Really Messed Up Computer

[Noob334]

Ok this is gonna should like im covering a screw up of my own but im not. My younger brother who is going to college and is going to get his laptop in a couple of weeks just told me that he is having problems with his desktop (which we are going to give to my youngest brother). His browseing habits im sure were really bad. I am on spring break so i am trying to take care of this computer as quickly as i can. He does not need anything from this computer so i think a restore may be the best way to do this but there are a couple of problems. The computer is a HP pavilion 752, 2.0 GHz Pentium 4, 512mb DDR, 60.0 GB hard drive. we got the computer a couple of years back at sams club or someplace like that. the computer takes about 10 min to boot up normally and is very very slow. i have disconnected it from the internet to help stop the flow of problems. The computer popped up first thing saying that it is not a geniue copy of windows but i know this is not true. is there an easy way to restore the computer and then i can go through the steps in PP's sticky to make sure that it is ok? but like i said, i dont want to connect the computer into my router cuz i dont know what it will do. thanks

[jholland1964]

Do you have all of the original disks which came with the computer? If he Frankly, you should do PP's steps first I would think. If the computer is full of malware, etc., then just restoring would not really get you very far, if as you say, he probably has "bad" browsing habits then you probably wouldn't have a good restore point to choose from without "something" lurking there someplace.
Is there a way to hook-up directly to the internet, without going through the router? Is the operating system XP?

[Noob334]

Ok so yesterday after posting i got on the computer to delete some of the games that were on it before we started the whole cleaning process when the computer finally got up and running these two errors appeared. C:\WINDOWS\system32\runsrv32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate application. I choose ignore for this. the other error is called "project 1"
Run-Time error '13'
Type mismatch
and gives an ok button. if you click on the button it goes away and comes back up in about 5 seconds at max. i then started going through the add/remove part in the control panel and getting rid of programs that were not needed on the computer: Starcraft, Roller coaster tycoon, kazaa, azuris (music sharing program), popup stopper professional, browser hijack blaster, norton system works 2002, and mcafee. I also got rid of java updates 5 and 6 becuase i know from past postings that old java updates are bad. Those are the only programs that i got rid of and there were other programs that looked funny but i did not write them down...sorry about that. There was also another norton installed and a symantic it looked like. i know only one anti-virus program should be running so thats why i got rid of two of them. I turned all other computers off in my house and turned on this bad one. after it was up and running i plugged it into the wall (which connects to the router) and then tried to log onto to this forum to download the needed programs. The computer then started to restart itself every 1-2 mins so i couldnt get any of the programs. I unplugged it from the wall and came back to my computer. downloaded the programs and saved them on a CD to try and put them on the other computer. the other computer starts to load with the two previouly mentioned errors popping up. then something flashes on the screen (its a box and i cant tell what it says) and then the computer restarts. the computer is XP with service pack 2 and i dont remeber any original disks coming with the computer....there was a class action lawsuit if i remember about this because the backup stuff was loaded on the other harddrive on the computer and people were not happy about it. im going to keep trying to get the computer up and then the programs from PP's link on it and try running them but no gurantees.

[jholland1964]

Whew!
The second error probably indicates the information given here on this link;
http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/M...5&qid=21080105
You are going to have to get that cd running in order to be able to do anything really.
Ok, the first error;
C:\WINDOWS\system32\runsrv32.exe more than likely indicates a Trojan on the system. Norton "possibly" can remove this if run from Safe Mode. Though with the problems you are having, and the fact that there were multiple anti-virus programs on the computer...I just don't know for sure.
By the way, Norton IS a Symantec program and therefore you will see files containing both of these names on a computer with a Norton Anti-virus program installed. The problem here comes with the fact that you removed some Norton files but we don't know if you removed the correct files or did you leave some from one of the programs but uninstall the ones actually needed. For now, I would remove them ALL because leaving part of one along with part of another will really give you very little protection at all.

[Noob334]

Ok, when turing on the computer it would not stay on for more then a minute. It would just keep rebooting itself. now it reboots just about every 30 seconds. This means i cant do anything on it and it is a pain in my rear end. i was just trying to get the CD with the anti spyware stuff on but didnt get any further then opening my computer and then the cd drive. any suggestions?

[jholland1964]

Can you even boot to Safe Mode by tapping F8 as soon as the boot process begins? If you can get it to boot into safe mode then try accessing the Event Logs to see if you can see what error message is noted there.

To check why your system had a failure, check the Event logs for any error messages. You can find the Event Viewer in the Administrative Tools, or by typing eventvwr in the Open box from the Run command.

Have you cleaned out the inside of the computer itself? Could even be a build up of lint, etc., on the inside of the tower.

[Gizmokid2005]

I am just going to stop in a second on this one, I know that Sam's Club/Walmart PC's come with factory restore disks, and if you still have those, the best bet would be to just format the HDD and then run the restore CD's and do all the updates.

I read through this thread, and you may be able to resolve the issue, but if you need nothing on it a reinstall may be the best idea.

[Noob334]

sorry to take so long to post again, I cant get it to boot in safe mode. I also have been looking for the cd's that came with the computer and cant find them. i have to go back to school but i dont know what to do with the computer