Computer dead- Got NO idea! HELP!

lukechad

lukechad

lukechad

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Right, this morning I cam to boot up the main PC in the house as normal, got to the XP log-in screen as normal, clicked my user area, eventually my wallpaper showed up but nothing else, and the PC isnt even trying to load anything as no flashing light can be seen.

For the past few weeks the PC seems to have been pretty slow, I had antivirus software/firewall and spyware software running on the pc all the time anyway.

The thing is now on earth can I access anything to even begin to resolve it? Will safe mode work in getting be into my files?

Really really stuck for ideas. We do have backups of most of the stuff on there but I would like to backup all my music/pics etc again at least as they havent been backed up in a month or 2!

It seems this issue has come along worse after I ran spyware removal software, as if the virus or whatever has been there but when i used the spyware its disturbed it and made it very angry!

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers!
 
If you want to get your files, get your hands on a bootable Linux Live CD (I recommend Slax). Connect an external hard drive to the computer, and copy all of your data from the windows disk to your external drive.

Try booting into Safe Mode and run anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.

What program did you run that you think caused the problem?
 
I ran spybot S&D over the pc first of all.

Then I was recommended a program that I cant remember the name of at the moment, it was paradigm who suggested it to me. avast rings a bell?

I just cant work out why I wont get any icons and the PC wont even try to load them? Does it sound like ive been killed by a virus????
 
No I cant get into that its the first thing I tried im afraid.

I will try getting it booted into safe mode and run all the anti virus gubbins I have over the thing to try and help. May need to take it to someone to do it for me though if that fails
 
Sounds like my problem just before xmas, xp slow as, restored from backup image - still slow as and more issues creeping in then one morning it just didnt boot but noticed the bios said bad smart so thats another 1tb sammy gone bits up.

I'd go for the bootable cd idea, if i didnt have a spare hd or 2 with xp on that is, alternatively pop the hd into another pc.
 
My sister just got this issue on her laptop. Stupidly weird... ran through an XP repair to see if that would cure it, but it would just hang... looks like a corrupt HDD or worse... waiting until i get back to work to get my BootCDs onto it and stuff...

Most likely i'll have to do a full XP re-install if the HDD comes back OK, just to let you know what you're in for :p

But definitely stick the HDD in another machine as a slave and pull everything from it just incase.
 
Oh great, thanks for the help then guys, all be it bad news.

I think my dad wants rid now, hes an impatient bugger, we have an old pc in the house I will get the HDD out of this and put it in that one to get the files off it i need.

How do I set it as a slave drive? Probably a stupid question but im not sure!

Cheers
 
i had something like that happen to me a while back on my laptop. it was a piece of spyware from an 'antispyware ad' that I'd clicked on. forget which one it was but a quick boot in safe mode and running spybot found it and cured it. no problems since, but dont use Spybot anymore as AVG antispyware and soon to be a-squared would detect everything that came in :)
 
Look for a the most recent *.exe created in your system32 folder. If its some obscure name , look it up on google and if it isn't anything opbvious delete it , if it will let you.

I fixed a Pc here at work with a simlar problem. Hope this helps
 
Cant get into safe mode :( Keyboard not registering at all as far as I can tell. Going to give it a go with another keyboard. I will be looking at all the above suggestions!

Cheers again guys. Appreciate it.

EDIT: Got into safe mode! Now I start to fix the problem :)
 
Last edited:
divaboy said:
Look for a the most recent *.exe created in your system32 folder. If its some obscure name , look it up on google and if it isn't anything opbvious delete it , if it will let you.

I fixed a Pc here at work with a simlar problem. Hope this helps
Click to expand...

That's a really good idea tbh. Will use the myself at some point :)
 
Cant get it to arrange the icons in date order in safe mode for some reason. But got avast running now in safe mode to try and kill the problem
 
lukechad said:
Cant get it to arrange the icons in date order in safe mode for some reason. But got avast running now in safe mode to try and kill the problem
Click to expand...

That may be normal, as in safe mode you won't get all usual windows functionality.

Would personally try a system restore (if use that) first.
 
Im back and working, safe mode system scan did the trick!

Now im back on im still getting the popups so going to check back into the sytem32 folder for any obscure exe files.
 
Get Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware. Switch off system restore, then deploy both of those and Combofix. If those programs won't run or install then try renaming their .exe files prior to running.
 
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