My pc is a train wreck, help!

[Mikus]

Ok dramatic topic, but somewhat serious! My desktop is acting a fool and I can't figure out for the life of me why and I really need some help. I don't have money so this is where I come!

Over the last month or so I noticed my pc slowing down. I've had 1 blue screen incident and 1 black/grey screen. I randomly get booted off ffxi without a POL reason. Nothing else too crazy.

I've went into services and disabled everything non essential that I could tell from googling what the services do. I've deleted all programs I don't use or just seem to be taking up room. I've cleared as much access as I can off my hdd to free up room.

I was using AVG but deleted it and tried microsoft security essentials. I ran that, malwarebytes, and combofix in both safe mode and normal and nothing has been found.

This week, my cpu usage without any programs running from 0%-10% and my physical memory is a constant 47%. Last night I backed up what I needed and was going to do a system restore, but when getting to my restore points, the only ones saved were from this week! I was a knucklehead and didn't make any dvds of my OS, which is Vista so I can't do a full wipe and I don't have any money to buy 7.

I'm at work currently so I can't post any screenshots of task manager, services, etc. If anyone could please please help me I would greatly appreciate it! I'll bake you many cookies, tell you I'll mow your lawn and not show up, etc etc. Just point me in the right direction of what to do!

[Mafai]

Ok dramatic topic, but somewhat serious! My desktop is acting a fool and I can't figure out for the life of me why and I really need some help. I don't have money so this is where I come!

Over the last month or so I noticed my pc slowing down. I've had 1 blue screen incident and 1 black/grey screen. I randomly get booted off ffxi without a POL reason. Nothing else too crazy.

I've went into services and disabled everything non essential that I could tell from googling what the services do. I've deleted all programs I don't use or just seem to be taking up room. I've cleared as much access as I can off my hdd to free up room.

I was using AVG but deleted it and tried microsoft security essentials. I ran that, malwarebytes, and combofix in both safe mode and normal and nothing has been found.

This week, my cpu usage without any programs running from 0%-10% and my physical memory is a constant 47%. Last night I backed up what I needed and was going to do a system restore, but when getting to my restore points, the only ones saved were from this week! I was a knucklehead and didn't make any dvds of my OS, which is Vista so I can't do a full wipe and I don't have any money to buy 7.

I'm at work currently so I can't post any screenshots of task manager, services, etc. If anyone could please please help me I would greatly appreciate it! I'll bake you many cookies, tell you I'll mow your lawn and not show up, etc etc. Just point me in the right direction of what to do!

If you know what version of Vista (Home, Ultimate, Professional) you have / want I can host it for you, you can download and burn it and do your reformat.

If you want to stay legit it needs to be the version you currently use for your CD key to be valid (or sticker on side of PC with product key).

If you don't I can upload any version you want, including windows 7 + loader to bypass activation. Up to you.

[Slott]

Mikus - have any of the fans stopped working in your computer, or does it seem to be overheating? That can be one of the main reasons for everything you're describing.

[Isiolia]

^ I'd look into heat problems or HDD failing/corruption. Is the drive grinding constantly?

[Mikus]

OS is vista home 64. And yes, the fan seems to be constantly running. Not sure exactly why. I'll be up front and say I haven't done the best at keeping it clean. I haven't taken the cover off to dust it properly, which I should, but have made sure all vents are clear and have used air in a can to spray into the vents. This weekend I will take the cover off to get a closer look if I have massive dust build up.

I did recently download the newest version of ATI catalyst for my graphics card. There is an option to turn the fan up or down. I don't really know how to work all of that so I don't touch it. If it is a HDD fail/corrupt, is there any fixing or is it going to have to be a replace?

[Isiolia]

- For fans/etc, first make sure they're all spinning. Dusting things out can help too, but really big heat issues will likely be a dead fan. Since most gear will throttle down to compensate for excess heat, that could be a culprit.

- HDD may depend. One thing to figure is that mass storage is a general bottleneck for modern PCs. That's why people tend to fuss so much over SSDs. If a drive is failing, then replacing it is the only real option. If it's corrupt, then it can depend, since Checkdisk or the like could well repair the filesystem. It could also be getting indexed, or be getting slowed down by background scans for malware/etc.

[Mikus]

- For fans/etc, first make sure they're all spinning. Dusting things out can help too, but really big heat issues will likely be a dead fan. Since most gear will throttle down to compensate for excess heat, that could be a culprit.

- HDD may depend. One thing to figure is that mass storage is a general bottleneck for modern PCs. That's why people tend to fuss so much over SSDs. If a drive is failing, then replacing it is the only real option. If it's corrupt, then it can depend, since Checkdisk or the like could well repair the filesystem. It could also be getting indexed, or be getting slowed down by background scans for malware/etc.

since i installed mse i had a lot of processes running constantly and new processes/services show up. when googling some, there were reports that they are potentially a virus but could be legit. some that come to mind are LanMan, LanManDesk, WeTime32(?), I can't remember the rest. Before work I deleted mse and when I get home I will combofix it up.

I'm praying it's something stupid otherwise I'm boned. I just don't have the money for a new hdd or really anything else currently. Doing a quick check on newegg I see HD's in the 250gb range are $90-$100. I just can't do it right now. What about failing ram? A friend mentioned that too but I couldn't find/figure a way to check this morning or I just missed it.

[Isiolia]

Yeah, drive prices have spiked up recently. Not that you want to see them fail period, but it's a pretty bad time to have hardware issues with a HDD.

If you have processes you're not sure on, Googling them will usually yield info - often they're legit background apps for hardware/etc.

Failing RAM would usually just result in crashes, not slowdown.

[Mafai]

Yeah, drive prices have spiked up recently. Not that you want to see them fail period, but it's a pretty bad time to have hardware issues with a HDD.

If you have processes you're not sure on, Googling them will usually yield info - often they're legit background apps for hardware/etc.

Failing RAM would usually just result in crashes, not slowdown.

I just noticed the drive prices went up today as well while browsing newegg. Apparently due to a flood where most HDD's are produced.

Do you know if its Home or Home Premium vista? You know how to burn an ISO to a DVD right?

[Mikus]

I just noticed the drive prices went up today as well while browsing newegg. Apparently due to a flood where most HDD's are produced.

Do you know if its Home or Home Premium vista? You know how to burn an ISO to a DVD right?

I want to say Home Premium. I was just home on my lunch break and ran combofix after deleting mse and the other things. It did delete some things and physical memory usage is down to between 27-30%. I attempted to post the log, but it's over 100,000 characters and I didn't have time to break it down into 2 posts. I can do it later if anyone would like to see it.

I haven't burned ISO to dvd in a long time, but I can figure it out. I was browsing fans and those seem very affordable. I just don't know how to instal. When I'm home from work I will see about the fans as well.

Side note about the ram, a friend mentioned that since I have vista 64 I could upgrade from 4gb to 6gb and also get better faster ram then the oem that's still there. I think this would be secondary to fixing the primary problem, but thoughts?

[Mafai]

Reformat it first if your willing to (it sounds like you were already planning to) then reanalyze and see how its running, if it runs like crap, its hardware. I am uploading both ISO's (Home Basic and Home Premium) for you and you can burn them tonight. I'll send you a PM with them before I leave work tonight.

Check your product key sticker to see which version you have, then grab the correct version, burn it and reformat with it.

[Mikus]

Reformat it first if your willing to (it sounds like you were already planning to) then reanalyze and see how its running, if it runs like crap, its hardware. I am uploading both ISO's (Home Basic and Home Premium) for you and you can burn them tonight. I'll send you a PM with them before I leave work tonight.

Check your product key sticker to see which version you have, then grab the correct version, burn it and reformat with it.

Wow Mafai thank you so much! Yes I was planning on it. I've had to reformat once before on a different computer due to Best Buy screwing up so my knowledge is limited. My understanding is if you have the OS discs you are all set and don't have to download anything else unless you have specific things needed, like an aftermarket graphics card, which I have. If there is anything else you would like to share feel free.

[Mafai]

Wow Mafai thank you so much! Yes I was planning on it. I've had to reformat once before on a different computer due to Best Buy screwing up so my knowledge is limited. My understanding is if you have the OS discs you are all set and don't have to download anything else unless you have specific things needed, like an aftermarket graphics card, which I have. If there is anything else you would like to share feel free.

The ISO I'm uploading is an all-in-one type deal so it will support Basic and Basic Premium keys.

To reformat you basically put the CD in an reboot. And go thru the menus. You will want to delete the partition and remake / format it. If it doesn't boot from the CD, you will have to change your boot sequence in your BIOs to move your CD-ROM before your HDD. Then press a key when it says press any key to boot from CD.

There is a chance that some drivers may not be recognized by Windows, but Vista + is pretty good at detecting them. Hopefully your network card is so you can redownload them accordingly. Since your knowledge is limited I'm guessing your PC is an out of box machine. So you can just visit the venders site and type in your model number to grab any driver your missing.

[Mikus]

The ISO I'm uploading is an all-in-one type deal so it will support Basic and Basic Premium keys.

To reformat you basically put the CD in an reboot. And go thru the menus. You will want to delete the partition and remake / format it. If it doesn't boot from the CD, you will have to change your boot sequence in your BIOs to move your CD-ROM before your HDD. Then press a key when it says press any key to boot from CD.

There is a chance that some drivers may not be recognized by Windows, but Vista + is pretty good at detecting them. Hopefully your network card is so you can redownload them accordingly. Since your knowledge is limited I'm guessing your PC is an out of box machine. So you can just visit the venders site and type in your model number to grab any driver your missing.

Yes I bought a HP a few years back and just upgraded the graphics card. I wouldn't know where to begin if asked to put together a pc, but if I'm pointed in the right direction I can get things done. I have another pc at home too just in case something goes wrong with drivers I can get them from my wife's laptop.

[Mikus]

First I'd like to say thank you very much for the responses and thanks for the PM Mafai. I got home about an hour ago and started my pc and it had windows updates. I do those and then turn off defender+updates and physical memory drops to 20%. I take the case off and check all 3 fans and all are running, but I was disgusted with what I found.

I've owned this desktop for about 3 years now and I'll say I've never cleaned it. It's the first desktop I've owned and only the 2nd pc and to be candid I was just irresponsible. So, I grab my can o' air and get to work. I blasted it till the can was so cold I could barely hold it and it wouldn't blast any more. As soon as I plugged the power cable back in the pc restarts. I work on putting the case back on. I look up, and I have blue screen. Meh, it will fix itself. Well, it forced me to do a system restore.

I'm going to give it the night and tomorrow morning and see how it runs. With the fans being caked with dust I'm just gonna bet that has a little something to do with performance. Also, there was a cable bunch almost resting on top of the heat sink fan. Should I zip tie it up higher?

[Tymon]

I think you should reformat, if it's been 3 years.

You can get a windows 7 copy and use a loader very easily these days.

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thr...s-7-Repository

[Kerberoz]

backup shit you care about, write zeros, install W7 and truecrypt, pirate activation, report back

[Mikus]

Just woke up and I'm reading the thread for 7. So if I understand this correctly I dl 7, then dl the loader and the pc does the rest? Also, truecrypt looks interesting! I plan to dl/copy Mafai's Vista that has been hosted for me too just in case!

[Mafai]

Just woke up and I'm reading the thread for 7. So if I understand this correctly I dl 7, then dl the loader and the pc does the rest? Also, truecrypt looks interesting! I plan to dl/copy Mafai's Vista that has been hosted for me too just in case!

Windows 7 is the way to go if you don't mind using a pirated copy. Its so much better then Vista.

The install process is the same. Except you do not provide a product key then after your into windows you run the loader to do the activation for you.

[Mafai]

I might have an ISO of that if you need it as well.