Re: Boot Up issue--sign of infection?

"Diane P." <DMPnospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:gr345a$ucj$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello Diane:

Is the age of your system well beyond three years old? Your system's
motherboard CMOS battery becomes a candidate for replacement as
systems
age. Some CMOS backup batteries don't make it to five years. YMMV.

You have a good lineup of antimalware in your arsenal and the only
additions I'd make are MBAM (as a partner with your SAS) and MRT if
you
forgot to mention it. Some might add GMER for periodic rootkit
checks,
and others might add Windows Defender.

You might wish to schedule a chkdsk scan for some future boot-up.

If your system has an actual video board, reseating it wouldn't hurt.
The cable that runs between your monitor and the computer could be
unplugged and replugged to clean the pins that carry the video and
sync
signals to your monitor. If you /do/ have an actual video board, it
could be in the early stages of failure.

Opening your computer to check for excessive dust might also include
a
check of all your system's cooling fans.

If any of the hardware checks give you a feeling of dread, many self
guided instructions can be had with Googling.

Thank you for the lucid description of your trouble. We don't
frequently see this. Tell hubby you deserve a hug. Please post a
follow-up with progress.

Best wishes,

Pete
--
1PW @?6A62?FEH9:DE=6o2@=]4@> [r4o7t]


Hi Pete:

I ran all the security software again ....nothing found.

The first thing I thought of was CMOS battery. The mobo and chip are
June 2007, but it they seems a bit too new to be acting up. We
refurbished this PC back then. The "C" drive is 18 mos old or so and
"D" is 6 mos old.

It was also mentioned to me by another person in the forum, that he
had a similar problem to mine, but his was caused by a flaky PSU, an
Antec to be precise. Guess what mine is...an Antec 650W; so, it was
suggested that I get SpeedFan which I did. I figured out how to check
the disk drives as SMART was enabled; they passed. The fans ran pretty
steady at 2130 or so; But, reading the voltages threw me a bit. There
was flucutation, but it seemed to me to be minor and then settled
down. I am not sure what I am supposed to see, but I will have
familiarize myself with the use of the software. I will Google it and
I'm sure I'll find the answer

I do have a video card, Nvidia 8600GT, but I haven't done anything
with the driver for a couple of months. I have PSI and use Firefox as
my browser; and the only thing that has come my way for updates has
been Java and Firefox and of course the Windows updates.

I thought of the monitor and videocard connections and the dust.
Cleaning the pins is a great suggestion. I thought of an overheating
CPU, but my specs call for 45-65C and this chip runs at 50C, but the
PC had just been turned on and wouldn't have overheated that quickly.
The hub is the go-to hardware guy and after a hug(like you
suggeested), I'm sure I can con him into getting inside the case for
me. I am no hardware person and he's redone the inside of this PC for
me umpteen times.

I also ran memtest...no errors found. I use MRT at WUpdate time and
just did use it after the lastest update. I'll do the MBAM thing
though. Thanks for that.

I think I'll have him do voltage checks at bootup and check the
battery while he's got the PC open. It's so frustrating when the prob
is intermittent like this one.

Have a great day and thaks for your suggestions.

There is also the possibility that the boot code is ready to access the
boot disk before the disk is fully up to speed. Sometimes you can avoid
this by energizing long enough to get some good spin and then a quick
off/on to start the post again. Sometimes there is an option in the bios
setup program that allows setting a delay to allow more spinup time
prior to attempting to access the disk.

Sometimes a more powerful power supply unit is suggested - but this
usually occurs when someone adds an additional drive that pushes the
specs a little.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Boot Up issue--sign of infection?
    ... If your system has an actual video board, ... The first thing I thought of was CMOS battery. ... the disk drives as SMART was enabled; ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)
  • Re: Boot Up issue--sign of infection?
    ... Is the age of your system well beyond three years old? ... If your system has an actual video board, ... The first thing I thought of was CMOS battery. ... the only thing that has come my way for updates has been Java and Firefox ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)
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