shut off during virus scans

I have AVG Antivirus as my antivirus program and every time it goes for its scheduled scan, my computer turns off and hesitates when I try to turn it on again. By this I mean when i push the power button, the light goes on, then off and I have to wait a couple of minutes before trying to turn it on again. Also, when I turn it on again, this message comes up "Hardware Monitor found an error. Enter Power setup menu for details." I've checked out the setup and I have no clue whats wrong, whenever I get this message, I press F1 to just continue and I will be able to use my computer but the scans are the problems. I've also tried the virus scans in safe mode. I've tried different types of virus scans including an online one which was in the "Spyware/Virus" removal thread. Always the same problem.

 

I don't know if this is even possible, but it sound like a virus scan triggered a temporary hardware failure. Some viruses are triggered when you execute a virus scan, sometimes they will just shutdown or freeze your system, and sometimes they screw with the MBR and NTLDR . About the problem turniing on the computer, does this happen at any other time. Lets say, you have been running your OS for a while, then you hold down the power button to improperly shutdown the system. Then you immediately turn the system back on, does the same startup problem occur. If it does you probably have a bad power supply. I have seen this startup problem occur before, I ignored it, and paid dearly for it. The power supply caught fire and wiped out two HDDs and the motherboard.

 

Welcome to MG read the announcement and post your specs A virus scan is a pretty taxing job for the harddrive it could be your harddrive is on the way out,have you tried to defrag the harddrive and check for errors,right click HD icon in my computer,properties,tools,check for errors then run a defrag see if it makes it through

 

Either this, or I ran into an issue where I had bad ram! The computer ran great, until I did a virus scan. Replaced the memory, and I had not issues since!

Note: I did run multiple types of memory scanners and nothing showed up being bad. I just had a hunch it was the memory, and I was right!

 

update:
SPECS:
Windows XP SP2
Pentium 4, 3.0 GHz HT Technology
1.00 GB ram
114 GB Hard drive space

I tried defragging and checking for errors, neither worked. The pc not only shuts down during virus scans, it also shuts down when I try to copy a DVD. If it was a bad power supply how would I fix it?

 

Neither got through,or they didnt find any errors and finished the defrag?Bad psu you just have to replace the unit,try this go into control panel,system,advanced,in startup and recovery click settings,click and clear automatic restart,then underneath select small memory dump,next time the system crashes,go to c windows,minidump and see if it has created a memory dump.either follow adrenalyns guide in frequently asked questions or post it here and i'll try and debug it

 

Did not find any errors/frag completed but still the problem is there.

 

try this go into control panel,system,advanced,in startup and recovery click settings,click and clear automatic restart,then underneath select small memory dump,next time the system crashes,go to c windows,minidump and see if it has created a memory dump.either follow adrenalyns guide in frequently asked questions or post it here and i'll try and debug it

 

I had two files in my minidump folder, neither were from today. one was from jan 28/05 and the other may 1/05. I checked the may one and it said it was caused from "memory_corruption" and the one from january was caused by "Unkown_Image". I think it could be the memory corruption problem. Any suggestions? Is there more info that you need?

 

Well we narrowed it down to a either a psu or ram problem but by those minidump files im starting to have a hunch that the ram is on its way out. Try replaceing the ram. It may only be one stick though so if you have an extra stick thats compatible laying around try that into each row of ram and do what you do before the error occurs. Once you find a slot that is not giveing the error that means that that is the bad stick all you do is by another one with the same specs as the bad one or just keep the extra one in there! let us know if this helps.
-the new tech guy

 

post the 2 dump files here,let me have a look,also if your have disabled auto restart and selected mini dump,run some virus scans and stuff do exactly what you did to make it crash before,try your hardest to make it crash

edit post the 2 dump files from your c;/windows/mini dump,not the debug outputs and I'll run them again

 

i hope this doesn't sound like a stupid question, but what factors make a stick of ram compatable? is the size? because if its not i think i have an old 128 MB stick but i think the ones in my slots are 256's. or is it whether its SD or DDR?

 

post them as attachments you mean?

 

every little difference between 2 sticks of ram can make them incompatible just depends how fussy your mobo is,yeh post them as attachements,then try and make your computer crash,make sure you have disabled auto restart and selected mini dump

 

So if i disabled auto restart, my computer should NOT turn off correct? How should i attach the files since i cannot attach *.dmp files. Should i change the file extension?

 

edit forget what I just wrote

 

No it shouldnt restart,save the file as a notepad file

 

here are the files, i just changed the file extension

 

I made my computer crash and there was no new minidump file and the computer did turn off

 

yeh your right ,unknown image,mem corruption,noty much help at all,as I have said,disable auto restart,select mini dump and try and make it crash by running the antivirus scans that were causing the problem,hopefull we will get a new dump file,2 or 3 dump files would be more help,if they are all different I would guess at a memory problem or we may get lucky and find an app that is causing the problem

Edit,LOL ok then no new dump file,lets try a memory checking program,download the latest version of memtest from the download section,follow the instructions in the readme and see if its finds any errors

 

Well evilgenious what type of ram is in your computer. Is it DDR or SD or any type that it could be. As long as the extra stick is the same type of ram that is currently in your computer it should work.But lets try the memory scanner first to see if thats the problem. Maybe a file corruption could be causeing the antivirus to do that too. If the memory scan comes up clean try reinstalling the software because your version may be corrupted and a reinstall would fix the problem. Let us know what the scan comes up with.
-the new tech guy

 

I have already tried reinstalling a new version of the antivirus plus multiple other antiviruses, so i know thats not the problem. I tried running the memory scanner and guess what? my computer turned off. I'm not sure if this may affect my memory but I leave my computer on overnight and its very loud so what I did was take off one of the side panels of the tower so that the system would be cooler. Could this have done any damage?

 

Nah just takeing the side panel off should not harm the system in any way. Have you checked the cpu temps to make sure you are not overheating? Maybe try cleaning out the system that way we can rule out a thermal problem. But i doubt its that if the side panel is off and it is still restarting. But try sucking the dust out with a vacumn or something and see if that helps and come back and tell us what is going on.
-the new tech guy

 

update:
used a compressed air can to spray the inside of the tower and well there was tons of dust and problem has gone away

 

Good glad to hear it! Sorry bout my slow reply i recently had trouble with my own pc where my hd's boot sector corrupted and i had to set up a new hd. But thats good to hear. I figured the problem was haveing to do with overheating because when you do a virus scan the system runs on full load with the cpu for a long period of time. So i am glad to hear that everything is ok now though.
-the new tech guy
PS: If you cleaned the dust out you should be able to put your side panel back on your computer. Just before you close it up make sure your fans dont have dust in em and make sure they are working properly.