windows xp freezes up randomly today

[winterwatchers]

Today, the 1st of April my computer would freezes up randomly. It began when I was browsing in Firefox. First my anit-virus AVIRA shows a message saying somekind of virus infection(I forgot the name of it), then browser stops working, then after I click on the start up bar it would freeze too. ctrl-alt don't work. I had to push restart button. after startup I ran antivirus while playing CIV game. And then later everytime I open Firefox, after a while it would freeze. sometimes just letting it sit there it would freeze on its own.

At first I thought it was firefox, I reinstalled same results. Later after many restarts, I decided to watch an epside of a show and after a little while, the media player would freeze as well.

It seems to me that XP only freezes when I am running any kind of program. I am currently typing all this on vista, I had duel boot setup, everything works fine on vista. I ran memory test, everything is fine. I don't see any virus after the scan. Any help is appreciated

edit: Its not a heating problem

My specs are
intel q6600,
4gb of ram,
gigabyte dq6 motherboard,
7900gs,
320gb hd separated into 80gb(xp), 60gb(vista), 20gb, 160gb
500gb hd empty for now
4tb raid array with random stuff

 

[Intexity]

ummmmm.... did it clear the infection?? doesnt sound like it did. kept getting people questioning me about some april fools bug. don't know if it is valid cause I didn't get infected. don't know about avira but avg works like a charm. sounds to me like you have a virus. might want to check your task manager for any new processes. Next time you get a virus infection good idea to write it down and research what the virus does.

 

[pcgeek11]

Research the Conficker on google. It is supposed to activate itself today.

http://www.symantec.com/norton...themeid=conficker_worm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker

What does the Conficker worm do?
The Conficker worm has created secure infrastructure for cybercrime. The worm allows its creators to remotely install software on infected machines. What will that software do? We don?t know. Most likely the worm will be used to create a botnet that will be rented out to criminals who want to send SPAM, steal IDs and direct users to online scams and phishing sites.

The Conficker worm mostly spreads across networks. If it finds a vulnerable computer, it turns off the automatic backup service, deletes previous restore points, disables many security services, blocks access to a number of security web sites and opens infected machines to receive additional programs from the malware?s creator. The worm then tries to spread itself to other computers on the same network.

 

[winterwatchers]

I checked the task manager, couldn't really see anything special going on.

I just realized that the date of infection is April fools. I am not sure if its the conflicker worm, because xp freezes. if some hacker wants my computer as a botnet, I can't see why they would make it freeze, forcing the user to restart

 

[Atheus]

Welcome to AT.

Originally posted by: winterwatchers
I checked the task manager, couldn't really see anything special going on.

Well, you've got some kind of virus, almost certainly. I suggest you run all the malware scanners, specifically Malwarebytes and Spybot, probably from safe mode since it sounds like your normal runlevel is pretty broken.

I just realized that the date of infection is April fools. I am not sure if its the conflicker worm, because xp freezes. if some hacker wants my computer as a botnet, I can't see why they would make it freeze, forcing the user to restart

Viruses don't exactly go through quality control before distribtion - with the multitudes of different configurations they are expected to run on, it's a wonder people manage to get so many infections and are still able to use their computers. You're right in principle though. If the thing was working correctly you wouldn't even know it was there.

 

[winterwatchers]

I have run malwarebytes and its not solving the problem. I dont think it is viruses. I think its more to do with system stability.

Media player causes freezes after 10 mins or so. Azuerus Vuze cause freezes almost right after opening it, reinstalling doesn't help. I switched to internet explorer 8 and internet at least works fine.

I am going to try Regcure program cleaning registry. Is it a legit program? If not any ideas to solve this freezing problem.

 

[xboxist]

We're sharing the same exact symptoms that I outline in my thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2291684&enterthread=y


XP will freeze-up, start bar and Ctrl-Alt-Del don't respond. Spybot, Adaware, Avast & AVG don't find anything during their scans. Components aren't overheating. RAM tests fine. The freeze-up seems to be accelerated during program usage, like a web browser or WMP. But given enough time, mine also freezes even if it's just sitting on the desktop.

My next steps seem to be trying to reinstall XP. Not sure what else to do. I've been told my PSU could be at fault too, but I don't have a spare lying around to test that theory with.

 

[winterwatchers]

Hi xboxist, I read your post and it seems that your problem is very similar to mine where the computer never had any problems and then suddenly it started malfunctioning.

but my computer doesn't lock up if left alone...well I hardly ever leave my computer alone for more than an hour.

I doubt its harddrive because my vista running on the dual boot has no issues. I guess I might have to do a reformat soon if no one can give me any suggestions. Its a pain in the ass because backing up all my work stuff and crap takes forever.

I noticed that some programs don't work while others run fine. I wonder if there is a common link between firefox, wmp(w/k-lite codec), azuerus. I am checking to see if java, adobe flash or some other program is messing things up

 

[xboxist]

Tonight I'm going to try booting right into Ubuntu (from a CD), and see if it locks up during a browsing session with Firefox. If it doesn't then I suppose I can probably assume it's a Windows issue and I will proceed to reinstall XP. If it does lock up under Ubuntu, the only logical assumption is that I have a hardware problem or some deeply-entrenched virus or malware that hasn't been detected as of yet.

I'll update late tonight or tomorrow.

 

[xboxist]

I spent last night further testing my computer. I booted into Ubuntu, and spent a good 2 hours surfing the internet to see if it would lock up. It didn't. In the past week, it would have certainly locked up by then in XP. So that was good enough for me to decide to format and reinstall XP.

It's been fine so far, no lock ups yet so I'm hopeful that took care of the problem.

 

[winterwatchers]

Glad to hear that.

I am still tinkering around. I switched to Bittorent from Azereus Vuze and it works fine. I switched from WMP to realplayer and there are a lot less freeze ups. And I am beginning to enjoy internet explorer 8 more than firefox.

I believe the problem lies somewhere with Adobe flash player..or not. I wish I had more friends who are expert with windows instead of linux.

 

[winterwatchers]

I decided to reformat, but I have some questions.

I have 4 partitions on one hd. THere are for C:XP, D:Vista, and 2 storage. When I am using xp, C drive is primary and the other 3 are extended partitions. When I am using Vista, that drive automatically switches with XP drive: So Vista is now C drive and XP is now D drive and labeled as extended partiton. If I reformat XP, will it mess with this setup? and are the information stored on the storage drives be affected?

Also I have Areca PCI RAID Hardware with a raid5 setup with 4 1tb drives. Are the information on this drive safe?