Topic: Help!

[Serenity]

Well my PC is burgered again  :'( and as always its never a straight forward easy problem to resolve, so i need you help guys  

Firstly I am unable to get into "Safe Mode" by hitting either the F8 or F5 keys on my keyboard, it just totally ignores the option and boots straight into the windows logo.

Secondly, I boot up, the desktop icons appear, the Zone Alarm logo states that the PC is protected then as I am about to click on any icon, a box appears saying that there is information that was missing from the registry but it had been successfully recovered (or words to that effect)   and gives a prompt on that box to click OK.  After doing this, everything completely ceases up!  the mouse doesnt move and the only way to clear the screen to to hit the reset button.

Thirdly, at the C prompt after booting from the XP cd I am unable to enter the word "chkdsk" the prompt only allows me to enter the very fist letter "C" and refuses to accept the remainder "hkdsk"  :-[ so Im a bit stuck now  

Heres hoping someone can help me with this problem  


p.s. I was wondering if I may have some sort of virus that has been missed by AVG?

[Sandra]

Have a look here Serenity and see if you can make any sense of it  

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314058&Product=winxp

Hopefuly following the instructions in this article should help  

[Simon]

You haven't got a USB keyboard have you, Bev?  I had the same trouble, because USBs don't come into life before Windows is loaded, so you can't boot into safe mode.  What you can do, I think,  is go into Start > Run > MSCONFIG, then select the 'Boot.ini' tab, and tick the SAFEBOOT button (see below).  That should make the PC boot into safe mode.  Well, it did for me anyway.

Not being a techie, I think if I had all those problems, I would seriously be considering a re-format, and re-installation of Windows, as it would probably be the easiest way to solve the troubles.  And while you're at it, get rid of bloody Kazaa!

Obviously, don't take my word for it - wait for confirmation from someone who knows what they're on about.  

[Sandra]

Its a PS2 keyboard she has Simon but at the moment she cant get into windows to alter anything with msconfig  

[ketamininja]

Hmmmm, sounds quite serious!

Lets reveiw:

1. Cannot access pre-boot menu (Safe Mode options etc)
2. Random registry message
3. Lockup

4. Can't type certain characters in "command prompt" from CD.

OK.

Number 3 and 4 could be related - it takes a while to boot from the CD, probably longer than logging into Windows normally. This COULD indicate an overheating problem (the PC is fine until a certain temperature is met).

1 and 2 indicate to me that there has been some hacking going on. It is possible that a crash or freeze from the pc overheating (if it is) could have messed up some essential files. Its a long shot, and I would prefer to say that 1 and 2 are probably caused by a virus of some kind.

yikes.


-----edit-----
one more thing. When you try to type "CHKDSK", try again - only this time type "testing" or something else. Try this a few times - you need to see if one time you do it it types "TES" then next time "TESTI" or whatever, plus I want you not to start on the "C" key. This will sound strange, but if the results are different every time, your lockup is time related (which could therefore be heat related)...

[lobo]

I would be tempted to put the windows CD in and boot from CD and then select repair, unless you can get back to a restore point

Brian

[Dack]

(Must be an Internet addict - I'm currently on a hotel machine here in Dallas (after spending 2 hours clearing out all the viruses and spyware on it:))

Sound to me like:

1. You've simply got a dodgy/broken keyboard.

You haven't got the keyboard and mouse in the wrong ports on the back of the PC have you?

2. You've had a lock up thats caused a disc error in your registry. WIndows, being oh so clever, then copies the old one back over before rebooting. If you've got a disk error though the fault remains and so the next time you boot up the same thing happens.

3. Have you tried booting from a floppy disk? As long as the hard drive has not been formatted as NTFS you should still be able to access it - it would be a good check for a dodgy keyboard anyways.

[Sandra]

It sounds like it was no.2 Dack.
She finally managed to get it to boot from the XP cd and to run CHKDSK which then repaired it by itself.
We will have to wait until she replies today to see if its still ok or not  

[Serenity]

We will have to wait until she replies today

 "SHE" logged on and it all worked tickety boo this morning  

As it was an almost identical problem to one I had about 2 weeks ago I am a little concerned this is going to be an intermittent fault  :-[ but thankfully I have a very good "Tech advice line" to contact   when it all goes pear shaped  

[Clive]

What a relief Serenity!  

[Lona]

I am surprised nobody thought it could be because Serenity is blonde.

Only joking, Serenity, glad your all sorted out

PS Until the next time

[Simon]

I am surprised nobody thought it could be because Serenity is blonde.

We do!  It probably is!   :bart: