[rolfwaller]

I have a very frustrating series of problems with XP, which began 2 weeks ago, for which I can come up with no cause and no solution...

Among the symptoms/problems:

Computer takes 5-10 minutes to boot, and the hard drive hits constantly throughout startup.

Norton Internet Security does not enable itself, even though it is optioned to do so. It will enable manually, however.

Half of my Control Panel icons have disappeared in the classic view, including Power Management and Display.

Windows Defender program gives error message on startup and won't launch (I tried updating it when I learned the old program expired a few weeks ago, but update didn't take, so I uninstalled the whole program).

When trying to come out of hibernation, only a black screen and cursor appears.

Once everything finally gets up and running, things seem to be fine, although the computer has locked-up at times when I try to do too much too fast.

That's all I can think of now...I have tried my usual scans (Norton Anti-Virus, Ad-Aware and SpyBot), defragmented the hard drive and tried System Restore to two earlier points, all to to good end.

Thanks for any and all help.

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Hi rolfwaller...

Many of the symptoms you describe can be caused by malware. Let's rule that out first off.

Please go to the Malware Forum and follow the instructions found there.

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 rolfwaller...

Many of the symptoms you describe can be caused by malware. Let's rule that out first off.

Please go to the Malware Forum and follow the instructions found there.

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

[rolfwaller]

Thanks for the suggestions... but I only got as far as downloading the ewido anti-spyware: when I tried to reboot in safe mode, it goes to a blue screen with the following message:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Disable or uninstall any anti-virus, disk defragmentation or backup utilities. Check your hard drive configuration, and check for any updated drivers. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.
Technical information:
***STOP: 0x00000024 (0x00190203,0x82BA83F0,0xC0000102,0x00000000)"

I cannot navigate from this screen at all, and I don't know how to do any of that stuff it asks. I'm really stuck now.

Edited by rolfwaller, 14 January 2007 - 03:10 PM.

[Retired Tech]

Press and hold the power button until the PC shuts off

Turn the computer back on, and look for a prompt to 'Press any key to boot from CD' (some systems may not ask).
If you cannot boot from the CD, you may need to change the boot sequence in BIOS.

Possibly, you will need to press the power button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

Press any key on the keyboard and Windows® Setup will launch (blue screen with white text) .

After a few minutes you will be presented with the following choices:

To setup Windows XP now. press Enter

To Repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R

To quit setup without installing XP, press F3

Press R to repair the Windows XP installation.

The next screen will ask you which Windows installation you would like to log on to. Normally the following will be listed:

1: C:\WINDOWS

Press 1, then Enter to continue.

You may now be asked for the Administrator password. If you know this type it and press Enter. If you don't know the Administrators password it may be blank. Just press Enter

At the command prompt type:

chkdsk /r

Press Enter

Chkdsk will now check the hard drive for errors, and will attempt to repair any it finds.
This process may take a while, but when finished will go back to the same command prompt as before.

Turn off and restart the computer.

[rolfwaller]

Thanks, but what is the intent of all this? Is this truly to REPAIR the system or to wipe it clean and start from scratch with a reinstall of XP?

By the way, my machine is a 2-year-old Sony VAIO that doesn't have a recovery CD, so I can't seem to follow your directions: you simply tap F10, which leads you to a reinstall procedure only, from what I can tell. I don't want to go too far without knowing the end result. I have plenty of data that I never got a chance to backup, and want to do whatever I can to get things going without a reinstall.

[Retired Tech]

I cannot navigate from this screen at all, and I don't know how to do any of that stuff it asks. I'm really stuck now.

That is how to do the stuff it asks

Chkdsk will now check the hard drive for errors, and will attempt to repair any it finds.

When windows starts asking to run check disk, you will be old before it stops asking

Are you able to borrow an XP CD

[rolfwaller]

I should have been more specific: do you think following the instructions for the VAIO recovery process will do the same as what you are suggesting?

And yes, I probably can borrow an XP CD. I presume you're suggesting that is best.

[Retired Tech]

The recovery option may be a return to day one, XP and basic drivers

With an XP CD you can run the check it wants, which is detailed here

chkdsk /f /r

It does not affect data

An XP CD would give other options also

[rolfwaller]

Thanks, Keith...I sure would like to avoid affecting data, so I'll try that route first.

[Retired Tech]

With an XP CD, (same version as was originally installed), it should go as post 4, if not, post back

Hope it goes well