comp problems

Red October · 2004-06-02, 10:43 PM

Ok, I'm a little lost as to why this is happening. Sometime ago, my comp went on the fritz. Started off by not connecting to the internet (thus I rebooted). Well in one night all my monitor stated that it was working and check connections. Well, after several hours, I gave up and took it to a tech the next day. He pulled everything out and tested everything...everything was working. He put it back together and bam, it was working again, no problems.

Then recently I started having the same problem connecting to the internet. Also in Planetside I'd occasionaly get this pop up about packet loss (but too quick for me to read) which promptly dissappeared. Then very recently, the message has gotten a little bit longer.

Today, my comp would not connect to the internet, so I rebooted...only to get "_" blinking. After a couple of times of this, I finally hit the delete key to enter my bios. Didn't change anything, but I did exit and save. Bam, back in Windows XP. But had still had the problem of connecting to the interenet. PLUS I got this error message about memory, MSL...something can't initiate and VS...something.exe can't run (sorry, idiot like me didn't right it down). Third time around, I got to the internet (and hence writing this now). Any ideas as to what this could be?

Electrofreak · 2004-06-03, 01:25 AM

Hmm... dunno. Try doing a scan for viruses and adware... after that.. check your start-up programs to see if theres anything wierd in there that might cause problems. Other than that I can't really say what it could be without knowin what that error message was.

edit- oh, what kind of memory do you have, and how much? if theres a memory error maybe its not booting to SPD properly... or maybe a ram module is messed up or not gettin the right voltage or something...

martyr · 2004-06-03, 01:47 AM

tell us more about the computer, if you can

Red October · 2004-06-03, 09:14 AM

Ok,

Abit NF7 nForce (nVidia) Motherboard
AMD Athalon 2700 XP CPU
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Video Card
Corsair Value Select Memeory (2x512)
Microsoft XP Operatings System (Home).

Talked to someone here at work and he says be suspicious of the Memory "sounds like one of the chips may be going bad".

Rbstr · 2004-06-03, 10:14 AM

yeah, it is, i had a chip fail on me once, and i got alot of wierd error messages, and things. I didn't even figure it out i gave up, and took to to a certified guy

martyr · 2004-06-03, 12:47 PM

i'd give corsair a ring.
warrantee?

Red October · 2004-06-03, 04:52 PM

Still under warranty. Someone who works next to me also experienced similar issues. She stated before I go and chew out Corsair, that I should first tell SBC to change my "bundle". In her case, DSL was new to her area (as is mine, this past Jan. it was available) and as more and more people were being thrown on, connecting became more and more of a problem. So I may try that first since it seems to be the least of a hassle. Otherwise, Corsair can expect a call from me.

Red October · 2004-06-03, 10:30 PM

Just one more possibility that I would like to have input on....

Today, I started it up and got the blinking "_" Rebooted and got the dark grey screen. Third time, it kicked into XP...but couldn't log on into DSL (timed out). I also noticed that not all of the applications that I usually see on the lower right hand corner were there (msn chat, etc.). So I logged off (took a few minutes) and logged back on (no reboot). And here I am....so I'm guessin its not the DSL connection, but perhaps hardware afterall...or could it be something got wiped out and I need to run the OS from the disk?

Cyanide · 2004-06-03, 11:24 PM

Have you tried formating and reinstalling yet? That would pretty much eliminate the possibility of it being a software problem. A problem in Windows could explain all the symptoms you describe, including the blinking "_" prompt after attempting to boot.

Red October · 2004-06-04, 11:15 AM

Never had to do that before, first for everything. I presume this will work:

http://www.cyberwalker.com/columns/aug02/010802.html

Question: I have my hard drive partitioned, will the solution above affect only my C (where the operating system, office suite, etc. is installed)? Or will it cause problems with my E (where planetside, music, etc. is stored)?

Today while riding in on the van from work, I tried to recollect when I first had my problems...It all started when I installed Norton Anti-Virus Corporate edition from a CD that our IT guy had copied from our Intra-net (do to web changes, the link for the download "dissappeared"). This version it turns out is only compliant with Windows 2000 (as we don't have XP yet). Person in another cubicle has XP Pro and it wouldn't even read the CD, I have XP home, it read the CD and installed, but I couldn't get ANY of the virus updates and nothing on their web-site was helpful (nor did it register as a program that I could uninstall or launch...just the pop-up about my definitions being out of date and dissappearing before I could tell it go away). I'm wondering if this older version looked at XP and said "your evil, DIE" and wiped out something it shouldn't have.

Cyanide · 2004-06-05, 01:27 AM

That is possible. I've encountered several instances of Norton AV screwing up systems. If your version of norton isn't even meant to be running on XP I would imagine that would increase the likelyhood of it causing problems. If you haven already, you should uninstall it and see if the problem disappears. If it doesn't fix the problem you should go ahead and do a format and reinstall.

About formating. It is possible to format only one of the partitions, leaving the data on the other partition untouched. However, you may need to reinstall some programs because you will be erasing the registry when you format the partion that contains windows.

Remember to backup everything you want to keep from your Windows partition because it will be lost for good once you've formated and reinstalled windows.

Red October · 2004-06-05, 03:12 PM

Well I grabbed the disk from our IT guy. When I loaded it in, I noticed a second Setup file. Now I remember I did the first one and I did get some error, but at the end it said load succesful and complete and didn't give it much thought. So I ran the second one...there it was "This Norton Antivirus corporat veriosn x.7 is not compatable with this version Windows. It has been know to cause computer instability"

Went to uninstall it, but realized I didn't have that option from either control pannel OR program file. So I did it from the disk. I rebooted, but still got the "_", did it again, got in and then I went to system restore and put it back to the day before norton. So far, the "_" hasn't returned. Noticed it did seem to run smoother, but I was having problems with connecting to internet (but now even worse) and sbc tech support couldnt find the problem. I couldn't get into the net or I got in and didn't stay connected for long. So, I began to suspect Norton probally wasn't even working this whole time. Re-loaded Zone Alarm (my Firewall that comes with SBC) and went ahead and purchased thier Anti-Virus software and down loaded it. Sure enough, WIN.32Agobot was found along with 3 infected files. Zone Alarm repaired and treated them (I also recognized the files, the same one's that said they were having trouble closing when I had internet problems). Rebooted, and so far no problems. I even played Planetside in some heavy battles to see if I got any packet loss...none. Hopefully I nailed it, but if it acts up again...its format time (and I lose my ego of never needing to re-format my hard drive).