Random startup problems

Mumbling · **on:** April 05, 2009, 01:52:32 AM

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):

And these get added when the computer does start normally:

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.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #1 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:03:29 AM

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.

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

Mumbling · **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:16:27 AM

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.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:27:28 AM

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.

Mumbling · **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:29:17 AM

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)

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:31:21 AM

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.

Mumbling · **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:34:13 AM

hmm.. I cant remember.

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.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #7 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:35:55 AM

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?

Mumbling · **Reply #8 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:37:02 AM

Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Apr 5 2009 on 08:35 AM

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?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:37:47 AM

Quote

What exactly is a graphics card? Would that be my video card?

Yeah, they're the same thing.

Mumbling · **Reply #10 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:39:28 AM

Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Apr 5 2009 on 08:37 AM

Quote
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.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #11 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:41:59 AM

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

Mumbling · **Reply #12 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:46:09 AM

I installed that one already.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #13 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:47:03 AM

Quote

I installed that one already.

Was it directly from the Dell website?

Mumbling · **Reply #14 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:51:23 AM

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

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #15 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:52:43 AM

Can you get me a screenshot of the task manager? Are there any missing drivers?

Mumbling · **Reply #16 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:53:57 AM

Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Apr 5 2009 on 08:52 AM

Can you get me a screenshot of the task manager?

There's one on top already, or did you mean something else?

Quote

Are there any missing drivers?

I don't know.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #17 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:56:33 AM

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.

Mumbling · **Reply #18 on:** April 05, 2009, 02:59:39 AM

Okay, it's in dutch but I think you can recognise stuff by it's image. (if not just ask me to translate)

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #19 on:** April 05, 2009, 03:05:56 AM

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

And you should download this too:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...7&fileid=150654

And this one:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...tid=-1&impid=-1

And this one:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/...1&fileid=173456