Shell 32.dll and Logon User Interface DLL failure

[p galston]

Hello,
Have not done any updates lately, nor anything unusual, however, suddenly laptop displays two error messages re/Win logon.exe and Isass.exe failure. Part of the solution noted in the forum was to restart "using last known good configuration", but this doesn't work. It simply attempts to start again and comes up with the error messages again.
What is the solution if you can't get anywhere in the computer beyond the error messages? Not very computer savvy here, so am hoping the answer does not require anything too technical.

 

[Saga Lout]

Hello,
Have not done any updates lately, nor anything unusual, however, suddenly laptop displays two error messages re/Win logon.exe and Isass.exe failure. Part of the solution noted in the forum was to restart "using last known good configuration", but this doesn't work. It simply attempts to start again and comes up with the error messages again.
What is the solution if you can't get anywhere in the computer beyond the error messages? Not very computer savvy here, so am hoping the answer does not require anything too technical.

I'm somewhat alarmed at that reference to Isass because that would be a nasty. The correct syntax would be Lsass. Try to start in Safe Mode as Administrator by tapping Function 8 at boottime and selecting it from the menu. Bring up the Task Manager using Control Shift and Escape together and click on the Processes tab. Click on Image Name to bring the Running Processes into alphabetical order and see there is anything to show whether or not it's definitely an I and not an L. There is known malware which causes Winlogon to fail and a lengthy process to go through to fix it so for the time being, please check that entry.

 

[p galston]

Yes, so sorry. It's an L in lower case. The computer is an HP pavillion zv5000.
If the computer is turned on normally, there is a split second where a screen comes up that has a couple of "f key" possibilities shown in the lower left, but flashes so fast that these can't be read. So, then it goes on trying to start up. The first message to appear is:
lsass.exe - Unable to Locate Component
This application has failed to start because SHELL32.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
There is an OK button after the message. Pressing the OK button brings the message up again. Pressing the OK button again brings up the next message, which is:

User Interface Failure
The Logon User Interface DLL msgina.dll failed to load.
Contact your system administrator to replace the DLL, or restore the original DLL.
There is a Restart button at the bottom of this message.

These two messages will obviously just keep looping after clicking this last Restart. If the computer is turned off by the only means now possible, which is to hold down the power button, bringing the computer back up will give the screen that has various options of restart, such as Safe Mode, etc. This is how I know that using the option restart "using last known good configuration" does not work, but only starts the loop of the above two messages again.

At that point, I can start in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with command(?), but have no idea what to do after I've done that.

Thanks so, so much for any help you can give.

 

[Saga Lout]

Yes, so sorry. It's an L in lower case. The computer is an HP pavillion zv5000.
If the computer is turned on normally, there is a split second where a screen comes up that has a couple of "f key" possibilities shown in the lower left, but flashes so fast that these can't be read. So, then it goes on trying to start up. The first message to appear is:
lsass.exe - Unable to Locate Component
This application has failed to start because SHELL32.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.
There is an OK button after the message. Pressing the OK button brings the message up again. Pressing the OK button again brings up the next message, which is:

User Interface Failure
The Logon User Interface DLL msgina.dll failed to load.
Contact your system administrator to replace the DLL, or restore the original DLL.
There is a Restart button at the bottom of this message.

These two messages will obviously just keep looping after clicking this last Restart. If the computer is turned off by the only means now possible, which is to hold down the power button, bringing the computer back up will give the screen that has various options of restart, such as Safe Mode, etc. This is how I know that using the option restart "using last known good configuration" does not work, but only starts the loop of the above two messages again.

At that point, I can start in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with command(?), but have no idea what to do after I've done that.

Thanks so, so much for any help you can give.

Some programmes install a different version of a gina.dll file and Microsoft prefers its own msgina.dll - to hav epriority. In Safe Mode can you run a search for msgina.dll and see if you still have it? If not, can you then run another serarch for filenames containing gina to see which others you have? [/#000ff]

 

[p galston]

Don't know how to run a search in Safe Mode, but here's what happens when entering Safe Mode:
A list of drivers displays very quickly, and since they fill more than one screen, I'm not able to see the one's pushed off the screen. (If that makes sense, hope you know what I mean.) Then I get the original message about the User Interface Failure with the "DLL msgina.dll failed to load", and am not able to do anything but start the loop of error messages again, or shut the machine off manually.

Thanks so much for trying to help! Sorry you are having to deal with someone with such technical ignorance!

 

[Saga Lout]

Don't know how to run a search in Safe Mode, but here's what happens when entering Safe Mode:
A list of drivers displays very quickly, and since they fill more than one screen, I'm not able to see the one's pushed off the screen. (If that makes sense, hope you know what I mean.) Then I get the original message about the User Interface Failure with the "DLL msgina.dll failed to load", and am not able to do anything but start the loop of error messages again, or shut the machine off manually.

Thanks so much for trying to help! Sorry you are having to deal with someone with such technical ignorance!

The next stage will involve your XP CD - do you have one? If not, you need to burn a copy of the Recovery Console ISO to a CD, using another machine - is this possible? If so, go to http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/files/rc.iso and download rc.iso and burn (not copy) to a CD and run that in your system. If you think you're up to trying working in DOS, post back for more details.

Generally I find people who profess technical ignorance are a lot smarter than they think they are. The really technically ignorant never find their way to Tom's for help.


[/#000ff]