I originally posted in the Spyware / Malware / Virus Removal > HijackThis™ Logs and Infections Removal section and was helped by a tech team member. After trying different steps to fix the problem, the tech team member instructed me to post in this section as well as post the following link of the old topic so you can see what we've done.
For the past 1-2 months my computer has been having problems that I have never encountered before. When I'm using the internet my computer randomly "freezes up" and the tab shows that it is loading, lasting for 1-2 minutes. The problem seems to almost always happen when I have taken a break from continuous use of searching the internet as well as the random times.
I didn't read the information at your link yet, but please tell us what web browser you are using?
Also, does the computer freeze up at other times, or is it only when you are trying to load a webpage?
These types of problems, if it is internet explorer, is almost always related to problematic third-party applications such as toolbars. The first thing to try, to solve the problem is to perform a reset on Internet Explorer. You must be running Internet Explorer 7 or higher. Please open Internet Explorer, click the tools menu -> internet options. Under the "Advanced" tab, click "Reset." and confirm you want to proceed. Then, restart Internet Explorer.
Before performing the reset, you can determine if it really is a problematic add-on by clicking start -> run -> and typing 'iexplore -extoff' and pressing ENTER. This will run internet explorer with out any add-ons enabled. If it doesn't freeze up at all, then you know it is a problematic add-on.
I almost always use Firefox ( I prefer it over IE). I am never on IE long enough to find out if I am encountering the same type of problems. For whatever reason IE usually always has problems opening up and running when I go to use it. When I click on IE it takes quite a while and the page partially opens up and shows part of the toolbars on top of the page but just says that is connecting and never opens up. When I open up task manager it shows that is it not responding. I usually have to try multiple times to open it up until it finally opens up correctly and begins to run. I have just tried to open it up 3 different times but haven't been able to.
My computer only freezes up when I am trying to load a webpage or click on something. I did not attempt any of your instructions because I use Firefox ( I am under the impression that you only wanted me to do them if I was using IE). I am mostly computer illiterate so please forgive me if I do not understand a lot of what you are talking about and need a little help in getting through things, but I am open and very appreciative to doing anything you suggest. If you want me to go ahead and follow those instructions just let me know in your next reply.
I don't know if this is of any help to you but during the process of working with the last tech team member I downloaded all of the available Windows updates, including IE 8. I was previously using IE 7 before that and was having the same problems of opening up IE. If you have any other questions just ask…… Thanks for taking the time to help me out.
Whoops.. I forgot to submit my post earlier today. I got distracted and forgot about it.
Your problem with Internet Explorer is exactly what I am talking about where problematic toolbars or other third party add-ons cause trouble.
However, the same can be true for FireFox.
Please read HERE about how to load FireFox in safe mode to see if it is an add-on problem similiar to IE. If you would like to try to get IE to work properly then follow the instructions I provided earlier.
When I get a moment I will visit your malware thread and see if there is anything I notice there that might be a clue to what is going on.
I started Firefox in safe mode and have been surfing the net for a while and I haven't had any problems so far. I am hoping there is a way that I can permanently fix the problem and can use Firefox without having to open up in safe mode. I haven't tried to fix IE yet but I plan on doing that very soon. I will let you know how that worked out in my next reply after hearing from you. Thanks a bunch and I hope to hear from you very soon.
In FireFox, click on Tools then Add ons. Disable one or two at a time until you find the one causing the problem. This takes time and patience but there is no other way.
What Add ons have you added? That is where I would start. Especially anything added around the time the problem started occurring.
In FireFox, click on Tools then Add ons. Disable one or two at a time until you find the one causing the problem. This takes time and patience but there is no other way.
What Add ons have you added? That is where I would start. Especially anything added around the time the problem started occurring.
Ever since I read your last post and followed your instructions my computer has been doing new weird things. I cannot remember the exact moment it started but is was either after the firefox safe mode start up or the IE reset. I think it was after the IE reset but I cannot be sure. My computer monitor randomly goes black for a second or two and then comes right back. I also noticed that some of the words on a webpage would be placed in wrong locations over other words (parts of sentences that belong in one area are also showing up in another area which looks like a glitch on the website). This last part only happened a couple of times but did so during the times of my screen going black.
My computer just randomly closed out the windows I had opened and a Microsoft Windows small screen popped up and stated that "the system has recovered from a serious error". It also said that a log of this error has been created as well as some other things about sending the error report to Microsoft. I have never received a message like this before and I am wondering what it might be.
When I attempted to follow your instructions in firefox and opened up add ons from the tools menu there were a few section to chose from when it came to the disabling. One of the sections that I could do disable was under extensions and there were only 4 options: 2 from AVG which were safe search and security toolbar, Java Quick Starter, and Move Media Player. Under the Plugins section there were 14 different options to disable. Do I disable from both of those sections or just one of them?
I know that I just wrote down a whole lot of info for you to go over and Im sorry, I just want to make sure I do everything correctly. Like I previously stated, I am computer dumb.
When you ran FF Safe Mode, there were no problems, right? If so, start with the Extensions. Disable Java Quick Start, AVG Safe Search and AVG Toolbar and see how it goes. If no different (I suspect one of the AVG extensions may be the culprit), then try the Move Media Player.
If still no good, re-enable all but Java Quick Start (leave it disabled), then disable some of the extensions, 3 or 4 at a time. This is a slow, painful process but I don't know any other way to do it.
You could also try creating a new FF profile and run with it and see how it behaves. If okay you can keep that one and copy info from your current profile to the new one. See here:
I haven't tried your new instructions yet because I was wanting to find out what you thought my new problem might be. My computer just randomly restarted by its self out of nowhere and I again got the Microsoft Windows message that said "the system has recovered from a serious error". I chose to select send error report and a box popped up and had some weird writing and fonts but there was a part that said memory corruption. I have no idea where this is coming from and it is brand new. Is there anything you can think of that is causing this specific problem? I am way more worried about this new problem and really want to get it fixed. Thanks for taking the time to help me out, I really appreciate it.
Its highly unlikely anything you did following our instructions created your new problem.. However, it is highly likely that the problems that you are experiencing are related to this "new" problem.
Your computer is suffering from the blue screen of death.
There are some basic diagnostics that need to be run in order to help ensure your hardware is functioning normally.
There may be several issues that cause the new problem that you have. There could be an overheating issue, there could be bad or loose RAM, there could be bad sectors on the hard drive, or bad drivers. There are other things, but these are probably the most common.
I will send some information later about running some other diagnostics on your computer. But first, lets grab your minidump files and get them attached to the forum so I can analyze them and see if they are all suggesting the same problem. If they are, then we might be able to narrow down a software package or driver. If they are random we will know it is more likely memory problems, etc.
Open My Computer and navigate to C:\Windows\Minidump. Select all the minidump files in that folder, and right-click them. Select send to -> compressed zip folder. A new file will be created with a .zip extension. It will probably be called something like minidumpxxx.zip. Go ahead and upload that file to the forum as an attachment.
Here is the zip folder you requested. My compute screen is behaving very weird and "jumpy". I still keep getting the screen just going black for a few seconds.
Hi.. I have analyzed your crash dumps. I see you have had blue screen issues all the way back to the end of February. These most recent ones, as well as most of the other ones, are fairly random and do not hint at one specific driver. Instead, it appears that you are having failures while reading/writing memory.
Its likely you need to test your RAM and reseat it to fix any bad connections, or replace bad memory. Based on the type of computer your have, it also sounds like you have an onboard video card that is being negatively effected by the problem with the system RAM.
Can you specify the make and model of your computer please?
I am currently in discussion in a private forum looking for a more generalized howto that I can provide you on how to test your RAM and fix memory errors. This is something that I have typed up over and over again and have never quite perfected how it looks and reads. Please give me a little time to get a more standardized set of instructions for you. Thanks.
In the meantime, please click start -> run -> type 'cmd' and press ENTER. At the command prompt, type 'chkdsk /r' and press ENTER. When asked if you want to schedule a scan for your next restart answer 'Y'es. Reboot the computer and be patient while the system takes a long time to test your hard drive for bad sectors and file system issues. Pay close attention to the words "bad cluster." We are very interested if these are found.
Limit your computer usage at the moment. RAM problems can cause a lot of extra issues you don't want to have to fix later! The more you use your computer the more data that can get corrupted from bad RAM and important projects you are working on could get ruined.
Just to let you know my computer is rapidly deteriorating and I am surprised that it has cleared up enough to allow me to type and send this. For whatever reason it is not really messing up at this particular moment but I dont know how long it will last. I just had to shut off my computer due to it functioning so badly. When I just turned it on it was acting really bad but just cleared up and is not really messing up at the moment. I will follow your instructions that you just sent me while my computer is allowing me to. I will also limit the use. This problem has came on so fast that I am really surprised how quickly it is deteriorating. I do have another computer at the house that I can get online with, but if it gets to that point I guess my computer might be past the point of fixing.
Just a quick question…. If my computer does get to the point where I can't get online, is there something I can fix by taking it apart and replacing a certain part inside the tower? I don't know if this might be something, but during my previous time with the last tech team member there was an instruction for me to go into my computer and set a slider at 1% when it was originally a whole lot higher. This seemed kind of weird to me so I asked him about it and he said it had something to do with RAM memory. If you follow up with my previous posts in the other section (malware, hijackthis logs) you will see what I am referring to. Again, this probably isn't anything, but I just wanted to bring it to your attention because of the RAM issue I am facing.
Thanks for your time and effort and I willl talk to you soon.
