Logon box will not popup

[Travis McClellan]

I have a user running Windows NT 4.0 on a Vectra. When she turns on her computer, it boots up fine until the Windows logon screen pops up. Actually, the little "Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to LOGIN" never pops up. Any reason why that would start to happen?

[Martin Schmidt_2]

Hello Travis,

I assume a problem with your MSGINA.DLL.

Try the following:

1. Last Known Good.
2. Start sytem in VGA mode.

If this does not help, compare the following between the problem PC and a properly running system:

3. msgina.dll on the disk (Version, Size, Permissions)
4. Registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\GinaDLL
5. You can also delete the registry key according to http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q229/0/33.asp

Unfortunately you need access to the system to get this done. If possible, connect from a remote PC with regedit and do the changes. Check the file by mapping a drive from a remote PC. If the problem PC is not accessible, you must run a parallel install.

If all this does not help, run Emergency Repair according to http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q129/0/37.asp

I hope this helps.
Regards, Martin.

[Travis McClellan]

I tried what you suggested, but the problem persists. I am not sure what I should do now...I fear I must reinstall.

[Martin Schmidt_2 · Accepted solution]

Hi Travis,

Reinstall will be probably the best.
If there are important files on the system and the format is NTFS, do a parallel install (if you cannot access the PC via network) and save the data.
Then reinstall and during setup delete and recreate the partition.
After the system is up and running, install SP6a.

To avoid that problem comes back, reinstall the apps one by one and reboot afterwards. If the problem comes back, you know the culprit.

Good luck,
Martin.