Member Avatar for lisaroutly

Hello there!
As of yesterday, my computer's been giving me alot of trouble. I'm not quite sure where to start, because I have no idea what's wrong. I have a year-old MDG computer with Windows XP Home edition.
Basically, my computer froze yesterday. I thought it was because I was doing too many things at once, so I turned off the tower, turned it back on, and let it do the "improper shut down" scan. Normally, my computer starts up fine again after this. But this time, once the desktop started loading, everything became painfully slow. The taskbar takes forever to load, and some things (LimeWire and ZoneAlarm for example), don't load in at all. I tried clicking on icons, for example My Computer. It takes the machine way too long to open the folder, and once it's open, I can't do much of anything. Even right-clicking icons, to look at properties for example, is too much for my PC to handle. I can't access the internet anymore, open files, nothing. The only thing I can do is shut it down.
When I shut it down, I get alot of "such and such program is not repsonding, ... end now". The most common errors are with the following: ESCAN_05C7FDBC (it goes on), WindWWAA, OSA.EXE, and Axwin Frame Window. Each time I shut down the computer though, other programs will "not respond," but generally I have the most trouble with the four listed above (none of which I know what they are).
The problem first appeared after I deleted a bunch of old, unused files, mostly pictures and videos. Is it possible that I accidentally deleted some integral file that was helping my system operate properly? Also, the computer had been on for about a month without ever being shut down... Could that be a factor?
Oh, one more thing. Before my computer was screwed up, I used to get a message like this when the desktop would load on start-up: "DLL Initialization: The applicaton failed because the..." (I don't remember the rest). When I would press "Ok" the computer would continue to load in properly. Since the computer got sick, I haven't seen that message at all.
I'm worried that my only option is to reboot my hard-drive from scratch, which I really, really don't want to do. My computer is so slow that I can't even burn my important files onto CDs or run a virus-scan. Seriously, nothing works. I did try to load the "optimal default settings", but that did nothing.
If any of you have ANY idea what could be wrong, or if you need anymore information about my PC or it's symptoms, please get back to me!
Thanks,
Lisa :o (How I hate being computer illiterate)

  • 6 Contributors
  • 6 Replies
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  • 3 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by kccomputerdr

Dani AI

Generated

— the combination of a sudden freeze, persistent UI unresponsiveness and the earlier “DLL Initialization” popup means three priorities: preserve important files, capture exact error details, and determine whether the problem is hardware, corrupted system files, or a hostile process. Several replies have noted malware and disk problems; the next steps should protect data first and gather objective evidence before destructive fixes.

If the machine is effectively unusable, boot it from external media made on a working PC (Linux Live USB/ CD or a Windows PE stick) and copy only the critical folders to an external drive: Documents and Settings\<username>\Desktop, My Documents, browser Favorites, mail stores (Outlook .pst if present), and folders with pictures/videos. If the drive is noisy or copy attempts fail, make a full image to another disk (Clonezilla or ddrescue) rather than repeatedly writing to the failing disk — imaging preserves chances of later recovery.

Collect diagnostics next: record the full text of the old “DLL Initialization” error and any Application/System errors from Event Viewer (run this command to open it): 

eventvwr.msc

If the system runs at all, open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del), inspect unfamiliar processes (right‑click → Properties) to see their executable path and publisher. Processes like ESCAN_05C7FDBC, OSA.EXE or “Axwin Frame Window” should be checked for legitimate install paths and a valid publisher; odd paths or missing publisher info merit offline inspection. Also run the HDD vendor’s bootable SMART/diagnostic tool to rule out impending drive failure.

After data is safe and logs collected, pursue targeted fixes: repair install of XP can restore missing system DLLs without wiping user files; a failing SMART report requires HDD replacement and restore from the image. This order — backup, diagnose (logs + file paths), then repair — complements the malware and disk concerns raised by , and while minimizing the risk of permanent data loss.

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

Member Avatar for frenemy

Ya might want to give us a full rundown on your PC specs:
motherboard + bios version
processor
RAM (type, size, speed)
hard drive (type, size, speed)

download and run silent runners and the instructions are

Member Avatar for lisaroutly

Alright, after some hunting, here are the specs:
Vision 2600gbfl (Not sure what this is...)
Intel 865GBF Motherboard 800MHz
Intel P4 2.6 GHz
512MB DDR 400MHz Memory
WD 80GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive

I'll TRY downloading the Silent Runners on this comp then see if I can use it on my dying one...

Let me know if you have any ideas!

- Lisa

Member Avatar for Novell52

Alright, after some hunting, here are the specs:
Vision 2600gbfl (Not sure what this is...)
Intel 865GBF Motherboard 800MHz
Intel P4 2.6 GHz
512MB DDR 400MHz Memory
WD 80GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive

I'll TRY downloading the Silent Runners on this comp then see if I can use it on my dying one...

Let me know if you have any ideas!

- Lisa

You might want to check your computer for spyware or virus infection. You can start by downloading and running adaware. Also make sure that you have the latest updates and security patches from Microsoft.

Have you defragged your hard drive lately? You should do a disk cleanup and defrag.

Member Avatar for marble

Boot into Safe Mode, run CHKDSK and defragment. Since you deleted a lot of files, the HD may be heavily fragmented and this may be a reason for the slowdown. With file sizes getting so large nowadays, the drive tends to get fragmented pretty soon.

Member Avatar for Tarnished13lade

system restore to get a bit more speed

Member Avatar for kccomputerdr

Hello there!
As of yesterday, my computer's been giving me alot of trouble. I'm not quite sure where to start, because I have no idea what's wrong. I have a year-old MDG computer with Windows XP Home edition.
Basically, my computer froze yesterday. I thought it was because I was doing too many things at once, so I turned off the tower, turned it back on, and let it do the "improper shut down" scan. Normally, my computer starts up fine again after this. But this time, once the desktop started loading, everything became painfully slow. The taskbar takes forever to load, and some things (LimeWire and ZoneAlarm for example), don't load in at all. I tried clicking on icons, for example My Computer. It takes the machine way too long to open the folder, and once it's open, I can't do much of anything. Even right-clicking icons, to look at properties for example, is too much for my PC to handle. I can't access the internet anymore, open files, nothing. The only thing I can do is shut it down.
When I shut it down, I get alot of "such and such program is not repsonding, ... end now". The most common errors are with the following: ESCAN_05C7FDBC (it goes on), WindWWAA, OSA.EXE, and Axwin Frame Window. Each time I shut down the computer though, other programs will "not respond," but generally I have the most trouble with the four listed above (none of which I know what they are).
The problem first appeared after I deleted a bunch of old, unused files, mostly pictures and videos. Is it possible that I accidentally deleted some integral file that was helping my system operate properly? Also, the computer had been on for about a month without ever being shut down... Could that be a factor?
Oh, one more thing. Before my computer was screwed up, I used to get a message like this when the desktop would load on start-up: "DLL Initialization: The applicaton failed because the..." (I don't remember the rest). When I would press "Ok" the computer would continue to load in properly. Since the computer got sick, I haven't seen that message at all.
I'm worried that my only option is to reboot my hard-drive from scratch, which I really, really don't want to do. My computer is so slow that I can't even burn my important files onto CDs or run a virus-scan. Seriously, nothing works. I did try to load the "optimal default settings", but that did nothing.
If any of you have ANY idea what could be wrong, or if you need anymore information about my PC or it's symptoms, please get back to me!
Thanks,
Lisa :o (How I hate being computer illiterate)

You definately have a virus & or spyware. Get a free antivirus at http://www.free-av.com, run that. Also download spybot s& d from download.com. after all that defrag & you might want to boost up your virtual memory a bit(RC my com, choose properties, click tabs until you find it, set it up to 4096 mb). that should help. Also, if you have too many extra programs that start at bootup, try decreasing them, especially unnecesary ones. why run it when not using it.

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