Sealracer, it's not a case of having to start all over again, this will end up being the most simplest of solutions ever. All that's happening is as follows:- Open up ANYTHING & it opens fast & low CPU usage, no problems. Then open anything else & it's 100% cpu usage & hardware interrupts, really slow & sometimes even doesn't respond at all. But, if i then start again & open the same programs or even similar programs, ie, Winamp with Word, Media Player with Access, Calculator & connecting to the internet etc, then everything is OK. If i kept the computer on for 2 weeks & opened every possible combination of programs 2 at a time then everything would work completely normally. It's only when i ask the puter to do 2 things for the very 1st time from switching on that the problem shows.
a few questions, how much ram do you have, and how much is free... also, how big is your harddrive and how full is it. is it in PIO mode or DMA mode (my computer > properties > Hardware > Device Manager > Primary IDE channel > Advanced settings > Transferr Mode... should be set to DMA if available. Current mode will tell you the mode that windows is currently using.
I would also suggest grabbing filemon and maybe diskmon too, to see what other harddrive activity is going on.
(you can grab them from here... and a bunch of other goodies too)
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/utilities.shtml
just a side note... your not playing streaming audio or video are you?
I also read thru some other posts you had... I found the following sypware/adware on your computer (you prolly dont notice it because you have a popupblocker running)...
C:\Program Files\Common files\updmgr\updmgr.exe
http://doxdesk.com/parasite/KeenValue.html
CMEsys.exe
http://www.thiefware.com/info/data.gator.shtml
http://www.pchell.com/support/gator.shtml
GMT.exe (part of gator)
-----
BHO
00D6A7E7-4A97-456f-848A-3B75BF7554D7- > PerfectNavBHO.dll, PERFEC~1.DLL
HOST FILE MODIFIED... O1 - Hosts: 12.129.205.209 search.netscape.com12.129.205.209 sitefinder.verisign.com
0494D0D1-F8E0-41ad-92A3-14154ECE70AC -> Mybar.dll
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/MySearch.html
remove on start up:
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [updmgr] C:\Program Files\Common files\updmgr\updmgr.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CMESys] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\CMEII\CMESys.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VTTimer] VTTimer.exe
O4 - Global Startup: GStartup.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\GMT\GMT.exe
...
also, do you need ALL those toolbars? yahoo companion, google search bar, MSN? geeze. IMHO those are a system resource hog, I would remove them too!
Thanks for that, Binary. It's a 40Gig hard drive with 61% space still free. The IDE channel is in DMA mode. All we play is MP3 music & videos, we don't have a DVD. The question of the RAM? well i'll just copy down what it says. Total Physical Memory = 256.00MB, Available Physical Memory = 22.07MB, Total Virtual Memory = 768.83MB, Available Virtual Memory = 302.20MB, Page File Space = 545.35MB.
Just scrolling through i noticed in the "Direct Memory Access Controller" properties, in "Sysyem Devices", it says; Manufacturer-(Standard System Divices), Location-(on PCI bus), says "there are no drivers installed for this device". This means nothing to me, just thought i'd mention it.
I've checked out all the "baddies" in your post but have realised that i've already got rid of all of them about a month ago. I got rid of the lot of them completely, registries & all, but the problem still remained. I was left with just the basic system requirements, with everything else wiped off & it made no difference at all. Many of these bits & pieces are now back on the system because we like the programs that come with them (unfortunately). The toolbars are not causing the problem as they were also removed.
I've even removed anti-virus & all other programs, with no success.
This is going to be a very simple solution in the end. I've tried to uninstall drivers but don't know what to do. There are about 150 of them in Device Manager & i've onlt got 5 drivers on the "Mainboard 1st Utilities disk"! Yet, i do have all the original set up disks from the manufacturer but there are no instructions. Are there any drivers on the Windows recovery/set-up disk? How do i use the "repair" option? coz i can't find that option at all. & if i do find & use the Windows repair option, will it wipe everything off, all files & folders?
I've just reinstalled windows by accident! When the puter started it flashed up this........"press any key to boot from disk", so i pressed a key. One hour later i have a fresh installation of windows PLUS the old one with everything still intact. All i wanted to do was chose a REPAIR option that someone told me about. Can anyone tell me how to get to the repair option on the windows installation disk?
After i did the above, on boot-up i noticed there were 2 options to chose how windows is gonna boot up. These were 2 choices of Windows XP Home Edition. The top choice brought me to the new installation & welcome/tour screen & the bottom choice took me to the original. When i went to the original settings & desktop etc, i noticed that some song tracks had changed their symbol to that of a file & would not play...(unrecognised file format). Most of them played OK in Winamp & Media Player, then suddenly, Media Player would not work at all. All i got when clicking on a song was an error "PING", but with no error message. The same happened if trying to open Media Player itself. I thought, "ney, i'm not having this", so did a SYSTEM RESTORE to the previous day & everything was OK again, (apart from the usual problem at start of this thread). So now, when starting the puter, i no longer get a choice of booting up to the new Windows installation, (probably due to the fact i've done System Restore). Shame really, because i was going to go to that & copy a folder called SOUND MANAGER from there & put it into our usual working "setup" because the folder (Sound Manager) is EMPTY.
Can anyone please tell me how to find this folder from the installation disk, without having to reinstall the whole lot.
So because i did system restore i would have thought that the new installation of windows would have now disappeared, well it's disappeared from the start up options for sure. Thing is, looking at the amount of space used up on the hard drive, it's stayed on EXACTLY the same mark as it was after doing the fresh installation of Windows yesterday, i'm 100% sure of this. How can this be possible?
I've now got "2" puters___________________with one "hidden"
Gosh!
So,by accident you just kept say yes ,everytime it asked to format and create a new partition and install windows in said partition ,and so on and so on.
Some were along the line it stoped being an accident and became intentional.You could have just said NO!")
When you boot to the winxp cd it askes you if you want to run the repair by hitting, Rand you follow instructions from there ,by typing in commands ,that you can find by typing, HELP
I didn't do a format & partition as you mentioned. Don't know how to do that anyway. Like i said, i installed Windows by accident,wanting to do a repair. The computer started up & it said "press any key to boot from disk", i did so, then there were 2 options to continue. The 1st one was where everything was installed & it said 2539MB or something, (can't remember the figures). The 2nd option said 586MB or some other 3 digit number so i chose the 1st option & that's all i did & ended up with a fresh install of Windows. I cannot return to this fresh install since i did system restore & it does not give you an option at boot up either. But everyones got 2X My documents & 2X My computer & 2 of evrything else now. The disk space shows that the new Windows installation is on there somewhere & i want to get to it to copy a folder called "SOUND MANAGER" because it is empty on our usual program files.
Should i try again with the Windows disk? & this time when it asks to press any key to continue.......just leave it & see what happens next? Nothing has been lost from the computer up to now, (apart from Windows Media Player disappearing) explained above.
I could have a go at reformatting from scratch, but have printed out reams of instructions from various places & they all seem to contradict each other. Seems a bit lengthy to me. One of the print-outs for instructions is 20 pages.
I would format and start from scratch .
When you booted to the cd you always had the options to exit and not install anything .You maybe just didn't read it right !:)
If you boot with the cd in and choose to not hit a key it will just boot to the C:\
check this site ,found by searching the net for "how to repair xp"
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
You've got a mess, and you need to start over. I'd suggest you forget any suggestion of 'repair', because you're just adding more to the mess the more you do.
I've written a couple of articles describing in detail the procedure to do a fresh clean install of Windows XP, getting rid of any old Windows installation in the process. You'll find them linked in this topic:
Catweazle & Caperjack, thanks for your assistance. You're probably laughing at me but i don't care! I ended up installing Windows yet again, there was no option for a repair for definite. This time i didn't hit a key when prompted, i pressed enter where it asked me to install, (thinking it was going to give me another option after that).
Then 90 minutes later i took a "pot luck" at just running the disk without booting with it. I clicked on "Install Windows" & guess what?..........The next screen gave an option to REPAIR This time it took over 2 hours until it stopped running. After about an hour the setup paused because it said; "The file VIAAGP1.SYS on VIA AGP Filter Driver Disk is needed. Type the path where the file is located & click OK"
No way could i find that file so i pressed "cancel" & it continued with setup. Strange things happened next........... This time i had to put in the serial number, (it never asked me before when booting from disk setup). Then on its last leg it would not let me log on until i'd registered with Microsoft. We already did that 6 months ago when the puter was new! I chose the option for registering online but it kept telling me there is no internet connection on the puter! (there is, & there's nothing wrong with it, the damn thing knows so, coz it connected to the net automatically at the beginning! So i had to phone up to activate with a lengthy looking code. We never had to do all this before. Presto! it fired up & all our files & settings remained intact. (Got em backed up anyway just in case). Forgot to tell you, at the start i chose "repair & upgrade whilst connected to the internet" option, so it's changed a few things, like in the help section, menu pop-up's & other minor noticeable things.
The problem at beginning of this thread still remains, & a few VERY STRANGE things happened since yesterday..............1. Printer Icons & internet connection icons changed to a completely different symbol, stayed like that for 24 hours, now they have changed back to the original symbols! 2. When scrolling in any Office doc or scrolling a web page everything would wobble, like a water wave. The same thing happened when dragging any window. 3. The printer stopped working, said communication error. Guess what? I'm not kidding, honestly, all the above 3 problems corrected themselves just now, on this boot up. What a carry on.
Smart link to that fresh clean install site Catweazle, gonna learn it & put it into practise, probably in about a month when i got loads of spare time. Everything is working at the moment so we'll just put up with it for now. Gonna give up on this problem now & will close this thread. Before i do, any ideas on this VIAAGP1.SYS on VIA AGP Filter Driver Disk missing? Been on internet & loads of folk seem to have had this too but they all seem to be searching for an answer. I downloaded VIA_Hyperion 4IN1_V451v Service Pack earlier & installed it (hoping that thing is in it somewhere), & have not had any system error messages yet & everything is functioning fine, (apart from the problem on the 1st post of course). Shame!
Thanks Catweazel & Caperjack for putting up with this nerd.
Like the song says, It was all in fun ,might have been the wisky might have been the Rum!!!!!!might have been the little guy inside!!!
The Viaaagp1.sys =unboard video driver problem !!
http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.cfm?catid=30&threadid=55703
Which song are them lyrics from? Caperjack, coz i'm singing now. The puter is all fixed. That service pack i downloaded had that missing file in it. Didn't realise until the next boot up, when realising evrything was running perfectly. I did a search for that VIAAGP1.SYS driver thingy & up it popped in the results. The Realtek Sound Manager is still empty & we've lost the facility to change key, balance, environment & graphic equalizer but can live with that. Been on net a couple of times & installed what calls itself Realtek Sound Manager but end up with a load of drivers that bugger the whole system up & have to do a system restore or roll back drivers, & besides, even after downloading these, the "Sound Manager folder" is still empty. Would have thought that this is on the Windows disk & i've just done a new install & it's still missing. I've installed all the drivers from the Motherboard utilities again & it's still missing. Ain't lost any setup things so wonder where it's gone?
What a caper! caper.
Like the song goes......."and now the end is near"
Ah! computers are so much FUN!:)
The realtek manager you downloaded if its like this one ,with all the drivers for all the OS .maybe just install the winxp drivers !I don't know never heard of realtech manager !!
http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/ac97.html
I downloaded the correct Realtek Sound Manager & was delighted to have all of the features back again. Thinking everything was fixed was premature. The sound was terrible & the puter was as slow as ever (only when doing 2 things) so i rolled back to the original driver & everything is back as it were. At least we can still function. Everything still works & no-one has lost anything.....yet!
Any ideas of something really obvious that could be causing it? Like a lot of folk, i am competent in the use of computer applications in general, but, when it comes down to the hardware side of things i'm a bit in the dark, so could easily over-look something really basic & obvious.
Just bought a CD with drivers. Installed the correct drivers & updated them all. The "Soundmanager" (RealtekAC97) folder was still empy & the sound & vision the worst it could possibly be. All features (as from new) were returned but the performance of the computer was that of one from a garbage bin, & this one is only 6 months old!
I rolled back to all previous drivers & we are now back to the "original state" again, like at the start of this thread. Same problem exactly as it was, but still, everything works still! The CD was a waste of £30
I'v never heard of buying drivers , I build and repair old coputers and have been able to download 99% of the drivers I've ever needed from the net .most of them from here .You just search FCC#'s or part of a # off the idem you aree looking for drivers for .as for motherboard drivers usually find them by searching the #'s found on the board
http://members.driverguide.com/ums/index.php?action=l&furl=aHR0cDovL21lbWJlcnMuZHJpdmVyZ3VpZGUuY29tL2luZGV4LnBocD9hY3Rpb249b2xkc2l0ZXNlYXJjaA%3D%3D&ac=1090536965v99640
User name=drivers
password =all
Obtaining drivers from CDs is a waste of time. I seldom even install the driver included on the 'Installation CDs' that accompany new products, as the device drivers included are often out of date before the ink is even dry on the labels.
By far the best place to source drivers is from the website of the manufacturer, as that is the place where you will find the most up to date driver available.
Everything else is second best by a long, long way!
I'v never heard of buying drivers , I build and repair old coputers and have been able to download 99% of the drivers I've ever needed from the net .most of them from here .You just search FCC#'s or part of a # off the idem you aree looking for drivers for .as for motherboard drivers usually find them by searching the #'s found on the board
http://members.driverguide.com/ums/index.php?action=l&furl=aHR0cDovL21lbWJlcnMuZHJpdmVyZ3VpZGUuY29tL2luZGV4LnBocD9hY3Rpb249b2xkc2l0ZXNlYXJjaA%3D%3D&ac=1090536965v99640User name=drivers
password =all
I only meant this for old Computer ,where the manufactor is gone out of buisness ,or bought out .
Didn't reread you first post to see what you were doing .
Have given up on it now. Will do a wipe out soon when i pluck up the courage. Cheers.
Dear Expert. Apologies but i've posted this on another thread hoping to get a quick reply, as a one off. I'm going to do a reformat & fresh install of windows & operating system & all in about 4 hours from now. I'm going to follow your instructions but there are a couple of questions that your piece does not cover.
The last time a "computer expert" came to do a fresh reformat etc, he had to do it 4 times over the space of 2 days because every time he got to the stage of connecting to the internet to do a Norton's live update we got a Blaster worm each time, before we had chance to do either a live update, or windows update or service pack one, etc.
Eventually, he went to a shop for advice & they downloaded a Welchia worm patch. The next time he got to the stage of connecting to the internet (after another fresh install), he "ran" the patch 1st & everything else then went along smoothly, i sorted everything out from there. He has been building & repairing computers for 17 years, (he says), & he said he had never come across this Blaster worm problem on dial-up connections EVER. This was the 1st one he'd done on a broadband connection.
Now my problem is, that it does not mention about this worm patch, (which i have recently added to it with a patch for the sassa worm) on your instructions, but you do mention about installing service pack one (at the probable stage i should be also running the worm patches from the floppy i added to.
Do i need to install service pack one onto a CD before i start? are there other important patches out there i should get? & the most help you could give me is just how do i run the patches that i have? where do i "run" it to or is it automatic when i put the floppy in? does it install automatically like when you do a windows update?
I'm going to get this right first time, as with everything! But i would need your Wizardry assistance on these confusing bit's & pieces if you would kindly give me some pointers.
Cheers
never mind...
Fantastic! i go to ANY site & ANY shop & they just say the following: "Oh! you are connecting a NEW computer to the internet" I've spent 16 hours trying to find security updates & every time it just does a scan & downloads maybe one critical update. What is the use of having just one critical update on this computer when it's going to be wiped out? WE do not want these individual updates! The computer is to be wiped out so it will be lost.
What everyone needs to know is where to go & get ALL the updates on a disk so we do not have to repeat the process of having to reinstall the operating system & windows time & time again to get blasted by a worm.
You try and do a search for "security updates" & you will only get the updates that your computer has not got at the time. Then you will wipe it out.
THAT IS POINTLESS! WE ONLY WANT THE UPDATES SO WE CAN CONECT TO THE INTERNET (NOT AS A NEW COMPUTER BUT SIMPLY STARTING AGAIN).
I CHALLENGE ANYONE TO FIND A SOLUTION TO THIS.
MY MECHANIC HAD TO START 4 TIMES FROM ABSOLUTE SCRATCH BECAUSE OF WELCHIA BLASTER WORMS INFECTING AS SOON AS HE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. I've saved service pack 1a but does that prevent an attack of worms as soon as i connect to the internet (if i run that disk 1st)?
HOW THE HELL CAN ONE CONNECT TO THE INTERNET TO DO A LIVE UPDATE & THEN AVOID AN INFECTION FROM THE WANKERS IN THE PROCESS?
HOW CAN A PERSON DOWNLOAD SECURITY UPDATES ONTO DISK WHEN ALL THE VARIOUS SITES SAY "you are already protected" ? Thats no good coz it's gona be wiped off in one minute.
We are novices & need a little help & appreciate everything but some folk (like me) do not understand how we can get the required updates & protection for when we connect to the internet after a wipe-out.
To get the important ones already on CD, try reading this topic, and following the advice there!
Have you had to format, and after you've reinstalled everything you've had to download those damned Security updates all over again? NO GOOD! WHAT ABOUT REACHING THAT STAGE IN THE FIRST PLACE?
I'm betting you don't want to be faced with that onerous task again, and you don't have to. Microsoft has made available, free of charge, a 'Security Update CD' which contains all the security updates issued prior to October, 2003.
The updates cover Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. You'll also find a free 12 month trial version of both AntiVirus and Firewall Software included.
UK Windows users can order their copy by visiting http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...n-gb;securitycd
Windows users from elsewhere in the World will need to follow the links from Microsoft Worlwide http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/ to track down the order page for their own region.
I SURRENDER! WHO IS BOTHERED ABOUT DOING UPDATES?????????????????? That's for when you are up & running!
YOUR REPLY TAKES US TO A PLACE WE DO NOT WANT TO BE. WE JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW TO STOP WORMS APPEARING WHILST DOING A LIVE UPDATE WITH OUR INTERNET FIREWALLS ETC. (from a fresh formatted puter). IT'S TOO LATE TO GET A FANCY DISK BY THEN!
WE NEED TO PROTECT THE COMPUTER BEFORE WE CONNECT TO THE INTERNET AFTER A NEW INSTALLATION? DERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
So this is the scenario:- Connect to the internet through Norton's live update & hey! it does not complete the task because we get blasted by a worm!
We had all the protection previously on the computer, but we just wiped it all off 1 hour ago!
Simple question>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
how do we download protection ONTO A DISK so we do not get blasted by the worms as soon as we connect to the internet to attempt a live update?
You silly Goose! If you get a copy of the CD, you can install the updates BEFORE you connect to the Internet.
Adequate preparation is the key to success in any job!
I don't have a problem. I have a copy of the CD sitting here, and I've also got a hardware Gateway/Router sitting between my machine and the internet! If I was nearby to you i'd happily install Windows on that system of yours quite successfully. But I'm not. In fact I'm most likely on the other side of the world to you!
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault that you have an older copy of Windows XP which doesn't already contain Service Pack 1
It's not my fault that you decided to go ahead and format before you had things organised and ready.
It's not my fault that your 'PC Expert' friend isn't adequately organised either.
Please stop yelling at me like that!
If you're getting hit as soon as you connect, there's NO safe way around it! Did you download the full Service pack, as mentioned in your other topic?
Catweazle you are incorrect on all 3 points.
1) I don't have an older copy of windows xp, it's new, (from May 2004) Inc. SP1a
2) I have not formatted yet, (if you would care to read) & tend to get things right the 1st time.
3) My PC expert is making babies.
If you already have SP1a, and connecting to Norton's LiveUpdate gets you infected, then switch AntiVirus and Firewall protection to a better product. Norton's is about the crappiest on offer anyway.
Bollocks! & rubbish!
What sort of reply is that? "Change to a better product". You 'rubbish' Norton's but yet don't offer any aternatives!!! I would win any argument here.
Although you are a novice at computers you still may be able to genuinely help folk sometimes & i thank you for your efforts Catweazle.
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