help help help.

Every thing was running fine two days ago, and my buddy restarted the laptop by holding down the power button. When I restarted it my mp3’s would not play. I have had Norton System Works 2005 for about 6months on the laptop. So I tried to run Norton to see what was wrong and it said it needed to be activated and that my trail period had ended. So I ran to System restore thinking that I had got a virus that had been just waiting for me to restart the system. It said that system restore was turned off, so I turned it on and there where no save points. I never turn off system restore. So I got on the internet and went to pcpitstop.com and ran there virus scan. It scanned for about 15 min and jumped to yahoo’s home page, and would not let me back up. I restarted in safe mode and it let me run Norton’s virus scan, witch said there where none found. I then ran spy bot S/D and CCleaner and Adaware SE all came up saying they found nothing. So I rebooted in normal mode and my internet would not work. So I went to the control panel and then to network connections, and there was nothing there. It’s like some one went in and deleted it. I went to device manager and it’s all gone to. I am so ready to pull my hair out; it’s like what ever it is trying to cut me off at every corner. Also it seems to be taking more away when I restart. So I come to you for help. I have done every thing you asked before I posted here. http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407 . I could not remove any files from Norton, it wont let me do any thing with it, and when I try to activate it, it froze up and would not move. Now I can’t even get online to do anything. So I can’t get updates to spyware programs, although I keep the 3 I have (listed above) up to date. Microsoft Windows defender would not install, nether would Counterspy. Both Popped up and said “the windows installer service could not be accessed”. See it’s cutting me off. Also I could not run any of the online virus scans. Every thing else has been done. I have an HP dv8000 laptop, with Xp Media Center Edition. I have two hard drives, 100GB each, and I don’t know what you call it but it is set up so the data go’s to both at the same time, or that’s how I was told it works. I have 1GB of RAM and service Pack to is installed. I have tried so hard to get this all right, so if you find that I have left out something, I am sorry. I am over in South Korea, stationed here in the Air force and there is a place that I can get the system wiped, but I will lose Xp Media Center Edition and be given home Edition. Also it’s hard to let them know what you want done, they speak bad English. Please Help.

I posted this in the mallware forum and this is what the repost was.



Your problems are not due to malware. You should try the Software Forum.

I would however recommend that you start by uninstall ALL of the Norton/Symantec software that no longer works anyway because it could be a problem. The below all need to be installed.


Norton AntiVirus 2005
Norton AntiVirus Parent MSI
Norton SystemWorks 2005 (Symantec Corporation)
Norton SystemWorks 2005
Norton SystemWorks
Norton Utilities
Norton WMI Update
Symantec Network Drivers Update
Symantec Packager
Symantec Script Blocking Installer
SymNet

And consider whether you need to keep the below or not:
Symantec pcAnywhere

After doing the above, if you still have problems, post a new message in the Software Forum describing your problems. If may be necessary for you to reinstall/reconfigure the drivers and settings for your network card if they are missing.


I can't install anything so it is still messed up, any ideas?

 

If you have a genuine XP install disc or can purchase a version of XP Pro SP2 in South Korea, I would honestly start from scratch, format the drive and do a clean install of XP...standard 'pain in the behind' solution i know, but often the best with deep seated problems such as yours.
You will lose all data that is not backed up, but you will save yourself countless hours of troubleshooting IMHO.
Kick Norton to the kerb, and checkout some of the antivirus/firewall freeware available here at Majorgeeks!!
Make sure you only run (1) antivirus and (1) firewall at a time! Both are essential whilst online today....

Regards.....

 

not what I was hoping for.

 

Did you get system disks with your computer, Xp Media Center Edition and motherboard disks? Seems there should be away to do a repair of the system, but I am not sure how to step you through it as I have never worked with Xp Media Center Edition. Does that have the XP opperating system on the disk? Sounds like your friend didn't do you any favor by shutting it down like that, but there should be away to fix it without having to wipe it. Please give more info on what disks you have available to fix the system. And THANK YOU for being in our military!

 

I did not get any kind of disk with it. total suck. I am just going to have to wipe it. Is there a way to make a total restore disk after I wipe it?

 

The HP DV8000 should have come with a hidden partition which will allow you to restore it to the way it came from the factory. I'm not sure about HP laptops, but my wife's HP desktop also had a hidden partition that was accessable via the program list, and during boot-up by hitting one of the F keys (F2, I think).

My son has a gateway Laptop which flashed an option during boot up to "Start system Restore" by pressing a certain key (I think it was also F2, but I may be wrong).

Here is a link to the HP site which deals with system restore - it may not be exactly the same for your model, but it is for a version of the DV8000:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...en&dlc=en&product=500449&dlc=en&lang=en#N1009

I also recommend not using the Symantec (Norton) products, as they are bloated programs, and there are free alternatives on the Major Geeks site that are as good or better. Use caution when removing the programs, though. They can be a PIA to get rid of.

Hope this is of help, Airman. Thank you for serving in our Armed Forces!

 

well you had me happy for a min, but I got looking and there is not any recovery on my pc. hp says there should be but theres not. I don't know if it is turned off or what but it's one more dead end.

 

Well good news I ordered a restore disk from HP. Hopefully that will fix it, I just have to wait for it to get to my wife and then she can send it to me. Thank you all for your help on this, I was totally lost. I am proud to be doing what I am doing. At times I have to wander why I am doing this but it is well worth it to me. I am on the front line with North Korea so I am watching to see how that all pans out. Thanks again

 

You're welcome!

Good luck and stay as safe as possible.

Natakel

 

But it's the best advice of all the suggestions.