Computer problem....need help

muncybob

I know my way around a PC a bit but I know there are many more experienced people here that perhaps can guide me to diagnose my problem.

Running a Dell PC, Vista Home Premium OS. Yesterday I powered on, got the Dell screen and then the Vista spalsh screen appeared for about 40 seconds and went away. Nothing but blank dark screen now, I can see the fan running but appears no activity at the HD. Pulled power supply and had it checked at a shop, was told it's OK. Tech said based on the above description the OS may be corrupted and need to run Dell's restore disc. BIL told me to try another supply with higher power output, friend said try replacing the battery on the motherboard. I guess I can try both...anything else to look at as running restore is my last option?

If I do need to restore the OS I was thinking about pulling the HD and install in an external case, connect to another PC via USB and pull any files I want to be sure not to lose to restore disc...sound right? If I do this, is there a chance whatever corrupted the OS on my old PC could make it's way to the PC connected via USB to the external drive?

thsmith

Cant offer much but If you choose to connect your drive to another PC make its malware and virus prgrams are up todate.

I had a malware last month on my work PC. Took nearly half the day to get it sorted out.

I now use superantispyware. We use Mcafee and it did nothing to help. Super found the malware and killed it. Then I had to deal with all my files not being visiable.

Good luck.

Really has me thinking of replacing my home PC with a MAC and yes I know Macs can get a virus but I know of no one that has a Mac that has a problem but almost everyone I know with a PC has had a virus or malware problem at one point.

ryanjoachim

I wouldn't expect a PSU issue based on what you described.

A corrupted install is certainly possible...boot into safe mode (F8 before the splash screen comes up) and see if you can run chkdisk and such.

Syndil

Could be an indication that the hard drive is physically going bad. Wouldn't hurt to see if you can boot into safe mode and run "chkdsk /f" from a command prompt. Need the "/f" on there. If you can't even get into safe mode, then yes, hook it up to another machine and transfer your important files over, then try a restore on it. I keep one of these handy for hooking drives to other machines:

http://www.meritline.com/usb-2-0-sata-ide-cable---p-34964.aspx

Has connections for 3.5" and 2.5" IDE (desktop and laptop drives) and SATA.

renowilliams

I would say that either the hard drive or motherboard is fried. Good suggestions above to run chkdsk from a command prompt.

Good Luck

dee1949

...... have you tried some of the below?

https://www.google.com/search?q=vista+hangs+on+start+up&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

dee1949

....Another thought. Might be a driver problem. Never used Vista, but if it is similar to Win 7 , you can do a repair. The repair fixes driver issues. I have done this several times with win 7....and it works. Google Vista Repair. If you don't have the Dell Vista re-install disc...you can usually find one on fleabay for $15.

muncybob

Slapped the PSU back in thinking I would do safe mode as suggested. Damn thing booted up OK. Backing up things as I type. I guess once I'm happy with the files I saved I'll do the re-install and hope for the best.

WilliamM2

muncybob wrote: »

Slapped the PSU back in thinking I would do safe mode as suggested. Damn thing booted up OK. Backing up things as I type. I guess once I'm happy with the files I saved I'll do the re-install and hope for the best.

May have just been a loose connection. many times when a PC won't boot, simply re-seating all the connections, video card, and memory will resolve the issue. Especially if it appears very dirty/dusty inside.

I would download the Ultimate Boot CD, it has all the manufacturers hard drive diagnostic utilities, memory tests, etc. Great for troubleshooting issues like this. Wouldn't hurt to test that drive:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

Another great CD to have is Knoppix. You boot the operating system from the CD, can browse the web, etc. Great when Windows (or anything) won't boot. Just boot to the CD with a USB drive attached, and save all your files, assuming the hard drive hasn't failed completely. Saves having to pull the drive and attach it to another computer.

http://knoppix.net/

Kex

WilliamM2 wrote: »

...
Another great CD to have is Knoppix. You boot the operating system from the CD, can browse the web, etc. Great when Windows (or anything) won't boot. Just boot to the CD with a USB drive attached, and save all your files, assuming the hard drive hasn't failed completely. Saves having to pull the drive and attach it to another computer.

http://knoppix.net/

Actually, I don't think the hard drive even matters. Knoppix is loaded into RAM and does not need to access the hard drive. Of course, if you want to actually copy files from the hard drive, to save them elsewhere before they're lost, then yes: it would need to be working!

WilliamM2

Kex wrote: »

Actually, I don't think the hard drive even matters. Knoppix is loaded into RAM and does not need to access the hard drive. Of course, if you want to actually copy files from the hard drive, to save them elsewhere before they're lost, then yes: it would need to be working!

Right, the only reason I suggested it was to save his files, if windows won't boot:

Just boot to the CD with a USB drive attached, and save all your files, assuming the hard drive hasn't failed completely. Saves having to pull the drive and attach it to another computer.

muncybob

I do appreciate all the info!! I took advantage of the system actually working to run a full AV scan and I think I found the problem(s)....severe threat detected. Took care of that with Avast, then advised me to let system reboot and run a scan of the boot sector...found more goodies and took care of them. Not sure how I got infected since I keep Avast up to date, but all seems to be well now.

So, going ahead was wondering of there are other utilities I should consider along with the ones already mentioned? I run AdAware and Spy Bot along with Avast....is there something that can keep my registry in good order? Again, keep in mind I know next to nothing about the registry. I did back up important files to a dvd but going forward what's the easiest way to keep my files backed up?

WilliamM2

This one pretty handy for removing Malware, when the PC is badly infested, boots off CD as well, then checks for definition updates, no need to get into Windows:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/what-is-windows-defender-offline

Kex

I agree. Solutions that boot of a CD (or USB stick), without booting Windows itself, are far better at dealing with this. However. I would consider that the only good way to recover from an infection is to entirely re-install Windows. Otherwise, you can never really trust that machine 100% again.

If you do so, don't install and update the virus protection software first. You should first update Windows, and then install and update the virus protection software. Also check if your hardware firewall is turned on (on your router).

Set up your computer so that you are not running it as user name "Administrator", and make sure your user profile and default "Administrator" profiles have good passwords, even if you set your Vostro up to boot directly to your main user profile without the need to log in manually. Vista is better at managing this than XP, in my opinion, and very similar to W7, but just make sure you do have at least two profiles: one for everyday use, that does not have administrator privileges (you'll have to authenticate for any software updates, etc.); and another as your main administrator profile, that you only use as necessary (not for everyday browsing). Do not turn off authentication requirements, even if they are annoying sometimes!

BeefJerky

I also recommend running a scan with Hitman Pro. There's a 30-day trial available. It finds things that others won't such as rootkits, or virus' that hide in otherwise normal system driver files (i.e. atapi driver).

Syndil

No single anti-virus or anti-spyware solution is 100% effective, so it's always possible for your PC to become infected regardless of what solution(s) you have running on it. The best way I have found to prevent virus infections is to avoid places where you would pick up a virus in the first place. Don't go to **** sites, don't open email attachments, don't download torrents, don't use peer-to-peer file-sharing software, etc.

But when a PC does become infected, I think reinstalling Windows is complete overkill, and only on rare occasions have I had to boot from a CD or take the drive out and clean it with another machine. The vast majority of viruses that I have encountered can be eliminated with HijackThis, and removing viruses is something I do on (almost) a daily basis as part of my job. Of course if the PC won't boot, then that would be one of those rare occasions.

But the fact that the OP's PC would not boot and then for some unknown reason would, indicates to me that there is still the chance of an imminent hardware failure of the hard disk. I would still run chkdsk /f on it. Without knowing what particular virus Avast found and removed, it's impossible to know if the boot problem was caused by the virus or by the hard drive.