Strange problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter MZB
  • Start date Start date
M

MZB

I have a Dell Inspiron 2200 with XP HOME. While working on the internet
today, it suddenly froze. The cursor would not move and in fact the computer
was totally unresponsive (except the fan was going). I had to hold the
on/off button down to shut it down.

When I turned it on again, I could run my word processor. But when I tried
to get on the internet (OE and IE) it wouldn't work and then everything
slowed down. I tried to get to System Restore but that program was
unresponsive.

This happened again on a reboot.

I then shut it down for 5 minutes. When I turned it back on, same problem.
Couldn't run OE or IE. I was about to (shudder) call Dell when after 5
minutes or so, IE suddenly booted. Since then everything works perfectly. I
can get into System Restore and in general things look good.

Any ideas as to what might have caused the problem?? I had run my AVG
anti-virus software last night and at that time it indicated no problems (my
habits are generally not virus-prone). It has been a while since I ran my
Ad-Aware. Could spyware cause this? Could the computer have overheated (the
fan had been running for quite awhile, but I would assume that would
mitigate any overheating). Might I suddenly have a memory chip problem?

Hopefully, this was just an anomily and won't happen again, but is there
anything I can check?

Mel
 
MZB said:
I have a Dell Inspiron 2200 with XP HOME. While working on the internet
today, it suddenly froze. The cursor would not move and in fact the
computer was totally unresponsive (except the fan was going). I had to hold
the on/off button down to shut it down.

When I turned it on again, I could run my word processor. But when I tried
to get on the internet (OE and IE) it wouldn't work and then everything
slowed down. I tried to get to System Restore but that program was
unresponsive.

This happened again on a reboot.

I then shut it down for 5 minutes. When I turned it back on, same problem.
Couldn't run OE or IE. I was about to (shudder) call Dell when after 5
minutes or so, IE suddenly booted. Since then everything works perfectly.
I can get into System Restore and in general things look good.

Any ideas as to what might have caused the problem?? I had run my AVG
anti-virus software last night and at that time it indicated no problems
(my habits are generally not virus-prone). It has been a while since I ran
my Ad-Aware. Could spyware cause this? Could the computer have overheated
(the fan had been running for quite awhile, but I would assume that would
mitigate any overheating). Might I suddenly have a memory chip problem?

Hopefully, this was just an anomily and won't happen again, but is there
anything I can check?

Mel
Click to expand...

Yes, it could be malware.

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971

Help with Hijackware
All MS - MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
(http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm)
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
(http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm)
(http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html)
(http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm)

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315
 
MZB said:
I have a Dell Inspiron 2200 with XP HOME. While working on the internet
today, it suddenly froze. The cursor would not move and in fact the
computer was totally unresponsive (except the fan was going). I had to hold
the on/off button down to shut it down.
Click to expand...

This does happen sometimes and Frank is right, it could be malware but also
a number of others things. Your CPU temp guess could be the answer, my
machines are always on but occasionally a restart will come up with a clock
speed error due to temps on one machine. Also it is possible it was doing
something in the background. It's hard to give a "General" example but I
found one odd thing with the P2P Program Shareaza, it goes like this. If I
quite the program and restart things are fine, but if I restart and have
Windows close Shareaza some of the files in a folder that's being "Shared"
or have been "Downloaded" will cause the system to hang for a very long time
if any attempt is made to access them. Restarting Shareaza normally fixes
this problem. Therefore it may be something simple as an error with file
ownership, which I think is the cause of the above - it may think a file is
in use by something else. I use the above because it is an example that's
fairly "Repeatable" but there may be other instances that are similar but
not repeatable.

Note that with XP and auto updates turned on updates will be installed
before power down and you should see a message saying this... however the
update process sometimes completes after restart and that too can sometimes
use up some resources for some minutes the first restart.

AVG can sometimes slow things down a bit checking for updates on restart. It
is possible that other things may do similar. My approach would be to follow
Frank's links and if all prove negative not to worry too much unless it
still persists.

Charlie
 
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