Oh no! Potential virus?

[Jakeh]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums so apologies if this isn't the right area to post.

I have a Samsung Series 7 Gamer Laptop which I've had for a couple of years. I recently downloaded a file and since then my computer hasn't been the same. Random crashing, restarts and it has become dreadfully slow.

I assumed it was a virus so I ran a virus scan, however the computer can't complete this without it restarting.

I've tried doing a clean install and have upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 10 at the same time. The computer still restarts when doing a virus scan. I have also tried doing the scan in safe mode without much luck.

Can any of you give me some advice what to try next?

Cheers

Jake

 

[Zefan]

I'd rule out some other things before chasing for potential nasties. It could be coincidence that it seems to have corresponded with the file download. Temperatures all normal? Ran memtest? Hard drives healthy? Do other demanding applications such as benchmarks or games crash too?

:edit: sneaky ninja edited quite a bit of my post in there

 

[Jakeh]

I have done that and it came back with no issues. The only game I play is CSGO and I can't get that to install at the moment, however that may be a seperate issue altogether.

*EDIT - When I tried loading Steam earlier to reinstall CSGO, that also caused the computer to restart.

 

[Kelt]

Have you tried a System Restore to a point prior to the file download/restart problem?

 

[Jakeh]

Hi mate, yes I did try that but the problems persisted after that.

Thanks so far guys. I'm going to try check the temps, I'm not sure what is considered normal though. I use my laptop on a cooling pad as it does get hot when playing games. I'll also do a memtest again.

I'm running a virus scan in safemode and all seems ok so far. No crashing.

 

[jpaul]

Do you know why it re-started, for windows 7 I thought you had enable some
extended diagnostics to give a log that could be analysed by BSOD (blue screen of death)
tools ... not sure how technique changes with win 8 / 10

 

[Jakeh]

Hi mate,

Good point. When it was doing the Windows 8 equivalent of BSOD it was giving the error message MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

 

[Jakeh]

This is what is coming back with a temp/hard drive health check

 

[Jakeh]

Me again! Haven't crashed in ages and everything seems to be running fairly smoothly.

I installed CSGO and ran it for about 5 minutes and then monitored the temps, should I be concerned with how hot they have got? I've been using the cooling pad as well but I don't think it's made much difference.

Thanks all

 

[snowdog]

It is within specs, but toasty. On one side the temperatures do seem silly high, on the other hand my first gen i5 laptop cpu (2010) also gets to 90 C under full load after a while and works fine and stable. even after long periods of gaming (office lan parties) or programming (loads of instances of VS + resharper which are a cpu + ram hog)..


Could you go into detail about this ''file'' you downloaded? Why do you expect this to be the cause of the problems?

I'm a bit rubbish with examining raw smart info data, but the ''caution'' warning would make me look into that direction. Which attribute causes the ''caution'' status (it's not in your screenshot)?
Do you have the possibility of swapping that hdd with a different hdd/ssd and trying a clean install on that? I know it's a big hassle but it would basically give you a much better indication where to investigate.

If a new hdd/ssd and install would fix all problems then you're sure it's either your HDD or software config, if it doesn't then you're sure you have overheating or other mainboard/cpu/ram issues.

As for temps I'm not familiar with your laptop, but might be worth a shot firing some compressed air into the ''exhaust'' where the hot air comes out to clear some dust from the heatsink. Cheap try to buy a can of compressed air and give it a shot, it can't hurt...

 

[jpaul]

for enhanced crash logs
see here
so
1. Security > System > Advanced system settings > Startup and recovery settings. Ensure Windows is set to create memory dumps when a system crash occurs.
2. Install NirSoft’s BlueScreenView

once you have report googling errors nailed it for me.

 

[Semple]

I think CDI is showing caution for relocated sectors, if you hover your mouse over it, a tooltip will appear with the count. The threshold says 5, so you might currently be at 5 sectors.

 

[Jakeh]

It is within specs, but toasty. On one side the temperatures do seem silly high, on the other hand my first gen i5 laptop cpu (2010) also gets to 90 C under full load after a while and works fine and stable. even after long periods of gaming (office lan parties) or programming (loads of instances of VS + resharper which are a cpu + ram hog)..


Could you go into detail about this ''file'' you downloaded? Why do you expect this to be the cause of the problems?

I'm a bit rubbish with examining raw smart info data, but the ''caution'' warning would make me look into that direction. Which attribute causes the ''caution'' status (it's not in your screenshot)?
Do you have the possibility of swapping that hdd with a different hdd/ssd and trying a clean install on that? I know it's a big hassle but it would basically give you a much better indication where to investigate.

If a new hdd/ssd and install would fix all problems then you're sure it's either your HDD or software config, if it doesn't then you're sure you have overheating or other mainboard/cpu/ram issues.

As for temps I'm not familiar with your laptop, but might be worth a shot firing some compressed air into the ''exhaust'' where the hot air comes out to clear some dust from the heatsink. Cheap try to buy a can of compressed air and give it a shot, it can't hurt...

Hello mate!

The file I downloaded was a programme that I usually download on a weekly basis from the same source so I was surprised when the computer started crashing and running slow straight after. As Zefan mentioned, it could purely be coincidence that it happened just after the download.

With buying a new HHD/SSD it is really a non-option at the moment as I have bought a new rig from OCUK which will arrive next week so in an ideal world I want to keep costs low, buying the compressed air seems like it's definitely worth a try! I'll get a can and let you know if I see any improvement!

 

[Jakeh]

for enhanced crash logs
see here
so
1. Security > System > Advanced system settings > Startup and recovery settings. Ensure Windows is set to create memory dumps when a system crash occurs.
2. Install NirSoft’s BlueScreenView

once you have report googling errors nailed it for me.

Hey bud,

Thanks for that - I'll get that installed should the computer crash again!

 

[Jakeh]

I think CDI is showing caution for relocated sectors, if you hover your mouse over it, a tooltip will appear with the count. The threshold says 5, so you might currently be at 5 sectors.

Hey! I've attached the below screenshot with the info that you've mentioned, I have absolutely no idea what it means though.

 

[Purgatory]

Hey! I've attached the below screenshot with the info that you've mentioned, I have absolutely no idea what it means though.

Mate your main problem there is your C: hard drive it has gone faulty.


Get a new drive and reinstall windows and all will be well.


After that if you need more help with it post in the laptop section and I will help you more with that laptop. I own one too and know my way fully around it and which drivers to install for it in 2016. Also what you could do is install windows 10 from a clean install disk from here https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10 then update all the drivers for it. Use the windows 7 key to install windows 10, the key is on the laptop on the sticker underneath.


That way you have a windows 10 clean install and all the latest drivers.

Shout if you need any help if I don't notice on the forums just email me on my trust to check the forum thread you required help with.


Also while you install the new hard drive get a can of air and blow out all the laptop and the grills that allow air in and expel air. make sure not to make the can of air shoot liquid so always hold it up right and allow it to warm up between use. MAKE SURE THE BATTERY IS REMOVED BEFORE YOU INSTALL THE DRIVE AND BLOW IT OUT, AFTER BLOWING IT OUT WAIT 10 MINUTES BEFORE INSTALLING THE BATTERY AND POWERING UP THE LAPTOP. THIS WILL MAKE SURE ALL CONDENSATION HAS EVAPORATED.

 

[Jakeh]

Mate your main problem there is your C: hard drive it has gone faulty.


Get a new drive and reinstall windows and all will be well.


After that if you need more help with it post in the laptop section and I will help you more with that laptop. I own one too and know my way fully around it and which drivers to install for it in 2016. Also what you could do is install windows 10 from a clean install disk from here https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10 then update all the drivers for it. Use the windows 7 key to install windows 10, the key is on the laptop on the sticker underneath.


That way you have a windows 10 clean install and all the latest drivers.

Shout if you need any help if I don't notice on the forums just email me on my trust to check the forum thread you required help with.


Also while you install the new hard drive get a can of air and blow out all the laptop and the grills that allow air in and expel air. make sure not to make the can of air shoot liquid so always hold it up right and allow it to warm up between use. MAKE SURE THE BATTERY IS REMOVED BEFORE YOU INSTALL THE DRIVE AND BLOW IT OUT, AFTER BLOWING IT OUT WAIT 10 MINUTES BEFORE INSTALLING THE BATTERY AND POWERING UP THE LAPTOP. THIS WILL MAKE SURE ALL CONDENSATION HAS EVAPORATED.

Hi mate

Thanks for the reply. Really appreciate that.

Just to educate myself, what indicates that the hard drive is faulty?

I have two hard drives presently. Can I remove the C: and just run off the other drive with a fresh install on that?

Since I posted I'vw not seen any issues with the computer so God knows what is happening!

 

[El_Watcher]

Just to educate myself, what indicates that the hard drive is faulty?

The pending sectors being anything but zero is the clue that something is up with the drive. Normally these operations would be cleared in the background, but something has caused the drive not to.

I have two hard drives presently. Can I remove the C: and just run off the other drive with a fresh install on that?

Willl depend on the drive, and whether yuo have anything on it that you want to keep. If it is a physical second disk (rather than a second partition on the 750GB drive), then you can just move the drive into the other socket (making it the primary), load Windows installer and install. Yuo would lose all data on that drive though.
If you want to do this, you may want to wait until your new PC arrives, boot the laptop, copy all files across using USB drive or LAN, then do the drive swap and reinstall.

Since I posted I'vw not seen any issues with the computer so God knows what is happening!

More than likely, when the laptop crashes, it is because a program is trying to write to one of the stuck sectors. Just because you haven't seen a crash doesn't mean it is fixed, it just means that luckily nothing has tried to write to those sectors.

It might be worth running a drive fitness test to get full diagnostic. Download this and then create a bootable CD, or a bootable pendrive with Rufus, adding the ISO to boot from.

 

[KIA]

The pending sectors being anything but zero is the clue that something is up with the drive. Normally these operations would be cleared in the background, but something has caused the drive not to.

They won't be remapped until they're written to.

Easiest way is to zero the drive.