Restart from Safe Mode and computer dies in a minute

fatguy · 23 Mar 2010

my computer will stay on for days, in safe mode. restart it dies in about a minute. whether or not i do anything. this problem has been intermittent, then went away for a few days after a adware scan (?) no idea why. now it is back. can't do anything. this computer was basically new at christmas. only motherboard and memory was re-used. new drive and processor.

it is very frustrating. it used to hang and give me an overlclocking error. i never set the thing to over clock! just standard install of windows 7 64 bit. on restart it just starts up. errors in the events log are "not critical" according to microsoft and web searches. but they happen frequently. mostly about the screensaver, which is now turned off. just standard windows background too.
help please. thanks in advance
michael

Product FRED · 23 Mar 2010

Given all of these problems, honestly, you should reset your BIOS or at least your CPU settings and then perform a clean installation of Windows. The adware scan you're unsure of sounds like malware.

fatguy · 23 Mar 2010

reset bios? it is the latest version with no changes by me.
i have been thinking of a clean install, can i just repair it? would that help? there are some things that i don't want to lose if possible. i can back them up, but was hoping for something easier.
thanks
michael

Product FRED · 23 Mar 2010

You can try a repair if you'd like. What I would suggest is that you create a new partition and perform a clean install on there. After scanning everything in your original partition with MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware, move them over, and then format and delete your original partition.

fatguy · 23 Mar 2010

how do i make a new partition without erasing the drive? i can f-disc a second drive that i am using to back up pics and such... but i really do not want to lose everything. my current partitions are 100g and 900 on a terabyte and 25 and 210 on a 250.
thanks again
mike

Product FRED · 23 Mar 2010

fatguy said:

how do i make a new partition without erasing the drive? i can f-disc a second drive that i am using to back up pics and such... but i really do not want to lose everything. my current partitions are 100g and 900 on a terabyte and 25 and 210 on a 250.
thanks again
mike

You can also use a separate drive. What you want to do is perform a clean install of Windows somewhere other than on your original partition/drive (to maintain all of your important data). Then you want to scan your original partition or drive with AV software to make sure none of the stuff you want to carry over is infected. Move the stuff over to the new drive, and then wipe the old one.

It's many steps, but it will work. You can also use an Ubuntu Live CD or any other Linux Live CD to move data between different disks.

fatguy · 23 Mar 2010

can i install window 7 on my 24 gig partition that used to be xp?

Product FRED · 24 Mar 2010

Sure. That'd be fine. But you'll need space for your data.

fatguy · 24 Mar 2010

i am trying the path of least resistance. si, i started in safe mode and ran a scan with superantispyware. found about 12 items. while doing that i downloaded malewarebytes' on our other computer and burned it to disc. restart my computer and install malwarebytes. ran a scan, crash. retart in safe mode, ran mlb and it found 3 items- trojans. my virus software somehow missed this (eset nod 32 64 bit version). my computer still crashed after 4 minutes of up time so i am trying to repair/upgrade. if this fails i will do the clean install. i have already formatted the drives in advance- ready for failure. thanks for your help, i'll let you know if this works.

Product FRED · 24 Mar 2010

Alright. I'm sure a repair will fix it now that you've gotten rid of the viruses. Very important: When you sense you have a virus, especially a Trojan, immediately disconnect your computer from the internet (ethernet cable or Wifi) so that it cannot download more code.