Weird thing

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gtratar · #1 Post by **gtratar** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:28 pm

Hi!
Today, weird things happened to my computer. At some point, while browsing the internet, all of the sudden a blue screen appeared. It said that a fatal error occurred, but I didn't manage to read the message in full because the computer restarted. After restart, a message appeared saying that windows has recovered from a serious error. But my Norton 360 antivirus protection didn't load and some of the installed software didn’t work. When trying to manually load Norton, a message appeared saying that this is not a valid Win32 application. The same happened when trying some other programmes. Also, the system restore could not restore the computer to an earlier time. When shutting down, settings didn't save, instead, in the middle of shutting down, the computer stopped suddenly. I also wasn’t able to start windows in the safe mode because another blue screen appeared. I was however able to start windows normally, but with same limitations described above. I've managed to fix things by loading the system files from an old windows backup I fortunately made about a month ago. After that, I was able to start windows in safe mode and to restore the computer to a restore point from yesterday. Now, all programmes seem to be working normally, except that a file of the Norton 360 was missing but the program has been able to fix that. Now, I was able to run the sfc /scannow command but windows didn't find any files to be missing or corrupt. Norton didn't detect any relevant threats. Any idea on what is going on?

Thanks ever so much.

#2 Post by **jdhurst** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:50 pm

That sounds much like a hardware error, and also much like a hard disk error. Set your error properties (My Computer -> Properties) not to restart on a blue screen error. Then you can see what the error is. ... JDH

sjthinkpader · #3 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:22 pm

Get your camera ready and take a picture of the error message.

gtratar · #4 Post by **gtratar** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:18 pm

When I ran a diagnostic software for dik checkong, no error was found. Any other way of knowing wheather my hard drive is the promblem? Also, I've checked system logs. Many warnings and messages can be seen (non I could really understand, but mainly related to Norton update problems) but there was no record of possible fatal errors. How's that?

sjthinkpader · #5 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:33 pm

More info please, type of system, type of hard drive, age of system etc.

gtratar · #6 Post by **gtratar** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:35 pm

ThinkPad R50e, model 1834J9G, processor Intel Pentium M 1,7 GHz, detailed disk drive information:

Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model HTS541060G9AT00
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed	hard disk media
Partitions 2
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 0
Sectors/Track 63
Size 55,89 GB (60.011.642.880 bytes)
Total Cylinders 7.752
Total Sectors 117.210.240
Total Tracks 1.860.480
Tracks/Cylinder 240
Partition Disk #0, Partition #0
Partition Size 51,48 GB (55.273.849.344 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 32.256 bytes
Partition Disk #0, Partition #1
Partition Size 4,41 GB (4.737.761.280 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 55.273.881.600 bytes.

I am using OS Windows XP SP2.

The machine was manufactured in may, 2005.

#7 Post by **rkawakami** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 12:37 am

I would suggest that you also download a copy of memtest86+ from here:

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

Create the boot floppy, USB or CD and let the program run through at least two complete passes. This will hopefully tell you that your memory is working as it should. If any errors are detected (big red background in the lower portion of the screen) AND you have two memory modules installed, remove one of them and repeat the testing. If that one passes, exchange them and re-run the tests.

gtratar · #8 Post by **gtratar** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:00 pm

I ran the test several times, no errors reported.

sjthinkpader · #9 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:09 pm

Try jdhurst's method or take a picture of the error message and see what went wrong.

If a system file is damaged, you may have to rebult the OS.

gtratar · #10 Post by **gtratar** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:53 pm

Well, i've managed to restore the OS from a backup and now my machine runs normally. I thought I could find a log of the error in system log files but was unable to do so. There is no log of potential fatal errors. According to my PC doctor software, my system is in "perfect shape" so I don't know what caused these rather serious problems. Do you think it could be an infection? My antivirus software (Norton 360) couldn't find any.

Thanks for your suggestions

sjthinkpader · #11 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:10 pm

Hopefully just a system file got corrupted.

jpapier · #12 Post by **jpapier** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:43 pm

Could it have been a voltage spike? Had one last Fall, took out a microwave, flourescent bulbs, and the surge suppressor on my system. KB and mouse started locking up, then MB went out last week with a "snap!". Now I'm online with my A30.

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