HELP! Is my computer doomed??

[joe360]

Today when I started up my computer I got this message:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

A process of thread crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow thses steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advance Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x000000F4 (0x00000003, 0x86a19da0, 0x86a19f14, 0x805c749a)

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance. "

So seeing this for the first time, I restarted my computer, for some reason windows wouldn't boot unless I had a boot floppy or CD. So I put the Win XP cd in, windows then booted, then crashed and returned to the above screen.

..What does this all mean???

 

[mechBgon]

That could be a hard-disk failure you got going there. But how about some additional background:

1. What version of Windows XP, Home or Pro (or Media Center)?
2. What Windows service pack does your WindowsXP CD-ROM have included (none, SP1 or SP2)?
3. Do you have a router, or no router?
4. If you have a router, is it shared by any other computers, or not shared?
5. Did you have firewall software running on the system before you hooked up the Internet connection, or no firewall software?
6. What brand and interface is your hard drive (example: Seagate ATA/100)?
7. What brand and model is your motherboard?

 

[joe360]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
That could be a hard-disk failure you got going there. But how about some additional background:

1. What version of Windows XP, Home or Pro (or Media Center)?
2. What Windows service pack does your WindowsXP CD-ROM have included (none, SP1 or SP2)?
3. Do you have a router, or no router?
4. If you have a router, is it shared by any other computers, or not shared?
5. Did you have firewall software running on the system before you hooked up the Internet connection, or no firewall software?
6. What brand and interface is your hard drive (example: Seagate ATA/100)?
7. What brand and model is your motherboard?

1. Windows XP Home
2. Not exactly sure on what the cd came with..pretty sure it's SP!
3. Linksys Router (not hooked up to the computer with the problem)
4. Have 3 computer hooked up to it. (one of which the problem computer)
5. Nope
6. Maxtor 80 gig defiantly not S-ATA but not sure wehter ATA-133 or ATA-100
7. MSI K8T Neo s754


mechBgon comes to my rescue..again

 

[mechBgon]

Ok, that helps. SP1 is vulnerable to a whole fleet of worms and exploits that happen under the surface without any user involvement. If your computer was ever connected to the modem, while the network adapter was functional and no firewall running, then it was immediately exposed to a whole world of worms. Edit: also, if the computer was connected to the router, and one of the other three computers has a worm that you don't know about, same thing except way faster :Q Sorry if that's all "well DUH " to you

If it's never ever seen a network connection yet, and you didn't install anything questionable from a CD or anything, then my next guess is HDD failure. You could try running Maxtor PowerMax diagnostics to see what that tells you.

 

[joe360]

So if it is a virus indeed...only solution is reformat?, and just to be clear, are my other computers on my netowrk succeptable to the virus?

EDIT: I did upgrade to SP2..dont know if that helps

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: joe360
So if it is a virus indeed...only solution is reformat?, and just to be clear, are my other computers on my netowrk succeptable to the virus?

EDIT: I did upgrade to SP2..dont know if that helps

Did you upgrade to SP2 before letting any network connections occur, or after? SP2 fixes some of the known wormholes and it also enables the Windows Firewall. So if you installed SP2 while the computer was in isolation, then that should've helped. Setting the Windows Firewall to "Do Not Allow Exceptions" helps keep your other computers away too.

Dangerous world out there

 

[joe360]

I install SP2 with my network in tact.

...I knew I shouldn't have disabled windows firewall....

 

[mechBgon]

If that's what the computer's trouble is, at least it didn't take long to surface. If you have broadband, you can download and burn the whole SP2 from here and you'll probably have it up and running in a couple hours

 

[joe360]

Okay then, thanks for all the help again mechBgon

 

[mechBgon]

Sure thing

 

[jimmyj0668]

mechbgon --- I've wanted to tell you for a long time - there is such joy in the name of Jesus

 

[mechBgon]

(yes there is indeed)

 

[Wadded Beef]

1.get your winxp cd.
2.boot into recovery mode.
3. rewrite the master boot record.
4.boot into safe mode and virus scan.

or if your HD is dying try the freezer trick, put it in an anti-static bag and put that in a waterproof bag,
let it sit in the freezer for about 4 hours then put it back in ur pc & copy ur important files to a cd or to another pc on ur network. no im not joking about putting it in the freezer, i've tried it and it works miracles.