Computer failure need advice

22 replies
Hi, my computer, a dell 2400 went blue screen recently, and a friend was able to get it running again. He said I had a Trojan, and a couple of viruses. The computer is 6 years old, and ran like new until I downloaded a program to get store coupons for my wife.

It went to a white screen right after I did that, but a computer restart seemed to make everything ok until the next day.

It is back running, but not like it was before. My internet explorer browser won't work, but my firefox is fine. A few of my programs like micro niche finder barely run.

I get messages like "The exception breakpoint, a breakpoint has been reached (0x80000003) occurred in the application at location 0x7egb6ede

My friend who is not a computer expert, but knows a lot more than me, thinks the registry has been corrupted. Does that sound right?

He has suggested I format the hard drive, and reinstall windows. I would rather not do that because of all my programs I have installed that I can't backup, and would have to reinstall.

Do any of these registry cleaner programs, that claim to fix registry errors work?

Thanks Glenn
#advice #computer #failure
  • Profile picture of the author yankche
    reinstall computer data.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeff Lenney
    That's a tough one, it might be time for a new PC.

    In the meantime however, I suggest you download and run Ccleaner: www . ccleaner . com (sorry, i'm new, cant post links)

    There are two things I recommend with them
    #1. Run the CLEANER scan, select ALL options and run it. The new version includes a disk clean up, so this may take 30 minutes or so to complete.

    #2. Click the 2nd tab (on the left), Registry, Do a scan (no need to back up), and fix all errors. Repeat until the scan shows no errors left. (Scan, fix all errors, scan, fix all errors, etc)

    It's 100% free. I use it daily on an enterprise network for our users, and it works like a charm.

    If you need more help after this, let me know - but this is a good start at least :-)

    Jeff
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    • Profile picture of the author scrofford
      Originally Posted by eljeffe77 View Post

      That's a tough one, it might be time for a new PC.

      In the meantime however, I suggest you download and run Ccleaner: www . ccleaner . com (sorry, i'm new, cant post links)

      There are two things I recommend with them
      #1. Run the CLEANER scan, select ALL options and run it. The new version includes a disk clean up, so this may take 30 minutes or so to complete.

      #2. Click the 2nd tab (on the left), Registry, Do a scan (no need to back up), and fix all errors. Repeat until the scan shows no errors left. (Scan, fix all errors, scan, fix all errors, etc)

      It's 100% free. I use it daily on an enterprise network for our users, and it works like a charm.

      If you need more help after this, let me know - but this is a good start at least :-)

      Jeff
      If the registry has been corrupted, and it sounds like it has, this won't work if he is missing files. He will have to reformat the hard drive. It might be worth a try though.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeff Lenney
        Originally Posted by scrofford View Post

        If the registry has been corrupted, and it sounds like it has, this won't work if he is missing files. He will have to reformat the hard drive. It might be worth a try though.
        Can't hurt. :-) This is usually what I do before reformatting.

        If ccleaner doesn't work, reformatting might be the best bet.

        A bsod could mean anything. Bad software, bad ram or video card, really there are 1000's of variations.

        Looking closer at his error though, looks like his registry is *poof*. Try ccleaner, if that doesn't work - reformat your drive. You're able to boot, so back up to an external drive if you can (your my docs, favorites, etc).

        Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author scrofford
    Either get a new PC or reformat the hard drive. That is the only way you are going to fix this problem. Then make sure you get your updates. Quit going to those kind of sites. What kind of antivirus are you using if any? You need a good antivirus program, and I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT NORTON OR MCAFFEE. They both suck! I don't care what anyone tells you. Use something like AVG which there is a free version along with Comodo firewall which is also free.
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  • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
    Originally Posted by gjd6599 View Post

    Hi, my computer, a dell 2400 went blue screen recently, and a friend was able to get it running again. He said I had a Trojan, and a couple of viruses. The computer is 6 years old, and ran like new until I downloaded a program to get store coupons for my wife.

    It went to a white screen right after I did that, but a computer restart seemed to make everything ok until the next day.

    It is back running, but not like it was before. My internet explorer browser won't work, but my firefox is fine. A few of my programs like micro niche finder barely run.

    I get messages like "The exception breakpoint, a breakpoint has been reached (0x80000003) occurred in the application at location 0x7egb6ede

    My friend who is not a computer expert, but knows a lot more than me, thinks the registry has been corrupted. Does that sound right?

    He has suggested I format the hard drive, and reinstall windows. I would rather not do that because of all my programs I have installed that I can't backup, and would have to reinstall.

    Do any of these registry cleaner programs, that claim to fix registry errors work?

    Thanks Glenn
    Oh hell no, save your money.

    If your registry was corrupted, windows would not run at all!

    More than likely what has happened, is the removal of the virus actually damaged the programs in question, or some common dll they use.

    Try uninstalling, the reinstalling each program that is running funny, and that should fix your problem. Start with the Internet Explorer program, and go from there.

    Oh, and remember which antivirus did this to you, and never use it again.

    I had a similar episode with McAffee where it damaged hundreds of dollars in software on me when it removed a virus.

    Needless to say, this kind of crap is the reason I only use and recommend Norton/Symantec antivirus. Say what you want about them, but I know my machine will be restored to full functionality.

    If that doesn't work, try getting the upgrade disk of whatever OS you're currently using (never buy a full version to do this, use the upgrade only), and install it on top of the OS already on your machine. Works like magic.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nickolie0990
    Have you tried to do a system restore.

    run -- msconfig -- launch system restore -- select a date before the problem happend

    Works around 8 out of 10 times
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  • Profile picture of the author lacraiger
    get a macbook
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  • Profile picture of the author JustVisiting
    As Nickolie0990 says, System Restore is first option.
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    "...If at first you don't succeed; call it Version 1.0"
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkAnderson
    Blue screen? I feel someting like hardware malfunction.
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  • Profile picture of the author badboy_Nick
    If you have your data all backed up I recommend to do a clean install of windows. Less headaches, trust me!
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    Join Community Feedback , post in the 'malware' board and follow judy or KP or Pedro's instructions.
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  • Profile picture of the author nuhelp4u
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author gjd6599
      Hi Floyd, and thanks for all the suggestions. I tried it all, and nothing made it much better than it was. I finally formatted the hard drive, and reinstalled the operating system and all my programs. Now it is like new again.

      Thanks for all the ideas.
      Glenn
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  • Profile picture of the author flaminjo
    Originally Posted by gjd6599 View Post

    Hi, my computer, a dell 2400 went blue screen recently, and a friend was able to get it running again. He said I had a Trojan, and a couple of viruses. The computer is 6 years old, and ran like new until I downloaded a program to get store coupons for my wife.

    It went to a white screen right after I did that, but a computer restart seemed to make everything ok until the next day.

    It is back running, but not like it was before. My internet explorer browser won't work, but my firefox is fine. A few of my programs like micro niche finder barely run.

    I get messages like "The exception breakpoint, a breakpoint has been reached (0x80000003) occurred in the application at location 0x7egb6ede

    My friend who is not a computer expert, but knows a lot more than me, thinks the registry has been corrupted. Does that sound right?

    He has suggested I format the hard drive, and reinstall windows. I would rather not do that because of all my programs I have installed that I can't backup, and would have to reinstall.

    Do any of these registry cleaner programs, that claim to fix registry errors work?

    Thanks Glenn
    Or, you can contact these guys
    pc repair software
    they have more or less everything related to computer hardware repair
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    ArcadeZeal: Play free Arcade Games
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  • Profile picture of the author doylesoft
    Some good suggestions so far. Hard to say if it's hardware or software. It could be a faulty fan causing the CPU to overheat. It could be any number of things.

    You could download Virtual PC from Microsoft and install a fresh copy of Windows into a Virtual Machine and try it out for a few hours. If it still 'blue-screen(s)'... could be the hardware. Good luck.
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    Brandon Doyle
    http://doylesoft.com Simple, effective, and affordable software. Knowledge Base software.

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  • Profile picture of the author doylesoft
    Oh, I saw that you already re-formatted. Anyway, get Virtual PC. It's great for running multiple copies of Windows without affecting the original Windows install.
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    Brandon Doyle
    http://doylesoft.com Simple, effective, and affordable software. Knowledge Base software.

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  • Profile picture of the author jennypitts
    Before spending any money on any pc repair, try the CCleaner, it is pretty good. Another antivirus you may want to try is the Microsoft security essentials. It is an anti virus designed for Windows XP and beyond. If your PC is 6 years old you might have a Windows XP 32bit system, this qualifies for the free download. After trying it, and if you have recently done a system backup, you may try reinstalling everything from the backup as well as uninstalling and reinstalling some of the programs.
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy Trump
    I always start by running adaware (complete scan) and also install avast antivirus and run a complete scan. Both programs are free.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Morgan
      What I do is always partition the drive into two sections, a system drive and a data drive. The system drive is usually around 20 gigs or so, and it's only purpose is to run windows.

      Drive D: contains all my data, or anything I don't want to lose when I reinstall. It even contains all my software. When problems arise (they sometimes do) then I just reinstall the OS, and the programs I had installed, but I still have all my files.

      As funny as this sounds, if you're super concerned about time, reinstalling is the best bet. I will usually spend an hour, or maybe two hours to remove something such as a trojan or virus. If I still have problems after that I just slate it. Malware authors have gotten smarter and smarter and they attach themselves to dlls and system files, and rename startup executables to automatically reload themselves after removal. They will also sabotage popular antivirus and anti-spyware programs.

      Rather than chase these things through the operating system and spend hours upon hours of repair time, just slate and wipe it clean. Restore everything from backup or your D drive and go.
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  • Profile picture of the author azu12
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Snappinn
      You don't need to buy a new computer, you could be having a rootkit on it thou. I recommend that you reinstall the computer, because you still have a virus, if you still want to try to clean the virus, then you can go to BleepingComputer.com -> Am I infected? What do I do? this is a foum that helps people to clean there computers them self. the people there that will help you are all professionals.

      But i recommend you to reinstall the OS
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    gjd6599,

    I'm sorry I responded so late. You most likely either have a soft disk error, corrupt registry, or some infection. In any event, you should backup needed data IMMEDIATELY!

    If you have a soft disk error, a TOTAL RESTORE, etc... may be trouble free for only MINUTES! BTW reinstalling "data" won't fix the problem, and, to the best of my knowledge, there is STILL no way to really REINSTALL windows, to fix this. You would have to INSTALL windows AGAIN in ANOTHER directory, which means installing everything ELSE ALL OVER AGAIN! It would be better to just backup, and run a disk utility and antivirus. BTW if your drive is bad(like it has soft errors), replacing it is your best bet.

    Steve
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