Anyone have a stick? My computer is dead..

[Zain020]

I'll introduce you to my long problem:

First another user of the computer was playing a game when it minimized and went back to desktop. She re-minimised it and it kicked her out again but this time with 2 popup windows. She came and told me of the problem so I did what everyone does by doing a spyware scan. When I went to do I spyware scan I noticed some of the files to "Spybot S&D" were missing. So I re-installed it and as soon as the instilation was complete, the same files dissapeared again making Spybot useless.

I thought of doing a malware and virus scan but both came up with nothing. I decided to consult my best friend Google which advised me to download Ad-Aware and check for spyware and I did. It came up with a ton of cookies.

Well, after that the computer continually showed problems even after scanning again so I search up with Google again. This time I downloaded Ewido anti-spyware. I checked and it found MORE destructive material including a few dialers, a parisite, a couple of trojans and one malware. Well after getting rid of the pesky buggs I restarted to re-scan to make sure they were all gone, however my luck; it got worse.

When Windows booted up the desktop I found my Windowblinds and desktop to be extremely laggy. Also some of my video settings were altered. Well, I chose to just do another scan with Ewido however found it to be as dead as Spybot. I checked AVG and Ad-Aware and found them casualtys to something unknown. I calmed myself and decided to search for help for some sites. One reccomended I go into Safemode and perform a virus check there.

I held down F8 and selected Safe mode but my computer loaded then unexpectedly restarted. It came to the "Sorry for the inconvenience" page and I selected start normal. Windows loaded perfectly (Except the extremely laggy desktop) and I went to run typed "MSCONFIG" clicked the "BOOT.ini" tab and selected "/safeboot". I restarted my computer as it directed however it did the same thing as last time except when going to Windows normally. It would load then a quick flash of a blue sceen would popup and restart my computer.

From reading advice on the net I decided to pop my windows intallation disk XP Proffessional into the CDROM and boot up off it and try to see if a system file corrupted and needed repair. That didn't work either so I consulted THIS website. I noticed that it might be a power problem so I shyly considered if I should go anyfirther in destroying my computer. I took out the CMOS battery after unplugging the power and waited a bit. Then replaced the battery, plugged in the computer and BAM! No response from computer. I tried about a minute after and still same thing.

I'm currently on a different computer than the dead one. Someone please tell me there's a way to cure this besides the scrap heap or a overcharging computer repair shop!!! :bawling:

[profdlp]

EDIT: Sorry - I missed the part about you being DOA. :(

Try leaving the CMOS battery out for at least twenty minutes with the CMOS reset jumper in the "reset" position. Make sure the computer is unplugged from the wall.

After the time has passed, move the jumper back to "normal", reinstall the battery, plug it in and see what happens when you try to start it.

Do you have a spare PSU you could try?

[Zain020]

DOA?? PSU?? I hate acronyms.. :confused:

I think I might have a spare power unit. Dunno if it's working or not.

As spare computers, parts I mean, I have a few thousand DSL cards and a few million dialup cards lying around with no apparent use..

Also, the motherbord is a AMD Duron 750Mhz and the jumper said, "1-2 Clear CMOS 2-3 Normal" I just set it to clear, all the same right?

[Leonardo]

Yes, "clear" means to reset everything. By the way, the central processing unit, also known as CPU or processor in your computer is the AMD Duron 750MHz. PSU - power supply unit. DOA - dead on arrival. You will frequently hear someone call a computer a "CPU". Those are either people who know very little about computer hardware, or it's like calling a car "my wheels."

[Zain020]

Lol Got it. :D

Ok, this is extremely strange. I've never had this happen before. The computer started up fine like always but I noticed a grinding sound. When inspecting to see if the XP CD accendentally wasn't secured inside the CDROM I noticed that my expensive CDROM works again (Thank you and God for not throwing it out :D). The grinding, i'm going to blame, is the lack of power of some sort to the fan.

Now, I don't know if this is still "critical" but now I'm back to the "My computer won't start into windows neither on safe mode nor regular. Whine whine whine.." and if this is fixable, it's a fun little move to the "You can wait" line. :eek:

To rephrase what my problem is now:

When I start up my computer now, it goes to the "Sorry for the inconvenience screen" and gives me the options to boot up in Safe mode, Normal, Previous settings and Command promp safe or Networking Safe. Either way all of them crash and restart. Well, the most interesting one is the Windows normal option where it gets to the loading screen loads for aprox 2 seconds and flashes a blue screen (Remember I have a VERY destructive virus that's killed several programs on my computer.). I can't see what the blue screen says because of the crashing and restart so thats no help.

[Leonardo]

The grinding, i'm going to blame, is the lack of power of some sort to the fan. No, it means a fan is either clogged with lint/dust or it's failing. Before we work on other problems, it would probably be best to get the fan working right if we can. If it doesn't work right, you computer has the potential to overheat...then nothing will work right. Please describe for us where this fan is located. This is important.

[Zain020]

Okidoke. I tried to get a picture like my motherbord and I found this one which I think is exact or REALLY like it. BTW it's the chip fan...

http://i5.ebayimg.com/04/i/06/cb/ee/67_1.JPG

[Leonardo]

OK, that's a picture of a motherboard. We're getting somewhere now. Do you know how to use Microsoft Paint? If yes, would you please circle the area on the board were the fan would be.

[Thrax]

He said the chip fan. CPU fan, Sir Leo.

[profdlp]

Zain020, make sure that the fans on you Power Supply Unit and Central Processing Unit are spinning properly and are not clogged with dust. If this is a Duron 750 system I'm guessing that it's fairly old. If you haven't cleaned those components for a while they are almost surely packed with all sorts of detritus.

Concerning your recent virus problem, do you have a bootable Compact Disc with AntiVirus software on it? It might be worth your while to download the Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/), burn it to disc, then boot from it and run a full virus scan using one of the several programs available. This will kill two birds with but a single stone, since if it boots from the Compact Disc and runs the program successfully for any length of time it will show that your shutdown/reboot problem is Windows related.

As for the acronyms, IMHO it would pay you to get up to speed with them PDQ. AFAIK, in the computer world you can't go two minutes without running into one, leaving you SOL if you're not prepared. AAMOF, though you might think this to be TMI, the world has seen an explosive growth in the use of acronyms since LBJ was the POTUS.

TTFN & TTYS ;D

(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

JK :vimp:

[Zain020]

Lol =P

Oh, I always keep my computer clean with the case off. The fan is clean but for some reason it fixed itself so the fan isn't a problem.. (A few smacks made it learn ;D)

Oh as for viruses, no more. I'd thank the fact the server was down this morning which just made me frustrated so I reformatted.. It works!

BTW (WOOT!! Acronym =P) Thanks for all your guys help. It was highly apreciated. Nice to know if someone has a problem they don't have to worry about having to buy a hammer to put the piece of metal out of it's misery =D

However that virus baffled me. I did a repair on the C: system files and a hole crap load of them were corrupt/missing. That also helped me come to my conclusion to just wipe the main hard drive. Good thing I moved all the crutial files to my second hard drive.

THANKS LOTS!!!!
:thumbsup:

[profdlp]

...that virus baffled me. I did a repair on the C: system files and a hole crap load of them were corrupt/missing. That also helped me come to my conclusion to just wipe the main hard drive...
A repair install should have taken care of that, but there's an exception to every rule.

Sometimes a virus lurks in a restore point. I've seen people clean their drive from one end to the other, only to reinfect themselves the next time they roll the system back to a previous state. There are also viruses which, if not completely removed, can reinfect your computer at the next boot.

I know that doesn't concern you now that you've wiped the drive and reloaded Windows, but it might be worth keeping in mind should you find yourself in trouble at some point in the future.

Glad to hear that you're back in business. :cheers:

[Zain020]

Yea, Well you fixed my CDROM which spared me $60 :bigggrin:

(I have to stop spamming..)

Before I go, what should I do if this happens again? Lets say my other computer? Ewido, AVG, Spybot S&D, AD-Aware and Freedom Anti-Virus/Spyware doesn't pick up on these things...

[edcentric]

I run AVG, S&D and Ad-A. Never had a problem.
You need to leave AVG running and update every couple of days.

S&D and Ad-A probably only need updating weekly, but my wife runs both of them every evening after being on line.
If this machine is always connected to the net then you need to look at your firewall.

[Zain020]

Well I HAD that.:sad2:
Besides, what do you have for malware protection? I have smitfraudfix and it kills any of the horrible bugs that manage to sneak past the overly in-un-anti-affective "Windows Firewall".

Also, I'd like to tell people:

1) I update my Anti-Virus/Spyware/Malware scaners EVERYDAY.
2) I don't run onto sites with "OMFG!! CLIK HER FO BIG WAREZ DOWNLOAD STUFF!!". I only run torrents that are scanned on passing..
3) P2P programs almost messed my old computer up so I'm not a P2Per.
4) I think I got the virus from my retarted (Don't mind me.) friend whom sent me a serial txt file in a zip archive (Yea. I know..) and he said it was safe..

:eek2: :eek2: :D :eek2: :eek2: