My friend has 2 computers, one is running Windows XP Home version the other is running Vista. They are on a network via a router. The connection is highspeed cable. The XP machine is a Pentium 4 300 something mhz with 2 gb ram and an ATI 500 mb card. The other is a dual core, with 2 gb ram and onboard video. That's the best info I can give because the machines are not available for me to look at right now. Here's the problem, both machines are randomly rebooting. The XP machine has been a chronic problem for her. She has had to send it back to the manufacturer twice and had the power supply, motherboard and processor replaced both times. The current board is a phoenix. The dual core has worked fine up until now. Because both machines are totally different with 2 different OS's, I suspect either virus or malware. Her boyfriend is a bit of a bonehead that I have repeatedly warned to stay off certain sites but he keeps going on them repeatedly and using both computers to do it. He chronically comes to me for help then contradicts me when I tell him what's up, even though the fool doesn't even know what ctrl-alt-del is for. I suspect a virus or malware has invaded their network. Somehow she has the idea that Java may be the problem, but I'm running the same version on my PC at my home with no problem. There's more history involved with this problem but I'm trying to keep this thread from getting too wordy. If necessary I'll give the rest in a response to this thread.
Honestly, a format followed by a fresh install of XP would be your best and easiest bet. Backup all your important files and don't even bother to search for the problem; it'll give you headaches. Right now, i can name you 100 possible reasons... I would format.
Here's the reply I promised with the rest of the history. Firstly reinstalling Windows on the Vista machine is not an option due to the fact that there is no copy of Vista available. The problems with the XP machine began in May 2009. After I received a call from Cheryl, who complained about trouble with Ted's machine, I came over to take a look. Cheryl had told me that she was trying to install Trend AV then got to the registration page and for some reason cancelled the installation. When I got there I saw something I had never seen before. There was no desktop just the background pic. No start button no icons or any way to take control of the PC. I formatted the harddrive and reinstalled Windows XP. Everything seemed to work fine, except Windows refused to recognize the onboard soundcard even though the drivers were installed. When I reinstalled Webroot after reinstallation of XP There were trojan warnings in spite of the format and reinstallation of the OS. After doing everything I knew of to get the drivers recognized the ? unrecognized result still persisted and webroots warnings got so bad the PC was virtually unusable -their copy of Webroot is licensed and straight out of the box. I subsequently reformatted and reinstalled XP 4 times and in the process exceeded my license for XP. The best I was able to do was getting the volume and mixer controls to become available but no sound and the device still unrecognized by XP. Because the machine at this point had been overhauled twice by the manufacturer, I decided to go into the BIOS to check for hardware damage. I noted that most of the BIOS options -including the sound configuration- blocked the user from making changes, there was no way around this problem. After identifying the type of motherboard's manufacturer -Phoenix- I looked the board up on the web. The information I received said that the sound device in the BIOS needed to be changed from auto to enabled. As I stated earlier, the option to change this was unavailable even though the info on the BIOS screen was visible I couldn't move the selector over it. Well after banging my head -not literally- on Ted's computer for 3 days, I managed to get the Malware warnings to stop showing up on Webroot. Because Cheryl had used up her license for Trend AV I installed AVG free on Ted's computer and notified him that Webroot would be redundant and a waste of memory. Once again in spite of the fact that he comes crying to me everytime he screws up his PC he didn't listen and to this day he still has more AV and trojan software running than his memory seems to be able to handle. He constantly complains about his speed yet refuses to listen. He's a real primitive Pete when it comes to PCs. I repeatedly told Cheryl not to let him on her computer but she didn't listen now her computer, as well as his, is doing the reboot crap. She even catches him going on the sites that I warned them about, yet neither of them listen. So here we are.
Thanks for the input. Well, it seems that there is too much junk on both PC's and you need a big overhaul. Each PC should have one firewall, one antivirus, and a cleaning program. That's it. This won't be easy and will take some time, so reserve yourself 2 hours and follow these steps: (ALL STEPS BELOW TO BE DONE ON BOTH PCs) 1. Download CCleaner, AVG Free, and Free ZoneAlarm, all into a folder that you'll remember to search for later on. 2. Uninstall ALL unnecessary programs (pop up blockers, toolbars, antivirus's,cleaning and registry utilities... including your current anti viruses.) 3. DISCONNECT FROM THE INTERNET ON BOTH PC's. 4. Click "Start", then go to "Run". Type in: msconfig. Go to the "Startup" tab. In it, UNCHECK EVERYTHING but drivers (gfx, audio, network). Click Apply and exit. Restart your PC. 5. Now, you should have a much faster bootup. Now, install CCleaner. Perform the registry clean and regular clean it offers. After that, perform the Windows Disk Cleanup and let it finish. 6. RECONNECT THE INTERNET. 7. Install AVG and the Firewall. 8. Run Windows update and update ALL. 9. Run a Disk Defragment.
Thanks scorps, but believe it or not I've done all that you said several times. As far as the XP machine goes, I think Ted got into some malware that goes beyond even a format or Ted is screwing up his PC so fast after repair that it seems that way. Except for the sound issue I get it running with decent speed, then he calls me later complaining again. I think he is a PC abuser lol. When it comes to Cheryl's PC the Vista system. I usually get it back up to speed and she doesn't have problems for quite a while, in fact the problems usually don't reoccur until Ted has been using it. I think the problem is definitely him but I've never in all my experience fixing PCs, seen anyone screw them up as much as he does. If I was charging for support Ted would be a goldmine, lol.
You might also want to try Norton Utilities as much as I hate Norton the Utilities seems to help with the performance. It cleans out your registry and defrags it and does a bunch of other cool things. Just a thought.
