Unhappy with PC problems

Hi guys....

In the past day, two things have occured with my PC that I need a bit of help with.

- My computer shuts it self off and restarts every so often.

- My computer's not letting me read my e-mail. It requests my password (which it never used to do!!). I put in my password in but it won't let me login with it??

Are these two occurences connected??

Thanks

The first point about shutting down could be a problem with over-heating of your computer. You can check for this by taking the side cover from your tower to allow more air to circulate and see if that temporarily solves the problem. It could also be a virus so run some checks on your anti-virus software.

Not sure about the email problem, sorry

I would guess a virus. But how long before you start your machine does it do this? Is it all ready running then it shuts down and doesn't let you log back on. How old of a machine is it and what are the stats of you machine for further help.

i had the same problem as your first. What happens was i turned it on and then not long after or just before i logged on the machine went off, it wasn't a full shut down but it didn't go straight off either, eventually i found that at the back of the tower, where the socket wire is, a bit was loose and wobbly, all i did was lift it up a bit then tighten a screw and it was fine. Don't know if that helps

Thanks guys for your replies. I suspected a virus but the problem is the PC doesn't stay on long enough for me to do a scan . I did an experiment a minute ago whereby I turned it on a left it. No problem, it was on for about 30 mins but then as soon as I moved the mouse, it shut itself off and restarted.

edr1073, my parents bought the PC in 2002 if that helps, it was brand new.

And also, i'm not really sure what you mean by 'tower'

Thanks for your help

the tower is th e actual computer its where everything is, you put the disks in that bit, etc

How much RAM (Random Acess Memory) does your machine have? What processor do you have Pentium 4, or AMD? Is the processor 2.0 gHz? How large is the C:\ or hard drive? What graphics card do you have? Sound card could very well cause this. Do you have all of the drivers up to date including the mother board? A lot of things to consider. That may make a difference.

OK, I have....

l MEDIA 5094

Intel Pentium 4 2.53GHZ
RAM = 512mb
80gig hard disk (of which I have only about 1gig left)
Chipset = Intel SiS650
Stereo Sound
nVidea GeForce 4 64mb

Hope this helps

I havn't updated my dirvers....ever, to be honest I don't know how

Thanks for your help

I am assuming that you have a Windows Machine you haven't mentioned that yet. If it is XP just turn on the updates and your machine will do automatic updates. If you have W2K. You can go to help within Internet Explorer and go to Windows updates. Or Right click on my computer and go to hardware. There you need to select the hardware that needs updating. Right click on the component and just go to update drivers. Hopefully this will help?

Good luck.

Thanks a lot edr1073, I have XP. Once I turn on automatic updates will it automatically update everything that needs to be updated?? Or will I have to maually select the drivers that need updating??

Thanks again

It will do it automatically, if the pc is on default, if not go to your panel and select security center and turn on the auto actualizations.
Hope this helps

Last edited by Oberkomando on Mon May 15, 2006 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total

You are very welcome. I hope that this resolves your issues.

Well, I did a virus scan and I think I can say its all clear although it shut itself down just before finishing the last Windows files. I've turned on Automatic Updates but as yet have had no downloads and i've also taken one of the side-covers of my tower so i'll see if this helps.

Thanks again

If you haven't gotten an update by now you may want to go to the site manually and force the updates. If you don't use Outlook Express do not allow that up date as it will bog you down in regular Outlook. Since your virus scan isn't finishing that indicates to me that you do ahve a problem somewhere in you system32 which is in the root of windows. Try to updat if possible. SOmetimes windows don't like updates so you have to force it, without breaking anything of course. How is your temperature holding?

Thanks for the info. My temperature doesn't seem abnormally high and the fan sounds normal so I think you could be right in that it is a fault. I will attempt to get some updates and let you know

Thanks

If you still have the case apart now would be a good time to get a can of air and blow out all of the dust bunnies...LOL they collect very easily and keep your machine from cooling with the case put together. I thought of a couple other items to check on:

Due to vibrations that occur from walking by the machine aircraft (real ones) flying overhead, cars on the street, etc...components can vibrate loose. Have you checked to see if you RAM is still seated properly? Along with the video card, sound card if PCI? Just trying to cover all of your bases for you.

Thanks edr1073, I really appreciate your help.

I just did another virus scan and I found a trojan in my system32 folder. Could this have been causing the problem??

Thanks

A trojan can cause a lot of problems YES. I would do another scan of your system. The reason you can't get the updates is probably because the TROJAN is blocking your request. The TROJAN does want the updates because the security settings would be more stringent. The next things you need to look for are exploits. If you have a TROJAN then where ever you go through to the www you are being tracked so I would watch your personal information very closely from now on. I am no security expert just advising you.

Ok, so I moved that trojan I found to 'the chest' and my computer hasn't shut off since , and also Microsoft Update has downloaded and installed a service pack

....am I speaking too soon

You are almost there. Now turn on all securities that you have within windows. The security updates should take over now if it is configured correctly. You should also clear out your internet cache in IE go to tools in IE and delete the cookies there is probaly a tracer imbedded in it. Also, on you C:\ under documents and settings there are temp folders in it take a look at what you have. When you delete the cookies you will ahve to log back on to all of your sites such as FlyAway because it will delete all of those log ons. Please let me know your progress this is a test for me too. From accross the Atlantic I am helping somebody, I like that.

Thanks edr1073...

In my temps folder i have the folowing..

* WebRebates_Auto_InstallSilent_Euro
* WinTaskAdInstPack
* SearchRelevancy

Should I delete these???

Also, i'm using Firefox and have deleted my cookies

Thanks

As an advisory only if they don't have any relevance to any of the installed software and they aren't part of your O/S, I would say delete them. These could be the causes of some of the trojans that you have. If they aren't a function that you subscribve to I would delete them.

OK i've deleted them

The update has been installed and there is a new icon on my taskbar...Windows Security Alerts, for some reason it says my antivirus is out of date. I have Avast and it updates every day. Could it be because I have Norton installed as well....the damn thing won't uninstall.

Thanks

Norton Anti Virus is very difficult to uninstall. There is info on their website how ot get rid of it cleanly though. The windows security alerts are normal one of the A/V program wants to be in charge. It is all up to you now. Hey, you are very welcome for the help. I never did this help from this distance before. Its all good.

I've managed to remove Norton.

Thanks again for all you help, I really appreciate it

Any time bro.

...Well the damn thing is restarting itself again....I decided to turn OFF automatic restart and so when it shuts down I now get a blue screen with the following message....

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

It then goes on to tell me to remove any new hardware or software ive recently added - of which there are none??

It also advises me to disable bios memory options like caching or shadowing??

Any ideas??
Thanks

It appears that Norton may have missed something on your scan. Did you rescan as I suggested? Atleast I think I suggested that..??? Or maybe you can't scan because of the rebooting..?? You sound like you are getting what is called BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). Have you re-seated any of your components..?? This may be a requirement due to the nature of what has happened to youtr machine. Dang it just seems to me that you have other bugs in your machine. If anybody else has any suggestions please feel free to inject them...

I have been trying to re-scan but the computer doesn't stay on long enough for avast to complete it. I havn't re-seated any components either.

It looks like i'm going to have to get a tech guy in

this happend to me on my old computer but i got a new one (Dell Demention b110)