Not so spontaneous reboots

[Jonny]

Was over at my sister's house for Turkey Day. She asked me to look at here
PC as it had a few problems in email a few days before. Brought over some
spy sniffing software etc. as she said her kids spend alot of time on the
internet on that PC.

Found that any kind of software that scanned the hard drive caused the PC to
reboot. This included both her onboard McAfee, AOL's virus sniffer, Trend
Micro's AntiSpyware, and Windows disk checking utility.

Long story short, we simply disabled some items via msconfig from starting
that originated in the registry. Three entries in per msconfig indicated
three blank entries in the run section of the registry. I checked there,
nothing like that per regedit. Was able to roll a full screen 3 times for
all the startup entries on this PC, sheesh.

After that we were able to run AVG virus scan, nothing found. TMAS still
causes a reboot as does McAfee AV scan, didn't try AOL's AV scanner.

Her AOL email still works. Can you send suggestions on how to hunt down the
cause of this problem? Will forward likely candidate fixes to her. Thanks.

 

[Jim]

I suggest that you download Prime95 ( http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm )
and run the "torture test". The reason I want you to do this is because the
first inclination is to believe it's the HD, which it may very well be.
BUT, it may also be the case that it's NOT HD related, but simply a function
of the *intensity* with which the system is using the CPU, memory, and other
subsystems when scanning the HD. By using Prime95, we drive the CPU and
memory subsystems just as hard (probably much harder) w/o impacting the HD.
If Prime95 runs for several hours and nothing happens, then it may be the
HD. If Prime95 does fail as quickly, then it's NOT HD related, the HD was
only incidental.

That's what you have to do to track down this problem. You have to use
strategies to eliminate things so you can at least narrow the search to
something manageable. Right now, you have virtually nothing to go on, it
could be anything.

I've also seen bad memory lead to these types of problems. If there's a
memory error, the system can do almost anything, even reboot spontaneously.
I suggest downloading memtest86 ( http://www.memtest86.com/ ), running for
several cycles, and just making sure no errors are reported.

Jim

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

New! Windows Live Safety Center! (beta)
http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (Beta)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...A2-6A57-4C57-A8BD-DBF62EDA9671&displaylang=en

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Was over at my sister's house for Turkey Day. She asked me to look at here
| PC as it had a few problems in email a few days before. Brought over some
| spy sniffing software etc. as she said her kids spend alot of time on the
| internet on that PC.
|
| Found that any kind of software that scanned the hard drive caused the PC to
| reboot. This included both her onboard McAfee, AOL's virus sniffer, Trend
| Micro's AntiSpyware, and Windows disk checking utility.
|
| Long story short, we simply disabled some items via msconfig from starting
| that originated in the registry. Three entries in per msconfig indicated
| three blank entries in the run section of the registry. I checked there,
| nothing like that per regedit. Was able to roll a full screen 3 times for
| all the startup entries on this PC, sheesh.
|
| After that we were able to run AVG virus scan, nothing found. TMAS still
| causes a reboot as does McAfee AV scan, didn't try AOL's AV scanner.
|
| Her AOL email still works. Can you send suggestions on how to hunt down the
| cause of this problem? Will forward likely candidate fixes to her. Thanks.
| --
| Jonny

 

[Rock]

Was over at my sister's house for Turkey Day. She asked me to look at here
PC as it had a few problems in email a few days before. Brought over some
spy sniffing software etc. as she said her kids spend alot of time on the
internet on that PC.

Found that any kind of software that scanned the hard drive caused the PC to
reboot. This included both her onboard McAfee, AOL's virus sniffer, Trend
Micro's AntiSpyware, and Windows disk checking utility.

Long story short, we simply disabled some items via msconfig from starting
that originated in the registry. Three entries in per msconfig indicated
three blank entries in the run section of the registry. I checked there,
nothing like that per regedit. Was able to roll a full screen 3 times for
all the startup entries on this PC, sheesh.

After that we were able to run AVG virus scan, nothing found. TMAS still
causes a reboot as does McAfee AV scan, didn't try AOL's AV scanner.

Her AOL email still works. Can you send suggestions on how to hunt down the
cause of this problem? Will forward likely candidate fixes to her. Thanks.

All scans need to be done in safe mode.

THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Richard Harper’s Guide to Cleaning Pests
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

For viruses, start with Trend Micro’s Sysclean and McAfee’s Stinger.
Download them and the Sysclean signature file. Delete the temporary
internet files, turn off system restore, boot into safe mode and run
them. Boot back into normal mode and run a full AV scan with your
normal AV program. Then turn system restore back on.

Trend Micro Sysclean
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp

Trend Micro Signature File
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/pattern.asp

McAfee AVert Stinger Virus Removal Tool
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

You should also regularly run at least two of these online scans in
addition to your regular up to date AV program:

Online and Downloadable Virus Scanning:

Panda ActiveScan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

Bit Defender Online Virus Scan:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

Symantec Online Virus and Security Scan:
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp

TrendMicro:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

McAfee Online Virus Scan:
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp

RAV AntiVirus - Scan Online
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/

F-Secure:
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

After your system is clean use these programs to help keep it clean:

Spywareblaster
www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html

Spywareguard
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html

IE-SPYAD
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm

Make sure you have a firewall active at all times. If nothing else use
the one built into XP, but there are a variety of free third party ones
that do a better job from Sygate or Zone Alarm.

Sygate Personal Firewall
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

Zone Alarm
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?lid=staticcomp_za

Lastly check your system for vulnerabilities. Make sure you have all
the latest security patches from Windows Update too.

Websites which will check for vulnerabilities:

Browser Security Tests:
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym

http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/
https://testzone.secunia.com/browser_checker/
www.pcpitstop.com

 

[simon]

Was over at my sister's house for Turkey Day. She asked me to look at here
PC as it had a few problems in email a few days before. Brought over some
spy sniffing software etc. as she said her kids spend alot of time on the
internet on that PC.

Found that any kind of software that scanned the hard drive caused the PC to
reboot. This included both her onboard McAfee, AOL's virus sniffer, Trend
Micro's AntiSpyware, and Windows disk checking utility.

Long story short, we simply disabled some items via msconfig from starting
that originated in the registry. Three entries in per msconfig indicated
three blank entries in the run section of the registry. I checked there,
nothing like that per regedit. Was able to roll a full screen 3 times for
all the startup entries on this PC, sheesh.

After that we were able to run AVG virus scan, nothing found. TMAS still
causes a reboot as does McAfee AV scan, didn't try AOL's AV scanner.

Her AOL email still works. Can you send suggestions on how to hunt down the
cause of this problem? Will forward likely candidate fixes to her. Thanks.

I just had a very similar job end with memory replacement--no problems
since last Saturday---of course, they will call as soon as I post
this!

Real clue it was hardware was when it would happen in Safe Mode, which
is where I run the spyware/virus detection stuff.

FWIW.

Joe

 

[Jonny]

Anything that is very quick to scan the hard drive partition is unusahle,
causes a reboot. Please revise you response(s).

 

[Rock]

Anything that is very quick to scan the hard drive partition is unusahle,
causes a reboot. Please revise you response(s).

I don't understand your response. Did you do the scans in safe mode?