the mouse over the account name I get a little HD activity but then it freezes and nothing happens. Sometimes I can click on my name and the password white text box opens and I can put in my password. Sometimes at this point it will also freeze before actually logging me in. Other times it works 100% as it should.

If I don't give my Lenovo laptop a full 5 minutes to boot before I attempt to log in to Win XP, I find that it is very unstable. I have sometimes experienced the same login problem that you have described. Other times I can log in, but can't connect to my LAN w/out rebooting.

It is the most annoying computer that I have ever owned.

Try booting in safe mode. There are variations of safe mode, where you can selectively allow certain processes to run. You want to detect what is making the HD spin/system be too busy to draw the login box.

Edit, to add one more thing. I've seen the reverse of this happen. When you shutdown, the system HD goes wild and it seems to hang for a few minutes. That was caused by some setting to erase (meaning several passes using some erasure algorithm) the system swapfile when shutting down. Cleared the setting and problem disappeared.

If I don't give my Lenovo laptop a full 5 minutes to boot before I attempt to log in to Win XP, I find that it is very unstable. I have sometimes experienced the same login problem that you have described. Other times I can log in, but can't connect to my LAN w/out rebooting.


Hmm, interesting. I will try this next reboot and see if it helps. Thanks!

I have noticed that the wireless little light on the laptop flashes during this time. Maybe it's busy trying to connect to a network or something.


It is the most annoying computer that I have ever owned.

Other than this issue I've been very happy with it. Far fewer problems than the Dell Latitude it replaced.


Try booting in safe mode. There are variations of safe mode, where you can selectively allow certain processes to run. You want to detect what is making the HD spin/system be too busy to draw the login box.

Edit, to add one more thing. I've seen the reverse of this happen. When you shutdown, the system HD goes wild and it seems to hang for a few minutes. That was caused by some setting to erase (meaning several passes using some erasure algorithm) the system swapfile when shutting down. Cleared the setting and problem disappeared.

OK if the letting it warm-up/boot fully thing doesn't work, I'll try this. Thanks!

Check the system log for disk errors, or whatnot.

My Computer/manage/System Tools/Event Viewer/System

See if there's anything interesting there around the time you have the problem.

-David

have you checked for Virus' or spyware? When was the last time you did a clean install of the OS?

It's posts like this that make me truly appreciate Linux. :)

have you checked for Virus' or spyware? When was the last time you did a clean install of the OS?

Have checked for viruses. Clean install was 6 months ago.


It's posts like this that make me truly appreciate Linux. :)

That's a no go. Linux sucks and the problems there would be infinitely larger than this one. :)

what did you see in the system log?

what did you see in the system log?

I haven't rebooted yet. I will post here when I do. :)

Have checked for viruses. Clean install was 6 months ago.




That's a no go. Linux sucks and the problems there would be infinitely larger than this one.

LOL! Riiiiight... Bill Gates, is that you? ;)

LOL! Riiiiight... Bill Gates, is that you? ;)

This is a discussion for another thread. Give out your linux propaganda elsewhere. ;)

Create a new user and log on as that user. You may well have a corrupted profile. If that doesn't work and it hasn't been going on too long, do a system restore to a time before the problem began.

what did you see in the system log?

OK, here is what I get when I can't login. I see a series of "Error" with a Red "X" next to it. They are all the same and they say:

Source: BTHUSB
Event ID: 16

"The mutual authentication between the local Bluetooth radio and a device with Bluetooth radio address (00:07:61:82:ed:b5) failed.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp."

----

Looks like maybe my Logitech bluetooth mouse/keyboard is causing problems.. Hmm. I will investigate!

Are you using a bluetooth mouse and/or keyboard? Try replacing the batteries and/or press the reconnect button. My guess is it's the batteries if you are using a bt mouse and/or keyboard.

Or just try a wired mouse/keyboard and see if you are still having login problems.

But you did say this is your laptop, so if you are using the laptop keyboard and scroll pad/button on the thinkpad, the bluetooth stuff shouldn't really matter. You might try disabling the onboard bluetooth if you aren't using it. It might be interfering with the usb ports, but that's a really wild guess.

Anything else in the log that looks interesting?

I think you can also try control/alt/delete at the login screen to get the classic login screen. You might want to see if that works next time you have the problem.

Are your drivers up to date, by the way?

-David

Are you using a bluetooth mouse and/or keyboard?


Yep, both. This is for when I'm at home and am hooked up to my big monitor with keyboard and mouse.

The same problem still happens when I'm not using the bluetooth keyboard and mouse though.


Try replacing the batteries and/or press the reconnect button. My guess is it's the batteries if you are using a bt mouse and/or keyboard.


I will try the batteries.


Or just try a wired mouse/keyboard and see if you are still having login problems.


That might be the next step, although it is unfortunate because I like the bluetooth.


But you did say this is your laptop, so if you are using the laptop keyboard and scroll pad/button on the thinkpad, the bluetooth stuff shouldn't really matter. You might try disabling the onboard bluetooth if you aren't using it. It might be interfering with the usb ports, but that's a really wild guess.


Yeah I thought about disabling the Windows bluetooth and just using the logitech drivers. I might try that today.


Anything else in the log that looks interesting?

Not really. I sent the log to Logitech's tech support. We'll see what they say.

I wasn't suggesting that you disable it permanently, but disable bt temporarily to see if you can positively narrow it down to the bluetooth adapter. Anyway, try new batteries first. I have a logitech bt mouse/keyboard on one of my desktops, and when I had problems with it, it needed new batteries.

Also, check for driver updates, etc.

-David

For several months, I've been having similar start-up problems with my desktop. After much frustrating exploring, including reinstalling SP3, I think the problem is somewhere in the XP Pro shut-down procedure (which is why then the start-up log-in doesn't work consistently). My work-around is to boot into safe, turn off at the log-in screen, boot again. I'll be interested to see if there's a better or definitive answer here.

Sylvia