OregonTex said:
Lately, when I startup my machine from the off position (XP), I get
the main XP splash page with the rotating green dots, then to the blue
screen to put in the password, my wallpaper appears, but the machine
just freezes....never
comes back to me. Nothing works at this point, no matter how long its
left. I have to push/hold the power button to hard kill the machine,
then restart....the second time the machine will start up all the way,
but its a lot slower than "normal".
I have Norton Internet Security, so I doubt its a virus. Any ideas??
I doubt this is a virus. It sounds more like a hardware problem. I would
start by swapping out your power supply for a known-working one. Then
if that doesn't fix it, here are some more general hardware
troubleshooting steps:
1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing). Obviously
you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running
and feel if the laptop is getting too hot.
2) Test the RAM - I like Memtest86+ from
www.memtest.org. Obviously, you
have to get the program from a working machine. You will either
download the precompiled Windows binary to make a bootable floppy or
the .iso to make a bootable cd. If you want to use the latter, you'll
need to have third-party burning software on the machine where you
download the file - XP's built-in burning capability won't do the job.
In either case, boot with the media you made. The test will run
immediately. Let the test run for an hour or two - unless errors are
seen immediately. If you get any errors, replace the RAM.
3) Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from the mftr. Download
the file and make a bootable floppy or cd with it. Boot with the media
and do a thorough test. If the drive has physical errors, replace it.
As with all troubleshooting, make only one change at a time and test
after each change before going onto the next thing. Testing hardware
failures often involves swapping out suspected parts with known-good
parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are uncomfortable
opening your computer, take the machine to a professional computer
repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).
Malke
