Windows XP HELP!

[DV8]

Hello everyone....im having a problem with windows XP << im kinda new to computers so i need help with this.

Basically everytime i load windows it freezes when i try to run a windows program. the problems started about a week ago when windows would not even load....it would just stop during the start up. i believe i was missing a driver cuz i went in2 safe mode -> device manager it had (!) icon next to the Universal Serial Bus Controller so i disabled it. i later tried to load the driver but i cant find it on my hd (looking for usbehci.sys). ALso there was a "Unkown hardware error" icon if i stayed in safe mode for too long, which i thought was strange but didnt pay 2 much attention to it cuz i thought it was the the USB controller.

i didnt pay it much mind to the problem after that since windows started loading fine. now a week later (after it was working perfectly for a week) anytime i try to open a window the system freezes. when i can run firefox fine (what im using now) but if i try to open ie, the control panel, any drive, disk defragmenter, or any other system utility, windows just freezes. i tried loading in2 safe mode and there doesnt seem to be anything wrong except for the USB controller. << In safe mode when i run disk defragmenter it says there is a hardware error and freezes then aswell.

<< its kinda weird cuz i can run any program except for something that has to do with windows. every once in a while i will get a BLUE SCREEN: "Kernal Stack Error" < but that happens rarely and it restarts my computer. Please let me know that there is a quick fix and nothing major is the problem :blink:

if you have any questions, ill try to answer them. I need HELP bad, so anything is appreciated. here are my system specs:
AMD Athlon 64-bit Processor at 3000+ (754)
Asus K8V SE Deluxe K8T800
512MB Samsung DDR Memory
120 GB SATA Maxtor HD
80 GB ATA Maxtor HD (old hd running win98)
Asus 128mb Radeon 9550
Sound Blaster live Platinum 5.1
16x Optorite DVD-RW burner
16x Sony DVD Burner

thanks in advance

 

[ohnnyj]

Try to reinstall WinXP.

 

[allanon1965]

if you switch to the old hd with win98 on it, does it still lock up? if not, then you may have to reformat if you cant do a system restore on win xp, if it does still lock up then you need to run memtest for starters and see if you have a problem with your ram, thats where i always start and in cases like yours it is usually the cause about 60% of the itme in my experiences.....

 

[DV8]

<< i havent tried 2 load in2 win98. how do i do a system restore in winXP? also how do i run a memtest? < im sorry for all the questions, im really new 2 all this.

 

[DV8]

btw im running winXP professional

also i just try to load under another my girlfriends account and i can open explorer windows (open C: drive, etc.), but it does crash if i try to defragment.

 

[DV8]

my computer seems to crash when i defrag everytime it gets to the spybot folder...i tried uninstalling and it crashes in the middle of the uninstall, i tryed deleting the folder and same, i cant delete it.

<< i did find this info on the "Kernel_Stack_Inpage_Error" i was getting....it might be a boot sector virus:
link

if you have any other ideas let me know--everything is appreciated...

 

[Ken90630]

I had a semi-similar problem a couple months ago with a friend's computer. Turned out he had 3 pretty bad viruses, with over 1,000 infected files. I mention this because during the course of troubleshooting his machine, I tried to install Spybot Search & Destroy. It installed, but would not run ... and when I tried to uninstall it, it locked up the machine, gave some weird error code, and wouldn't uninstall.

Some viruses are written to prevent people from doing things like you're trying to do. While there could be a number of causes for your problems, my money is on a malware infection. Spyware isn't likely to cause the serious types of probs you have, so my guess would be a virus or trojan or something like that.

Something that worked for me, to a point, was the free download of McAfee Stinger. It will scan your computer for viruses if you can get to Safe Mode and get online to McAfee's site. It won't find every virus, but it'll find the most prevalent ones. It just might get you to the point where it will remove the infected files and ask you to simply insert the Windows CD ROM to replace them. (Assuming, of course, that you have infected files.) It only takes a few minutes, and you can download Stinger here.

What anti-virus program and firewall (and what versions) are you running, and were they up to date when these probs started?

 

[DV8]

<< i use norton anti virus 2003 freshly updated. and i usually run a free online scan once a month or so, im currently running Panda online scan, hoping to find something.

ill try that stinger next, thanks for the help...im hoping its a simple virus so that it doesnt do 2 much damage and i dont have to reload window, i dont have any back up....

 

[Ken90630]

<< i use norton anti virus 2003 freshly updated. and i usually run a free online scan once a month or so, im currently running Panda online scan, hoping to find something.

There shouldn't be any need to run the Panda online scan if your Norton was/is up to date, but I guess it couldn't hurt. Symantec (Norton) will almost certainly have a more comprehensive and current virus definition list than Panda, BTW.

im hoping its a simple virus so that it doesnt do 2 much damage and i dont have to reload window, i dont have any back up....

Yeah, that's always the dreaded outcome. :Q If your virus scanning reveals any infected files and you can repair them, try again to install & run Spybot S&D afterwards. You could have multiple infections playing off each other and doing bizarre things (which is, after all, what malware is designed to do!).

If you need to rescue files before re-formatting, you might try installing the HD in another machine and setting it up as a slave just long enough to extract your files from it. That doesn't take very long. You won't need to boot from it, so you should be able to get the files you need off it. If you do that, I would scan those files as you copy them over (if your Norton A-V doesn't do it automatically) so that you don't infect the other machine too. I was able to rescue all of my friend's files from the aforementioned badly-infected HD that way.

Having said all this, it's always possible you have some kind of hardware failure. But as I said before, my money is on a malware infection.

Gotta get some sleep. Good luck.

 

[DV8]

<< thanks for the help....im trying this first.

although i do believe there's some kind of conflict in my hardware aswell because everytime i go in2 safe mode a caution icon pops up (!) and says: "Unknown Hard Error"

<< sometimes i wish i would have just bought the computer from DELL, so i can send it back if i have any problems

 

[DV8]

<< any others?? i still need ideas.

i think ive pinpointed the problem 2 spybot. but cant uninstall the program, i went in safe mode in2 the prompt and deleted the files in each folder but doesnt delete the folders....when i run defrag/virus scan/adaware it still gets stuck on the spybot folder and crashes.

any ideas?

 

[Ken90630]

At this point, I would put the HD in another machine, set the jumper so that it's a slave drive, copy the files you need onto another HD (or CD ROM or jump drive or whatever), then reformat and do a fresh install of XP Pro. That whole process shouldn't take more than an hour or two, and you could spend four times that much time continuing on the path you're on and still maybe not resolve the problem. :Q

There are so many possible culprits that it's hard for me (or anyone else, likely) to be able to point you in a precise direction that will positively fix the problem. Plus, I'm by no means a computer repair expert. BTW, I'm not sure why you've been trying to defrag so much -- that shouldn't be necessary and won't fix the prob anyway. Oh, and trying to uninstall Spybot by deleting it's individual folders will not work either -- you need to follow the specific uninstall procedure that they recommend. It sounds like you've tried and it won't work, so I don't know what to tell you there.

BTW, the first thing you wanna do, if you're going to continue to troubleshoot this without reformatting & reinstalling XP Pro, is disable System Restore on your computer. Many viruses hide in there, and even if you are able to remove the virus, it will restore itself from System Restore and you'll be right back at square one. Plus, virus scanners cannot repair viruses hiding in System Restore -- some scans will 'see' the virus in there but not be able to do anything about it. Others won't even see it, let alone fix it.

System Restore was a nice idea by Microsoft, but like so many other things, the human trash virus writers have virtually ruined it.

Not to nag you, but that McAfee Stinger I linked you to last night might be able to find and clean the malware enough to enable you to run a 'full' virus scan with your Norton A-V and also let you uninstall Spybot and then re-install it. You might be surprised at how effective it can be against certain malware.

Of course, it's also possible you have a physical problem with the hard drive, although my strong suspicion is still malware based on the totality of what you describe as going on. Again though, I'd just reformat and start over with a fresh install if it were me.

 

[DV8]

<< thanks for all the help guys, i think im gonna go with the full formating...it basically a new system so i dont have much on there....im trying to dl SP2 so that i can update everything fully....hopefully i dont run in to problems

ill probably do that this weekend so if there are any other ideas please let me know.....
thanks