My computer is SNAFUed!

[Rami]

To all,

I dunno what happened last night, but I left my PC on to run a virus scan and defrag while I went to bed, like I do four or five times a week, letting it power down after completion. When I woke up, it was stuck at 82%, and the time still said 1:00am. The PC was locked up!

When I powered down and rebooted after waiting sixty seconds, it began to boot normally, and the interrupted windows screen came up, so I started in safe mode. Now, I can't get to the welcome screen. I get to a certain point, and it resets again. I also tried to load windows normally and tried the last known configuration, and occasionally get XP loading, but then it shows a blue screen with something about "display," which I don't have time to read, and resets again.

The BIOS configuration and Disk utility options work, but system recovery does not.

Luckily, I have Windows backed up, as well as all of my CFS2 installs and many other things. However, I don't know how to fix my PC, and I'm pretty solid in these areas.

I also need to get two DVDs out of the drives, because I can only eject the disks normally through "My computer."

Thank god I have my laptop, but what do I do for my PC? :barf:

ANY help or diagnosis would be profoundly appreciated!

Thanks,

[Tom Clayton]

It sounds like some critical file got corrumpted somewhere. I've had a couple of times where that happened, but Norton Ghost saved my @$$ both times. In only lost a few weeks of tweaks. I've never had to do it, but isn't there a "Repair" option on the Windows install disk? That might get you running again without having to do a complete reformat.

As for the optical drives, turn off the power and then look on the front for a small pinhole. You should be able to take a traightened out paper clip and insert it there to trip the manual drawer release.

[OBIO]

Drew

I feel for ya buddy...been there done that...there now and doing it again. I picked up a tricky little bug while looking for aircraft videos last night. Clicked on a video to play it, got a message that I needed to update my Flash Player, clicked the link to update...bingo bango...my system is now infested with a little bug that my anti-virus and anti-spyware tells me about but can not remove. Luckily, I had just backed up all my sim stuff other than a couple of new paint templates...which should be safe since it is not on C drive but on a secondary drive...as is all my sim stuff.

I am going to do a format, deep clean and reinstall of XP and spend the time doing all the updates and such. It will take a day or so to get my system back to where I want it..but the effort will be worthwhile. I really needed to clean out my system of all the junk that tends to accumulate anyhow..and this is the chance to do that and to improve my system speed in the process.

OBIO

[Devildog73]

Okay guys, there is a little program called "HiJack This" that is available for free online. It will scan your registry and list all of the loadings. You can load it on a full system and run it to find and delete really nasty programs. Or -do it on a clean system install first and save the log. Then, each time you install something run it again and save the txt log file under new name/date. It will tell you about every line of loading processes and can repair or delete bad ones safely when other programs will not.

Also, for about $20. US, IOLO tech has "System Mechanic" which is listed on several computer guru sites as being one of, if not, the best system utility to keep you PC clean and running right. It too has a recovery program to get you back up if something bad happens to your machine.

I have used both for years and they are great. My nephew, a computer guy for a major corporation, says to back up on an external and then reformat all HDs at least every 24 months just to clean out all of the left over electrons on the system. I did that this year and it works. Both of my computers, PC and Laptop are whizzing along really fast and un-buggy, even after reinstalling everything. I have my files that I access and bring over from the Seagate external for all of my documents and CFS2 stuff. I highly recommend an external backup!

And, yes, the XP DVD/CD does have a repair function.
What sometimes works better is to put your OS disk in, boot to C: in dos. Once there, type sfc/ purgecache and hit enter. Let it run, then: sfc/ scannow and hit enter. This will repair all of your system files without ruining your install.

[Tom Clayton]

Tim - I know the link you're talking about. It almost got me. When I clicked it and it started me to download and run some generic "setup.exe" the alarms started going off. I stopped that and went to Adobe to make sure I was up to date, then went back. It still said I needed to update!

So here's a tip that I'll pass along to everyone. If a website says you need to update somebody else's component, GO TO THE SOURCE! If you need Java, go to Sun Micro - if you need Flash, go to Adobe.

[Rami]

I also have a Windows recovery disk....so I'll try and pop out the disks when I get home this afternoon.

As far as viruses...I have AVG 8.5 Professional, fully updated. I run it every day, and it keeps me safe from worms and trojans. I also have spyware blaster and spypot.

[Rami]

My system was also clean when I ran virus scan the night before. I used Ccleaner to get rid of the internet junk....and then made sure to run a virus scan and Defraggler before I went to sleep. Everything was running fine when I went to sleep.

This morning, not so.

[Kofschip]

Andrew, what you are going through happened to me about 2 years ago. Through the Dell forum (I have an XPS Gen 2) at that time I got a great deal of help. The first thing that we did was to investigate if my HW was OK. I go a reply from "RoHe" ( I love that guy, he helped me through the whole thing, including reloading XP) that was as follows:

<>Here's a link to memtest86+ (http://www.memtest.org/) v2.01. Scroll about 1/2 way down the page and pick the pre-compiled download that will work best for you. Either the one to create a bootable floppy disk (assumes you have a floppy drive in that PC), or the zipped file with pre-compiled bootable ISO to create a bootable CD. Expand the zipped file and burn them onto a blank CD. Then boot the PC from either the floppy or CD you just created and run the tests. Keep trying to open the DVD drives manually with the button on the outside. If worse comes to worse, you may have to take them out and go to a computer shop, I had to do that with one of my two DVD drives.

I just checked and memtest86+ is now at Version 4. When I completed the "memtest86+" runs, I was pretty sure my hardware was OK.

I suggest that you start here and make sure that your computer is OK.

Good Luck -- Kofschip/Jerry

[Rami]

I would, but I can't even get into Windows. Thank god for laptops.

[Moparmike]

And, yes, the XP DVD/CD does have a repair function.
What sometimes works better is to put your OS disk in, boot to C: in dos. Once there, type sfc/ purgecache and hit enter. Let it run, then: sfc/ scannow and hit enter. This will repair all of your system files without ruining your install.

Running SFC would be my suggestion too. If it's just a corrupt system file then SFC (system file check) might be able to get things straightened out enough to get back into Winders.

If all you've got is a Recovery CD/DVD though, this might be a little tricky (depending on what brand your rig is). Some recovery disks will allow you to back out of the OEM factory recovery program and access the normal Windows OS Install CD functions & some don't.

[Rami]

So if I have a windows install disk, and I can get it into my drive, what do I do? (Step-by-step, I'm a little slow)

[Moparmike]

Hmmm...it's been a while.

First, try doing the "F8" during boot to get to the Windows Advanced Boot Options menu (same place you would boot to Safe Mode). Then select "Safe Mode with Command prompt".
If you can get to the command-line DOS prompt, try running SFC from there using the two step process that DevilDog posted.
First type sfc /purgecache and let that action run. Next, type sfc /scanonce and let it run.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310747

Give that a try.
(I'm much overdue for sleep...bad night at work. Will check back in after a few hours to see if that works for ya.)

[Rami]

The Windows Advanced boot options automatically comes up. I can get there. I can also get to the BIOS menu, so I might be able to boot from disk. We'll see how that goes.

[Dirtman]

....so I might be able to boot from disk. We'll see how that goes....

[ insert the theme from "Jaws" here ]
....... 14364

[CrisGer]

Hijack this works great. There is also a great site called Bleeping Computer. they have saved my system four times. They work for free, computer experts who are dedicataed to helping us all.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com

they work both sides of the street, the virus attack fixing and just all around compouter problems. they are good people to know about. They work with Hijack this a lot, and Combofix which is another very good fixer for all sorts of things but needs knowledgable direction to use. I am not skilled enough to help Rami as i depend on my tech, but i really hope things work out for you, it is a chalellenge when this stuff happens....hopefully the built in system fix will work.

[Fibber]

For those who get caught by those phoney "update" messages, try this program to remove the implanted bugs. It will help ,and really works good!
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

[Rami]

Good news....I got it back up. Something must have been haywire in the Windows startup files. After running the Windows recovery disk, all is now well. To be safe, I am completely restoring Windows from my backup files.

I will run a complete virus scan and spyware scan tonight, then I will backup my CFS2 installs again.

Whew....I just about s*it a brick! :barf:

[MaskRider]

That is great news Rami! Wheew!!

[harleyman]

Rami.


Use your disks for a repair.....

That should do it............


ALSO....AVG is not as good as it was in the past..Noeton bought it and slowed down the updates I think...

[CrisGer]

ys AVG is not as good anymore, try Malwarebytes Anti Malware, it is a super cleaner. I am sooooo glad you are back up Rami. Was saying prayers to the Kahuna of Hard Drives for you. :):ernae:

[Rami]

Well...I'm KINDA up. All of my video drivers were wiped out, and so was my monitor. My PC does not recognize my monitor, and my NiVIDIA settings.

[Kofschip]

Rami,make sure that you remove all traces of your video drivers, before you reinstall them. Am happy that you are back up again.:ernae:

[MaskRider]

If you can't get to the Nvidia website and need Nvidia Nasty File Remover, I have version 0.7.2. that I can send to ya if you need it. Just PM me with a preferred email addy.

[Rami]

Because GearyMcS is the one who built this beast, I'm going to talk to him first about how to tame it. I'm making damn sure that I back up CFS2 right now.

[Douglas]

Have you tried a system restore ?

[Rami]

No, not yet. I may try that.

[Rami]

It looks like the only real solution to my issues is to wipe the slate clean. However, I do have backups, so the process should not be exceptionally arduous.

Hopefully, this will fix my issues.

[CrisGer]

Oh dear Rami
well if you need anything i might have pls let us know...re file restorations

good luck with it all. :)

[Rami]

CrisGer,

I have backups of just about EVERYTHING. :jump:

[miamieagle]

I"am glad you where able to fix it!:icon29:

[watchdog22]

Hi Rami, I fell for the same Flash update ambush too, my rig has been in the University IT workshop for 2 weeks and dramas persist. Its a slippery little sucker! I've had to beg time on a friends laptop (ex wife) so all my projects are on hold.

[Rami]

I got my PC back up and created a nice restore point with everything clean, installed, and defragged. :wiggle: