Windows Vista Weird Lockup Issue

[GamerMax5]

Here we go.

I'm working on a HP laptop running Windows Vista Home Premium 64b. When I boot into Normal Mode, the OS has trouble running anything that would seemingly need a Secondary Logon, for instance running an app as admin, or for instance even trying to access the Network and Sharing Center. It locks up Explorer and the system just doesn't want to operate. However when you boot into Safe Mode w/ Networking, everything functions properly. So this lead me to think the system may be viral. Alas the system is perfectly clean. Running utils revealed no infections whatsoever. So then I had the bright idea to cold boot the system. This ultimately p***ed off Vista to the point where it's now asking me to input the product key on the COA. Well that's fine and dandy but when you input the PK and click the Next button, which is an action that requires elevation implying the Secondary Logon service, the system cuts to the busy cursor and that's it.

Any bright ideas as to the cause of this and a resolution short of a nuke and reinstall would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Could this possibly be the cause of a rootkit? I really don't think so but I could be wrong.

[Nightwalker83]

Try scanning for rootkits and see if anything appears! Although, I think because normal mode isn't functioning properly it could be a driver problem.

[GamerMax5]

I checked the system for rootkits using both scanners and skimming though the system via a PE. Scanners didn't find anything and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

I checked the drivers and they were all up-to-date. So it wasn't those.

The only other thing I can think of is it possibly could be some type of malfunction in UAC since it's responsible for things like on-the-fly elevation. And if that's the case, the only thing I could do is simply disable it and try to repair it. I have no ideas other than that. Well, the other alternative is to drop the thing off a 20-story balcony.

[Siddharth Rout]

Any bright ideas as to the cause of this and a resolution short of a nuke and reinstall would be greatly appreciated.

Well, the other alternative is to drop the thing off a 20-story balcony.

Could go in for a "system restore" or "vista repair" option