HELP!!! Comp freezes

[ZachMarius]

I was redoing a computer with new hardware. I was done installing and stupidly put it on the internet for 5 mins before I realized it. lsass6 kept popping up with microsoft saying if I wanted to continue blocking it. I did. I realized there was a virus on the HDD so I redid both of them (one in 2000 one in XP) I noticed that 8MB wasn't used in the XP drive (like usual) but that the XP drive was getting lower and lower in the amount of space it held. I paid no attention to this and reinstalled both drives with software (this time keeping it off the internet until I was absolutely sure the antivirus protection I had on would be able to withstand the barrage until I could update it.
I was wrong. Here are the symptoms

continually freezing (each time giving me less and less time, started out giving me five minutes before freezing)

screen flickers (the screen will flicker at least twice before it freezes with no apparent reason) Now screen was disabled so I couldn't know what the hell was going on.

All antivirus service won't allow me to scan/or it freezes before it finds anything.

Is there anything else anyone can think of to irradicate this virus/trojan/worm? I've thought about installing an extra firewall (ie I'm on a router in a private college, they have another firewall for all students). Obviously if I redid the hard-drives all I would lose is two hours and a couple more MB's on the XP drive.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Does anyone know of an irradicating program for hdd's that I can completely wipe the hard drive and not just "reinstall" the OS?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that completely wiping the drive would fix the problem but I don't know of any software that will do that. (or if there is any)

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[lockmac]

use a windows 98 bootdisk, or connect the drive to another computer as a slave. go to a command prompt and type 'format c:' to fully format it, or just right click on the drive in my computer and go format, but that will only work if it isn't a drive in use

 

[jackschmittusa]

I would think using fdisk on a boot floppy to remove the partitions would work as well and be a lot quicker. You're going to want NTFS anyway (win98 boot floppy will give you FAT32). Then let Windows partition and format for you during installation.

 

[lockmac]

Misread previous post

 

[ZachMarius]

But that's one of the problems. I can partition and format. It's just the extra space on the drive (that I can't format) has whatever problem it is. Everytime I reformat I lose 10MB from the XP drive so I'm suspected to that being the "infected" drive. I'm wondering is there anyway to get back the 500MB's that I have lost in it. (ie when fresh drive 06/25/04 had 19,534MB during install. Now says to come up with 19,048MB)

 

[Uncle Bob]

killdisk (do a google) will do it for ide drives - the free version should be enough for what you need.

some of the manufacturer utilities (e.g IBM/Hitachi) have "wipe" or "erase" disk functions

 

[ZachMarius]

Thanks I'll try and let you guys know.

 

[ZachMarius]

I found out that the cd option for it won't work but the floppy did. Now I'm booting them up to see what is happening. So far I can't tell if there is any problem and will report back to see if that fixed it (which I think it did)

 

[mechBgon]

I've thought about installing an extra firewall (ie I'm on a router in a private college, they have another firewall for all students).

You need a greater understanding of firewall protection here. Your college's router might protect your computer from my computer if my computer caught a worm, but it won't protect you from the hundreds of computers that are on your side of it. You should start from each individual computer outwards.

1) software firewalls on each of your two computers to protect them from eachother.

2) plug them both into a small router such as a Netgear RP614 to firewall them against the hundreds of computers on your college network

3) the college's own router firewalls you from the zillions of worm-infected computers roaming the Internet at large.


Additionally, you should have current-generation antivirus software on each computer, and thoroughly configure it so it's using all its options.

As for the actual procedure, I suggest that you download ZoneAlarm free version for the Win2000 system, and Service Pack 2 for the WinXP system (which will enable the Windows Firewall and patch the wormholes too), and set them up 100% isolated from the Internet. Instructions, links and advice here.

The Win2000 system... hey, you're just over in Oregon. If you want, drop me a PM with your snail-mail address and I'll send you a CD-R with the patches you'd need in order to batten the hatches on the Win2000 system prior to connecting. My work fleet is almost all Win2000 and I have a routine that is easy to follow. I can also send you an official Microsoft SP2 CD for patching WinXP with.

 

[ZachMarius]

mechBgon Thanks for the info. I have windows XP SP2 cd but I'll send out a blank for the 2000.

SHOOT!!!!
I redid the computers and while I was running a standard anti-virus test the computer froze. It had never been on the interent before this so I'm thinking that the killdisk didn't work. Either that or something else is going on. I have never had any trouble with the mobo, PSU, processor, hdd's, cd/dvd drive, or anything about this machine. I did build it from other parts of computers that I had (so maybe there is a conflict of hardware but I highly doubt it. I'll try to post as much info about this machine that I have.

ASTVision 7L 17" VGA monitor,
64MB NVidia GeForce2 MX video card,
Compaq keyboard
Microsoft Intellimouse Wireless,
Compaq DVD Drive (Master)
Toshiba CD/RW Drive (Slave)
Maxtor 20GB (Master)
Western Digital 20GB (Slave)
SOYO Socket 370 SY-7VBA133 mobo
NSpire 200W PSU
320MB PC133
Intel P3 800Mhz


The other serial numbers I'll get later when I have a chance.

Please help

 

[mechBgon]

You might try running Memtest86 from http://www.memtest86.com to see if the memory subsystem is having a problem, and possibly try reducing the power load by unhooking the optical drives as a fact-finding step. Four drives on a 200W power supply might stress it when the system is hammering away on an antivirus scan too. Easy to test, anyway.

 

[ZachMarius]

More problems. I have many PSU's so I have tried many different ones. Anyway here's the run down.

I've taken off the opticals,
Switched PSUs
tried booting only one drive
=
Won't even get to the startup page. On both drives. I'm thinking something is wrong with the mobo or the drives. The opticals work in everything, the psu works in everything, the memory works in everything, the pci/agp cards work in everything. Any other suggestions. I'm just about ready to toss this computer from a catapult or some other distructive nature to vent.

 

[mechBgon]

Uh oh :Q I would try to find some really high-percentage rubbing alcohol and burn the motherboard. There's something satisfying about fire... :evil: Well anyway, it could certainly be mobo failure, that's a pretty old mobo and they don't last forever.

If you need to dump the hard drives into the other computer to rescue stuff off of them, don't be too alarmed if you can't get into the C:\Documents and Settings\username directories to rescue stuff, it just needs you to take Ownership (assuming the drives are using the NTFS file system). Scream if you need help with that when the time comes

edit: one other trait of Soyo motherboards is that many of them have a feature called Fan-Off Control. If the mobo isn't getting at least X number of RPMs from the CPU_FAN header, it won't POST. It can be overriden by holding down the Insert key before & during POST, on those Soyos that feature F.O.C., and you can disable F.O.C. in the BIOS once you're in.

 

[ZachMarius]

If it didnt' POST then I truly would beleive it's a mobo problem. The problem is it'll start everything fine but when 2000 or XP comes up toe move it's little bar across the screen, to start the os software, it freezes.

p.s. I'm much calmer today........for right now.

 

[ZachMarius]

Ok....I'm done. The mobo is shot to Sh|t and I'm done with it. I still have everything from it and am wondering how much I can get for it. (ie if I went through all that trouble I might at least get something from it) I've transfered the drives and memory to another computer that I have. I"m just wondering how much cna I get if I sold this on here.

Known mobo failure SY-7VB133
Pentium 3 800Mhz (works!!!)
Standard Heatsink for P3

Any suggestions? or should I crap the mobo and see if I can get a cheap mobo for a p3 (keep in mind I'm low on money and have less than 30 to spend) I seriously don't expect anyone to pay much (or at all) for the crapped mobo but the P3 is good and in working condition.

What do you guys think? BTW Thanks for all the suggestions and help I recieved.