[TheAlabamaRambler]

I've heard of viruses that can kill a hard drive but never run across one...until now, perhaps.

Frankly I've never really believed that a virus can physically damage a hard drive. Wipe it, corrupt the OS, sure, but not actually damage the drive. Last night I was playing in this forum and went in search of an image to post in one of the threads here and got a "Threat Detected" warning from my Avast Internet Security followed immediately by a hard shut down (PC powered off). When I turned it back on it looked normal until about half the desktop icons populated the screen, then started giving me disk failure error messages and locked up. Booted it again in Safe Mode and again got the Avast "Threat Detected" message followed by numerous warnings that the disk was running at 20% less than normal speed, messages that something was over-heating (it flashed by too fast to read details of what was over-heating) and all kinds of file corruption messages. Now it won't boot in any mode, just hangs while loading drivers.

Unfortunately Avast's Threat Detected message says only that, and displays a "Click here for details" button. So, being unable to click there, it doesn't give the name or any detail about what the threat is.

My question is, could a physical failure of my drive have caused the Avast threat message, or is it more likely a virus that killed the drive? Sort of a which-came-first chicken-or -egg thing that in the long run likely doesn't matter, the drive is toast no matter what caused it. I'm wondering if it's a coincidence that the drive died while I was pasting that .gif or if some sort of nastiness was embedded in the .gif that defeated my Avast protection.

Good thing I'm a huge believer in doing regular backups. I'm always telling folks to back up their stuff regularly. Too bad I don't actually do it.

[knowschad]

Apparently there is malware out there that can simulate HD failure. Does anything in this thread help? http://www.bleepingc...opic386590.html

[kunarion]

If your hard drive fails mechanically, it may make strange noises (which may be tough to hear over the cooling fans which also can be noisy). There will also be huge issues if the PC's processor overheats. Is is possible the inside of your computer needs a cleaning?

One thing an anti-virus looks for is changes to important files, so for example if a computer overheats, the anti-virus sees "changes" as the data goes crazy -- even if all the files themselves are just fine. The anti-virus pops up alarms when you download or try to run malware before you ever reached this point, so as a wild guess, it's no virus that caused the crash. Modern hard drives cannot be "crashed", but the earliest ones had drive heads floating on air, so they had to be "parked" to avoid damage.

It is possible to get a virus that corrupts the firmware of the hard drive. You can fix the firmware. Usually the Operating System gets corrupted for various reasons, and reformatting fixes that. Hard drives develop bad data areas, and formatting tells the system which areas to ignore.

If you have an external drive adapter, you can plug the hard drive into another computer, and see what's up. That's an easy way to find and fix drive issues.

I hope this helps!

[Scrabblers]

I got that same message this morning over and over here at work. I did a reboot and it continued, did it again, still there. For the last hour I haven't seen it pop up. Very odd.
The first sign of an issue this morning was when Quickbooks shut down on me but I'm up and running again.
Should I be worried?

[knowschad]

Scrabblers, on 27 March 2012 - 07:24 AM, said:

I got that same message this morning over and over here at work. I did a reboot and it continued, did it again, still there. For the last hour I haven't seen it pop up. Very odd.
The first sign of an issue this morning was when Quickbooks shut down on me but I'm up and running again.
Should I be worried?

Have you got the exact wording of the message? That is often very helpful in researching this sort of thing (or any computer error, for that matter).

[GeoGeeBee]

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 07:30 AM, said:

Scrabblers, on 27 March 2012 - 07:24 AM, said:

I got that same message this morning over and over here at work. I did a reboot and it continued, did it again, still there. For the last hour I haven't seen it pop up. Very odd.
The first sign of an issue this morning was when Quickbooks shut down on me but I'm up and running again.
Should I be worried?

Have you got the exact wording of the message? That is often very helpful in researching this sort of thing (or any computer error, for that matter).

It is often very helpful, but very frustrating when it is not:

[knowschad]

GeoGeeBee, on 27 March 2012 - 07:36 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 07:30 AM, said:

Scrabblers, on 27 March 2012 - 07:24 AM, said:

I got that same message this morning over and over here at work. I did a reboot and it continued, did it again, still there. For the last hour I haven't seen it pop up. Very odd.
The first sign of an issue this morning was when Quickbooks shut down on me but I'm up and running again.
Should I be worried?

Have you got the exact wording of the message? That is often very helpful in researching this sort of thing (or any computer error, for that matter).

It is often very helpful, but very frustrating when it is not:

That is sooooo true! I have had that happen sooo many times! Love the cartoon!

[TheAlabamaRambler]

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

[StarBrand]

I find it more likely that your PC overheated and caused some corruption to the Hard Drive in some critical area and your software detected that as a threat of some kind.

[knowschad]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A bit off of the main topic, but isn't the Sony Multiscan monitor an antique?

[TheAlabamaRambler]

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A bit off of the main topic, but isn't the Sony Multiscan monitor an antique?

Yes. And a great monitor! It's an old Multiscan E500, has to be 10 years old, still chugging along fine. The other 2 are standard 16" Dells, they're okay but not as good as the Sony.

This post has been edited by TheAlabamaRambler: 27 March 2012 - 09:47 AM

[Castle Mischief]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A Win7 "Ultimate machine" you say and it just has a dual-processor? Could I possibly inquire as to how much you paid for said machine?

[TheAlabamaRambler]

Castle Mischief, on 27 March 2012 - 09:57 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A Win7 "Ultimate machine" you say and it just has a dual-processor? Could I possibly inquire as to how much you paid for said machine?

Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit is the OS, I'm not saying it's a an ultimate machine.

And maybe it's quad-core, I don't know. Whatever it is it's supposed to be the best processor as of a year ago when he built it.

I won the rifle I traded for it in a raffle at a hunting camp, so I think I told him I'd trade it for $450 worth of PC. He said it cost him $650 to build. I bought $30 worth of raffle tickets to win the rifle, so I really don't have anything invested in this machine.

The shop just called, they got it booting and are running malware scans now.

After they get that fixed they're going to replace one of the video cards with a faster one and see if that cures the video issue.

Should have it back tomorrow.

This post has been edited by TheAlabamaRambler: 27 March 2012 - 10:14 AM

[knowschad]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A bit off of the main topic, but isn't the Sony Multiscan monitor an antique?

Yes. And a great monitor! It's an old Multiscan E500, has to be 10 years old, still chugging along fine. The other 2 are standard 16" Dells, they're okay but not as good as the Sony.

*WAS* a great monitor, maybe ten years ago. It was awesome back then. But don't blame the computer for locking up when you try to use it. Blame the ancient, obsolete technology in that monitor and get yourself a large screen plasma monitor.

[TheAlabamaRambler]

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 10:26 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A bit off of the main topic, but isn't the Sony Multiscan monitor an antique?

Yes. And a great monitor! It's an old Multiscan E500, has to be 10 years old, still chugging along fine. The other 2 are standard 16" Dells, they're okay but not as good as the Sony.

*WAS* a great monitor, maybe ten years ago. It was awesome back then. But don't blame the computer for locking up when you try to use it. Blame the ancient, obsolete technology in that monitor and get yourself a large screen plasma monitor.

Thanks, but it works just fine. It's video card issues I have, according to the shop that's working on it.

If I get it back and still have issues I'll try replacing the monitor, I have about a dozen modern ones in the barn.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This post has been edited by TheAlabamaRambler: 27 March 2012 - 10:33 AM

[knowschad]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 10:26 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A bit off of the main topic, but isn't the Sony Multiscan monitor an antique?

Yes. And a great monitor! It's an old Multiscan E500, has to be 10 years old, still chugging along fine. The other 2 are standard 16" Dells, they're okay but not as good as the Sony.

*WAS* a great monitor, maybe ten years ago. It was awesome back then. But don't blame the computer for locking up when you try to use it. Blame the ancient, obsolete technology in that monitor and get yourself a large screen plasma monitor.

Thanks, but it works just fine. It's video card issues I have, according to the shop that's working on it.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Aside from the fact that you could probably get a great chest x-ray from it, you also have scan lines, heat, and a huge footprint. You can get a 20" HP LCD for $99 that will blow that Sony out of the water.

[TheAlabamaRambler]

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 10:34 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 10:26 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A bit off of the main topic, but isn't the Sony Multiscan monitor an antique?

Yes. And a great monitor! It's an old Multiscan E500, has to be 10 years old, still chugging along fine. The other 2 are standard 16" Dells, they're okay but not as good as the Sony.

*WAS* a great monitor, maybe ten years ago. It was awesome back then. But don't blame the computer for locking up when you try to use it. Blame the ancient, obsolete technology in that monitor and get yourself a large screen plasma monitor.

Thanks, but it works just fine. It's video card issues I have, according to the shop that's working on it.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Aside from the fact that you could probably get a great chest x-ray from it, you also have scan lines, heat, and a huge footprint. You can get a 20" HP LCD for $99 that will blow that Sony out of the water.

Again, it works. It gives me good service. I have plenty of room for the footprint and you can't see any lines on it, in fact it has better resolution than the Dells on either side of it, it's no warmer than any of the other four monitors and two TVs on my desk, so why spend $99 to fix what ain't broke?

[kunarion]

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 07:40 AM, said:

Quote

That is sooooo true! I have had that happen sooo many times! Love the cartoon!

Oh, but often they did answer. In two glorious posts:

1) "Can someone help me with [the specific issue that you now have]?"
2) "Never mind, I figured it out."

[Scrabblers]

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 07:30 AM, said:

Scrabblers, on 27 March 2012 - 07:24 AM, said:

I got that same message this morning over and over here at work. I did a reboot and it continued, did it again, still there. For the last hour I haven't seen it pop up. Very odd.
The first sign of an issue this morning was when Quickbooks shut down on me but I'm up and running again.
Should I be worried?

Have you got the exact wording of the message? That is often very helpful in researching this sort of thing (or any computer error, for that matter).

"Threat Detected message says only that, and displays a "Click here for details" button. So, being unable to click there, it doesn't give the name or any detail about what the threat is."

Yup, that's what mine said, too. A couple of times it had a long address but I didn't have a chance to write it down. (boss 'had' to have a report so I kept working) I was able to click on "details" but there was nothing there.

[Castle Mischief]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:06 AM, said:

Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit is the OS, I'm not saying it's a an ultimate machine.

And maybe it's quad-core, I don't know. Whatever it is it's supposed to be the best processor as of a year ago when he built it.

I won the rifle I traded for it in a raffle at a hunting camp, so I think I told him I'd trade it for $450 worth of PC. He said it cost him $650 to build. I bought $30 worth of raffle tickets to win the rifle, so I really don't have anything invested in this machine.

The shop just called, they got it booting and are running malware scans now.

After they get that fixed they're going to replace one of the video cards with a faster one and see if that cures the video issue.

Should have it back tomorrow.

Hehe. Yeah, that makes more sense.

So, that video card... ATI or Nvidia?

[TheAlabamaRambler]

Castle Mischief, on 27 March 2012 - 10:58 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:06 AM, said:

Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit is the OS, I'm not saying it's a an ultimate machine.

And maybe it's quad-core, I don't know. Whatever it is it's supposed to be the best processor as of a year ago when he built it.

I won the rifle I traded for it in a raffle at a hunting camp, so I think I told him I'd trade it for $450 worth of PC. He said it cost him $650 to build. I bought $30 worth of raffle tickets to win the rifle, so I really don't have anything invested in this machine.

The shop just called, they got it booting and are running malware scans now.

After they get that fixed they're going to replace one of the video cards with a faster one and see if that cures the video issue.

Should have it back tomorrow.

Hehe. Yeah, that makes more sense.

So, that video card... ATI or Nvidia?

Right now it has 1 ATI and 1 Nvidia cards. They're replacing the ATI with another Nvidia. This has nothing to do with the crash, however, tat was a virus. I'm just dealing with this minor video issue while they have it in the shop. The video issue has nothing to do with anything but running full-screen video which I don't really need to do anyway.

[Don_J]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

Castle Mischief, on 27 March 2012 - 10:58 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:06 AM, said:

Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit is the OS, I'm not saying it's a an ultimate machine.

And maybe it's quad-core, I don't know. Whatever it is it's supposed to be the best processor as of a year ago when he built it.

I won the rifle I traded for it in a raffle at a hunting camp, so I think I told him I'd trade it for $450 worth of PC. He said it cost him $650 to build. I bought $30 worth of raffle tickets to win the rifle, so I really don't have anything invested in this machine.

The shop just called, they got it booting and are running malware scans now.

After they get that fixed they're going to replace one of the video cards with a faster one and see if that cures the video issue.

Should have it back tomorrow.

Hehe. Yeah, that makes more sense.

So, that video card... ATI or Nvidia?

Right now it has 1 ATI and 1 Nvidia cards. They're replacing the ATI with another Nvidia. This has nothing to do with the crash, however, tat was a virus. I'm just dealing with this minor video issue while they have it in the shop. The video issue has nothing to do with anything but running full-screen video which I don't really need to do anyway.

Did the shop confirm that it was a virus, and if so, what exactly happened?

Reading your OP, it occured to me that almost all modern computers can have the speed of the cooling fans controlled by software. A virus is software. Concievably, a virus could slow your fans down to the point that components could overheat and become damaged.

Years ago, there was talk of a virus that could reprogram the "landing zone" of your hard drive. This is a spot of the hard disk that does not store data that the heads can rest on when the drive is not spinning. Change the zone and the heads can land on a data sector and damage or erase it.

Generally, software cannot damage hardware, but there are exceptions.

[Castle Mischief]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

Castle Mischief, on 27 March 2012 - 10:58 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:06 AM, said:

Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit is the OS, I'm not saying it's a an ultimate machine.

And maybe it's quad-core, I don't know. Whatever it is it's supposed to be the best processor as of a year ago when he built it.

I won the rifle I traded for it in a raffle at a hunting camp, so I think I told him I'd trade it for $450 worth of PC. He said it cost him $650 to build. I bought $30 worth of raffle tickets to win the rifle, so I really don't have anything invested in this machine.

The shop just called, they got it booting and are running malware scans now.

After they get that fixed they're going to replace one of the video cards with a faster one and see if that cures the video issue.

Should have it back tomorrow.

Hehe. Yeah, that makes more sense.

So, that video card... ATI or Nvidia?

Right now it has 1 ATI and 1 Nvidia cards. They're replacing the ATI with another Nvidia. This has nothing to do with the crash, however, tat was a virus. I'm just dealing with this minor video issue while they have it in the shop. The video issue has nothing to do with anything but running full-screen video which I don't really need to do anyway.

That would explain the full-screen issue. Mixing video chipsets would in a dual-card system cause all manner of wonkiness. That's like worse than mounting your ancient CRT above the fireplace.

[Castle Mischief]

Don_J, on 27 March 2012 - 01:08 PM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

Castle Mischief, on 27 March 2012 - 10:58 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:06 AM, said:

Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit is the OS, I'm not saying it's a an ultimate machine.

And maybe it's quad-core, I don't know. Whatever it is it's supposed to be the best processor as of a year ago when he built it.

I won the rifle I traded for it in a raffle at a hunting camp, so I think I told him I'd trade it for $450 worth of PC. He said it cost him $650 to build. I bought $30 worth of raffle tickets to win the rifle, so I really don't have anything invested in this machine.

The shop just called, they got it booting and are running malware scans now.

After they get that fixed they're going to replace one of the video cards with a faster one and see if that cures the video issue.

Should have it back tomorrow.

Hehe. Yeah, that makes more sense.

So, that video card... ATI or Nvidia?

Right now it has 1 ATI and 1 Nvidia cards. They're replacing the ATI with another Nvidia. This has nothing to do with the crash, however, tat was a virus. I'm just dealing with this minor video issue while they have it in the shop. The video issue has nothing to do with anything but running full-screen video which I don't really need to do anyway.

Did the shop confirm that it was a virus, and if so, what exactly happened?

Reading your OP, it occured to me that almost all modern computers can have the speed of the cooling fans controlled by software. A virus is software. Concievably, a virus could slow your fans down to the point that components could overheat and become damaged.

Years ago, there was talk of a virus that could reprogram the "landing zone" of your hard drive. This is a spot of the hard disk that does not store data that the heads can rest on when the drive is not spinning. Change the zone and the heads can land on a data sector and damage or erase it.

Generally, software cannot damage hardware, but there are exceptions.

Could a virus flash the BIOS? Cause that would be bad. Like cross-the-streams bad.

[Dgwphotos]

Castle Mischief, on 27 March 2012 - 01:28 PM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

Castle Mischief, on 27 March 2012 - 10:58 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:06 AM, said:

Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit is the OS, I'm not saying it's a an ultimate machine.

And maybe it's quad-core, I don't know. Whatever it is it's supposed to be the best processor as of a year ago when he built it.

I won the rifle I traded for it in a raffle at a hunting camp, so I think I told him I'd trade it for $450 worth of PC. He said it cost him $650 to build. I bought $30 worth of raffle tickets to win the rifle, so I really don't have anything invested in this machine.

The shop just called, they got it booting and are running malware scans now.

After they get that fixed they're going to replace one of the video cards with a faster one and see if that cures the video issue.

Should have it back tomorrow.

Hehe. Yeah, that makes more sense.

So, that video card... ATI or Nvidia?

Right now it has 1 ATI and 1 Nvidia cards. They're replacing the ATI with another Nvidia. This has nothing to do with the crash, however, tat was a virus. I'm just dealing with this minor video issue while they have it in the shop. The video issue has nothing to do with anything but running full-screen video which I don't really need to do anyway.

That would explain the full-screen issue. Mixing video chipsets would in a dual-card system cause all manner of wonkiness. That's like worse than mounting your ancient CRT above the fireplace.

That was what I suspected as well.

[kunarion]

Don_J, on 27 March 2012 - 01:08 PM, said:

Concievably, a virus could slow your fans down to the point that components could overheat and become damaged.

That’s the spirit!

It’s a severe disappointment to people when I fix their computer and it’s just an ordinary problem. “Low-quality components. And an over-zealous virus scanner. Restore will get it back in shape for a while.” That’s boring. It’s exciting to announce “Just as you suspected, you had the latest virus, the one on the news, the cool one! That happened because you live on the edge, you have no rules. That’s how it happened. Yeah, I wish I had interesting computer problems like you do! Restore will get it back in shape for a while.”

This post has been edited by kunarion: 27 March 2012 - 01:53 PM

[Chokecherry]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:46 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 10:34 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 10:26 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

knowschad, on 27 March 2012 - 09:28 AM, said:

TheAlabamaRambler, on 27 March 2012 - 09:03 AM, said:

This is a home-built machine, one of those deals where a geocaching buddy says he builds computers, so I had him build me a supposedly nice dual-processor Win 7 Ultimate machine and traded him a rifle for it. It's got 2 video boards to support 3 monitors and they've never worked right, it locks up if I try to take my big Sony Multiscan monitor to full screen. But, he moved to Florida so rather than dealing with it i just never use full screen mode. Still, it's been a fast dependable machine for a year.

I'm not much for "Hey, let's learn a whole new career in fixing computers" so I don't try to figure these things out. It's in the shop. Whatever it is they'll deal with it.

A bit off of the main topic, but isn't the Sony Multiscan monitor an antique?

Yes. And a great monitor! It's an old Multiscan E500, has to be 10 years old, still chugging along fine. The other 2 are standard 16" Dells, they're okay but not as good as the Sony.

*WAS* a great monitor, maybe ten years ago. It was awesome back then. But don't blame the computer for locking up when you try to use it. Blame the ancient, obsolete technology in that monitor and get yourself a large screen plasma monitor.

Thanks, but it works just fine. It's video card issues I have, according to the shop that's working on it.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Aside from the fact that you could probably get a great chest x-ray from it, you also have scan lines, heat, and a huge footprint. You can get a 20" HP LCD for $99 that will blow that Sony out of the water.

Again, it works. It gives me good service. I have plenty of room for the footprint and you can't see any lines on it, in fact it has better resolution than the Dells on either side of it, it's no warmer than any of the other four monitors and two TVs on my desk, so why spend $99 to fix what ain't broke?

If it makes you feel any better my monitor is about 11 years old now. Nothing to brag about by every time my psycho would tell me to get a new one I would explain it works just fine so why bother. And it does. I'm not spending $99 to replace something that works just fine.

My ex (different person than my psycho) was absolutely convinced that I had contracted a virus that demolished his hard drive. There was a sound and then it ceased to work. The repair shop concurred it was demolished but didn't blame me on it. There on out I had to buy my own computer because I was no longer "allowed" to touch the family computer.

[StarBrand]

Any further word on the root problem...?????

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Hey, TAR, will you post a link to the site you got the killer virus - so's we know where not to go?

[TheAlabamaRambler]

2oldfarts (the rockhounders), on 28 March 2012 - 06:53 PM, said:

Hey, TAR, will you post a link to the site you got the killer virus - so's we know where not to go?

No, I would have to do a Google search and go to the site to get the link, and this is my wife's computer, and she would smite me upon the head if I went to a site I knew to be infested and got her computer killed.

Obviously the Avast Internet Security we're using isn't up to the job. The shop called yesterday and said my PC is ready, when I pick it up this morning I will find out what happened and let y'all know.

You can give it a whirl if you're feeling brave. I Googled "construction girl image" and part of the result was a block of pictures of women in construction gear. I opened a .gif that I thought suitable for the forum topic, copied the location, pasted it into a forum post and my PC immediately gave me a threat warning and croaked. Good luck!

This post has been edited by TheAlabamaRambler: 29 March 2012 - 02:45 AM

[knowschad]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 29 March 2012 - 02:43 AM, said:

2oldfarts (the rockhounders), on 28 March 2012 - 06:53 PM, said:

Hey, TAR, will you post a link to the site you got the killer virus - so's we know where not to go?

No, I would have to do a Google search and go to the site to get the link, and this is my wife's computer, and she would smite me upon the head if I went to a site I knew to be infested and got her computer killed.

Obviously the Avast Internet Security we're using isn't up to the job. The shop called yesterday and said my PC is ready, when I pick it up this morning I will find out what happened and let y'all know.

You can give it a whirl if you're feeling brave. I Googled "construction girl image" and part of the result was a block of pictures of women in construction gear. I opened a .gif that I thought suitable for the forum topic, copied the location, pasted it into a forum post and my PC immediately gave me a threat warning and croaked. Good luck!

Since you hotlinked to that image, any of us that viewed it should have been hit by the same attack. Besides, I'm pretty certain that I also opened it while looking for a similar image (and trying to find one suitable for posting here... not an easy task, as you know!).

Avast is one of the most highly rated malware scanners out there. If your definitions were up to date, then it is likely that it wasn't actually a virus, but instead a misinterpreted hardware issue , or it virus, but one so new that just about any AV would have missed it. My opinion, for what little it may be worth.

This post has been edited by knowschad: 29 March 2012 - 05:12 AM

[StarBrand]

I'm still betting on some kind of physical glitch with hardware that avast interpreted as a threat.

[Castle Mischief]

I'm betting it's the refrigerator magnets that TAR uses to hold the sheet of paper with his passwords to the side of the PC tower.

[knowschad]

Castle Mischief, on 29 March 2012 - 08:04 AM, said:

I'm betting it's the refrigerator magnets that TAR uses to hold the sheet of paper with his passwords to the side of the PC tower.

Do you suppose they were earth magnets? I hear that they are rare.

[TheAlabamaRambler]

Castle Mischief, on 29 March 2012 - 08:04 AM, said:

I'm betting it's the refrigerator magnets that TAR uses to hold the sheet of paper with his passwords to the side of the PC tower.

Nah, mine is easy to remember... I don't have but one and I've used it for ~30 years so far, it was what I used on The Well BBS back in '78 and I've never seen the need to change it. That's all I need, right?

This post has been edited by TheAlabamaRambler: 29 March 2012 - 08:17 AM

[GeoGeeBee]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 29 March 2012 - 08:10 AM, said:

Castle Mischief, on 29 March 2012 - 08:04 AM, said:

I'm betting it's the refrigerator magnets that TAR uses to hold the sheet of paper with his passwords to the side of the PC tower.

Nah, mine is easy to remember... I don't have but one and I've used it for ~30 years so far, it was what I used on The Well BBS back in '78 and I've never seen the need to change it. That's all I need, right?

Passwords are like underwear: you should change them frequently.

[TheAlabamaRambler]

GeoGeeBee, on 29 March 2012 - 08:43 AM, said:

Passwords are like underwear: you should change them frequently.

I actually do have only two. One that I've used for decades for everyday access to stuff like this forum or Facebook or whatever, and one that I change periodically and only use for online banking and sites that have my credit card info.

There used to be a few government secure sites I accessed, and for those I used a 12-character password that changed every month. Still, remembering a new 12-character password every month was a PITA, so I used something like (and this is not it) 12CharactersIsDumb! and just incremented the month number each month. Easy to remember and I never had to worry about using the same password twice in a year.

It's all about your ability to tolerate risk. Mine's pretty high because anyone getting my password really can't hurt me. LifeLock keeps and eye on my accounts and identity now, but I really didn't worry about it before that. I've never understood folks who have passwords on their home computer. Who is in your house that you don't trust? If there is anyone then you have bigger problems than passwords! It's like house keys, I don't own one. I haven't had a house key since my parents bought the house I was raised in back in 1954. I grew up like that and it's still a comfortable lifestyle for me. My wife and daughter have a key but they only use it when I am away from home. Sure, it's a risk, but not a big one. If somebody wants in they're going to get in.

Interestingly my wife is much more locked down and careful than I am, yet she's the one whose debit card was hijacked 5 years ago. we never learned how they got her debit card info, most likely it was scanned at a restaurant since she didn't do online banking back then. They spent about $700 before the bank flagged the activity, and after filing a claim it took the bank about 3 weeks to refund that money to the account, so no big deal.

[knowschad]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 29 March 2012 - 09:57 AM, said:

GeoGeeBee, on 29 March 2012 - 08:43 AM, said:

Passwords are like underwear: you should change them frequently.

I actually do have only two. One that I've used for decades for everyday access to stuff like this forum or Facebook or whatever, and one that I change periodically and only use for online banking and sites that have my credit card info.

There used to be a few government secure sites I accessed, and for those I used a 12-character password that changed every month. Still, remembering a new 12-character password every month was a PITA, so I used something like (and this is not it) 12CharactersIsDumb! and just incremented the month number each month. Easy to remember and I never had to worry about using the same password twice in a year.

It's all about your ability to tolerate risk. Mine's pretty high because anyone getting my password really can't hurt me. LifeLock keeps and eye on my accounts and identity now, but I really didn't worry about it before that. I've never understood folks who have passwords on their home computer. Who is in your house that you don't trust? If there is anyone then you have bigger problems than passwords! It's like house keys, I don't own one. I haven't had a house key since my parents bought the house I was raised in back in 1954. I grew up like that and it's still a comfortable lifestyle for me. My wife and daughter have a key but they only use it when I am away from home. Sure, it's a risk, but not a big one. If somebody wants in they're going to get in.

Interestingly my wife is much more locked down and careful than I am, yet she's the one whose debit card was hijacked 5 years ago. we never learned how they got her debit card info, most likely it was scanned at a restaurant since she didn't do online banking back then. They spent about $700 before the bank flagged the activity, and after filing a claim it took the bank about 3 weeks to refund that money to the account, so no big deal.

Here's what I use, both at home and at work: http://pwsafe.org/ I only need to remember the unlocking password.

[TheAlabamaRambler]

Otay, back live. The shop said they found 743 instances of malware but didn't specify which ones, and the tech who fixed it is off today. So who knows. But it was definitely a virus that killed it. No hardware changes, $99 to clean it up and I'm back in business.

Nowhere near as confidant with Avast as I was, but I (or they) don't know of anything better. Life happens, I suppose.

They couldn't fix the full-screen video mode issue even using their 3 monitors and trying a new Nvidia card, so we left that alone. I don't need it anyway, if I want to watch a movie I'll turn on the TV. The only time I really use all 3 monitors is during severe weather when I am running radio nets, I run NOAA weather radar on one screen and it would be nice to have that full-screen, but it's fine using the default 8"x10" or whatever size it is.

For some reason they deleted FireFox, I had to reinstall that, otherwise it's as it was before.

[knowschad]

Most (all?) malware scanners will show any tracking cookie as "malware", so don't let that high number scare you (if it does).

[StarBrand]

Sounds like a simple System Restore and quick scan from the house Malware detector.

[TheAlabamaRambler]

StarBrand, on 29 March 2012 - 01:05 PM, said:

Sounds like a simple System Restore and quick scan from the house Malware detector.

Dunno. When this thing crashed and powered itself down, wouldn't reboot and was giving me all sorts of strange disk error messages all I could think of was I haven't done a full backup in a year and I have a lot of stuff I don't want to lose on that drive. Believe me it was worth $99 to pay a pro to diagnose and fix it. I might have been able to do it, or I might have lost everything on the drive while mucking around.

This way was the best $99 I've spent in a while!

And you can't do a system restore if you can't boot the machine. Not unless you've created one of those system restore disk thingies, and who does that?

This post has been edited by TheAlabamaRambler: 29 March 2012 - 01:16 PM

[StarBrand]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 29 March 2012 - 01:14 PM, said:

StarBrand, on 29 March 2012 - 01:05 PM, said:

Sounds like a simple System Restore and quick scan from the house Malware detector.

Dunno. When this thing crashed and powered itself down, wouldn't reboot and was giving me all sorts of strange disk error messages all I could think of was I haven't done a full backup in a year and I have a lot of stuff I don't want to lose on that drive. Believe me it was worth $99 to pay a pro to diagnose and fix it. I might have been able to do it, or I might have lost everything on the drive while mucking around.

This way was the best $99 I've spent in a while!

And you can't do a system restore if you can't boot the machine. Not unless you've created one of those system restore disk thingies, and who does that?

Sure you can - but I repair the things for a living.......

[knowschad]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 29 March 2012 - 01:14 PM, said:

This way was the best $99 I've spent in a while!

No comment.

[TheAlabamaRambler]

StarBrand, on 29 March 2012 - 01:59 PM, said:

Sure you can - but I repair the things for a living.......

Do you set up networking? Come on down!

That's my next chore. Locals want ~$95/hour. I've hired 3 'network specialists' over the last couple of years, for a total of maybe 8 billed hours, it still isn't right. Bah. Every one tells me something different and none can get everything working at once. It's not worth any more investment without a guarantee of satisfaction, and I haven't found anyone willing to give me one, so I will figure it out myself. Every time I boot up and see "Could not connect all network drives" or I have to email a file to my wife's computer sitting right beside me because I can't access her drive to move the file I curse those guys.

My rudimentary understanding says it should be simple. This is my home network configuration...
1 Win 7 Ultimate Desktop
1 Win 7 Pro Desktop
2 Win XP Pro Desktops
2 Win XP Pro Laptops
1 MEPIS Linux Web Server
1 Win 7 (Unknown version, I forget) Laptop
1 12-port Cisco Switch
1 Wired & Wireless SURFboard Cable Router/Modem
1 Linksys Wireless Router
1 Linksys Wired Router
1 6-port USB Hub
1 SignaLink USB External Soundcard (for amateur radio control / PTT and digital comms)
3 HP Printers

I want 1 Desktop to be a web/file server (the MEPIS box) we can all share for file storage with duplicate disks for backup. (Actually with the advent of the cloud I may forget having a file server and keep everything in the cloud. My cable internet service is certainly fast enough for that now.)
I want access to all drives and devices from my Win 7 Ultra Desktop
I want Remote Access (of some sort) so I can take control of, run apps on and maintain the kids Desktops/Laptops that are in rooms which are physically inaccessible to me.

Sounds simple, huh? Evidently it's not.

This post has been edited by TheAlabamaRambler: 29 March 2012 - 03:37 PM

[Davequal]

I read this the other day, and thought I remember seeing some of what you were saying some place else.

Was this an Avast pop-up ?

[Dgwphotos]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 29 March 2012 - 03:32 PM, said:

StarBrand, on 29 March 2012 - 01:59 PM, said:

Sure you can - but I repair the things for a living.......

Do you set up networking? Come on down!

That's my next chore. Locals want ~$95/hour. I've hired 3 'network specialists' over the last couple of years, for a total of maybe 8 billed hours, it still isn't right. Bah. Every one tells me something different and none can get everything working at once. It's not worth any more investment without a guarantee of satisfaction, and I haven't found anyone willing to give me one, so I will figure it out myself. Every time I boot up and see "Could not connect all network drives" or I have to email a file to my wife's computer sitting right beside me because I can't access her drive to move the file I curse those guys.

My rudimentary understanding says it should be simple. This is my home network configuration...
1 Win 7 Ultimate Desktop
1 Win 7 Pro Desktop
2 Win XP Pro Desktops
2 Win XP Pro Laptops
1 MEPIS Linux Web Server
1 Win 7 (Unknown version, I forget) Laptop
1 12-port Cisco Switch
1 Wired & Wireless SURFboard Cable Router/Modem
1 Linksys Wireless Router
1 Linksys Wired Router
1 6-port USB Hub
1 SignaLink USB External Soundcard (for amateur radio control / PTT and digital comms)
3 HP Printers

I want 1 Desktop to be a web/file server (the MEPIS box) we can all share for file storage with duplicate disks for backup. (Actually with the advent of the cloud I may forget having a file server and keep everything in the cloud. My cable internet service is certainly fast enough for that now.)
I want access to all drives and devices from my Win 7 Ultra Desktop
I want Remote Access (of some sort) so I can take control of, run apps on and maintain the kids Desktops/Laptops that are in rooms which are physically inaccessible to me.

Sounds simple, huh? Evidently it's not.

Hmm, I would suggest setting it up on an Active Directory Domain, although the Windows 7 laptop may not be able to join a domain, if it runs Home Premium. The domain controller would have to be a Windows Server based computer, and not Linux, though the Linux server should be able to join the domain. Yes, Windows Server is not cheap, but I have a (legal) solution for you, if you send me an email.

This post has been edited by Dgwphotos: 29 March 2012 - 06:09 PM

[TheAlabamaRambler]

Davequal, on 29 March 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:

I read this the other day, and thought I remember seeing some of what you were saying some place else.

Was this an Avast pop-up ?

I didn't (yet) get a direct answer as to what it was, the tech who cleaned it was off today, but yes, it was one or more virus that got past the very latest Avast! Internet Security.

[Castle Mischief]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 29 March 2012 - 08:35 PM, said:

Davequal, on 29 March 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:

I read this the other day, and thought I remember seeing some of what you were saying some place else.

Was this an Avast pop-up ?

I didn't (yet) get a direct answer as to what it was, the tech who cleaned it was off today, but yes, it was one or more virus that got past the very latest Avast! Internet Security.

I'm guessing it was one virus/malware that slipped in and then that piece of code unlocked all the doors and let his buddies come over for a frat party.

Does anybody else ever use that computer other than you?

[Davequal]

TheAlabamaRambler, on 29 March 2012 - 08:35 PM, said:

Davequal, on 29 March 2012 - 04:27 PM, said:

I read this the other day, and thought I remember seeing some of what you were saying some place else.

Was this an Avast pop-up ?

I didn't (yet) get a direct answer as to what it was, the tech who cleaned it was off today, but yes, it was one or more virus that got past the very latest Avast! Internet Security.

OK Then it is NOT what I thought it was.

Something slipped past Avast, huh. I find that interesting. I have seen some deep dark seedy corners of this place known as the internet. I have NEVER had anything get past it. I know it is possible.