Thanks so much, ScinteX!!!
That little morsel of info saved me a lot of time reinstalling the OS to find where the issue was.
I'm currently working on a system for a customer and hadn't run upon this particular problem yet. Now I can get past the Welcome screen, but its still LOADED with malware and non-legit services I need to weed out. Might still have to reload the OS anyway to completely rid this box of its infections.
Thanks again!
-uo