Windows 7 startup problem

[JohnnyPanic]

Rebooted my Windows 7 Pro work laptop last night and after entering my password to login I got a popup error box saying "AtBroker.exe - Application Error. The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000022)".

The only option is to click 'OK' then I get the same error except with explorer.exe

This is then followed by a black screen of nothingness. Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring up task manager brings up another error and that's about all I can do.

It boots into safe mode fine, and so far I have tried:
1) Full system virus scan overnight
2) System restore back to a point on Tuesday morning (26th Jan)
3) Disable all Remote Desktop related services in msconfig
4) Run CCleaner and its registry cleaner
5) Run a quick scan with Malwarebytes

A quick search on the Internet outside of PH (it exists - I've seen it!) shows that I'm not the only one with this sudden issue.

Anyone here having the same problem? Anyone here managed to fix it or got a bright idea of what to try next?

I currently have a program called RegCure running a scan which seems to be finding 4000+ problems with my registery where CCleaner found none. I've never heard of it before, is it any good? I suspect it'll do a scan for free and then ask for a payment to fix the issues. If it works I don't mind paying, but I don't like wasting money on pointless software that doesn't do what it claims!

Any ideas chaps? I'm running out of them...

[Ozone]

It could be a remote desktop RDP error

I believe a workaround is to do CTRL-ALT-END and choose logoff or end when you see the error to boot normally.

Try uninstalling the latest windows updates.

Edited by Ozone on Friday 29th January 11:16

Edited by Ozone on Friday 29th January 11:17

[JohnnyPanic]

Yeah, that's what my first internet searches came up with. But that seems to be an older issue if you're RDP'ing into the system. Ctrl+Alt+End did nothing for me (in fact AFAIK it doesn't actually do anything in Win7).

I've system restored back to points previous to the latest windows updates with no joy as yet. Can't actually run the Windows Update tool from within safe mode it seems.

This is getting tedious!

[Ozone]

It sounds a bit drastic but maybe run a windows repair from the DVD? It seems you have to run the setup.exe from within windows not at boot up or safemode though so it may not help.

Or give this a go.

[JohnnyPanic]

Right, as it was a work machine I decided to leave it over the weekend and see what resolutions presented themselves.

It turns out that my antivirus (CA) had decided to quarantine the shell32.dll. It is apparently an "incompatibility issue with CA2009 and Windows 7". Yeah, I'll f'ing well say it is!

Now that shell32.dll is out of the quarantine and is excluded from further scanning I'm back in business.

[Ozone]

Thanks for the reply.
It's always useful to know the cause, so letting it develop over time does help fault finding!

Glad you got it sorted.

[LordGrover]

Ozone said:

Thanks for the reply.
It's always useful to know the cause, so letting it develop over time does help fault finding!

Glad you got it sorted.

Ditto. Nice one.

[JohnnyPanic]

No problem, thanks for your replies trying to sort it out