i need some computer help please

[speedyquad]

I have a dell laptop, new in november, running windows 7/64 bit. today when i booted it up, it started normal, then just froze. i could restart it through the start menu, but that is it. upon restart, it again froze the password screen. ctrl/alt/del shut it down. through many boots, i found out that it is not reading the hard drive in normal mode, but has "full" functionality in safe mode. i have tried running my malware and antivirus software, bit about after 10 minutes the 'puter shuts down and reboots automatically.

is this a virus or malware? did something accidentally get deleted(the hard drive driver is still there)? any input is welcome as i can't find anything helpful on the 'net.
thanks,
speedy

 

[cougar14]

sounds like it's a rootkit virus.

These nasty things install themselves to load first, before Windows, and can do anything from freezeups to stealing your passwords and redirect you to false websites. Do you have a CD boot disk?

 

[eugene lott]

had same problem

hi, i had the same problem last year, took it to a place to have it checked. the guy started it in safe mode. he the asked me what was the last program i in stalled. he deleted it and computer works fine. hope this helps.

 

[Chuck1217]

I'm sorry folks, I just saw how long that message was. I only copied a paragraph, but apparently it took the whole discussion and pasted it here. Have removed it now. Hope the OP did better fixin' it than I did 'helping.'




Wind. 7 has a problem-solving progra, Action Center
It said first to try restoring to previous condition, then
Use Action Center to check for solutions to problems
Windows creates a report when certain hardware or software problems occur. Action Center can check whether there's a solution to a reported problem. For more information, see How does Action Center check for problems?

To check for solutions
Click to open Action Center.

Click Maintenance.

 

[speedyquad]

These nasty things install themselves to load first, before Windows, and can do anything from freezeups to stealing your passwords and redirect you to false websites. Do you have a CD boot disk?

i am getting to the point where i am going to go buy a back up drive for my pics and reload the whole OS. i cna
find my OS disk, nothing else...

 

[cougar14]

Sometimes the easiest action...

is the most drastic. If you don't have much data to preserve, you can move it over to an external HD, reformat your HD, reinstall your operating system, and you're back in business. If you do this, once you're operating again, I recommend you get "Avast" free antivirus program, and set it up to run weekly updates. I also have a program (free) called "Antimalware Bytes" that I keep running in the background to stop this **** in the future. Best of luck.

 

[quneur]

is the most drastic. If you don't have much data to preserve, you can move it over to an external HD, reformat your HD, reinstall your operating system, and you're back in business. If you do this, once you're operating again, I recommend you get "Avast" free antivirus program, and set it up to run weekly updates. I also have a program (free) called "Antimalware Bytes" that I keep running in the background to stop this **** in the future. Best of luck.

I think you're talking about Malwarebytes. Personally, I run two programs in the background, ThreatFire by PCTools and SuperAntiSpyware. I have several virus checkers, CCleaner, ThreatFire, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot and MalwareBytes. (have Emsisoft antimalware on standby).

Even with all these programs, I still get malware.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I recently had the same exact problem. Restarted in Safe Mode, deleted the last program I installed and everything was fine.

 

[WrongWay]

I have 2 Windows 7 computers. Got tired of all the safety features involved, and went back to Windows XP.

I couldn't even download Adobe Flash Player because it is an .exe file.

I hope XP is supported for a few more years. If not I might have to get a Mac.

 

[Chuck1217]

I have 7 on my laptop and Vista on my desktop. Wish I had XP on both, couldn't find the program disk when I realized how bad these were. Vista is better than 7, tho.

 

[speedyquad]

got it fixed thanks all...i ran a check disk and it repaired a few bad sectors. i am pretty sure it was an issue wit a storm we had had earlier in the day as Mlwarebytes and clamwin antivirus did not find any issues after the check disk. usually i have the laptop charger on a surge suppressor, but i had it in a different room earlier in the day. the power had flickered enough to trip a few other surge protectors that i discovered late last night. the surge protectors did their job because everything on them is good, but i'll be buying new ones today.

i too am not a fan of 7, but have stuck with it because at some point, the others will not be supported. as far as protection, i run malwarebytes, clamwin antivirus, cccleaner and one other antivirus. nothing will ever get 100% of threats

 

[cougar14]

Consider a UPS instead of surge protector..

You can get one at Best Buy or equivalent for not much money that will carry your PC with it's internal battery for a few minutes, either until the power stabilizes, or you can shut down properly.

 

[speedyquad]

i have my desktop on a back up battery, mainly because my first desktop was killed years ago when shutting down during an unexpected power loss. i usually keep the laptop charger plugged in with the battery out when it has a full charge. and on a surge protector. i had it in a different room than normal. the laptop was not even on when the power flickered

 

[MP22]

Do yourself a favor and get a Mac. They are more expensive...but five times worth it.

 

[bdmac]

Sounds like your issue was hardware based and not the O/S...
A side note... Bad sectors cannot be "fixed" they are just marked as unusable. I would contact the company regarding getting the drive replaced.
Getting a Mac won't protect you from a hardware failure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LouisianaJoe]

Most new PC's have a copy of the restore disks on a separate partition on the hard drive. There is an option to copy this to a dvd so that you can restore the system to what was originally installed.

Another useful tool is the "Ultimate Boot Disk". You can create a bootable DVD or CD that contains utilities you can use to examine your system by booting from the DVD instead of the hard drive. You can download the ISO file and burn a DVD if your burn program can create a bootable DVD.

Another option is creating a bootable flash drive.

I also have bootable Linux OS's that can be used to get to the hard drive if it will not come up at all.

I can buy a couple of PC's for the price of a Mac. Some folks swear by them, but I had no desire to learn another platform. The proprietary nature of the Mac makes the software more expensive also.

That being said, if you develop graphic arts, the Mac is the best platform for that.

 

[MrAmbassador]

Not a bad to run this.

Open My Computer.
Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.
On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now.
Click Defragment.

Be patient, takes a little while and will ask you if you want to proceed after a quick test.

 

[speedyquad]

Sounds like your issue was hardware based and not the O/S...
A side note... Bad sectors cannot be "fixed" they are just marked as unusable. I would contact the company regarding getting the drive replaced.
Getting a Mac won't protect you from a hardware failure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i know, it's just easier to type that they were fixed as my typing is very very very very horribly horrible. lol

i manually defrag every few weeks, as well as have an auto defrag run once a week. i also regularly do a disk cleanup.

 

[Backlighting]

If you can afford it, do yourself a favor & get an Apple. I switched from PC to Apple several yrs ago. It's an unbelievably stable system.

 

[iouri]

I can buy a couple of PC's for the price of a Mac. Some folks swear by them, but I had no desire to learn another platform. The proprietary nature of the Mac makes the software more expensive also.

That being said, if you develop graphic arts, the Mac is the best platform for that.

Not exactly true. MacOS is just pimped out FreeBSD, so lots of freeware stuff will be available for MacOS. Couple of PCs for the price of a Mac is also questionable statement. If we compare similar options (display resolution, CPU speed, craftsmanship) there's not much of a difference. At work I've switched to Mac platform couple years back and never looked back.