[Bargod]

A couple days ago, my girlfriends computer just freaked out. All at once, it displayed a lot of problems. At first the keyboard would not work and none of the mouse buttons worked properly (ie: the scroll bar would zoom in and out of a document and when she double clicked on an icon, the properties would come up). The the floppy dive just quit, I don't know if that is related or not, but it happened at the same time. Last, in the device manager, I found that COM1 and COM3 cannot start (both code 10) and LPT1 cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12).


Thanks for any help you can offer.

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Hi Bargod...

My first suggestion would be to check the machine for malware. Please go to the Malware Forum and follow the instructions.

That will give you several steps that will help you clean up 70 percent of all problems by yourself...then post a hijackthis log in THAT forum. Be patient, the Malware Forum is a very busy place and a two or three day wait is not unusual. DO NOT REPLY TO OR BUMP YOUR OWN LOG. If it shows a reply it may be overlooked as one that is being worked on.

If you are still having problems after getting a clean bill of health from the malware expert, please return to this thread.

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi Bargod...

My first suggestion would be to check the machine for malware. Please go to the Malware Forum and follow the instructions.

That will give you several steps that will help you clean up 70 percent of all problems by yourself...then post a hijackthis log in THAT forum. Be patient, the Malware Forum is a very busy place and a two or three day wait is not unusual. DO NOT REPLY TO OR BUMP YOUR OWN LOG. If it shows a reply it may be overlooked as one that is being worked on.

If you are still having problems after getting a clean bill of health from the malware expert, please return to this thread.

wannabe1

[Bargod]

Thank you for the quick reply. I actually posted this in the malware forum first. http://www.geekstogo...=0

They said to come here.

Edited by Bargod, 16 May 2006 - 06:51 AM.

[wannabe1]

Ok...

Do you have the XP installation cd for this machine? Some of the procedures we may try will require the cd.

Click Start then Run...type chkdsk /r (Again...note the space) and reboot when prompted (type Y and press Enter when told the drive is busy and asked if you would like to schedule the test to run on the next restart). This will run on boot-up so restart will take a while...be patient.

[Bargod]

Doing that is going to be a problem because now the computer won't even boot up. It will come on but that is it.

[wannabe1]

Do you have an XP installation cd?

[Bargod]

No, I don't. I bought the pc used and started fresh with a system restore disk that a friend had. Let me check around and see if he still has it.

[wannabe1]

If this is a branded machine such as Dell or HP...was the disk you used for "starting fresh" for exactly the same make and model computer? Recovery disks are very proprietory and can lead to the problems you describe when the wrong drivers are installed.

My question at this point would be..."Are you using the correct recovery disk for your machine?"

wannabe1

[Bargod]

AFAIK, I did. I am going to contact emachines to see what a recovery disk will cost me since I don't have one of my own. BTW, it's an eMachines W4020.

[wannabe1]

Installing from the proper cd will make a mighty big difference. Having the correct drivers for the motherboard and other hardware installed will make it run like a new machine...

[Bargod]

Thanks for the quik reply on this, I will be ordering one soon. My question is, will this actuall help since the pc won't boot up? OR... do you think this might be a hardware problem afterall?

[Vaillant]

Well once you have the correct CD and reinstall windows, it should as wannabe1 indicates, run like new

If it still does these things after the reinstall, then we can work on figuring out what the problem is, and it would indeed be hardware...

But let's start by finishing up this step before assuming problems, eh ?