[footsie]

My windows xp home edition lets me go into desktop screen ok.
Then I am unable to access other programmes.
When opening control panel/my computer it all hangs
Unable to get in to do a system restore
Tried Spybot and Avast but they hang at the same place each time
I did get into add/remove software but the window

Anyone any ideas or further questions to help me
Thanks

[Advertisements]

I'm sorry to hear about your issue and I will do what I can to help you resolve this issue.
Please do the following and supply the requested information as needed. If you don't understand my instructions please ask and I will try to explain them clearer for you. Do not attempt any steps unless instructed or ask before to make sure they will not cause any further issues.

Please provide system info below:

• Desktop or Laptop
• Make and model of system if it is a brand name like Dell or HP
• Motherboard make and model if system is custom built

You say:

Tried Spybot and Avast but they hang at the same place each time

Where exactly does it stop? Does it start scanning or not?
I take it this means all programs do the same?
Have you tried going into Safe Mode and see if the issue happens there?
Reboot and at the second post screen start tapping F8. When the Advanced Boot menu appears use your arrow keys and highlight Safe Mode and click Enter.
Have you tried booting to Last Known Good Configuration that worked?
Repeat the Safe Mode above but instead highlight the line that says Last Known Configuration and click Enter
Do you have a Authentic Win XP installation disk?

[rshaffer61]

I'm sorry to hear about your issue and I will do what I can to help you resolve this issue.
Please do the following and supply the requested information as needed. If you don't understand my instructions please ask and I will try to explain them clearer for you. Do not attempt any steps unless instructed or ask before to make sure they will not cause any further issues.

Please provide system info below:

• Desktop or Laptop
• Make and model of system if it is a brand name like Dell or HP
• Motherboard make and model if system is custom built

You say:

Tried Spybot and Avast but they hang at the same place each time

Where exactly does it stop? Does it start scanning or not?
I take it this means all programs do the same?
Have you tried going into Safe Mode and see if the issue happens there?
Reboot and at the second post screen start tapping F8. When the Advanced Boot menu appears use your arrow keys and highlight Safe Mode and click Enter.
Have you tried booting to Last Known Good Configuration that worked?
Repeat the Safe Mode above but instead highlight the line that says Last Known Configuration and click Enter
Do you have a Authentic Win XP installation disk?

[footsie]

Computer is Dell Inspiron 9100
System is windows XP
Not a custom built machine
Avast - quick scan - stops at c:/windows/system32/drivers/aavmker4.sys
Spybot stops at 30703 of 1285649 Primesoft.Safe Search - smae after trying 3 times
I can access my XL files and Word Docts but can't get into :
Control Panel - did once and checked add/remove software and this was blank - could not load list
Control panel - system
My computer
WAN
Internet
Seems to hang when trying to open any windows
Start button sometimes stops working and have to switch off
Windows will not close down properly - hangs at the "saving settings"

Tried getting into Safe Mode but could not do it. When I switch on my screen is blank until it gets to the user login request. Started F8 straight away but still came to user screen
Put in user password and then F8 but the whole system stopped

My computer came preloaded but I have the original discs with the system files and applications on which are authentic

Tks

[rshaffer61]

Did you try the Last Known Good Configuration Steps?
If so was the result the same?
aavmker4.sys is part of the Avast program. It may mean Avast is corrupted or there is a hidden infection. It also could mean a corrupted OS.
Try this and let me know what it finds and or repairs.
Go to

Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Note the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y
If the window doesn't shutdown on its own then reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for a hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS
This can take several hours to complete.
When completed it will boot the system back into windows.

Let me know if this fixes the problem

[footsie]

Hi
I did not try the last known configuration as I am unable to get to the safe mode menu to select this.

Thanks for the help and I will carry out your directions and get back to you
tks

[rshaffer61]

OK thanks for the update and I will watch for your results of my last post.

[footsie]

I did the chkdsk /r and the message which came up was :
"chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process
would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts" entered Y

It came back to the desktop so selected "turn off - restart" - system hung on saving settings to powered off and rebooted

Then did chkdsk /f and exactly the same thing happened.

[rshaffer61]

OK do you have a authentic XP installation disk handy? You can run this from the Recovery Console doing the below steps.


How To Run Chkdsk /r from Recovery Console:


How to run checkdisk from recovery console (Windows xp). (Courtesy dsenette)

• Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
  Note:Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
• When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
  Note:If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
• When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
• At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following then press Enter:
  

  chkdsk /r

• Allow this to run UNDISTURBED until completed (45 min or so)
• Report any errors

[footsie]

I tried to do this earlier today and the computer is not automatically reading the CD so I tried to go into My Computer to select the CD drive but could not access My Computer

So I am unable to get a CD intialised

[rshaffer61]

You may have to go into the biios and make sure the boot sequence is set for the cdrom as the first boot device.
To check and change it if needed follow the instructions below then follow the chkdsk /r instructions from my last post to continue.
To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS

Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.

Hopefully you have already put the XP cd in the drive before all this. If everything is setup correctly you will get a black screen with the following message in the upper left corner:

"Push Any Key To Boot To Cd". When you see this then push any key and the cd will take over. Then follow the prompts or if you need assistance we will help.

[footsie]

Thanks for this but I am sure I am really IT sick !!

When I rebooted I kept on tapping DEL and there were a few "peeps" and then it went into user password screen - put pword in and kept tapping DEL but then it went into desktop

So could not get to the options you posted

[rshaffer61]

OK DEL may not be how to enter the BIOS on yours. Try F8, F2, F10

When you first turn the system on it should tell you on the lower left side which key or keys to push to enter the BIOS or Setup as it is commonly called.

[footsie]

when I turn the computer on I have a black screen until it comes to the windows blue screen asking for my user password
then it goes into desktop after entering the password
so I do not see anything - is this a problem ?

[rshaffer61]

OK then lets see if we can get to the recovery partition. Please don't go any further if you do get to it.
The key combination is CRTL + F11 pushing the keys at the same time at the the dell screen during post. Once you push them then you want to release them.
It should go into the recovery partition so you can do a system restore.

[footsie]

OK just tried that and again the boot up went to the user login (even though I was pressing CTRL + F11) - put in password and then to desktop