I was skyping and all the sudden my computer shuts down in an instant, and goes completely black. I tried to restart it a few times, but there is no response. 3 minutes later, I try again and it boots up, but I get an error message (pic). [external image: Posted Image] It then boots up normally, and seemed to be working fine, but when I tried to go to google, it said it was unprotected. I realized the date and time had been set to August 20th, 2009. Does anyone know why this would happen, and if I'm at any risk?
Usually when date and time start going strange it is a sign of the cmos battery failing.
It also could indicate a infection but I would look at the battery first.
Is this a desktop or laptop system?
How old is the system?
Below is what the battery would look like on the motherboard.
Make sure before attempoting to touch anything inside the case you have disconnected all power to the system and ground yourself before touching any internal components.
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It's a dell inspiron laptop, and it's only about 4 months old… How could I tell if there's a problem with the battery by just looking at it? And do you have any advice about detecting an infection? I've never noticed any problems with my laptop before this. Thanks!
Since the system is a laptop the battery issue may be less of the possible problem.
I would now suggest going to the Malware Forum and start a new topic there.
Start HERE and follow the steps there. The self help tools should be able to egt rid of up to 70% of infections.
If after doing those steps and the issue still is happening then start a new topic HERE
Include all requested logs in your response. Be patient as they will be busy but someone will be along to help you asap.
If you press F2 when you get that error screen and go to Setup, what does the date and time look like?
I tend to agree with rshaffer61' s original post about the CMOS battery. That is almost always the cause of this error. I can't think of any way a virus or malware infection could cause the BIOS problem you are showing in that image.
Since it's only 4 months old, it's still under warranty, so contact Dell and make them fix it.
