PC just quits on me

[FatKat]

I've got a 3+ year-old P4 (2ghz), and beginning this past Saturday
night, the machine began to just cut out on me. The screen goes blank,
but the computer doesn't shut off. However, this isn't a display
problem. KB lights for scroll-lock or caps-lock remain frozen where
they had been; and the CD doors won't move. the indicator lights for
the CD drive and HD stay on and steady.

At first the problem would occur while using RealPlayer, so I stayed
away from using that - but it got to the point where the computer won't
go a few seconds after start-up without going into its dark freeze.

I've added no new hardware in the past week or past few weeks. I've
got McAfee VirusScan - I haven't updated it in a few months, but the
security center shows it's about %70 current, and I last ran that about
a week ago. My last software change was an upgrade of Spybot - which I
ran as recently as Saturday night, when I first noticed the problem.

has anybody seen a virus like this? I'm guessing it's a hardware
problem, but right now I can't even keep the thing on. What questions
should I be asking that might make an answer more forthcoming?

Suggestions appreciated.

 

[Tom]

I've got a 3+ year-old P4 (2ghz), and beginning this past Saturday
night, the machine began to just cut out on me. The screen goes blank,
but the computer doesn't shut off. However, this isn't a display
problem. KB lights for scroll-lock or caps-lock remain frozen where
they had been; and the CD doors won't move. the indicator lights for
the CD drive and HD stay on and steady.

At first the problem would occur while using RealPlayer, so I stayed
away from using that - but it got to the point where the computer won't
go a few seconds after start-up without going into its dark freeze.

I've added no new hardware in the past week or past few weeks. I've
got McAfee VirusScan - I haven't updated it in a few months, but the
security center shows it's about %70 current, and I last ran that about
a week ago. My last software change was an upgrade of Spybot - which I
ran as recently as Saturday night, when I first noticed the problem.

has anybody seen a virus like this? I'm guessing it's a hardware
problem, but right now I can't even keep the thing on. What questions
should I be asking that might make an answer more forthcoming?

Suggestions appreciated.

If your PC is that old, my first thought is a piece of hardware is ready to
say goodbye, and it may be your hard drive. Click start/run and type CHKDSK,
and hit enter, and see what it says. You may also want to run diagnostics on
your drive, which you only can get from the drive manufacturer for that
model.

Firstly though, if you can, and have the time, back up anything important to
you on other media, before the possibility of losing everything happens.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I've got a 3+ year-old P4 (2ghz), and beginning this past Saturday
night, the machine began to just cut out on me. The screen goes blank,
but the computer doesn't shut off. However, this isn't a display
problem. KB lights for scroll-lock or caps-lock remain frozen where
they had been; and the CD doors won't move. the indicator lights for
the CD drive and HD stay on and steady.

At first the problem would occur while using RealPlayer, so I stayed
away from using that - but it got to the point where the computer won't
go a few seconds after start-up without going into its dark freeze.

I've added no new hardware in the past week or past few weeks. I've
got McAfee VirusScan - I haven't updated it in a few months, but the
security center shows it's about %70 current, and I last ran that about
a week ago. My last software change was an upgrade of Spybot - which I
ran as recently as Saturday night, when I first noticed the problem.

has anybody seen a virus like this? I'm guessing it's a hardware
problem, but right now I can't even keep the thing on. What questions
should I be asking that might make an answer more forthcoming?

Suggestions appreciated.

Check that all the fans are working and the CPU heatsink and video card
heatsink don't have a build up of dust. It sounds like it could be a heat
problem. The next thing I would suspect is the power supply starting to
fail. Do you get any errors or warnings in the event logs?

Kerry

 

[Kerry Brown]

Another quick note 70% current isn't good enough when it comes to virus
protection.

Kerry

 

[FatKat]

Thanks for the reply. However, last night I ran it on "safe mode" and
it seemed to run stable. I did a restore back as far as I could go (a
couple of weeks ago), then re-booted in normal. Unfortunately, the
problem occurred again after boot-up, but at least after a longer
delay. After a second attempted boot-up, the problem occurred again
even sooner, which leads me to believe it'n an XP problem.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Thanks for the reply. However, last night I ran it on "safe mode" and
it seemed to run stable. I did a restore back as far as I could go (a
couple of weeks ago), then re-booted in normal. Unfortunately, the
problem occurred again after boot-up, but at least after a longer
delay. After a second attempted boot-up, the problem occurred again
even sooner, which leads me to believe it'n an XP problem.

How long did it run in safe mode? It could still be a heat problem. Safe
mode causes far less use of CPU and the video card which means less heat. It
could also be spyware or a virus. I would make sure your anti-virus is up to
date and scan again in safe mode if possible. You should also scan for
spyware with more than one program. A good link to see how to rid your
computer of malware is http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm If none of
the above pan out I would try checking the memory next. Bad ram can be
elusive to track down. Running in safe mode causes windows to use different
memory locations so that may have been why safe mode worked. There is a free
memory test program here http://www.memtest.org

Good luck, Kerry

 

[FatKat]

How long did it run in safe mode? It could still be a heat problem. Safe
mode causes far less use of CPU and the video card which means less heat. It
could also be spyware or a virus. I would make sure your anti-virus is up to
date and scan again in safe mode if possible. You should also scan for
spyware with more than one program. A good link to see how to rid your
computer of malware is http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm If none of
the above pan out I would try checking the memory next. Bad ram can be
elusive to track down. Running in safe mode causes windows to use different
memory locations so that may have been why safe mode worked. There is a free
memory test program here http://www.memtest.org

Good luck, Kerry

Thanks again for the reply. The machine ran on safe mode long enough
to do a defrag and a chkdsk. I had already done a spybot scan, and
cleared off what it found. Then, having seen bad reviews for spybot, I
uininstalled it and did a system restore to the date I installed spybot
(which sets up a restore point when it installs), and the problem
recurred anyway on re-boot in normal. At least it occurred after a
longer period, but on a second reboot, the freeze recurred only seconds
after winxp start up. Howeverm I'll try your memory test. Thanks for
the link.