PC problems - please help!

[Lynne]

I wonder if anyone could give me an idea about what may be wrong with my PC - I will outline the problems I have had and what I have done so far to try and resolve them

PC kept freezing up and crashing, scandisk stopped working, none of the antivirus software I tried could be updated and no new ones installed, online virus checkers would not work and finally the installation of any new software would not work. The cursor would jump all over the screen, opening programs and changing the settings. etc etc etc so..........................

A friend upgraded my operating system from Win98 (yes I know!) to WinXP prof, but then a lot of the software would not work, upgrades to WinXP would not download and still no installations or antivirus software would work so..................

He connected my PC to his on a LAN basis and scanned my hard disk with his virus checker, discovering that I had two viruses, one of which had infected my firewall, these files could not be repaired and so were deleted.

Now the situation is this - I am able to download and install upgrades/service packs for WinXP (slowly after several attempts as I'm on dial up) and am at present trying my third attempt to download service pack 2. The PC is becoming more reliable, the antivirus softwares I have tried will still not update the virus definitions, several programs will still not work, installation of new software will still not work, the freezing problem has happened on two occasions, scandisk is working but was coming up with invalid time stamps on just about every program it checked, so I checked the date on my PC and it was set to the year 16505??????!!!!!! Scandisk is now working and picking up no errors. My printer would not work and the driver wasnt showing so I downloaded it but it refused to install, but using one of the other HP drivers I can get the printer to work (but presumably some features of my photosmart printer will not work with a deskjet driver)

All help, piss taking for having such a shite computer and advice gratefully received (at least attempting to mend it gives me something to do, while surrounding myself with piles of tissues and strepsils packets ) Would really like to sort the PC out or the money saved for my drysuit would have to be put towards a new computer!

[MartinS]

Lynne
I'm guessing, although probably not what you want to hear, that a format and clean install is the only way to go. If you have a CD burner, back up all required files (remembering to scan them for viruses before copying them back on after), pop the XP cd in the Cd drive and reboot. You can format and install directly from the cd, which by my reckoning is the best solution.
Why are you attempting to download SP2 via dial-up (painful!!!) ?
Check in your local newsagents and many of the PC mags come with it, but if not, give me a shout with your address and I'll pop it on a CD and send it to you.
Maybe Nick (Fathoms Down) or Andrew (abucksdiver) may be able to help more, but if you have been infected, there's always a chance that you've ended up installing AV software on an already infected system which is not good.
Hope this helps
Martin

[Lynne]

Originally Posted by MartinS

Lynne
I'm guessing, although probably not what you want to hear, that a format and clean install is the only way to go. If you have a CD burner, back up all required files (remembering to scan them for viruses before copying them back on after), pop the XP cd in the Cd drive and reboot. You can format and install directly from the cd, which by my reckoning is the best solution.
Why are you attempting to download SP2 via dial-up (painful!!!) ?
Check in your local newsagents and many of the PC mags come with it, but if not, give me a shout with your address and I'll pop it on a CD and send it to you.
Maybe Nick (Fathoms Down) or Andrew (abucksdiver) may be able to help more, but if you have been infected, there's always a chance that you've ended up installing AV software on an already infected system which is not good.
Hope this helps
Martin

Yes, I was thinking I would end up having to format to get it sorted - only just managed to get my CD burner working and have copied my "my documents" folder onto CDs, was attempting to avoid formatting, as I am sure I will have forgotten to take copies of something (this is from past experience!) Download of the service pack is nearly finished lol, I'm not well enough to go out and it's given me something to do. Yes, that's what I thought about the AV software bugger!

Thanks a lot, very helpful

[Bantam]

As an IT person my recommendation is the same. I'd backup your important files and reformat the machine.

Go into Settings, Control Panel, System, Hardware and Device Manager and make sure you have noted down what type of video card, network card (if installed), modem, sound card etc.. etc.. you have and make sure you have all the drivers disks or CD's so that the reinstallation will be easy.

For free antivirus see http://free.grisoft.com - the new version of AVG is very good.

Mark.

[Narked@50]

Just for a different perspective, and I am sure one you will realy not want to hear, BUT........................

If you are upgrading you machine from win 98? then presumably its around 6-7 years old? To be truthfull, a PC of that age is going to struggle specs wise with win xp and even if it runs it, it will then struggle with anything else on top of it.

Save yourself the grief, buy a new one for around £300 that is fully up to date and will knock the pants off your old machine.

James

[Scuba1]

I agree with james on this one. Because trying to run XP on an older machine with ....lets say 128 mb ram and a slow ish processor is a pain in the but.


ATB
Michael

[Lynne]

Originally Posted by Scuba1

I agree with james on this one. Because trying to run XP on an older machine with ....lets say 128 mb ram and a slow ish processor is a pain in the but.


ATB
Michael

Except it has a 1Ghz processor and 256 ram - glad to report that most of the problems appear to have been solved with the service pack update, virus definitions downloading and scanning so for the time being at least I can put off the cost of a new PC. This one is running faster than it ever has done

[dry suit diver]

there was an articlwe in windows XP magazine about 12 months ago about the minimum needed to run a functional version of XP with it pared down to the basics, i will see if i can find the mags and will scan the article and post the relevant bits.

[NeilB]

If you do go for the format and reload option then don't forget to delete the partitions and power off in between - some virii can hide in the fat table or the mbr. So a format and reload does not get rid of the virus and it just re-infects the machine.

[And]

Hi

I would have formatted and reinstalled. Win98 uses Fat32 for its partitions which isn't as good as NTFS, that used by WinXP.

Download and run Adaware or something similar and do another thorough virus scan with an updated package just to make sure everything is OK.

Hope that helps

Andy