"Something" running in background..

[puzzled186]

"Something" is running in the background every 5 sec. or so. My
screen does a refresh. I've run AdAware and SpyBot. I've monitored
events and used Task Manager to see what it might be. The only thing
I see is explorer.exe running during that time.

Short of doing a complete reinstall, any ideas?

Thx.

 

[3c273]

Does it stop if you put in a cd? I don't have the cure for that, but I've
seen it before and a reinstall didn't fix it?
Louis

 

[DL]

Youve scanned yr sys with a current AV?
David

Does it stop if you put in a cd? I don't have the cure for that, but I've
seen it before and a reinstall didn't fix it?
Louis

 

[Guest]

You could have a virus or the video card is starting to fail because of heat problems. I have also seen the same thing happen if the drivers for the card are not up to date and the resolution is high on the monitor. I have also seen this happen with too many startup items going and not enough memory. You indicated the only thing you see is explorer running, have you scanned for viruses or do you have an up to date version of antivirus product. Is it setup to scan incoming infomation from the net or for program installs. I ask this because my virus software just notified me a piece of email was contaminated and I read it differently to see it was an official looking piece of mail giving an update to explorer but not from Microsoft. In the attachment was the virus. Between Microsoft, Norton and McAfree, I get notifications once or twice a day of new ways to make our lives miserable on a computer.
On the video if the card doesn't support the frequency which you are running at or resolution it overheats and refreshing every so often happens as the card tries to stabilze the system similiar to a reboot. Sometimes the drivers are the cause, sometimes the memory on the card. Good luck

 

[puzzled186]

Thank you for all of the ideas.
a. Inserting CD did not fix the problem.
b. AV is up to date and has been run... found nothing.
c. AdAware and SpyBot has been run, found nothing.
d. Not video or cpu overheating. I run XP on same system and all's
well.

I have noticed that when running Task Monitor and looking at
performance CPU jumps from 1% to 16%.

Thnx

 

[DL]

Just a thought, you dont have any other electrical apparatus near that may
be causing interference or problem with electrical supply - though I note XP
is ok, so perhaps thats a none starter.
Does the same thing occur if running in Safe mode? if not try reverting to
SVGA driver, see if it repeats.
David

 

[JR K Yoshikawa]

Try Filemon File monitor Program
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/filemon.shtml

If you can specify any program access to any files in back ground.

also you can try Proccess Explorer
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml

If you have any activity may be you can find with this

these are free utility.

 

[puzzled186]

Nice programs.. thanks for the pointers. Didn't help me identify the
problem. I'll just reinstall.

tnx