Possible Hardware Issues

Or it could be malware! Not sure. I've been directed over here by abri from the malware forum, since we're not exactly sure what could be going on with my computer. The issues could be malware-related, hardware-related, or both?! So I need some advice. Long story short- I reformatted my computer and added a new hard drive (as a slave) and a new graphics card. Everything seemed wonderful until I installed some new software, then I began having all kinds of problems. I'm not sure if it could have been a problem with the software or what. Unless you need a more specific description as to what's happening, here's the link to the malware forum, since my posts there describe everything that's been going on, and it'd be easier than me having to type it all out again. Just let me know if that's not good enough!


Various Issues- Malware or Hardware Probs...?

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1139220

 

as was stated in the malware thread, your symptoms don't seem to be malware related. They did at first, but when you started having problems with your bios, it might be hardware. You say that your video card and hard drive are "newer". I would suggest disconnecting the hard drive and possibly removing that video card for an older one (if you can). maybe do one at a time, to see if that fixes your problem. Also you might want to get memtest or something similar to test your ram, and make sure it's working ok.
here's a link to the ultimate boot cd (it's an cd image, just burn to a disk)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Ultimate_Boot_CD_d4981.html
it has memory tests on it.

here's a link to a newer version of memtest x86+
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Memtest86_d4226.html
it's also a bootable cd image.

also, make sure you have all the current drivers for your video card installed.

 

The only thing I would like to add, here because I didn't see it anywhere else, is a basic yet easy to forget concept. When you go to reinstall windows unplug your PC from the internet. A new install of XP without any updates is at risk from the start. I have my XP disk slipstreamed with sp2 and I still disconnect from the net during an install. The first thing I do is Install a free firewall like ZoneAlarm and then and only then do I go to the update site for the remainder of the criticals.

Another point I'd like to make is not all format programs remove all files from the disk, some leave the MBR (master boot record) and system files intact. If the virus or malware you contacted is there, it will come along for the ride. For that reason when i have to format a drive I believe is infected I usually pull out my trusty Win98 emergency boot floppy and boot to it. then at the A: Prompt I type Format C: /U that tell the formating floppy to format the drive unconditionally which removes everything. I'm going to repeat that command using the word SPACE to indicate where spaces are in it.
formatSPACEc:SPACE/u. You can get a Win98 boot floppy from anywhere on the net just google around. Or I can point you to one if you'd like.

So
1.unhook from the internet
2.format your drive unconditionally as FAT32 (Win98 used Fat32)
3.install XP this time format as NTFS and install a good firewall (and anti-virus if you want)
4. hookup to the net and go directly for your critical updates.

There is a program called APUP which is the new version of AutoPatcher that allows you to download all the critical updates from MS before you format out, so you can install them without going to the site. You still have to connect to the net for some of the installs to work so a firewall is still necessary, I don't trust Windows Firewall. The Apup program will download what you ask and if you only choose the default (criticals only) it will still be a big download, over 600mb but you can put it on a disk and use it when ever you like.

 

Well... Looks like I'm pretty much stuck right now because I'm not so good with all the hardware-type stuff... I'd need my brother-in-law or someone to help, but he's a bit hard to get ahold of. Honestly, what I'm thinking of doing is just reformatting again, but this time putting windows on my new hard drive and getting rid of the old one. My sister believes that it may be a problem with my old one, considering it is a bit old.

I started off using the graphics card by itself before I had the computer formatted the first time and before the second HD was added. So I think the graphics card should be good. I haven't been having any problems since the last memory dump issue... Though I still wish I knew why it would do that.

As far as my ram goes, I had the original 256 that came with it and added a 512 to it... But it had been working just fine before. I want another 512, but that requires the ability to buy stuff...

As far as a memtest goes, the cd burner on this computer died, so I can't burn cds on it. It DOES have a floppy drive though, so I can try the memtest from a floppy... Assuming I can find one of mine. And I did! I'll attempt it and post anything important momentarily.

Also...

I WAS using Online Armor, but I'm begining to wonder if that was actually causing some of my problems. It was suggested to me that I uninstall it, which I did, and I haven't noticed any problems since... So if not OA, and definitely not the Windows firewall, is there one you would suggest? It's gotta be free though. ;P

 

I use the free Zone Alarm but in actuality I've got the full pro version. About five years ago I bought zonealarm pro and installed it, when the year was up I downloaded the free version and installed that over the pro, but my serial stayed intact. Now when ever I load a new system and use my original e-mail address and the original serial from the one I bought, I end up with the pro version and I don't know why but I'm not complaining. It happens even with the free version downloaded because the free version is actually the whole pro as a trial and then is supposed to go to free, mine stays pro all the time.

I'd buy a new version to pay them back for all the years of service but I can't find Zone Alarm Pro at the stores, only Zone Alarm Security Suite and I don't want the suite. One of these days I'll find it or I'll buy it online, even though I prefer a disk in a box.

By the way, I'm a bad boy and have a few apps installed on my system that I do not want to call home or connect to the internet. What I do is to install Zone Alarm with the Manual setting so everything except Zone Alarm has to ask permission to connect to the net. At first its a pain because I get alot of popups, but as I give out or deny permissions eventually only new things bug me to connect. I prefer to have complete control over who and what connects to the internet. Some programs are tricky and use "Windows Explorer is trying to connect to the internet" but I'm no dummy, its actually the program I'm in the process of, or already have installed. Windows Explorer is one of those though that I never put a check mark in always deny, there are times when its ok to let the connection thru so I make sure to deny Explorer on a case to case basis and never select the box for either always allow or alway deny, that way it has to ask each time. If you accidently say always deny you can change it back in program control by putting all blue question marks (ask) in its line (programs are listed in alphabetical order).

 

Guess I'll check out the free version. Unfortunately can't afford buying any software at the moment. Got the trial of ZoneAlarm Pro for now.

By the way, I just had a fantastic adventure, and I'm wanting even moreso now to throw my computer out in the yard.

I used memtest as suggested from a floppy. Let it do three passes, just to make sure, and there were no errors, so that's the GOOD news. Bad news is, upon attempting to reboot after memtest, it was doing the same stupid freezing at the windows splash screen thing... Rebooted again, same thing. Rebooted into safe mode (worked last time!), got stuck on the screen with the tons of system31\DRIVE\blahblah.sys stuff on it. Rebooted using last known configuration or whatever, and it still froze on the splash screen.

Soooo, I got mad at it and took it apart. Let me kinda explain how ghetto my computer is... When I got it, it was probably already at least a year old. It had one CD-RW drive, the floppy drive, a horrible built-in graphics card, 256 ram, and only a 40gb hard drive. After a while, I somehow killed my CD-RW drive. It would open and close, but would not read anything. Brother-in-law gave me a CD drive he had lying around, not a burner or anything, and I installed it in the empty slot my computer had. Sooo after having it for a while, I decided to add a 512 stick to it, hoping that more ram would improve its performance. It did, but not enough. Sometime later, my computer started making a funny buzz-hum noise that it hadn't made before. I figured it was just the fan... Oh well. So then someone sent me the new 80gb hard drive and an nvidia FX5200 graphics card. Sooo, since I had been having problems with freezing at the splash screen (see, I'd had that problem long before hardware changes), I had my brother-in-law format, reinstall windows, and add my HD for me (I had already installed the graphics card prior myself). So I had a broken CD-RW, and older CD drive, 256 and 512 ram, an nvidia card, and my origial 40gb HD and an 80gb HD as a slave. OH!! I forgot to mention this. Originally I thought the buzz-hum was from a fan screwing up. Well it's not, I discovered what it was when I was fighting with my computer. It's my old 40gb HD. When I didn't have it hooked up, there was no noise. When I hooked it back up, the noise was back. I listened all over the computer to make sure that it was indeed coming from that HD, and it is. So... My original HD randomly became noisy. I'm guessing that's not a good sign?

That's when the virus crap happened, according to my brother-in-law. So reformatted it again, etc. etc., continued having various problems as already stated here and in the malware forum. So... took the computer apart.

I took out the non-working CD-RW and just moved the other CD drive to it's place. I was going to remove the 80gb HD and just leave in my original 40gb to see if it would run better... but when I did, it just kept telling me that there was no operating system. And I tried every combination of hooking the stupid thing up that I could. Tried it with both HDs just to make sure I hadn't mixed up with had Windows installed on it. Every combo I tried, it all said no operating system. So finally I hooked them both back up the way they had been before, and the computer loaded windows. This time, no sticking at the splash screen... Now, I don't know if I'm maybe just really hardware-retarded, but why would it say no operating system when I know full well (I double checked when I got it running again!) that Windows is installed on the 40gb...?

Also, now it's not recognizing the CD drive. I hooked it up the same way the CD-RW had been, but it's not even showing up when I look in My Computer. Put cds in, doesn't read anything. But it'll open and close and the little light comes on. Sorry for my... noobness? Lol. Now I'm scared to turn the computer back off. Again. =/

 

do you know about master/slave settings for disk drives? you may have not had them set correctly to run. If you have 1 drive in your computer, then it should be set for master, and if you have 2, the one with the operating system should be master, and the spare should be slave. my guess is that you have them set for cable select or something and that might be why it wasn't recognized by itself...

or, if you're sure the old 40gb drive is the one making the noise, then that drive could be failing and could be the cause of all these problems. a bad/failing hard drive will cause a computer to freeze at any point randomly, including safe mode, and startup. I would suspect that it's that...or there's something funny with the ram that you installed, or the video card, but you said you were having problems before those? I would think that you should have your brother in law install windows on the 80gb hard drive, and get rid of the 40gb

 

That's what I'm wanting to do, just install windows on the 80gb and get rid of the 40gb, 'cause I'm thinking that that's probably the problem, considering I was having problems prior to all these hardware changes. And yes, I'm 100% sure that it's the 40gb making the noise, I checked and double checked.

 

Scrape together some money, you can get an internal 500gig hard drive for close to $100US on sale these days. Sometimes when you install a graphics card and it doesn't set just right it can also cause freezes but I agree its most likely your 40gig drive. What you really need is a new computer, do you have a birthday coming up?

Here's a little jumper/ide cable tutorial:
the IDE cable has an end that connects to the motherboard which is typically a different color than the others, it has a red line that runs down one edge and that line should always be towards the power connector on the hard drive. When a motherboard has two ide channels (primary/secondary) the OS hard drive needs to be on the primary channel as a mastered (jumper) drive. Master jumpered drives should always be connected to the terminating end of the ribbon, with slave jumpered drive in the middle. This goes for rom disk drives as well. Cable select (CS jumper position) is when the system assigns a master slave relationship dependent on the drives position on the Ide ribbon, so the end drive would be assigned master and the middle slave. CS has cause problems for me so I stopped using it, it was such a headache to diagnose that I never even tried using it again on another system. You should have some extra 80wire IDE cables handy because bad cables can cause similar problems as bad jumpering or failing drives.

 

I just had my birthday... I turned 22 on the 11th of this month. But a new computer isn't something that's a possibility right now, unfortunately. Just can't afford it, me or my family. Though I would love a new computer, I just don't see that happening any time soon. The new HD and graphics card were bought for me by a friend, otherwise I wouldn't even have those. =/

 

I'm beginning to become extremely frustrated with this. All I want to do is format and reinstall windows on my new HD, but could things be that simple? Apparently not.

Brother-in-law brought me "reinstallation cd microsoft windows xp home edition including service pack 1" and also what he said was an upgrade cd to go to xp pro. So apparently all I have to do is boot to this home cd, use it to format and then reinstall windows, then at some point insert the other cd to upgrade it to pro? When, I wish I had a clue. But there's a problem. I can't even get this piece of crap to boot to the first cd so that I can reinstall windows.

I've tried everything I can think of... Which honestly isn't much, since I'm not a hardware person, and I've googled and googled and have just confused myself even more. Possibly googling the wrong things, I don't know. I have a headache now after dealing with this thing. =/

I've been in BIOS and gone to the "boot" section, where I attempted to rearrange everything so that it would boot from cd-rom first. From what I understood, this was all I would have to do, then just restart and it would boot from the cd I had inserted, right? Well, it doesn't work. I've tried and tried, doesn't work. And yes, I made sure to save before exiting BIOS. And yes, I know full well this cd drive works because I've put various other types of discs in it to test it, and it's just fine.

My brother-in-law said these were the same cds he used to format/reinstall last time, so why wouldn't it work now? Unfortunately I can't exactly call him right now. And I really didn't want to have to bother him about it because I wanted to do it myself. -_- Any suggestions?

Oh... And I tried making a win98 boot floppy, as you said. Googled and found one, used the exe to create the floppy, then attempted to boot using the floppy and format. Well, the format wouldn't work. I can't remember the error... But it would attempt, error, say it couldn't for some reason, then quit. Blah.

 

I feel for you, it must be frustrating. I know when I first started fooling around with PC's I was in the dark, I didn't even have access to the internet to ask questions, I had to do it by trial and error and asking questions from employees I worked with at the time.

Without an actual error I can't tell you what might have gone wrong with the format using the win98 floppy. I'm begining to think it would not have made a difference anyhow. Its seems there is a problem with your system that just guessing will do no good for, and thats what we're doing here is guessing. The floppy command typed at the A prompt has some spaces that are important so here is the correct format again but I will write out the word space where you need to put a space. formatSPACEc:SPACE/u its best to do this with only the hard drive you want to format plugged in so you can't accidentally format the wrong one. Again FORMAT C: /U .

To use just the new 80 gig drive you must be certain that its jumper is set to master (most drives have a legend on top but it can be confusing depending on whether they show it upside down or not) and that you hook it up to the primary channels terminating end of the ribbon (there are two ide channels on older motherboards primary for hard drives and secondary for cdrom drives basically). Your cdrom drive(s) must be hooked up and jumpered correctly to be seen when booting fromthem and they follow the same rules, master at the end and slave in the middle. Its possible that your ide ribbon cable is faulty and thats why you have problems. You can get a new one for 5-6 dollars but choose an 80wire ide cable over a 40wire. The newer 80 wire cables are faster and necessary for newer hard drives. 40wire cables are often good enough for older cdroms but I use 80wire when I can anyway. If you see them side by side you will know the difference, they have to really squeeze the tiny 80 wires into the same 2" width so its obvious.

I'm really sorry we can't be of more help, short of coming over to the house I can do little except keep guessing and try and steer you towards an answer.

 

Trust me, I typed it right. I typed it right like 6 times. And yes, it was set to master, and yes, the cables were all hooked up right. And the ide cable shouldn't be the problem, it's one that my brother actually put in for me because my computer didn't have one that would allow for two hard drives, so he put this one in. Soooo it should be fine... I dunno.

I gave up on the 98 boot floppy. Really don't care any more. I was told that the reason why the windows disc I was given isn't working is because it's a reinstallation cd, not just a regular windows installation cd... And, since it's for a dell, my computer isn't wanting to boot from it because my computer isn't a dell. *shrug* So I just need a windows install cd. But it seems like no one frickin' has one around here. Or the people that do can't find theirs. -_- I'm bout ready to just say screw it, 'cause honestly I'm tired of everything not working. :banghead