Windows 7 freezes turn into inability to boot into anything

essenbe · 18 Jan 2012

You should backup your stuff now. But hold off on the install. Please post a screenshot of the full disk management page showing both the top and bottom portion. (right click computer, select manage, provide admin approval and select disk management in the left column) Once you get there, type snipping tool in the search box or use the print screen button and open paint and paste it there. save it to somewhere you can get to easily.

also, your specs say you have a Western Digital drive. Download their diagnostic utility, data Lifeguard and run it. The fact that it will boot after running check disk, would make you think about the hard drive.

cnauta · 18 Jan 2012

essenbe,
First, I want to thank you so very much for your patient help. It's been a pretty crazy last half a year - in September our house was flooded out from TS Lee, my Dad is battling (and slowly losing to) cancer and my mom just had major surgery to remove a tumor. (I know, I should write a Country song!). So having major issues with my computer is just something I can't really deal with. So I really appreciate the help you're giving me.

First, I rebooted into my Windows Install Disk and re-ran the startup recovery program - this time it didn't find any errors! I tried to run Chkdsk from the command prompt but again it hung up the system.

Next, I rebooted and hit F8 and went into Windows repair from there. Again, the start-up recovery didn't find any problems. I then went to the command prompt and ran "chkdsk /f /r". It is presently up to stage 4 of 5 and 11% complete (and no errors found, yet).

In regards to the screen cap, I will try to do that when this is done, providing Windows stays up long enough for me to get it.

In regards to the WD program data lifeguard, that is the program I downloaded and ran to check my hard drive. When I did that it returned with no errors. Obviously, though, I will re-run it again.

Lastly, since removing DIMMS 2 & 4 (and DIMM 2 sits VERY close to the CPU and the heatsink) I have been able to consistently boot into things (Windows repair, Windows) although, as stated above, I can't STAY in Windows 7 for very long.

essenbe · 18 Jan 2012

Download core temp and keep it open to monitor your CPU temps. Also be sure to backup everything. The next time you do bott, go into bios. Go to the dram configuration. If you have to do it manually, make sure your dram voltage is set to what your ram is rated at, set the timings yourself if needed. They are (the first 3) on a sticker on the ram sticks. If still having problems, find the CPU-NB setting and bump it up to a max of 1.2. Most times that will help stabalize ram, if that is your problem. It still seems to be a hardware problem. If that's the case, a clean install will not help for very long, which you have found out.

Sorry to hear about your problems. You have my sympathy. I could write a contry album, so I know where you are coming from.

cnauta · 18 Jan 2012

Back from lunch!

It finished chkdsk with no errors found.
I re-booted and checked/changed my DRAM settings.
Booted into Windows. Noticed that it was not recognizing my USB Wireless adapter. I changed USB slots and got it working.
Next I went to get the full disk management info like you asked, but when I clicked on "manage" it froze and then went to a BSOD (Machine_Check_Exception code 0x0000009c). I haven't had time to check that out, yet.

So, I rebooted again and again got into Windows (am I finally past THAT hurdle??!!) and again it didn't recognize my USB Wireless adapter. Before I moved the USB cord I went to get the disk management info and AGAIN it froze up (no BSOD this time, though).

I'm rebooting again and this time I'll refrain (for a while) from getting the disk management info. Let me see if I can backup my info before anything else happens.

UPDATE
Re-set my USB Wireless Adapter and this time when I booted it found it. However, I was only in Windows about 5 minutes before it completely froze on me again (and, again, no BSOD).

One other thing - a couple of friends recommend ccleaner. I thought that reg-cleaners were pretty much snake-oil (didn't really do anything). What are your thoughts on ccleaner?

essenbe · 18 Jan 2012

Good idea. Best to backup now. Keep watch on CPU temps. we'll be around whenever you get through.

essenbe · 18 Jan 2012

While you are in there, go to C:/windows minidump. Copy the contents and paste them to your desktop. Right click them and select send to compressed zip file. You can save the zip file to a usb drive to send them to us in another post. Saving to USB would help transfer it from the computer you are on to the one you are sending messages from.

cnauta · 18 Jan 2012

A couple of more updates:
I keep having problems in normal Windows 7 so I booted into Safe Mode with Networking.

Oh, before I did that I tried booting to my MS Stand Alone System Sweeper. It booted fine and started to run but then froze up. So, THEN I booted into SM/Networking.

I got there successfully and have been there longer than I have been in normal Windows.
I installed core temp (but can't run it in safe mode!) and as I was checking out the disk management screen (I can get there, but you can't see all the info with the safe mode video settings) My action center came up with a notice - I need to remove the Win32/Small.CA virus!!!!!!!

I'm currently running MS Safety Scanner (Full Scan). Hopefully it will find it and delete it.

Now to check what that virus is and if it could cause all the damage I'm seeing!

UPDATE
I've done some checking on the Win32/Small.CA virus and it looks to be a nasty bugger! My initial Google search turned up several people having it and not being able to remove it with the MS Safety Scanner and even Malwarebytes. On the MS Answers forums there is a response about this and suggests Malwarebytes or to go to this site for a removal tool: http://www.spywaredb.com/remove-troj...in32-small-ca/

The problem with that site is that my WOT (Web of Trust on Firefox) tells me that spywaredb is not a trusted site. Anyone have any info on how to get rid of this virus?

essenbe · 18 Jan 2012

I was just fixing to post that link to Microsoft answers. The first thing you need to do is backup your personal data. But, when you reinstall, scan the backed up files very well before putting them back on. I'm still not sure it is not a hardwar problem as well as the virus. But, we will need to be able to get back into windows to test much. Do you happen to have a spare hard drive you could install windows on? Also, those programs that won't run with your DVD drive, if you download the ISO file of them, which I think you usually do, you can burn them to a USB drive with this program. Maybe it will run from USB.

cnauta · 18 Jan 2012

essenbe,
I have two external hard drives I use (one for my MP3s and one for backups).

I'm backing up my important stuff as we speak.

My question, though, is if none of the major anti-virus/anti-malware programs detect this virus, how do I scan my backup stuff with any degree of confidence?

I've gone through a dozen or more pages discussing this virus and I've seen no real answer on how to get rid of it (other than a couple of mentions of reformatting).

Have you been able to understand any of it? Plus, is there any chance this virus has anything to do with my "freezes"?

essenbe · 18 Jan 2012

It is quite possible. I read one account which seemed very similar to yours. You are still getting hardware warnings. How much is one and how much the other, I don't know. There probably are other ways, but if it were my computer, I would wipe the drive absolutely clean and do a reinstall. A simple format will many times not get rid of a stubborn virus. I can tell you how to wipe the drive using diskpart, but it takes several hours to do and I don't know if your computer will run that long. But, if we can manage to get it done, we should be reasonably assured that any other problems are hardware related. Are you familar with the command prompt and diskpart?