I am having a problem with my computer. Last Friday I swithed on my pc and the hard drive would not load up. I got an error message that the computer was incorrectly configured and there was no hard drive. I used a recovery diskette and my master copies but it seemed they didn't work.

The next morning I switched on the pc and it started to load the hard drive. It took 15 mins but it loaded all my desktop and all programmes were running but very slowly. I connected to the internet and everything was running at normal speed and it shut down fine.

Today again it took 15 mins to load the desktop, etc. It took 4 mins from clicking my browser to the dial up coming on. My MSN won't sign in (althought this has happend a few times) and my internet security and antivirus icons have gone missing off my task bar.

So any ideas anybody as i'm totally confused:confused: :confused: :confused:

Originally posted by Beastieboy
[snip]and my internet security and antivirus icons have gone missing off my task bar.


Hmmm. A feature of many viruses is that they will attempt to attack your antivirus/security software.
In the first instance I suggest you scan for viruses (if you can),

Nomme

Originally posted by Beastieboy
My MSN won't sign in (althought this has happend a few times)

MSN has been down all morning, that isn't your computers fault

MSN was naffed last night :rant:

Cheers Skatie'! I thought that was something else to sort out.

Nomme, I reset my system to the last time I did a virus scan (about a month ago) as I couldn't bring any antivirus scans up. This has worked with regards to the antivirus and internet security (currently scanning for viruses), however i'm still running a little slow, so still stuck on this.

Originally posted by Beastieboy
So any ideas anybody as i'm totally confused:confused: :confused: :confused:

What operating system does you use?

Possibly bad sectors on the disk. Try opening My Computer> right-click your C: drive> Click Properties> Click the Tools tab> Under error checking, click check now> Tick both boxes. Do the same for any other partitions, then reboot to see if it finds any errors.

Also, check the space available on your C: drive.

Originally posted by GazB
What operating system does you use?

Possibly bad sectors on the disk. Try opening My Computer> right-click your C: drive> Click Properties> Click the Tools tab> Under error checking, click check now> Tick both boxes. Do the same for any other partitions, then reboot to see if it finds any errors.

Also, check the space available on your C: drive.

I'm on XP.

Got a capacity of 72gb and have 61gb free on C: drive

It'd be pretty difficult to nail this one down but I'd through the possibles one after another..

1. Hard drive issues:
- Is the drive making any odd noises, especially any grinding?
- When you restored to the previous version did you get any errors?
- Did GazB's suggested error check bring up anything?


2. Virus issues:
- Run Norton AV and see if it does a full scan of the system
- Try downloading, installing and running Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.3 and get it run during the next boot up (if it fails to detect and delete everything 1st time around) and see what it reports.


3. Windows Update:
- Check you're not missing any critical updates and if you are try to get them installed..


4. BIOS Update
- See if your motherboard has a BIOS update available and if you're feeling confident do a Flash BIOS update (Instructions are available on pretty much all motherboard web sites)
- Do the DEL key dance to get into the bios settings as the system boots up and see if the settings for your PC are accurate.. The settings may have reverted to a default and underclocked the processor to a "safe" low setting.


5. Sacrifice a pencil to the computer deity and promise not to swear at it again or threaten it with violence.. ;)

Running the antivirus still but nothing so far, no errors after restoring the system.

Once the antivirus has finished I will do the hard drive check on C: drive, I have done D: drive and nothing come up.

As far as i'm aware I am not pending any windows updates. However, I did have a problem with my Gx4force graphics card, it would prevent windows from loading. Microsoft sent me the Xp sevice pack 2 to resolve it, although having read the thread on it I have not yet installed it.

As for the BIOS update I am hoping I don't need to use it, if I have to I may need somebodies help for it.

Originally posted by Beastieboy
As for the BIOS update I am hoping I don't need to use it, if I have to I may need somebodies help for it.
Well if you can hoik the main box out to my place I can get it updated and done for you in about 10 minutes flat... It's a doddle to do so no charge.

I ran the check on C: drive, it got to the final stage of checking free space and then crashed. I rebooted it and suprisingly it is running faster than before but not a full capacity. This is still annoying me as there was nothing to suggest what caused it still.

A couple of suggestions:

1. Have you run Ad-aware along with the Spybot advised earlier?

2. Have you tried running sfc /scannow from the run box (you will need your xp set up disk to do this).

3. Have you scanned for trojans? A good one here:
http://www.windowsecurity.com/trojanscan/

4. Have you defragmented your hard drive recently?

You say it has now speeded up a bit, it's sounding more like a software, rather than hardware problem to me.

Just switched it on now and only took a couple of minutes to load up so I hope that is the end of it, but i'll keep a check on it just incase.

I still recommend installing Spybot and ad-aware.