computer problems

[Beau "Bo"]

i have a custom built computer, it has a p4 windows xp home edition and a geforce 4 ti 4200. a little while ago my computer started rebooting at random and windows blamed my graphics card, saying it was causing instability. i went to nvidias website and downloaded the latest drivers for my card and xp but that didnt fix anything, i removed the card and tried to boot from my MBs on board graphics card but i couldnt even get it to display my bios screen. i reinstalled the graphics card and checked all the settings and that didnt work. a little while ago i had some viruses on my computer so i reformatted my hard drive so i dont think a virus is causing this problem, and now my computer wont boot past the windows welcome screen, the screen just goes black. i have been able to boot in safe mode but a lot of good that does me. the computer worked just peachy for about 8 months untill i dled a patch for counter-strike: condition zero which is where i think i picked up a virus and reformatted my HD. it just hasent been working sence. i really dont want to go buy another graphics card (even though i would love a GeForce 4 5950FX ultra) since i have very little money at the moment so if anyone has any ideas or solutions that would be great.

[Firemann]

Sounds like there is still a virus in there, if not??? I know that there was one that did that exact thing, I don't think reformatting would have gotten it since that virus went to the bios.

Also my parent's computer was doing something similar and it turned out the fan on the power supply wasn't working. Got a new power supply and that fixed the problem.

[Beau "Bo"]

checked all the fans and there still working, if it is a virus still then i dont know what to do because non of my anti virus software is picking it up and if reformatting the hd doesnt get rid of it then i dont know what to do

[wooley]

My laptop was doing the samething it was under waranty so I forrmatted the hard drive and sent it in they replaced a fan and the hard drive.

[fireblade1]

Sounds like you have a format worm that embeds itself into the hard drive and can actually cause physical damage. Those can be extremely bad since they can embed into anything that stores information. Drury got one in their server a couple of years ago. Did some serious damage around campus. It actually got so bad that it melted down a few mother boards.

[Beau "Bo"]

**** geeks and their viruses how am i supposed to get rid of this thing

[Tuna6]

Bo,

This is NOT a virus that is causing your computer to go on the fritz. It is an incompatibilty with Windows XP Home edition and your nVidia graphics card. You need to reboot your pc go into the bios and re-enable your onboard video. Reboot the pc in safe mode, go into the device manager and uninstall your nVidia drivers. Power off the PC remove your nVidia card and then reboot. Windows will detect your onboard video. From there contact nVidia to get the appropriate drivers sent to you. The verify that there is indeed not a virus on your pc go to google and search for stinger it is by McAfee. Download it and run it on your pc. You also need to be sure you as well as the rest of you guys out there that you are running a good AV and are doing updates nightly. I hope this helps, if not send me a PM.

Tom

[srtpntman]

Ah yeah....what he said...yeah...that's the ticket...yea

[Beau "Bo"]

i understand what he said but i dont get why it would work for so long then just quit on me

[Tuna6]

Originally posted by Beau "Bo"
i understand what he said but i dont get why it would work for so long then just quit on me

The reason for the sudden incompatibility is because of windows updates that are released by microsoft every tuesday. Microsoft release 3 types of updates.
1. critical upades, these really need to be kept up on, the fill in most security holes.
2. Windows updates, these are fixes for problems with software and other misc application related patches.
3. Drivers updates, these are new drivers that microsoft releases that they feel are more suitable then the ones you are using. For the most past these work, but they jump the gun quite a bit especially on video drivers. The best recomennded drivers are to use the ones from the manufacaturer themself.

Windows updates are turned on by default, the keep this from happening again turn off windows updates from automatically installing updates and just manually select the ones that you need. For the most part critical updates are the only ones necessary.

[Coady]

call me some time this weekend i think i can help i had the same thing happen from the same download.... by the way what is your cs name




Aka Terms
830-4904

[Sixual Healing]

Actually if he dled the latest drivers from Nvidia, then it most definately is not an incompatability issue. Nvida creates what they call "detonator driver package" which is a blanket self extracting zip that encompassess all of the geforce product line of cards drivers. So, if he has already dled them then the latest drivers aren't the culprit. Plus I have not seen any briefs on XP and Nvidia compatibility issues since late last year (I'm paid to be the nerd that knows that crap).

I don't believe that drivers are your issue at all. I think you have or have had a virus....a trojan or worm...possibly boot sector resident as well (reformatting alone will not get rid of these). You need to download a tool called stinger and run it to check for these types of viruses.

go here and try it: http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger


If that doesn't work, I would suggest stress testing your MB cache, ram, proccessor/processor cache, and video card.

Those are my best guesses from just hearing your description of the problem. I would have to look at it to be sure.

JW

[Beau "Bo"]

i think im going to kick it and start crying, see if that works. i gave up on CS, its almost impossible to play on 56k. im gonna try to get an apartment somewhere in branson with cable but that will take a little while, besides by then World of Warcraft will be out and its supposed to be ten times better then ever quest.