HELP ME!!!! i think my laptop is sick

[ichigo partygirl]

hey all
a
bout 2 days ago my computer randomly shut down and then when it restarted a screen came up saying there had been some error and i had to select to start the computer in safe mode, safe mode with networking, safe mode with something else, previous good settings, or normal windows. Whichever you select it takes about 2mins to load and then this blue screen with white writing pops up. I dont have time to read it before the computer restarts and the whole thing happens again. This usually happens four or five times before the computer will load to the main screen. Then last night the computer was off then it turned itself on and started doing the whole thing again!!!

argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am assuming i have a virus or something. Do any of you know what this might be or how to fix it???? Im coming to japan next week and want it sorted before then but i really dont want to have to pay to get it fixed.

thank you all

[Neo-Rio]

Yes, this virus is called the Windows virus. It usually comes preinstalled in many computers and you'll have a hard time removing it because it controlls everything.

Joking aside, what version of Windows are you running?
If you get a "blue screen of death", then I'm guessing that it's a fairly old machine (windows 95/98/me) in which case I recommend getting rid of it and getting something newer. Windows 95,98,me are so terribly bad your sanity deserves better.

There's usually no way to "fix" viruses. Anti-virus products help, but sometimes the damage is too great to repair. The best thing to do is wipe your PC and reinstall Windows on it, since the security on it is compromised. For the computer to turn itself on you must either have some pretty funky "Wake-on-LAN" settings, which I doubt you have.

I'm going to assume you have anti-virus software on your machine and if not that, at least a personal firewall program. If you don't, then you need to get it for next time.

If you have important info on your laptop, then you should contact your local geek to have it extracted.

In a nutshell though, I think you should just get a new computer (if you have neither the time nor patience to fix something that old)

[ichigo partygirl]

my laptop is only 4 months old. it is running on Windows XP. I have a firewall but unforuntaly i let my virus protection lapse and now it wont let me renew it.
If i wipe everything and reinstall windows i will have to reinstall microsoft office right?? i have used up my installations of office so if i do that will i lose office??
Taking it in anywhere isnt an option because i wont get it back before i leave to japan.

i know near nothing about computers so please any help in very very plain english.

thanks

[Neo-Rio]

Urgh... Windows XP and Office with their funny activation systems. What I don't understand is the blue screens yo uare getting. It's very hard to get a blue screen on Windows XP unless something physical like the hard drive is broken or something.

Well, maybe you could give some more information about the blue screens you are getting. There's some writing on it right?

I'll try to respond in English, but unfortunately I'll need technical information to proceed.

[kurohinge1]

my laptop is only 4 months old. it is running on Windows XP...

Say no more - XP has a nice feature which automatically sets "restore points" when you add things. I think it is in "all programs - accessories - system tools".

Just select a restore point prior to when all the shenanigans started and "bob's your uncle"!

I just found the Windows link here

Good luck, IPG-san.

[ichigo partygirl]

my laptop is only 4 months old. it is running on Windows XP...

Say no more - XP has a nice feature which automatically sets "restore points" when you add things. I think it is in "all programs - accessories - system tools".

Just select a restore point prior to when all the shenanigans started and "bob's your uncle"!

I just found the Windows link here

Good luck, IPG-san.

thank you, thank you, thank you so very very much
ive restored it for the day before it happened and i managed to start my comp twice with no problems so i think you got it.

thanks neo-rio for you help too.

[Neo-Rio]

Say no more - XP has a nice feature which automatically sets "restore points" when you add things. I think it is in "all programs - accessories - system tools".

Oh yeah, I forgot about that on Windows XP. Nice one!

[Goldman]

Get a Mac

[Greji]

Get a Mac

No thanks, I have two macs at the office and three at home.

[IkemenTommy]

Get a Mac

werd. you wont regret having one of those one- button mouse bastards.

[emperor]

unforuntaly i let my virus protection lapse and now it wont let me renew it.

dont bother with mcafee or norton subscription
just d/l AVG antivirus for free



...or get a mac

[emperor]

Anyone know what might be up with my desktop?
Ive been googling the error code but the findings are inconclusive...
It has begun restarting at random (after maybe 20mins-1hrs normal usage). There was no error message on restart so i turned off auto-restart in properties, so now Im getting the bluescreen to say what went wrong:

[cstaylor]

According to this, it's your Norton AV or some other anti-virus software.

[emperor]

According to this, it's your Norton AV or some other anti-virus software.

I had read that thread - im using AVG, but I read on a different thread that it might have something to do with drivers ... Ill try reinstalling the anti-virus software - it weird how it will just conk out without any warning...

[Socratesabroad]

I've never had problems with Norton stuff, English and J-go versions, so you might wait to blame Norton.

My first guess would have been a driver problem.

Long-ass MS link

The same type of thing has happened to me for two different reasons. One was using Zone Alarm and P2P soft - I deleted ZA and problem resolved. The other was due to a Windows Update-recommended driver update of my Marvell on-board ethernet card. So I became a lot warier about automatically accepting those Windows updates.

Quest 1 - you install anything new recently?
Quest 2 - you auto-update drivers or have Windows Update set to auto?
Quest 3 - can you F8 and boot in Safe mode to save critical data?
Quest 4 - do you have a set point to go back to?

[emperor]

Bizarrely, it seems to be working fine again...(for the moment at least)

the motherboard has 2 ethernet ports - one of which is a Marvell like SocAbroads' which i had some issue with in the past - could be that again..
Ive just reinstalled a new copy of WinXp, a bunch of software, and I thought I installed all the necessary drivers: this was after my previous master HDD became corrupt (ive left it with someone who has that software to retrieve data from busted harddrives), and the chipset fan neeeded to be replaced, but everything was working fine for the past week.
maybe I should update the BIOS? I remember reading that you only need to do that if you start experiencing problems..

[drpepper]

Ah the joys of Wintel

[Socratesabroad]

Ive just reinstalled a new copy of WinXp, a bunch of software, and I thought I installed all the necessary drivers

It's not that a driver's missing but that one doesn't work well with the OS or other software. If it is the ethernet card, your best bet is to go back to the original driver.

maybe I should update the BIOS? I remember reading that you only need to do that if you start experiencing problems..

I tend to be from the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' school [after having caused so many problems with my 'fixes'].

And funny enough, there's someone on here that is too. The Northside guy has the best advice:

My advice is to look at the updates, see what advantages you would get from the update, if you dont think you would get any benefit from them, dont update them.