Software Problems & Getting Worse

I ran through the malware process and it picked up 1 bug, but my software is getting flakier and flakier. It started with my MSOffice losing its product code and now every time I go into any component, it reconfigures. Of course, I thought I had the code in my email and cannot locate it. The software disk doesn't have it with it...So, I've been living with it until the piece of paper I should have printed and put with the disk shows up again.

So, I went into Outlook yesterday and found all these undeliverable emails which was my first clue. After running through the malware process, those seem to have stopped. The only problem, when I went to set a new recovery point, my windows expl keeps shutting down now. I right click on just about anything and I get the warning that Win Expl has stopped working. It recovers, restarts...Now every shortcut, is not working. My sound is not playing. I can only get into my browser by calling it up through another program...

I have previously tried to fix everything, but now it's time for help.

I don't know where to begin. I am running Windows7, MSOffice10. My I/N Expl is Chrome. Tell me what you need or where do I go to get you a list of what software/hardware I have?

I'm getting very frustrated. Thanks for your help!

Laura

 

Did you actually post your logs and have them help make sure your clean now? I would do that very first before asking for help over here, better to make sure your clean before we start troubleshooting on the software.

 

Yes. I was directed to this forum when I couldn't finish the last steps. BTW, email is still broadcasting and I'm getting the delivery errors. What ever is doing that must have taken a short break.

Here is a link to my information:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=270372

Thanks. Let me know if I need to go back there or what I need to do.

Laura

 

Greetings, StiinaQT...

I've just glanced at your Malware Removal forum posts - I will look at the posted logs when I get some time.

Meanwhile, try this just to get it out of the way:

1. Physically disconnect your machine from the internet and then boot your machine into Safe Mode.

2. Put the machine through some stresses and see if there is any change in symptoms as far as the WinExplorer crashes, the MSOffice anomalies, etc.

3. Reverse the process (reconnect and boot into normal Windows) and let us know the results.

 

Will do. Thanks!

 

I have tried and tried, but I can't get my computer to boot into safe mode. I checked on the HP website and <F8> is supposed to be the key, but it's not working. On the off chance my keyboard has a problem, I got a second keyboard and tried it on that and no dice. Any suggestions? I still cannot right click on anything without Window Explorer shutting down.

Thanks,
Laura:cry

 

I found your software to do the reboot into safe mode and that didn't work either. I am at a loss.

Laura

 

Sorry to just jump in here, but if you have Superantispyware installed, it has an option called BootSafe that enables you to boot into safe mode. Just go to all programs and then just put your cursor on Superantispyware and the first option should be BootSafe.

 

I didn't realize that Superantispyware had that option. I already had downloaded the MG Bootsafe and did it that way.

I can get a few programs to run, but only if I put my folder options to double click. Single click on the icon then right click and select "Run as Admin." Otherwise, windows shuts down and restarts. Very annoying. None of my shortcuts are working...well ok, some oddball ones do, but everything else I have to find in their program folder. Major annoying. I know how to find them, but not too many people can.

BTW, the Malware guys told me to get either MBAM or SSAS and I chose MBAM to keep active. Is that possibly blocking anything? Is there some configuring of the resident program that I'm not familiar with that may need to be changed?

It seemed to get worse after the malware process, but who knows what damage was done. I also ran the Windows repair (Windows Housecall) from Trend Micro. I haven't seen much difference after doing that. I used it because I tried to install something and the installer files are gone/corrupt.

So, I believe that I am critter free now, but my software needs repair.

Thanks for your help.

Laura

 

Hi, Laura...

To verify: you are now able to boot into Safe Mode? If so, do the same Windows Explorer symptoms exist when Windows is running in Safe Mode?

 

Just the same, whether in safe mode or not.

The most annoying part is my sound is not working. It's disabled somewhere and I can't find where. The software says they are connected (speakers), but I get no sound. In the Device Manager, it reports the speakers are disabled.

Laura

 

Good morning...

Do you have a valid Windows 7 installation disk? If so, then I suggest that you perform a system file check (a quick tutorial for this procedure is located here). Let us know the results.

 

It says the result was that files were repaired (not sure what word was used here, replaced, repaired or what). It gave a log name, but I can't find it. I'll go ahead and reboot and see if my search will now work. (Many functions are not working now.)

Thanks,

Laura

 

Hi...

Yes, please try to find and attach the log file for that SFC scan. The file should be located at %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log >sfcdetails.txt, where normally the %windir% will be C: Windows.

And, to verify: you do have a valid Windows 7 installation disk?

 

Having the location made it easy to find. Now that I have it, it's too big to attach. I tried breaking into half and it's too big. I broke it into quarters and each is still 5 times the size your forum allows. Do you want me to take the time to break it up into smaller pieces or is there another way for you to view the files?

The are all around 1600 kb each. :confused

Yes, I do have a valid Win7 disk. It's what MS sent me when I upgraded.

Laura

 

Hi,

You can zip up the pieces of the cbs.log. Zip files are allowed to be 2mb. Text files like that log will be greatly reduced in size so zipping the whole file may get it down to less than 2mb in one step. Copy the file to your desktop and then right-click it and select Send to and then Compressed folder. (On my system I had to copy it out of the Logs folder to my desktop before it would allow me to zip it.)

Also there is this bit of code that will search the large cbs.log and pull out the salient details. It will put the file sfcdetails.txt on your desktop, I think that is what Caliban is looking to see, so upload that too. (It will only work if the CBS.log is still in its original location %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log) You can open an elevated command prompt by typing cmd into the Start/Search box but don't hit enter. In the list of search results, right-click cmd.exe and select Run as Administrator. In the black command line window copy/paste the line below:

@Caliban, I didn't see that line in your tutorial. Perhaps I missed it or you omitted it?

 

Hope all is well with you, Sach2! Thank you for the help. I don't know why I didn't think to zip the file...duh!

Ok, both files are attached. Had to step back from the old DOS habits, forgot we can now right click in the DOS window and "paste," lol! I kept trying to type it in before I remembered we now have some Windows mouse commands available. Just goes to show how old I am.

Let me know what you see.

Thanks!

Laura

 

The system file check actually did very little - apparently, only 3 components were repaired (2 USB-related and 1 service pack cleanup utility). In other words, SFC didn't help us much.

The fact that you're experiencing problems in Safe Mode leads me to believe that there are either hardware problems that are masking as Windows-related, or that something has gone awry with the Windows 7 upgrade from XP that SFC is unable to address.

Hardware-wise, make sure that all of your device drivers are up to date. You could try booting to a live Linux distro to see if that OS has any problems with your machine which might give us valuable info as to any component direction to take.

Windows-wise: since you've got a Win 7 disk, you could try a repair install. A good walkthrough for this procedure is located at the Windows 7 Forums. If your disk contains Service Pack #1, you'll want to start at Step #5 - if not, Step #6.

* @sach2: thanks for the command line - I haven't posted it previously because that low-level tutorial is just for scanning, but this thread may have changed my way of thinking.

 

I've tried doing a repair with my Win7 disk and it says that I have the wrong version for my currently loaded software. I will follow the link you gave me just in case I've not been doing it properly.

Thanks!
Laura

 

Sorry I can't offer any more help - it's quite frustrating on my end not being able to get a handle as far as what's going on. I can image it's frustrating for you, too.

Do me a favor: see if you can load Speccy, a free system information tool.

When the scan completes select 'File', 'Save as Text file', name the report, and save to an easily found location such as your Desktop.

Be advised: the report will display your IP Address and Windows Product Key. You may delete this information if you so wish.

Then attach that file and let us take a look at your hardware and installed programs.

 

I rebooted my computer and it's even worse. It wouldn't respond to my normal keyboard, so had to pull the old one out with the sticky period key. I couldn't get the repair to run so I'm attaching the file you asked me to get.

Thank you for your patience. I don't understand why my computer says the disk isn't the correct one. It's what MS sent me, it just doesn't make sense.

Laura
:cry

PS Sorry for the delay, Thursday is my day to be out and I've been gone since around 10 am this morning and just really got back home.

 

What is the exact label on your installation disc?

Your Speccy results indicate you are running SP1. Usually, I would think your installation disc didn't include SP1 but you only installed in February this year so if your disc was new it should have included SP1. What is the exact error message you get when trying the repair install?

 

Oh crap, they sent me a 64 bit version, not the 32 bit! I never noticed that before. No wonder it doesn't want to work!

Any way to recover without a replacement disk?

It read:

Backup Disc;
Not for resale

Includes Windows Anytime Upgrade

64 Bit software
(c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation

Do not lend or make illegal copies X15-60612-01

DVD

Windows7
HomePremium

That's all that's on the label.

I'm attaching a JPG of the error window. Obviously, it says that I need a 32 bit version. I just saw the wrong version and didn't read further. Duh!!

Why is it that I'm always the one to get the wrong stuff? I know I specified 32 bit!

Laura

 

I've never done a repair install so I hope Caliban can help. I'm not necessarily recommending the repair, I'm just troubleshooting why your attempt didn't work. I take it you had no restore points available or that you wanted to use from before your problems started.

I think these are MS authorized ISO's for repairs. I think this would be yours English x86: X17-58996.iso. You would have to download the ISO and write it to a blank DVD as an image file. Imgburn's "Write Image File to Disc" option would work. After that I am unfamiliar with the repair process. IT looks like you do steps 1-4, then skip to step 7 here. You need you product key at some point during installation.

 

Nothing to add. It does seem that that is the wrong disk, so downloading, burning and booting to the correct 32-bit .iso does appear to be the only way to go forward with a repair installation.

Laura, sach2 raised an important question: did you ever try restoring your machine to an earlier point?

 

It took several calls, requests to talk to supervisors, but I did get the software--correct for my machine, but now I get an error:

"Unable to read information about disks."

I ran as Admin from a disk I burned with the files they sent me.

No, I did not try a restore point. I will try to do that next.

Thanks,
Laura

 

I try to go into the Action Center and I get the error:

Page failed to load.

Now what?

Thanks,
Laura

:cry

 

Let's see what did they send you? Was it one large ISO file?

As far as System Restore (assuming the malware procedure didn't end up flushing them you have one from 11/16/12--is this before your problems or after they had begun?)

You can just type system restore in the Start/Search box to try to open the program.

 

It was a link to a download and yes it appeared to be one big file, but it prompted my DVD burner to write to a disk. I did that at an 8x rate to make sure the file wasn't messed up.

I will try the system restore command and hopefully that might work.


Thanks!
Laura

 

When I type: System Restore in the search box, the box goes blank and only shows those words.

Now what?

This is the most frustrating thing...

Laura

 

Something is obviously not quite right.

Try rstrui.exe in the Start/Run box and see if that works.

If not try C:\Windows\system32\rstrui.exe

 

I had to use the windows address to get there. I restored to 11/14/12, but I am still having the same problems. My front page looks like it used to, but Win7 is still flaky.

I'm going to try the Win7 repair again and if that doesn't work, I'm going to go to an earlier restore point. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks!
Laura

PS I'll check back periodically in case you have other suggestions. I may have to take the CPU in this time. I'm losing patience. You guys have been great. I'll leave a message later to let you know what I end up doing.

 

I'm curious if I have the same information you do about system restore. How many restore points do you have? I was going by this text file below which I may be reading wrong. I didn't see a 11/14/12. Was Win7 this flaky before you did the malware guide? Were you having all the problems with programs running or was it just an email and Office problem?

The "can't examine disks error" sounds like it had a problem reading your HD partitions. I don't know why that would be because they seem to be working fine. How are you starting the repair? Going to your DVDROM drive and then clicking setup.exe?

 

I'm attaching snippets of the errors. I don't understand the space error, I have almost 1/2 of my disk unused. My E: partition is full, probably due to so many restore points. I tried to select 1 from 9/2/12, but the software advised me to not do it. I aborted.

I can't get either to work. Any other suggestions?

Everything was getting flaky and that's why I did the malware removal, especially when I was getting hundreds of undeliverable emails. Nothing in my sent email, but coming back with junk addresses. I figure something got through on email. Whatever got on here has wreaked some havoc and I'm at wit's end.

Thanks,
Laura

 

I'm going to the disk to do the repair. Will try it though Control Panel if I can.

Laura

 

Ok, I'm ready to chuck this whole thing and go buy an AirMac!! I am so over having so much security that you can't do basic things to your computer, but leaves gaping holes that allow hackers to do all they want! Are you listening, Bill Gates?

Anyway, I am getting errors either way I go. I have to go to Windows Anytime Upgrade to install from Control Panel, but it gives me a restore point error. If I try to go directly from the disk, I get an error that there's not enough memory.

Is it possible that when I originally downloaded the software, I put it on the E: partition which is now full and rather than reading from the disk, it's looking at that? I would move it if I knew which files they were, but anything that looks suspiciously like the upgrade files have no name that means anything to this human.

I set system restore for my external DVD drive and moved the installation disk there, but that didn't work either. I even rebooted and I get the same errors.

I have a bunch of restore points, but Control Panel only gives me the option to get rid of them all or nothing. I think I'm clean on the malware, but I hate to have an only restore point with my software so messed up. Not that I should care since I can't get any of them to work! What am I thinking? I'm waiting to hear from you to see what I should try next.

I'm attaching the error message. The other one won't load.

Thanks,
Laura

 

I just finished using Duplicate Cleaner on my E: drive as some files are on there 2 to 5 times. I am now running defrag on that same drive--will see how much space it frees up. I'm hoping that will solve my disk space problem. I also need to delete some restore points, but I'm not sure how to get rid of some, but not all...

I'll let you know now it turns out. I have a concert / pitch - in dinner tonight, so I'm not sure if I will get back to you on this before I get home. I will try to at least post the results, but normally, I am running late for these things...lol.

Thanks!
Laura

 

I haven't had time to go through your recent posts. I am thinking it could be a free space problem making things worse. How much free space do you have on your main OS drive (c: )? I think I would want several GB free before doing a restore or repair operation.

I'm not recommending you jump in and start removing restore points but just want to let you know that CCleaner has an option under Tools menu to select specific Restore Points to remove.

I am going to read your other attachments to see if I find anything. I'll try to find something. One thought is that System Restore can be run from a repair disc or the installation disc. That might be something to try but I'm not sure if it will make a difference.

 

I see now that your restore points are on E: and you have half of C: free. So see how much free space you have reclaimed on E: and if it is at least a few gb, which should be enough to create the new restore point.

I did find this about the unable to retrieve disk information.

So see if you can start the virtual disc service.

Type services.msc in the Start/Search box. Scroll down to Virtual Disk Service and right-click it and select Properties. Then change it to Automatic. See if the repair/upgrade goes any further.

 

I tried the disk retrieval and no dice, cannot get to it or it's just gone.

I got rid of a bunch of extra files and it didn't even make a dent in my used space. I will go and move some stuff or delete more. I have many files that are on CD's and there's no reason to have them on the E: drive. I was putting a backup copy of purchased embroidery files there and somehow it multiplied. It really got bad when I moved the backups to there! I don't have that set up right, obviously.

I found the problem with my speakers, but it won't fix it. Damnest thing I've ever seen. Look at my screen shots and you will get the gist. Even worst, it won't load thme back. The screen I need to get the driver says it's up to date. The status screen says there isn't one installed. I try to update it and I have the most up to date driver. WTF??? Sorry, I don't normally use that kind of language but this is driving me absolutely insane!

Ok, will go move the files and see what happens.

Thanks,
Laura

 

On the services you don't get this window?

 

I get a big white box with "failed to load" in small letters at the center. Weird, huh?

 

I'm sure how to proceed.

Have you tried more an earlier restore point perhaps not as far back as 9/12?

 

Hi...

I am extremely tired (about to crash) so pardon me if I make a couple of typos.

It would seem that at this point you might consider something mentioned earlier in this thread, I think at post #18 - booting to a Linux distro to see if there may be some hardware issues present. Just seems as if there are a lot of strange goings on - as satrow always points out, hardware trumps software.

Try Mint, Puppy or Ubuntu - they are all nice and easy. After burning the .iso, boot to that disk and run the OS as a live environment (in other words, don't install it - just run it from the optical drive).

Put the machine through some stresses and see if a crash occurs, which will indicate if this is a hardware or a software problem.

An added plus: while you're running the live Linux you should be able to transfer any important data to a flash drive.

At this juncture, seems like this might be worth a shot.

 

Right now I'm going to try to get rid of all the duplicate files in my Drive E: and then attempt the repair. I'm hoping that because my E: drive got so full that is the culprit.

sach2--I tried to go to an earlier restore point, I got a warning about using such an old restore point. Are you suggesting that I do it anyway? I will if you think it can't be any worse than where I am now.

Thanks again both of you for the help!

Laura

 

What was the exact warning? As far as I know you can undo any restore operation, so if it doesn't work you can just undo. You could try one between the 9/12 and the 11/14 one to see if that works or gives warning. Or perhaps only the 9/12 one is troublesome and an even earlier one may not give the warning. (If your current restore to 11/14 made no difference at all you could undo that one before trying another.)

Something is so fundamentally wrong that I doubt a restore point is going to help but it is still the easiest option.

 

I'm still working on getting rid of the duplicate files. I didn't realize how many I had accumulated. I need to be more careful in the future. I have some that I counted up to 12 times. Long story on how that happened. I'm not even half way through the list and I can't just stop and let the program go. Some items should not be marked for deletion while others clearly should have been. I will seriously lose too much if I don't get through them all.

Guess I should have just dumped them onto a DVD...would have been easier.

I'll get this done one way or another and let you know on the restore point.

Laura

 

I finally got to the end and for the last hour, the program has been deleting over 23k files...I'm guessing that I am freeing up over 1/2 of the partition. Once it's finished, I'll go clean up the partition and reboot then restart the Win7 repair. If that fails again, I will go to an earlier restore point. If that doesn't work, we start looking at hardware with the Linux software.

If I should be doing this in another order, jump in. I'm guessing it will be several hours before those files get deleted and cleaned up.

Laura

 

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of hope for the repair operation. It seems you have some services that are not started and you can't access the services menu. Please do give it a try but I think you will get the can't access disks message again.

If you do get that message try the restore to another point and see what it says. It seems system restore should be an option since you have so many available and these are the types of problems it is designed to correct.

 

Can't get to that one either. Is using Ubuntu going to help?