nightmarish day, any idea what happened?

[rise]

it started yesterday actually with randomly disappearing programs. i mean whole contents of folder. for instance i had like 4 apps under a "tools" folder and suddenly the all the programs were gone. a bunch of shortcuts on the desktop also became invalid at about the same time. i typically leave my machine on 24/7 so i don't know exactly when it happened, i did remember a good sized static discharge when i touched the outside of the aluminum case to open the dvd player, but everything still worked normally after that, although i don't think i had to iopen the "tools" folder or anything.
last night i downloaded a program and installed it and had an icon set to my desktop. i went to launch it from the desktop and the shortcut was invalid!?! i looked for the program and i couldn't find a trace of it.
and again, most of my desktop shortcuts were invalid and a few unistalls wouldn't work, fatal errors and the sort, or says it can't find the program to uninstall but the program is still listed under add/remove.
also, i've been having periodic "freezes" , like my mouse will "kinda" work, as far as i can move it but the clicks don't work, or it will scroll but not just move normally and program windows jump from the front to the backround randomly. i've used ctrl/alt/del to bring up task manager and either used task manager or just cancelled it to unfreeeze it. also task manager always seems to read 99% system idle process.

i don't know, i quit drinking a while ago and i default set any oc'ing i had done but still having tis ran spybot, adaware, spybuster, avast a.v, all clean.

any ideas?

oh , windows xp home sp2, p4 system, asus mobo p4p800, 1 36 raptor and 1 WD sata 80 gb

 

[Fern]

Uhgg. Sorry to hear all these probs.

Well, sounded like some malicious ware was on there, but I see you ran AV etc. On the off chance some hardware went bad and is fouling the install, i'd run memetst86 and Prime95. If your ram or cpu is bad, I'm pretty sure it could cause these problems.

Good Luck with it.

Fern

EDIT: Might even wanna run a HDD diag proggie. Can get that from the HDD manufacturer's site.

 

[rise]

thanks fern, thats a good idea with the HDD test, i ran prime, didn't do memtest yet, but i've been stable all day, so maybe it was a shock or something, we'll see.

 

[lxskllr]

Check with another online AV. I had a virus that Norton didn't pick up but when I installed Antivir it found a virus that was doing what you described. My files were getting screwed at a slower rate though, so you may have a different problem.

Good luck

 

[rise]

thank you guys
i will try antivir, heard/saw good things about that
stable so far today

 

[rise]

heres what i got.
ran antiVir, spybot, as-aware, Avast AV, spyblaster with no found problems. antiVir finds 6 warnings(?) but no detections? don't really understand that.

anyway, i'll i get now is random freezes, ocaasional, maybe 3-4 times a day, where the screen appears fine, mouse moves but no clicks and all windows appear to be in backround. can't bring up the hidden task bar and the links don't appear highlighted if i pass the mouse over them. and sometimes if i click on like "my computer" it will open as a list and not a link. odd stuff.

i notice this: my Ram is pc-3500 2.5-3-3-7 OCZ performance dual channell. Bios suddenly has it set at 2.5-4-4-8 for some reason and Everest shows the same. i don't kniow when the timing changed but it used to read 2.5-3-3-7. should i disable SDP and set it manually, i mean would this even possibly be the problem? Prime95 runs for 12 hours and better, although when the screen freezes the program still runs. memtest runs for a couple hours all passes.

also, do you think a repair install would make sense? maybe a file got corrupted/deleted or something? would a repair install leave EVERYTHING as is or will i have to reinstall games/apss etc. obviously it wouldn't affect anything on seperate partitions or will my shortcuts be messed up?

 

[rise]

any help?

 

[mechBgon]

What voltage are you running the memory at, and what is your usual antivirus software (be precise about what version, not just the maker but the version too)? Was the program that you installed illegit in origin? Do you have another computer you could put the drive into for a "captive" antivirus scan?

 

[drag]

There are some "live linux" cds (OSes that run directly from cdrom without installing anything) that include clamav anti-virus software. You can use that if you don't have a second computer to run a "captive" scan on.

One I know about is a Knoppix variation called "Knoppix-STD" that includes all sorts of hacker-ish tools.

If you want to you can use regular Knoppix for now until you get your OS fixed or reinstalled. The regular knoppix version doesn't have clamav I think, but it can be usefull for backing up stuff over the network.

check out knoppix.net for the regular version.

Check out http://www.knoppix-std.org/ for the STD version.

The regular knoppix version has a much more pleasent GUI enviroment for regular deskop useage. (at least thats the impression that I get from the std screenshots.)

 

[rise]

ok, i'm running the RAM at 2.65 right now. it can be set 2.55/2.65 or auto.
antiVir version 6.29.0.7 engine,
Avast version 4.5 Home edition.
i update the defintions daily or when promted.
i don't really have a comp i could switch my drive into, well not easily anyway, but if necessary i will.

i don't think it has to do with the program i installed the night this all began but i believe it was 3dmark01, i'm certain in fact. the uninstalls i triied were programs blown out by whatever crash it was, for instance avast was one, i had to reinstall it anyway, nero was another. i am typically very cautious in what i download.

i don't know much about, well anything i guess, getting overwhelmed since finding these forums, lol. but i guess i'm confused about the tangible stuff i can see. like would the bios loosen the timings on my RAM by itself? wouldn't looser timings= greater stability? why would this just sorta freeze the screen, not completely lock it up.

and the seemingly age old question, could this be my PSU? i only mention that because i added a 6800gt on the 6th, the raptor the 8th or 9th. but according to mobomonitor5 the rails are ok (if i'm using that term right). its a TT 480 watt with 18 amps on the 12 which i guess is standard/low depending on who i listen to. the PSU question just crossed my mind today.

drag, thanks for that link, i might need it in the future, or now, just don't know in whaty way.

and as an update, same as yestersday, 3-4-5 freezes throughout the day, all just need me to hit ctrl/alt/del and then cancel to unfreeze.

 

[mechBgon]

Unstable power can be at the root of file-corruption issues and stuff, yeah. If you could slap a 15-day trialware of McAfee VirusScan 9.0 onto there and scan with that, or better yet, put the drive into another computer to do what I call a "captive" scan, that might be worth trying. You could also use the other computer to run a ScanDisk session on the drive and see if it's got file corruptions, too. McAfee trialware... http://download.mcafee.com/us/eval/evaluate2.asp

One of the nice things with McAfee is that it's mostly pre-configured (heuristics and compressed-file scanning should be enabled by default). Good luck!

 

[rise]

thanks! i'll gve it try.

a captive scan would simply put it into the other comp and running their AV on it, right?
thanks for the help with noob questions.

the thermal take is a decent PSU, no? or am i going to have trouble down the road when i go with upgrades. i was thinking of a new p4 prescott at 3.0e until i cn get a AMD set up.

 

[mechBgon]

Yeah, a captive scan in a different computer would keep the crafty viruses from masking themselves from the antivirus software on the fly. Ground 'em, find 'em, kill 'em. If they're there in the first place, that is.

ThermalTake, I would guess they're the low-average range like you heard. I'd rather have an Enermax, Fortron or Antec for sure.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: rise4310
it started yesterday actually with randomly disappearing programs. i mean whole contents of folder. for instance i had like 4 apps under a "tools" folder and suddenly the all the programs were gone. a bunch of shortcuts on the desktop also became invalid at about the same time. i typically leave my machine on 24/7 so i don't know exactly when it happened, i did remember a good sized static discharge when i touched the outside of the aluminum case to open the dvd player, but everything still worked normally after that, although i don't think i had to iopen the "tools" folder or anything.
last night i downloaded a program and installed it and had an icon set to my desktop. i went to launch it from the desktop and the shortcut was invalid!?! i looked for the program and i couldn't find a trace of it.
and again, most of my desktop shortcuts were invalid and a few unistalls wouldn't work, fatal errors and the sort, or says it can't find the program to uninstall but the program is still listed under add/remove.
also, i've been having periodic "freezes" , like my mouse will "kinda" work, as far as i can move it but the clicks don't work, or it will scroll but not just move normally and program windows jump from the front to the backround randomly. i've used ctrl/alt/del to bring up task manager and either used task manager or just cancelled it to unfreeeze it. also task manager always seems to read 99% system idle process.

i don't know, i quit drinking a while ago and i default set any oc'ing i had done but still having tis ran spybot, adaware, spybuster, avast a.v, all clean.

any ideas?

oh , windows xp home sp2, p4 system, asus mobo p4p800, 1 36 raptor and 1 WD sata 80 gb

also task manager always seems to read 99% system idle process
It is normal for the task manager to have system idle process running @ 99%, there is nothing wrong with it.


i did remember a good sized static discharge when i touched the outside of the aluminum case to open the dvd player

If your psu is wired correctly, there should have been no hardware damage from that. The static charge came from your body and was discharged through exterior of the case and out the third prong of the ground wire. None of your components were damaged (most likely).

you have not told me enough information to remedy this probelem, untill I know more there is little I can Do. My advise for the momenet is to boot up with your Windows CD and do a repair installation. If the problem still persists, try installing a second copy of windows to another drive and dual boot. See if that helps, if not your problem lies somewhere else.

 

[rise]

yeah, i guess its time for the repair install. i just never did one before. it will definitely leave everything as is though, right, just hoopefully fix what ails it? i assume i'll have to re-do the minor registry tweaks like "disable ballon tips" and such. also assum ing i will have to reactivate and all?

 

[rise]

one other thought just crossed my mind as i have been running fine now for a couple hours after a fresh boot this am. i have only one paging file on its own partion on a seperrate HDD than the OS, maybe it eventually overloads? this is what i have format:

5gig OS on the raptor
30 gigs games/programs on the raptor
30 gigs apps/storage on caviar
5 gigs paging file on caviar.
10 gigs back up on caviar
20 gigs or so unallocated/unformatted on caviar

no paging file on any but the partition made for the paging file, read somewhere this was a good idea.

just grasping for straws here. the freezes seem to be more frequent after many hours, still like 5-6 a day i guess.

 

[rise]

bump for anything

 

[rise]

guess i try and see