computer problems, is it my hard drive

[cjpaetz]

It all started about a month ago ...........
I have a Dell Dimension 4600 with Windows XP operating
system (no network) it is
a home computer that is more than 4 years old.
I have had some Virus / Trojan Horse problems which are
resolved. My computer is
now protected with Avast and Stopzilla.
I have changed ISP's in the last month in my thrashing
about to resolve problems.
I have downloaded updated drivers through a service
(driveragent.com) and also sub-
scribed to a registry repair service (registryfix.com).
While these steps have eliminated many of the strange
"blue screen messages"
like : BAD POOL HEADER or IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL , I am
still getting
a "blue screen message" that says Windows has to be shut
down to protect my
computer and these are becoming more frequent.
I suspect (but I'm not certain) my hard drive (which is
a Western Digital Caviar internal 40GB) and have ordered a
Seagate 160GB to replace it.
I would appreciate any comments about the possible source
of my problems.
I DO intend to replace the hard drive and while I can
handle the physical aspect
I don't how to install the OS.
If more info is needed I'll try to provide it !!

Many thanks,

Common Joe

 

[Malke]

It all started about a month ago ...........
I have a Dell Dimension 4600 with Windows XP operating
system (no network) it is
a home computer that is more than 4 years old.
I have had some Virus / Trojan Horse problems which are
resolved. My computer is
now protected with Avast and Stopzilla.
I have changed ISP's in the last month in my thrashing
about to resolve problems.
I have downloaded updated drivers through a service
(driveragent.com) and also sub-
scribed to a registry repair service (registryfix.com).
While these steps have eliminated many of the strange
"blue screen messages"
like : BAD POOL HEADER or IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL , I am
still getting
a "blue screen message" that says Windows has to be shut
down to protect my
computer and these are becoming more frequent.
I suspect (but I'm not certain) my hard drive (which is
a Western Digital Caviar internal 40GB) and have ordered a
Seagate 160GB to replace it.
I would appreciate any comments about the possible source
of my problems.
I DO intend to replace the hard drive and while I can
handle the physical aspect
I don't how to install the OS.
If more info is needed I'll try to provide it !!

I'm not saying this to hurt your feelings, but almost everything you've
done has been bad for your system. For example:

1. You installed drivers from a service instead of getting them from
Dell for your specific model machine, as you should have done. This is
probably why you are getting errors.

2. You used a registry cleaner which is normally a bad idea. This
probably damaged other parts of your operating system.

3. The hard drive's physical state was probably not to blame for the
issues you were/are having. You can always do a drive diagnostic on it
with a utility downloaded from the drive mftr.'s website. See this link
for how to do that:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

However, since you are going to replace the drive with a larger one
anyway, you will do a clean install of Windows. Since you have an older
Dell, you would have received an operating system disk and the Dell
Resource CD. To install your operating system on the new drive, boot
with the operating system disk and follow the directions at the links below.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand

4. After you get the operating system installed, use the Resource CD to
install all the drivers. If you have lost your Resource CD, download all
the drivers for your model machine from Dell's website first and burn to
CD-R or put on a large-capacity USB thumbdrive. You need drivers for the
chipset, network adapter, audio, and video.

5. If your operating system did not come with Service Pack 2, install it
next. Have it burned to CD-R before you start your installation project
because you do not want to connect the computer to the Internet without
SP2 installed and the Windows Firewall active. You can download SP2 here:

Download full SP2 - http://tinyurl.com/5bobl
Order SP2 on CD from MS - http://tinyurl.com/6g675

After you get SP2 installed, go to Windows Update and do all the
subsequent updates. Then install a current version antivirus and the
rest of your programs.


Malke

 

[DL]

Sources of problems;
driveragent.com, registryfix.com to start with.

Western Digital have a utility on their site for testing the hd
Drivers are obtained from Dell, and NOT winupdate
Dell will have provided you with a recover Disk, to restore your PC to
factory specs.
Do you have this disk?

 

[Rock]

It all started about a month ago ...........
I have a Dell Dimension 4600 with Windows XP operating
system (no network) it is
a home computer that is more than 4 years old.
I have had some Virus / Trojan Horse problems which are
resolved. My computer is
now protected with Avast and Stopzilla.
I have changed ISP's in the last month in my thrashing
about to resolve problems.
I have downloaded updated drivers through a service
(driveragent.com) and also sub-
scribed to a registry repair service (registryfix.com).
While these steps have eliminated many of the strange
"blue screen messages"
like : BAD POOL HEADER or IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL , I am
still getting
a "blue screen message" that says Windows has to be shut
down to protect my
computer and these are becoming more frequent.
I suspect (but I'm not certain) my hard drive (which is
a Western Digital Caviar internal 40GB) and have ordered a
Seagate 160GB to replace it.
I would appreciate any comments about the possible source
of my problems.
I DO intend to replace the hard drive and while I can
handle the physical aspect
I don't how to install the OS.
If more info is needed I'll try to provide it !!

Sounds like the system wasn't clean in the first place and you compounded
the problem by using driveragent.com and subscribing to a a registry
cleaning service.

Automatic registry cleaners should be avoided at all costs. They cause
more problems than they solve. For drivers one should go to the device
manufacturer's web site if it's a retail card or device, to the computer OEM
website if it's hardware that came with the computer by a large OEM like HP
or Dell, or the motherboard manufacturer's web site for on board devices.

There might not be anything wrong with your drive.

I would start over with a clean slate, install XP clean, reinstall all
drivers, but get them from the right source, install all apps clean.

I don't know about stopzilla but you should use a 3rd party firewall, I
recommend either Sunbelt Software's Kerio Personal Firewall or Comodo
Personal Firewall, and you need a combination of apps that target non viral
malware. There are quite a few good ones, all of which are free:

Ad-Aware (new version just released), SpyBot S&D, Windows Defender,
SUPERAntiSpyware, AVG AntiSpyware, BHO Demon, Spyware Blaster (this offers
passive protection to keep some malware from installing), and HijackThis.

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/before_you_plug_in.html#III

http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html

 

[Poprivet]

Personal opinion, but ... I don't think anything is wrong with your hard
drive other than you either still have malware on it, or files are corrupted
(highly likely). So, with any luck, you'll now end up with a 2-drive system
unless you decide to return the drive after things are fixed.
Malke and Rock gave you -excellent- advice you should follow so I won't
parrot them.

The quickest solution for you is probably to back up any important files you
created (pics, letters, etc), be sure to backup up Documents and Settings
also. If you've kept all your created files in My Documents subfolders, all
you have to back up is Documents and Settings and all its subfolders.

Disconnect from the internet, unplug peripherals:
Then reinstall the operating system from scratch.

A google search will get you lots of step by step instructions on how to
reinstall XP or better yet, if instructions came with your PC, use those.
It's mostly straight forward but it's different for different machines.
The Dell site has a lot of info on this, too under the Support area.

Once installed, reinstall your antivirus and spyware apps, connect to the
'net, and download all the updates for XP as desired.
If you should accidentally download IE7 in the process, just use
Add/Remove to take it off, and you'll be back to IE6.

HTH
Pop`