Laptop acting very messed up

Andy13 · #1 12-01-2005, 08:28 PM

Hello, everyone.

I am really worried about my laptop, it has been acting really messed up lately.

Okay, here's the deal: a while ago, I erased my updated XP CD with SP2, because it was getting old, and I wanted to update it and make a "fresh" CD. However, when I used my original XP CD (from HP), I found out that it was corrupted and that some files could not copy! Fortunately, I had a backup copy of an old ISO of my mom's old XP CD (for Virtual Machine reasons), so I "merged" both CD's together - now, the original CD of mine was only SP1, but the ISO had SP2, but I used SimpleSlipper to update the whole thing to SP2. Believe me, I know this sounds complicated, but it worked. Heck, the product key wasn't even asked for, and it activated automatically, so it was basically a new SP2 CD of my original CD with a few files from my mom's ISO. No big deal, as all XP CD's virtually have the same files on them anyway.

I did a fresh install of XP, then it worked beautifully for a few days. Activation was NOT required, as it was preactivated (thanks, HP!) and I installed the usual (Microsoft Office, Symantec Anti-Virus, and several anti-spyware programs).

Now, here's where the problems has been beginning: a few days ago, my computer has been suddenly slowing down severely. Internet Explorer kept "freezing", and the title bar said "Not Responding." This happened in other programs, too, and the whole system felt more slower and sluggish.

I thought it was a fragmented drive, so I did a defrag with Diskeeper, which worked pretty well. I also did a FULL virus scan and a FULL (in-depth, mind you!) spyware scan. No problems, absolutely clean.

Earlier, I right-clicked on Mozilla Firefox (I have that too, just for kicks) and the whole system froze for a few minutes. The mouse cursor was a "hard" hourglass. I clicked on the Start button, the Desktop - no matter what, it continued showing the hourglass. I pressed CTRL + ALT + DEL, to no avail. However, the mouse was moving, so I gave it some time. It finally unfroze after a few minutes, and it was fine for a few minutes, but then a BSOD suddenly popped up. I was actually pleased that the BSOD occured, because I knew something was seriously wrong (hang-ups all the time, DVDs skipping, non-responding windows, slow startups? please, something's obviously not right), and the error codes were:

0x0000F4
0X000003
0x852AA908
0x852AAA7C
0X80604450

I then restarted, which worked fine, and then the "...this system has recovered from a serious error" dialog appeared, and I sent the error message to Microsoft.

Now, here's what scares (and worries) me, and ensures that there IS something wrong. The Microsoft Online Crash Analysis site said this:

"Unfortunately, the error report you submitted is corrupted and cannot be analyzed. Corrupted error reports are rare. They can be caused by hardware or software problems, and they usually indicate a serious problem with your computer."

I know something is seriously asmiss, but nothing I have done seems to have fixed the problem. Could it be a corrupt installation? But it started working fine from the box. I didn't install anything atypical.

Please respond when you can, thanks SO much for your help! It's well-appreciated!

-Andy

PS - Sorry for the length, I just had to explain this in detail to help you guys further...

yoni5002 · #2 12-01-2005, 08:45 PM

Do you have enought RAM to run all those programs... Actually Norton antivirus and Firefox runing at the same time could take up to 235 MB of your ram... make sure you dont have to many programs runing in the background... let us know

In adition I could tell you that there is probably an issue with norton and any other drivers in your System.... Norton is not good anymore (personal Opinion)...takes tooooo much resourses and is having terrible times removing Viruses and Spywares!!!

Yoni5002
________

Andy13 · #3 12-01-2005, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoni5002

Do you have enought RAM to run all those programs... Actually Norton antivirus and Firefox runing at the same time could take up to 235 MB of your ram... make sure you dont have to many programs runing in the background... let us know

In adition I could tell you that there is probably an issue with norton and any other drivers in your System.... Norton is not good anymore (personal Opinion)...takes tooooo much resourses and is having terrible times removing Viruses and Spywares!!!

Yoni5002
________

Hello,

I have 512MB of RAM, and I'm actually running Symanetc AntiVirus, not Norton. It's a corporate version, and it works pretty well, actually...

IE and Firefox altogether takes up 235 MB of space?! That's a bit luduricious, to me.

42penguins · #4 12-01-2005, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy13

Hello,

I have 512MB of RAM, and I'm actually running Symanetc AntiVirus, not Norton. It's a corporate version, and it works pretty well, actually...

IE and Firefox altogether takes up 235 MB of space?! That's a bit luduricious, to me.

What's ludicrous to me is that someone out there actually sends error reports!
Just kidding

He meant your anti-virus and firefox together. Firefox, for me, easily uses 50MB RAM, and I'm sure you know how much anti-virus apps like to use.

Quote:

I thought it was a fragmented drive, so I did a defrag with Diskeeper, which worked pretty well. I also did a FULL virus scan and a FULL (in-depth, mind you!) spyware scan. No problems, absolutely clean.

"In depth, mind you!" Just what anti-spyware apps did you use? Also, do you use a firewall other than the Windows one?

Quote:

(hang-ups all the time, DVDs skipping, non-responding windows, slow startups? please, something's obviously not right)

Give some system specs
And possibly be prepared to give it all up and start anew

yoni5002 · #5 12-01-2005, 09:15 PM

another way to find whats causing that conflict would be preventing programs from running at the StartUp.... Try that... Synmatec Antivirus is exacly the same compilation,,,, the diference is just the name!!! heheh

Yoni5002
________

MissBlinky · #6 12-02-2005, 01:40 PM

Hi All

I have a EI Systems laptop on Windows XP
the problem I have is I have forgot my password to get past the sign on screen Ive looked everywhere 4it .
Is there a way to get past that part if u have forgot password so i can then reset it

Thanks

MissBlinky

Disk_Contented · #7 12-02-2005, 01:55 PM

See this thread MissBlinky:
http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com...ad.php?t=26263

Andy13, I think you used the wrong slipstream tool and the HP is not a standard microsoft installation disk.

I also use symantec Corp and it consumes less than 10 megs of memory at this moment.
Firefox itself is the memory hog in this case.