Mutiny by Win7 ultimate SP1

Hello, Since day one the pc Update has been 'Download but let me decide wether to install' All was wel but around 24 August I came home and found a window on my screen saying 'Window has recovered from an unexpected shutdown. Then it said something about finding out the fault vanished from the screen and then nothing. So I started surfing the net,I was on Firefox website when the screen went crazy with many B/W rectangles on the top and coloured rectangles elswhere. Then the blue screen appeared saying IRQL–NOT–LESS–OR–Equal.Then it vanished. Then the system shutdown.I resatarted. A sreen appeared saying the system could not be restarted and needed a Repair start so I clicked Yes(Do not remember exactly) After a while it said System could not be repaired and needed to use system restore to restart. Yes and the eventually restarted. Alert: I forgot to mention that the very first time—-it had advised me to System Resore to correct the problem and had not vanished.When I clicked Yes it gave me a restore date, It was then I realized that it had installed many updates from August 19 to that very date.This when all the problems satrted.I went to update section and found it was still on Download but let———– The pc worked fine and I was busy. Today Sept 04 (Holland) I was playing Windows Solitaire when the screen went crazy and I had to do everything again including System resotore repair Start. Last half hour it is working ok. I found that win7 had from 22 August till today installed many updates without my knowledge. I use MS Security Essentials and run it every 2 days or so.Nothing found. I did the pcpitstop test but do not know how to give it to you. I used IE to Save as and hve 2 files One a folder with information which your system does not recognize to upload and the second ia a sign with Firefox motief which your system recognized but then said Not allowed to upload such files etc. I am at a compltete loss. Please help and kindly give step by step instructions. My copy of win7 is 100% legal, bought with hard earned money.

Hi Wesi, To post your PCPitStop OverDrive full test results, have a look in the illustration I am posting below: 📎PC_Pitstop_OverDrive_Tests_Overview___Mozilla_Firefox_2011_09_04_10_06_13.jpg

http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?conid=24541116

I do not know what else to do.

It asked me to post address in the forum.I went there but could not find a place to paste the address.

Thank you for your help.

That worked, Wesi. When you ran PCPitstop OverDrive Full Tests, did you run Internet Explorer - "Run as Administrator" ? If not please run it again. Go to start- All Programs - Internet Explorer - Right-Click - Select "Run As Administrator" from the drop down menu. After you complet PCPitstop OverDrive Full Tests and post the new URL, then please remember to "close" IE, since you do not want to be doing general browsing with IE operating with full Administrative privileges/permissions. (security risk) Am now reviewing installed software and installed hotfixes, at this time.

http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/sec.asp?conid=24541116

New address enclosed. Thank you

Hi Wesi. Looks like this is a pretty new system for you. Can you take a look on your C: drive in the Windows\Minidump folder? Take a look and see if anything is listed there, then find out how many and what the oldest one is (look at the modification date). Minidumps are usually created in the event of a system failure like what you are describing.

I'm wondering if this goes back to the beginning of July which is what appears to be the beginning of your PC's life as it is currently configured.

This really appears to be a hardware problem in my opinion. Minidumps going back further would be indicative of that. I would strongly suspect bad memory if the minidumps go back a ways, or would suggest reseating or testing your memory if the minidumps just recently started. You may also try running on one chip or the other temporarily to narrow it down if they are a problem.

How To Test Your Memory

It doesn't appear you video drivers have recently changed so that is probably not the culprit. Its almost certainly a failure of one of your hardware components. Take care.

Minidump is Empty.Nothing in there. will do memory test and report back.

Memory is fine. I have a cd to check memory but it would not boot. Went into Bios–boot order–found 1st as an external drivbe which does not exist–2nd Samsung HD and 3rd the CD drive.Changed to 1st as cddrive pressed F10 and sarted the pc again.The disk would not boot—after many tries went back into bios, well It had not saved the change and was back to external drive. Again changed to cddrive and very carefully pressed F10. Same result , not saved.I have tried many times but I cannot change boot order. Remember after assembling the pc I had made the cd drive as 1st in boot.That is how I was able to install Win7. The mobo is—ASUS M4A78LT-M and Cpu—AMD Phenom II x4 840 Memory testing. When the pc starts asus express gateway appears if TAB is clicked it provides 2 options boot win7 or use windows memeory diagnostic tool. I chose it and was told that no problems were found.I am at a loss The matter of updates: On 19 August it installed updates without my knowledge and continues to do so even though the 'Download but let me decide etc etc. Problem started after this started to happen. Also the blue screen message 'IRQL–NOT–Less -OR-EQUAL ' What does this mean? Does the MOBO need a Bios update.? Thanks for the help. Please continue to help.

Hello, I finally managed to change boot order and also inserted one of Disk partition etc cds. It read the Drive having faults.It only saw one disk and not the 3 partitions. I was scared and did not do anything. Please tell me how check my hard drive. Most grateful for the help already provided.

HI Wesi. If I am understanding you correctly, you got carried away and inserted some other diagnostic hard drive disk?

I don't know what it is you put in, so I can't tell you why or what it is doing.

First, boot windows and back up any important data.

A failing hard drive is just as likely to cause the problems you are having as bad RAM. Which, by the way, the RAM needs to be tested thoroughly, including checking for bad connections. And, even then, it can pass tests, but still be incompatible with your motherboard. ESPECIALLY an Asus motherboard. I have an Asus motherboard and put up with "video" problems for months until I said enough was enough, took the computer to my shop, and got down and dirty with it. Turns out, the memory wasn't compatible. The only way to really find out, is to try different combinations (remove one chip, swap slots, etc.) or try different RAM all together. Is this a custom build system? Is the memory "performance" memory that might require special timings, higher speeds, higher voltages, etc. If that is the case, it is likely that there may be a compatibility issue if it is not specifically listed on the compatibility list for that motherboard.

Anyways, back to your hard drive. When windows is running, you should go to a command prompt (run as administrator). Run a chkdsk C: /r which will do a surface scan on your C: drive. You can repeat this command for other partitions you may have on your computer. It will take a while, and if windows indicates it is replacing bad clusters then it is finding trouble with your hard drive. You may also download the hard drive diagnostic utility directly from the manufacturer of your hard drive which will, by far, be a better test.

Sometimes hard drive tests won't show you individual partitions. Why? Because it really doesn't care about them. We strictly want to know if the drive - all of it - is readable and writable without errors. We don't care how that drive is partitioned.

Whatever test you ran suggests there may be some problems.

Your PitStop list doesn't appear to suggest any drivers were updated. I just don't see any regular windows updates causing this problem all the sudden. But, if it is happening often enough, you could try a system restore back to an earlier date to test. Don't go updating any drivers or BIOS because it is not likely to help and could even make things worse. I would focus on eliminating hardware for now.

Thank you. What is and where is command prompt? I just restarted the pc after shutting it down last night. Now 2 additional things have happened. 1.The fan on the brand new(PC) Power unit is not working. \ 2.My One hdd is divided into 1.C. 2New volume E 3New volume F. Suddenly the system is only seeing C at 105GB,correct,but not the 2 other volumes.Both were there last night because I did work from both before shutting down. Any suggestions? Edit: About other disk.I used a boot disk which had a Partition progy and I wanted to reformat C because the troubles began after win started installing updates without permission and forced me into system restore by saying that Start repair was not possible without it.So it has been done,so I wanted to reinstall win7 but did not attempt after being told that there were bad sectors.

Sorry about delay. Was not feeling well. I changed the memory.All is working well now. I am grateful to all of you for the prompt attention and the advice. Thank you all.

Glad you got it figured out.