The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => Hobbies and Recreation => Computer and Electronics => Topic started by: Mumbling on April 05, 2009, 01:52:32 AM
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Remember I asked you guys about the resolution problem after I had formatted and reinstalled my computer? Well ever since that is fixed windows has been acting weird on me, and of lately if happens too many times. I'll explain what happens.
The startup is normal, we wait until we see the welcome screen. There we find ourselves having to wait too long (1 minute while it usually takes 5-10 seconds) Then the background will appear, but only the background, no taskbar, icons, menu, whatever. That will only appear so much later. I managed to take a printscreen of both a well started computer and one that took its time to start.
This is wheen the computer doesn't boot up the way it should(before the menu appears and all):
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll44/gofmumbling/1.jpg)
And these get added when the computer does start normally:
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll44/gofmumbling/d.jpg)
I was wondering if there might be a hardware problem, or if it might be related to windows XP sp3, but I've never seen anything like this before.
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I wish I could tell you if there was anything in your task manager that seems unusual but.....well.....almost all of it looks unusual because it's not in English. :p
When something like this happens you know it can't be good though. A simple virus is probably not the culprit. I'm guessing some sort of nasty spyware is doing this. Does it seem to start properly only during certain times of the day? AVG AntiSpyware should be able to find and get rid of it. Make sure you're using AVG 8.0 or higher and make sure that all updates have been applied before scanning.
Try downloading Windows Defender for Windows XP. It should be able to get rid of it if its one of the really nasty ones (which I suspect it is):
http://switch.atdmt.com/action/camchp_FY08WGADefenderEN_1 (http://switch.atdmt.com/action/camchp_FY08WGADefenderEN_1)
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Why would I have a virus if I have just formatted the computer and stuff... That wouldn't be very likely, but okay, I'll do some scans and see.
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Viruses and spyware can infect you at any time and besides......a virus or spyware could have been dormant in some files you backed up from your previous computer installation. I'm guessing you didn't just wipe it all without backing it up first. If you back up say an installation exe that you've never run before then you run it for the very first time on your new installation and it contains a virus, you'll get the virus even if your previous installation was just fine.
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Actually the only things I backed up were pictures and some songs, but that's true, it might be possible. I never had these problems before though. Oh well. Scanning with windows defender now.
Edit: scan is done. Computer is running normally, it says.(yes I did update it first)
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May I ask why you formatted in the first place? It may help to know where you're coming from if I can go further back in your computers history.
EDIT: This is eerily similar to the time when I had a horrible case of spyware. I couldn't get rid of it and had to format. I still strongly suspect that it's a spyware problem, but I suppose it could be that you didn't install the correct driver.
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hmm.. I cant remember. :p Let's see... I think it was because the computer didn't start anymore through windows, not at all, but I cant remember exactly. Then I backed up the files through linux and i formatted and reinstalled the computer... I think that was it.
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Can you get me the exact model of your computer? An example would be an HP Pavillion 115n. Then I can give you a new graphics driver. This is of course assuming you haven't installed a new graphics card. Do you know if the graphics card you currently have actually came with the computer or have you upgraded it?
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Can you get me the exact model of your computer? An example would be an HP Pavillion 115n. Then I can give you a new graphics driver. This is of course assuming you haven't installed a new graphics card. Do you know if the graphics card you currently have actually came with the computer or have you upgraded it?
Computer: Dell dimension 5150.
What exactly is a graphics card? Would that be my video card?
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What exactly is a graphics card? Would that be my video card?
Yeah, they're the same thing.
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What exactly is a graphics card? Would that be my video card?
Yeah, they're the same thing.
Well yea. I'm not sure if it was ever upgraded, but with this hardware detection program I found Ati x300.
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Crap. Sorry for all the confusion. This is the driver for you graphics card if it's indeed an ATI:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...6&fileid=158383 (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R118968&SystemID=DIMENSION%205150/E510&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=8561&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=6&fileid=158383)
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I installed that one already.
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I installed that one already.
Was it directly from the Dell website?
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I cant remember. But my version is even updated.
On the website its:
8.23-060209a1-030546C, A03
While my version is
8.31-0601011a-038857C-ATI
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Can you get me a screenshot of the task manager? Are there any missing drivers?
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Can you get me a screenshot of the task manager?
There's one on top already, or did you mean something else?
Are there any missing drivers?
I don't know.
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Ah, I'm a tired idiot right now. I meant device manager. Directions on how to get to the device manager are as follows (For XP SP3):
Right click on "My Computer"
Click on "Properties"
Go over to the "Hardware" tab
Click on "Device Manager"
Just get me a screenshot of that and I can tell you if your errors are the result of missing drivers. I suspect not, but it's always best to check the most obvious things first.
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Okay, it's in dutch but I think you can recognise stuff by it's image. (if not just ask me to translate)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll44/gofmumbling/dse.jpg)
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How are you even connecting to the internet? Are you on dialup or do you have a wireless card? I'm only asking because your network card and a system bus device have no drivers at all! I believe these are the drivers you need, but I might be wrong because as you said, they're in Dutch:
Ethernet Controller:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...5&fileid=136142 (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R105478&SystemID=DIMENSION%205150/E510&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=4030&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=5&fileid=136142)
And you should download this too:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...7&fileid=150654 (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R114566&SystemID=DIMENSION%205150/E510&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=3268&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=27&fileid=150654)
And this one:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...tid=-1&impid=-1 (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/format.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&deviceid=11196&libid=41&releaseid=R126083&vercnt=1&formatcnt=0&SystemID=DIMENSION%205150/E510&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=-1&impid=-1)
And this one:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...1&fileid=173456 (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R130118&SystemID=DIMENSION%205150/E510&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=8615&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=41&fileid=173456)
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I'm sorry but I have to go to bed now (It's almost 2:30am here). Just install all 4 drivers and check your device manager. There should be nothing with a yellow exclamation/question mark on it anymore. If not I'll be back on in another 7 hours or so. Gotta get some shut-eye.
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Okay eh... Well! On installing the chip set drivers, I think, my usb mouse and keyboard didnt quite work anymore, so I had to use the powerbutton to restart the computer. They're both USB mouse and keyboard
I'm on the internet with a wifi USB stick too, so I got disconnected for a while.
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Okay sure, sleep well.. I'll see if it is of any help. thanks a bunch!
Okay, the question marks are gone. Thanks :)
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Let me know if you still have any problems. If you do we'll go from there. :)
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Let me know if you still have any problems. If you do we'll go from there. :)
Well. So far starting up hasn't been a problem anymore. Now it's just my internet which is trying to get some connection. I'm not sure what. But internet is just working fine soo..
Edit:Ok no worries, I just clicked on fix problem and all is working fine! :)
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Okay so... Since this fix I've had thesame problem about 8 times again. I'm almost thinking it has to do something with the power button. I use an extension cord that you have to turn on before being able to use it... When I have it still turned on from the last run it will give me problems. Also, if I turn on that extension cord, and the power button from my pc after that (immidiatly) it won't work either, I would have to wait a couple of seconds... Sometimes it won't even work after that!
I doubt that it's a virus or software problem, think it's something from the inside.
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I'm sorry but maybe they do things differently over there. Turn on an extension cord? Are you talking about a surge protector or power strip?
(http://www.aeropause.com/archives/surgeprotector.JPG)
If it's a power problem I don't think I'll be able to do much. I don't even know what type of PSU you have to use in the Netherlands. It's definitely going to be different from here.
Did you recently add a new graphics card or any other hardware?
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Yea that thing. No idea what PSU is.
Nope, didnt.