Weird Computer Problem

[F-14 Ace]

I've started having a strange problem with my computer all of  sudden.  The computer boots up just fine and the desktop loads, but after a couple of minutes, the computer locks up and becomes completely unresponsive.  I tried to reboot in safe mode but every time I try, the computer freezes while trying to boot to safe mode.  It won't even bring up the desk top in safe mode.  I use a Compaq Presario with Windows Vista.  Anybody have any ideas?  I can't even get any of my files off the dang thing.

[DarkHououmon]

It could be a virus. I did have a similar problem and it turned out to be a dialer. To see if it is a dialer, simply unplug the internet connection and see if the computer still freezes up. If it is a dialer, you'll need to remove it with an antimalware program, like an antivirus or something like Malwarebytes or Superantispyware. If that's not the problem, you may want to use a bootable antivirus. If you have another computer you can use, go online and find a bootable antivirus. Many antivirus companies provide these. Rescue CDs I believe they're usually called. Burn a CD with one of these and use it on your computer.

[landbeforetimelover]

Take a look at the hard drive indicator light.  When it freezes up, is the light on constantly?  What happens when you leave it on?  Does it eventually unfreeze?

[Adder]

I think that DarkHououmon is right, did you run a virus scan on it? My old computer did something like that once, when I scanned it, I had a trojan or two on it. If that doesn't work, you'll have to take it to a computer shop, and you may have to have the Windows re-installed. I use Vista now, and I don't have any trouble with it.

Safe Mode doesn't work either? That's strange. My old computer always worked in safe mode, it was slow, but it always work. You may just want to take if to a computer shop if you can. You'll have to have everything take off your computer most likely, but it will work right again. When my computer gets gutted, it works fine for a long it. Any viruses, or programs or downloads that may have a virus will be removed too, and see if you can have Windows Defender or Norton Antivirus installed. I used Norton on my old computer, I rarely had any viruses, and with my new computer, I haven't had any yet (with Windows Defender).

[F-14 Ace]

Take a look at the hard drive indicator light.  When it freezes up, is the light on constantly?  What happens when you leave it on?  Does it eventually unfreeze?

I don't know but I can't imagine the hard drive would be going bad.  The computer is only two years old.  My old HP laptop is nearly ten and it still works.  However, after running the auto repair function about a million times, the computer seems to be running slightly better.  I am typing on it right now.  Instead of freezing up after two minutes, it seems to be freezing up after ten minutes now.   :blink:   I did manage to get safe mode working though (which is what I am using right now) and I have removed all the files I want to save.  

When it freezes, it stays frozen for several minuted and it has automatically rebooted itself a few times afterward.

Dark and Adder: I did run Spybot and it found a stat counter but that is hardly the king of thing that would cause this kind of problem.  I ran MalwareBytes and it didn't find anything.  Then I ran a virus scan and it froze halfway through the scan. The computer did start working better after I rebooted it in safe mode again.  It still freezes when I run it in normal mode though.

[DarkHououmon]

Run scans in Safe Mode. You're more likely to detect something that way. If your antivirus has a boot-time scanner (where it scans before the comp fully loads), do that. It's even better than scanning in Safe Mode. Malware has almost no protection from a boot-time scanner.

[F-14 Ace]

I did run the scan in safe mode.  That's when it locked up again.

[landbeforetimelover]

Laptops are just shit nowadays.  You'd be lucky for your HDD to last 2 years.  Check it out.  Is it a Western Digital?  If so, it's almost certainly bad.  Though since after cleaning it up it seems to be better, I tend to think it's something else.  Make sure everything is disconnected and see if that makes a difference.  Unfortunately laptops absolutely suck when it comes to hardware problems, so let's hope it's software related.  

I should mention that 85% of my business is from laptops that are less than 6 months old.  And I bring in about $30k revenue per month through my business so I see a ton of computers.

[F-14 Ace]

Now it only seems to freeze when I connect to the internet when running in normal mode.  It's still really annoying.  Now I highly suspect that I'm dealing with a virus of some sort.  I tried to run a boot scan but it froze half way through and I had to reboot.

[landbeforetimelover]

Is the laptop any of the following models?

*DV2000
*DV6000
*DV9000
*F500
*F700
*TX(xxx)

If it is, then you're probably experiencing a common motherboard issue that has to do with the Nvidia graphics and CPU sharing the same heat sink.  These units start out freezing and having other strange problems with the wireless and sound.  Then they start shutting off randomly.

[DarkHououmon]

If it freezes up in normal mode while on the internet, then it may be a dialer (I believe that's the term for a malware that sends messages across the internet or something). Keep the internet unhooked. When you run a scan, make sure the internet is not hooked up. This prevents the malware from downloading more malware.

[F-14 Ace]

If it freezes up in normal mode while on the internet, then it may be a dialer (I believe that's the term for a malware that sends messages across the internet or something). Keep the internet unhooked. When you run a scan, make sure the internet is not hooked up. This prevents the malware from downloading more malware.

Yeah but the boot scan runs before the computer starts up.  The internet has nothing to do weith that. freezing up.

[DarkHououmon]

That's what you want, for the scan to run before the computer starts up. With very little drivers up and running, malware has very little defense against the scan. So it's always good to run a boot-time scan because it increases the odds of the malware causing the problem to be found.

[F-14 Ace]

But it froze during two boot scans as well.

[DarkHououmon]

Oh... Hmm if it's still malware, it may be a certain type of malware. I can't remember the name offhand, but I heard about them. I think they run almost as soon as the computer loads up. They're notoriously hard to remove, I heard.

Either that or it could just be a hardware problem somewhere, or software. But this is just a guess. It could be something else I'm not thinking of.

[F-14 Ace]

Actually I think I found the file that is causing the problem.  Both Malware Bytes and my virus scanner froze when they tried to scan a file called Microsoft.net Framework 3.5.  I have no idea what this file is.

MalwareBytes, Avast, and the malware removal tool from Microsoft all froze up and the computer became unresponsive when they scanned this file.  The boot scan also froze both times I ran it when it scanned this file.  

UPDATE: I can now use Internet Explorer and Firefox when running Windows normally, but I am still unable to update my antivirus definitions.  When I try to update the definitions in Safe Mode, the computer freezes and must be rebooted.  When I try to update in normal mode, I just get an error saying the package is broken.  Everything else seems to be back to normal except for my antivirus program.

[DarkHououmon]

That's an important file for Windows I believe. My guess is it got corrupted somehow. I'm not even sure if that's the latest version or not.

Sounds like there's still a problem. Your antivirus might have gotten corrupted somehow. What antivirus do you use?

[F-14 Ace]

Just another update.  I uninstalled and then reinstalled Avast and it now seems to be functioning normally.  So basically, it seems that the problem may be gone now.  however, I won't know for sure until I run another scan later tonight.  Here's to hoping this thing is finally gone.

[DarkHououmon]

Yeah. It probably is gone for now, but best to wait and see what happens later.

[landbeforetimelover]

You should reinstall .net framework.  It likely encountered problems with Avast.