Guest Diane P. Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 This morning, my PC did not boot properly.... My monitor and speaker system are turned on separately first. I then power up my tower; after that the cable modem and router. This morning, I went thru the above routine....monitor did not have anything on the screen, but I could see the led's on the tower all working. Nothing on the monitor. The light was blinking, but nothing. I powered down the entire system...everything. I turned everything back on; this time the system booted up, on the the bottom of POST, just after the system components show, the was a message that said "the system failed to boot several times. Hit F2 to reconfigure or to get into BIOS"....well I did neither and the system booted fine. Several days ago, I turned my system off, but left the modem and router on so my husband could use the internet connection. Later in the day, when I went to power up my PC, the PC exhibited the same behavior exhibited this morning. I have WinXP SP3; Super-AntiSpyware; Ad-Aware; Spybot S & D; Comodo firewall and AVAST, and hardware firwal in the Netgear router. I am asking about malware or trojan or virus here because someone on a hardware forum suggested my PC could be infected, but I could find nothing in the scans I ran.....and, no other symptoms. Thanks..... D. Quote
Guest 1PW Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 On 04/02/2009 10:45 AM, Diane P. sent:<span style="color:blue"> > This morning, my PC did not boot properly.... > > My monitor and speaker system are turned on separately first. I then power > up my tower; after that the cable modem and router. > > This morning, I went thru the above routine....monitor did not have anything > on the screen, but I could see the led's on the tower all working. Nothing > on the monitor. The light was blinking, but nothing. I powered down the > entire system...everything. > > I turned everything back on; this time the system booted up, on the the > bottom of POST, just after the system components show, the was a message > that said "the system failed to boot several times. Hit F2 to reconfigure or > to get into BIOS"....well I did neither and the system booted fine. > > Several days ago, I turned my system off, but left the modem and router on > so my husband could use the internet connection. Later in the day, when I > went to power up my PC, the PC exhibited the same behavior exhibited this > morning. > > I have WinXP SP3; Super-AntiSpyware; Ad-Aware; Spybot S & D; Comodo firewall > and AVAST, and hardware firewall in the Netgear router. > > I am asking about malware or trojan or virus here because someone on a > hardware forum suggested my PC could be infected, but I could find nothing > in the scans I ran.....and, no other symptoms. > > Thanks..... > > > D.</span> 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] Quote
Guest Diane P. Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 > Hello Diane:<span style="color:blue"> > > 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]</span> 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. Diane Quote
Guest 1PW Posted April 2, 2009 Posted April 2, 2009 On 04/02/2009 12:37 PM, Diane P. sent:<span style="color:blue"><span style="color:green"> >> 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]</span> > > > 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 fluctuation, 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 video card 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 suggested), 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 latest 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 thanks for your suggestions. > > Diane</span> Hello Diane: I too recently tried SpeedFan and although it wasn't compatible with the mobo I tried it on, it appears to have good promise. I'll need to let the author know what my hardware setup consists of. Memtest86+ is probably the top in its category. An excellent companion utility to Secunia PSI is FileHippo's Update Checker. Both are in the "must have" category now. If you ever feel like taking SMART monitoring to the next step, try looking at smartmontools. Judicious (but careful) reseating of the other usual suspects might be fruitful. Lest you forget, the Nvidia video board should be reseated while the case is open. Also, it's a good time to carefully look for electrolytic caps that are swelling or leaking. Badcaps has very good photos. <http://www.badcaps.net/> Another "divide and conquer technique" is to exchange monitors (or other suspect components, with your husband's system). I'm sure he'll never notice. :-) After doing your check/replacement with the CMOS battery, see the following: Three notes regarding your bios in passing: 1) Remember what keystroke would be required to go to your computer's bios setup. Hence, if you sense that your /not/ going to have video, if you allow the boot to continue, go into bios so you won't need to probably depress and hold your computer's power button for recovery. 2) Go into your bios setup and record any non-default settings you may have changed to. Try going to the default setup and re-enter any custom changes made. 3) Hesitantly, check to see if your computer's manufacturer has issued an applicable BIOS update. However, if it doesn't directly address a current problem, I'd probably forget about it; "Here there be dragons!" I would say that you have a good start on your list of due diligence items. Googling might give you the acceptable voltage limits for your system's particular mobo. What kind of monitor are you dealing with - make/model and age? If you wish, keep this thread going although we're way displaced from malware issues, or if you like, move it to the previous forum. Best wishes, Pete -- 1PW @?6A62?FEH9:DE=6o2@=]4@> [r4o7t] Quote
Guest FromTheRafters Posted April 3, 2009 Posted April 3, 2009 "Diane P." <DMPnospam@unknownisp.com> wrote in message news:gr345a$ucj$1@news.motzarella.org...<span style="color:blue"><span style="color:green"> >> 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]</span> > > > 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.</span> 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. Quote
Guest 1PW Posted April 3, 2009 Posted April 3, 2009 On 04/02/2009 05:48 PM, FromTheRafters sent:<span style="color:blue"> > "Diane P." <DMPnospam@unknownisp.com> wrote in message > news:gr345a$ucj$1@news.motzarella.org...<span style="color:green"><span style="color:darkred"> >>> 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]</span> >> >> 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 thanks for your suggestions.</span> > > 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.</span> Hi FTR: I believe the OP stated that her monitor's display remains entirely black throughout a failure. Even if the hard disk drive were missing, the BIOS splash screen or possibly a line or two of BIOS information would still make it to the screen. <span style="color:blue"> > > 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.</span> The OP's power supply is not in the clear yet. They're going to try some further tests in that regard. Pete -- 1PW @?6A62?FEH9:DE=6o2@=]4@> [r4o7t] Quote
Guest FromTheRafters Posted April 3, 2009 Posted April 3, 2009 "1PW" <barcrnahgjuvfgyr@nby.pbz> wrote in message news:gr3tst$vd7$1@nntp.motzarella.org... <span style="color:blue"> > Hi FTR: > > I believe the OP stated that her monitor's display remains entirely > black throughout a failure. Even if the hard disk drive were missing, > the BIOS splash screen or possibly a line or two of BIOS information > would still make it to the screen.</span> Lots of info - I thought I read something about the monitor being black with something blinking. I assumed the flashing cursor. I probably misread the post - hard day at work. Quote
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