major computer woes - any ideas?

[Wigwam]

Turned on my ex pc at my folks and found that after the XP splash screen the blue welcome screen "shimmered" into life and display was very low res [aka before a gfx driver is installed].
got a message that no ATi card device found or control console not installed.

tried to run device manager and found that it doesn't load no matter what method I try to run it instead I get an explorer box opening with the message unable to connect to interet try refresh!

I d/l and tried to install the latest drivers for the ATi X800 card but install halts saying there is no compatible hardware installed!
I opened up the machine and the fan on the card is working [and obviously I get display albeit via the generic driver].

In event manager I also note multiple errors for nv_agp corresponding to every reboot/load up today since the problem started.

I have nod32 installed [fully updated] and ZAPro as well as Ad-aware
running a full scan of NOd32 but nada so far......

 

[mechBgon]

System Restore might be worth a try in the event that it's software.

 

[Wigwam]

I did a few system restores going back to last week and beyond...

oh the other thing I noticed is that firefox just will not start anymore.
IE can load and access the internet but not FF [my default browser

 

[mechBgon]

Clearly the system is Seriously Messed Up?

It might be interesting to see a HijackThis log from that system, and/or dump the HJT log output into http://hijackthis.de/en for a quick auto-analysis that might highlight unusual entries. The behavior you reported when you try to open Device Manager is reminiscent of some search-hijacker malware I've seen firsthand.

A rootkit scan might also be a good idea.

 

[Wigwam]

good point boss.
I will d/l and run Hijack this tomorrow.
It wouldn't suprise me tbh: the girls have turned it into a music d/l machine since they got it!

 

[robisbell]

the quickest way would be to wipe and reload, since mobo drivers do not want to run or are corrupted, video card drivers will not load.

 

[Wigwam]

true - I have resigned myself to that possibility and will back the remainder of the girls' stuff to external hdd tomorrow [minus the virus-riddled music!] but it would be nice to fix it rather than devote best part of half a day to doing this!

Might try reinstalling the mobo drivers first thogh...

 

[robisbell]

install OS, then chipset(mobo drivers), then video card, then any other card drivers, then antivirus, antispyware, and firewall, then do windows updates. install Firefox, and Thunderbird.

 

[Wigwam]

sorry what I meant was that instead of doing a full OS reinstall I might see if uninstalling and reinstalling mobo chipset drivers fixes the problems.
Deep down I know though that I will have to devote a weekend day to this task....

 

[robisbell]

what I described is at most a day, if you do it right,less than half a day. I'd go ahad and get the latest video card, audio, and mobo drivers, plus FF and TB downloaded and ready.

 

[Wigwam]

tbh I already have a folder only a month old with all that stuff ready. As it is a machine not at home it is just a pain. I'll try the "patch" solution but if a couple of hours gets me nowhere then it is torched.

 

[robisbell]

well, I think you may want to double check on the drivers and software, a month I've seen a lot of releases of new versions.

 

[mechBgon]

In the event that you end up nuking it, it might be worth your while to pick up Acronis TrueImage and image the system in its clean condition, after you've got everything set up the way you want it. Your time's probably worth it

If you want to be Mr. Bad Cop you can also lock it down so they have no Admin rights: http://www.mechbgon.com/build/Limited.html Going beyond that, there's Windows SteadyState (free), which I haven't tried yet myself, but it looks promising for certain scenarios.

 

[hi tek]

Did you find out if anything was done before the error occurred, i.e. new installations, deletions? You should check before you wipe/reinstall everything

 

[Wigwam]

I know they have been rampant on limewire and I picked up one virus masquarading as a song and another in a [they say as yet unopened] rar file but they are both a month old. no-one done anything for a week to it and the problem only began yesterday.

Mech: I used to do that when it was "my" machine but opened it up for them. Policies will be back in force!

Robi: definately! I have Acronic TruImage 11 now

 

[Wigwam]

well I uninstalled then reinstalled the nforce drivers and that did most of the trick: GFx card was identified and working properly.
reinstalled Firefox
The device Manager is stilled borked; seems the dll that controls it must be hookey.
Anyway to patch that simply?

 

[robisbell]

nope, a full wipe, zero the drive and reload from scratch, do not import any files from any backups.

 

[Wigwam]

not even a "repair install"?
seems a smallish thing to require a nuke

 

[robisbell]

it's not a small problem. and from everything that's happened to it since your OP, I'd say it's time to just clean install and give it back to your ex.

 

[Wigwam]

sisters dude sisters not ex!
since my OP I have tried to install the Display drivers and failed then followed the hunch and reinstalled the mobo drivers and got it back up to speed....

I am not disputing this might require a reinstall but I don't like that as a knee-jerk reaction and would like to understand what limitations prevent a "repair" [granted there are bound to issues affected I haven't come across yet]

 

[robisbell]

"Turned on my ex pc" I took that to mean your ex's pc. a repair install negates everything you've done, but it does not negate any corrupted files or viruses or trojans that are still on there. when I come acoss those, the most economical method is to zero the drive and reload, most of the time the data is infected so badly it's not worth risking to save.

 

[Wigwam]

oops! I build a new machine and gave my old one to family [hence ex-pc].
I see. That is a bummer. What about if I delete the dlls that MS reports are causing the errors with device manager?

I hear what you are saying but I use these problems as learning experiences too.
All the underlying data etc is safe [and backed up!] and bar device manager the machine now seems to be working normally again

 

[robisbell]

the OS is corrupted to a point a repair may fix, but more than likely based on what was being run on it, not. The simplest route is to zero fill the drive and then reinstall the OS clean.

 

[jackschmittusa]

No need to fill a drive with zeros to get rid of crap. Just delete the partition, re-partition, and format.