BleepingComputer.com: Virus or fried computer?

today, I downloaded something for ElderScrolls IV: oblivion, then, all of a sudden my computer got REALLY slow and my CPU was at 100% use all the time. I ended having to hold the power button to shut down, started it back up, was still slow and CPU was still going at 100% I ran my anti-virus, it didnt find anything, shut it down, went about my day, came back, now it will go through the boot, but after the Windows logo with the little loading bar dissapears, it goes to the blue screen of death, cant go into safe mode either, so now im using an old laptop to post here, being that some people from this site helped me with a trojan a couple months back....

Basic System info: (from what I can remember):
* Dell XPS 400
* 2.80GHz dual core intel proccessor
* 4 Gb Ram
* ATI Radeon HD6800
* integrated sound card

Sorry I cant give any more info, but i cant get onto the one with the problem

I'd appreciate any help, thank you

~Newb2Computers~

This post has been edited by newb2computers: 26 November 2009 - 06:34 PM

Here is the what the blue screen says, excluding the regular part of the message:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

Technical Information:

*** STOP:0x00000050 (0xA288B000, 0x00000000, 0x805E9A0B, 0x00000000)

I'd really like to even know if theres something i can do, before i do a full system restore to factory settings, cause i need it for school.

Take a look here: How to receive help diagnosing Blue Screens and Windows crashes and also this reference: Bug Check 0x50: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA.

This might help you further isolate your problem.

Thanks Animal, but i get suck at step 1, I cant fully get into windows to do any of the other stuff, in regular or safe mode.

So after reading that some more, the only thing that i seemed to be able to make out is that my RAM might have something wrong with them...

Granted, i cant say i know a lot about computers....yet.....despite the fact that im working towards a computer science degree

Did you know enough to have a backup of the system?

If so, just nuke it, start over, and remember that users are the biggest security weakness on any system.

Take a look at the 50 item, left column, http://www.aumha.org/a/stop.htm.

I know, very general. IMO, most errors which are described as memory errors...are called that because it's the scene of the crime, not the cause of the crime.

If you want, you can run a diagnostic test of your RAM functioning. It's not dependent at all on the system's capability for booting.

Do you have a MS Genuine XP install disk? If so, try running the chkdsk /r command from the Recovery Console of that CD.

How to use CHKDSK in the XP Recovery Console - http://pirules3.14.googlepages.com/recovery_console_chkdsk

If not, then you can either attach your drive to a USB caddy and run chkdsk /r on that drive from the laptop...or you can download an .iso file, burn that to CD (creating a bootable CD) and then access the RC in that manner.

Louis

Unfortunatly....no, i dont have a back up, this computers about 5 years old now, so i didnt create a back up, granted it doesnt have anything super important on it, asside from games.

How would i run a diagnostic of my RAM?

And i dont think i have a disk, so, how would I use the laptop to run a diagnostic?

Sorry, a lot of this doesnt make sense to me, so.....what should i do, would it be better to try to fix this, or just nuke it and start fresh?

For me...it's better to try a few things I'm capable of...and, after x amount of time goes by, I just do a clean install. I don't have malware problems, so for me it's a nonissue. But...certain malware situations call for nothing but a clean install, since system integrity cannot be guaranteed any other way.

I always have backups but I don't mind doing a clean install, the backups are made primarily just in case I want files that I've not moved to a storage partition.

You have to do what you deem best, based on your knowledge, interest, and personal pain level.

Icrontic » Diagnose with Memtest86+ - http://icrontic.com/articles/diagnose_with_memtest86

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool - http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Download Recovery Console, Bootable ISO - http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

How to successfully burn or write an ISO-image to cd or dvd - http://iso.snoekonline.com/iso.htm

FWIW: Those OEM systems with recovery/restore CDs...are predicated on the premise that the user is not really going to be interested in repairing anything, which is why they just reset the system to what it was in the beginning. They provide a "quick fix" of sorts because that's what the manufacturers think their customers want.

But they fail to mention that the price of that quick fix is that everything that occurred between purchase and today...is wiped out when using the quick fix.

The value of backing up.

Louis

well...Id say its probably better to do a clean install...

How would i go about doing that?

I think the OS is in some form in the hard drive, cause as far as im aware, dell didnt send a CD with this computer.

Also, a couple questions, ive added new hardware since i got this computer, mainly i went from 1Gb of RAM to 4, and i changed my video card, from a nvidia GeForce 6 series to my current ATI radeon HD2600PRO, will that be an issue, i still have the old RAM and video card.

Also, for future reference, whats the best and safest way to back up data?

Quote

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/glo...toggle=&dl=

Any method of backing up data...does the job, since anything beats nothing.

Purely personal preference.

With Win 9x, I used backup software and continued to use such with XP Home.

When hard drives became dirt cheap and partition/hard drive cloning software became freely available and reliable...I began to clone the system partition to another of the excess drives I have...while just storing valued data on drives used for nothing but storage of data files.

I personally don't think that either a gigantic external drive or a system with only one hard drive...are good ideas, but that's just the way that I look at decreasing the possible loss of everything if one drive goes bottoms up.

Removeable media are an alternative, I suppose...but I don't think removeable media work well for the amounts of file space which I seem to require these days.

If you are using recovery/restore CDs or partition...I would expect problems with new hardware, since the drivers reflected in the restore/recovery mechanism are not going to match up. That doesn't mean that you will have problems, but I would not be surprised if they occur.

Louis

Ok, thanks for the help, i didnt want to do a complete restore, but oh well, thanks anyway guys, sometimes its nice to start out fresh

a couple follow up questions,

1: there was some software that i got from here, or were given links too, ATF-cleaner, Malwarebytes, and HJT, could i get a link to where to get these, cause i dont know what sites are trustworthy for getting those kinda things.

2. To help with performance, i was showed how to turn off some start up programs, how do i get to the menu to do that again?

Quote

The safest way to do this is with a Startup manager program

Easy: Codestuff Starter
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/starter.html

Much better: Autoruns
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb963902.aspx

ATF Cleaner
http://download.cnet.com/ATF-Cleaner/3000-18512_4-89432.html

Malwarebytes [free version]
http://www.malwarebytes.org

Bleeping Computer does not use Hijack This per se, We use DDS, in which HJT is also included
That you can download from the Preparation Guide
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic34773.html