cygnusx1 Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 The killer PC that I built last year got a virus...or something. In the process of clearing it up it became unstable. I got it running again but it was not right. I decided to reinstall the OS for peace. Well, the OS refused to install constantly kicking me back to blue screen at random points during the process. After about twenty tries with different hardware and BIOS configurations, I am done! I was so pissed that I was ready to toss the thing out the window, jump out the window myself, and smash the crap out of it with a sledge. With my wife on bedrest and the baby due, I have NO time to screw with this crap. I am using my wifes laptop PC now. For sale: Two Nvidia 256mb XFX 6800GT SLi video cards PCI Express16X Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard 4 Sticks of 512 DDR Geil 2-5-2-2 RAM (real fast stuff) 184pin AMD 64bit 3500+ Processor Socket 939 with heatsink and fan. ATX CASE with Four Fans, Side window, 500Watts, Gloss Black, LCD Temp readout and fan speed control. Of course if you have a problem with a part, I would refund part cost +shipping. -Dave MAKE OFFERS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Remove your current HD, buy and install a new HD, load it with your OS, buy the very best A/V and Firewall SW you can afford, do all your A/V and OS updates. Then connect your old HD as a secondary drive and have the A/V SW on your new HD repair the old one. Yes... it's a PITA but this is probably the easiest DIY way. You could also just take your diseased HD to a third-party and let them do it... but... I don't trust anyone with my PC. EDIT: Once it's running again... scan every removable media before copying anything, scan EVERY email attachment before opening them no matter where they came from, don't allow any executables to run that you're not familiar with, turn off all macros in MS Word and any other apps unless you REALLY need them. Oh... and stay away form the porn sites;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share Posted November 26, 2006 I already had Zonealarm Pro Suite and AVIRA running on RAID 0 drives. I had all my data backed up on two additional drives. Which I plan to keep for the new PC. All my drives were scanned and came out clean last night. I already wiped the RAID set a few times while I was trying to reinstall the OS. At this point I am going to punt and buy a readybuilt. I got no time to screw around. The PC is already disassembled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators SuperDan Posted November 26, 2006 Administrators Share Posted November 26, 2006 Well, the OS refused to install constantly kicking me back to blue screen at random points during the process. When you say "random points" at what part of the install are you talking about about? During the blue screen install (format, file copy etc) or during the GUI setup or both? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Ahh... now you're in good hands!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share Posted November 26, 2006 Since this morning, Windows XP logo was coming up and then before it got to the login screen, it would go back to rebooting. Endless cycle. Sometimes the USB keyboard would activate, sometimes it wouldn't. When the keyboard would turn on, I could get to the BIOS and change settings....basically to make the CD drive the boot drive so I could install WinXP from CD. Once I got XP to start installing, I hit F6 to load the RAID drivers from floppy and then it would get to the point where it whould say "starting windows" and then a blue screen with a message about contacting the manufacturer of the computer. Once, it actually made it to the part where it detected the volumes so I selected the RAID set and I did the quick format. After the quick format, blue screen again. Something about corrupt files. I tried removing hardware to eliminate problems but nothing worked. The PC was working fine since the virus attack other than the occasional sudden reboot. All virus scans were coming up clean from Zonealarm and AVIRA, (up to date). I also always had Adwatch Agent running to keep eyes on the registry. I have built many PC's and from my experience all this points to a hardware glitch. These are the toughest to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Wanna give it to a college student? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Sounds like HD problems to me... or perhaps disk controller problems. Can you boot from the OS CD and run chkdsk with disk error checking enabled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators SuperDan Posted November 26, 2006 Administrators Share Posted November 26, 2006 I would try another CD drive. I cannot count the number of times I have seen a bad one cause the weirdest problems. They seem to work ok on a running machine but when you try to do a OS install all hell breaks lose. Just a suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zV8 Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Scanners don't always catch the source of the problem. Have you done the F8 safe mode right when you turn the computor on? That should let you go through ur HD in safe mode to find the problem. If you can get that to let you in, Hit ctrl+Alt+Dlt, and goto task manager, and goto the processes tab, and go through every running proccess. Take ur time and look for anything you don't recognize and delete the source file. Second, goto Start, then Run, then type msconfig in the run box, and then when the screen pops up goto the top right tab "startup", and look through all the files there and delete any suspicious ones. I had a couple virus's but cleaned them that way, along with Mcafee's scanner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zV8 Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 And i strongly recomend Sygate personal firewall. Mcafee isn't even close to as throrough as to what it lets contact the internet. And get AVG virus scanner. Both are free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tfreer85 Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Buy a Mac and be done with it. Unless you actually need windows for a particular program, macs are the most user friendly computers you can buy. Just my opinion. Oh and I don't like most of the Virus scanners for my other PC's (I have 3 others), McAfee is a RAM whore and haven't found anything else that I really like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share Posted November 26, 2006 OK thanks guys but I am about to go outside and pour gasoline on it and light it up. I assembled it again and tested some more theories. NG. I am FU#KING done with it. My time is too valuable for this crap. Going to Dell.com or Alienware.com. TTYL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 If you're really going to burn it, then bash it first with a sledge hammer and pee on it. You might as well get full satisfaction from murdering your PC. Report back and let us know how you feel after killing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tfreer85 Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT DELL!!!!! We (my family and I) have owned 6 all have crashed within the first 6 months of ownership. And some of these were not even hooked up to the internet, go with alienware or anything other than dell. Again just my opinion. Tyson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tannji Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Dell owns Alienware, FYI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share Posted November 26, 2006 Why does spending shtloads of money always make me feel better. I did it. I got me a new dell. 3-5 days. I broke my DIY code from the past 8 years and bought a prebuilt PC. I must be getting old. It is probably twice as fast as the pile of parts that I am going to torch. Oh well that's life. Moving right along...with less money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 a little late now, but if you use the f8 key there is an option to disable reboot on error. then you can normally read the blue screen. normally a hardware problem if you erased the HDs. a lot of memory problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cethern Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Don't burn it Just part it out. A lot of nice parts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Why does spending shtloads of money always make me feel better. I did it. I got me a new dell. 3-5 days. I broke my DIY code from the past 8 years and bought a prebuilt PC. I must be getting old. It is probably twice as fast as the pile of parts that I am going to torch. Oh well that's life. Moving right along...with less money. You're gettin' a DELL Dude.... NIIIIIICCCCEEEEE Reading this thread, I could feel my pulse quicken... We've all been there... You use these damned boxes day in and day out, and they should just work all the time, damnit... Unfortunately the best laid plans always fail in the hands of man, no? We ended up using Avast for our firewall suite on all our office computers. It seems to do well and allows me to stay ahead of those little pesky visuses that Mcafee and Norton swear they don't release 30 days before their next "upgrades"... Good luck and be kind to the wife and impending child... Yelling a cursing over a broken PC won't fix the pc and my upset the little lady... And when Momma's not happy, NOBODIES happy! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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