I recently developed a problem with my PC
I have a computer that has developed some serious problems. I will give a detailed description of what's happening, to give you as much information as possible and to make things as simple for you as I can.
It was purchased in 2001, and came loaded with Windows XP Home Edition. The OS was stored on 2 disks that I have used previously to reformat the computer, but once while I was reformatting, I accidentally broke one of the discs. So, I ran up to Office Max and purchased a brand new copy of Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 1. That is the OS I've been running since, for several months now. The computer also came with an AMD Athlon CPU, and I believe it is a 1.7 GHz processor. The computer has 512 MB DDR RAM, and a 60 GB HD (C drive), DVD ROM (D drive), and CD RW drive (E drive). I am using Panda Antivirus Platinum for my virus protection software, which I have been very pleased with. It has done a better job of protecting against virii than any other software I've used (Norton, McAfee, Wincleaner Ultra). It automatically updates, and I run scans no less than 3 days apart, although it informs me if a virus is detected and automatically neutralizes it for me.
Some other background: for some reason the floppy (A drive) drive has never worked, but since I hardly ever use a floppy drive for anything, I never bothered to fix it; ironically, my dad bought the exact same PC, and his floppy didn't work either. Again, he never uses floppy disks for anything, so he never had his fixed either. Recently (2 weeks ago) I added an external USB-connected floppy drive (B drive) recently because I finally did find a need for it. Also, I changed the mouse because my other one was not working very well...wouldn't drag the arrow across the screen as far or as fast as it used to. Changing to the other mouse solved this problem.
Last Sunday, I was using my computer to type out an email. I moved the mouse with my right hand to move the cursor over to the "send" button, and as I moved the mouse, the computer spontaneously rebooted itself, but wouldn't run when it rebooted. I was not working on the machine during a thunderstorm or anything like that, there were no light flickers or anything like that indicating a surger. The system and its components are connected through an electrical strip outlet with surge protection.
There was a floppy disk in the external drive when this happened because I was working on a homework assignment for a beginning programming class that uses Turbo Pascal 7.0. I will come back to this point.
Anyway, since that time, whenever I turn on the system it will not run properly and gets hung up whenever it tries to start windows. You see a blank screen, and the cursor arrow sitting in the middle of it but it won't move. The computer stays hung up. I let it run for a long time to see if it would clear, but no such luck. If you hit the reset button, it reboots but the screen stays black and even though the machine is running, it stays that way without visibly doing anything. Interestingly enough, if you hit the power button, absolutely NOTHING happens. It just stays stuck.
I tried getting into BIOS to make sure nothing was wrong there, and as best I could tell it was okay. I tried purchasing Fix-It Utilities, but the computer will not load it because it gets hung when Windows XP tries to start. I read up in the Fix It utilities manager about the XP Recovery Console, and followed the instructions from the book, which said to boot the computer with the Windows XP cd in the drive. When I boot from the Windows XP disc, it will give a blue screen that says Windows Setup to the left but not all the way to the upper left corner. It runs through a process saying it is loading certain Windows components at the bottom, but then it gets hung up there. Once, and only once did it make it to the Recovery Console screen when I booted from the disc and pressed F10 to open the console. But as soon as I got to this screen:
Microsoft Windows(R) Recovery Console
The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality.
Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.
1: C:\WINDOWS
Which Windows Installation would you like to log on to
(To cancel, press ENTER)?
as soon as I pressed a key the machine got "stuck" again (where it will do nothing except run).
I have considered the possibility of getting a boot sector virus since the computer rebooted while having a floppy disc (that was created on another machine) in the external floppy drive when the computer rebooted itself and started having problems. But I took the disc to another computer and scanned it with Norton Antivirus and it came up clean.
The only other information I can give is that for the past 6 months, the computer has started to have a little bit of an extra hum when the fan that cools the drive is running. Other than that, I can't think of any other symptoms.
As I said, I did not have any electrical surges when this happened. I did not have the tower opened to mess with the mother board, drive or anything else--so I did not do anything to it to cause a static discharge. I did not spill any drinks on the computer or anything else. At the exact moment this happened, the only thing I did was move my mouse. I have tried plugging everything into different outlets to make sure it wasn't a problem with the electrical strip, and still no luck.
So, if there are any computer experts out there, I ask you what you might think the problem is...do you think this is a virus, an XP problem, or a hardware problem? I've considered that it could be an XP problem since the thing gets hung up when windows is being loaded, but I've also considered that it could be a problem with the hard disc. I think the virus problem might be the longshot of the group since the disc tested clean on another system, but that doesn't always mean it is clean.
It hasn't always hung up at the same spot. At first, the computer might actually load windows xp, and begin to run a program, but would hang up/get stuck within 2 minutes of doing so. It would also display a message that something to the effect of "Windows has been shut down due to a serious error" and then it would hang up. Currently, it won't get past the point where Windows begins to load.
I know you cannot know specifically what is going on with my computer without physically seeing it and testing it, but I am asking for your best guess based on the circumstances I've described, so I can decide whether to take this in to try to get it fixed, or whether I should just buy a new tower? (since the monitor still works, as does the printer, scanner, speaker system, etc.) Or, if you think it is a boot sector virus, even though the floppy tested clean, is there anything I can do to eradicate the virus and get this running?
If this is a hard drive malfunction, then I probably need to get a new computer, because the cost of trying to salvage the data on the hard drive is about as expensive as just buying a new computer tower (HD, motherboard, other drives) based on what I've read about the cost of data recovery done by professionals. There is nothing I absolutely need (just want back) stored on that drive, so if it is a hard drive malfunction, then I can live with buying a new one.
Thank you for your help, and feel free to email me any responses you might have at
jlbrpt@excite.com, or just post a reply on this board.
the computer frog
Re: Please Help! Major problem with either XP or Hard Drive or Virus
