Virus causing my hard drive to run constantly?

[dmccarty]

Has the system maxed out its memory and causing it to swap?

Try to create a new network that uses your new network card.

If you are short of disk space, clean up the recycle bin.

I cannot give the exact steps since I do not have an XP system handy, but in the Control Panel find the Computer Management program and look at the Windows Logs for errors.

These things can be a PITA to figure out......

Later,
Dan

 

[beppington]

I assume you are running XP. I remember one of my older computers running all the time like that. I had the Microsoft Indexing program turned on and it seemed to run and run. I turned the indexing off and the computer ran normal again. Go into your control panel to access that indexing program and see if that is it.

1) Indexing was turned on. 2 line items were on, one for C:\ and one for C:\Documents and Settings. So, I guess it was indexing my entire C drive :shocked: I turned them both off.

I'm also defragging right now.

2) I have a 149 GB hard drive, & 27.58 GB is free (18%) ... Am I too close to full?? (recycle bin is empty; although I could prob delete some other things if needed)

Does any of this sound like it would cause the hard drive to spin constantly & kill the network connection? (hard drive has been spinning for over 2 days straight now)

 

[SSdoxie]

I jsut got hit last week with something very simialar. It was a Trojan type virus that slipped by the anti-virus program. Only thing I found that will clean it is a free download program called Stinger. Easliy found by googling Stinger.exe. If your porblem is virus related this will most likely clear it. Run it while in safe mode, then again in normal and again after another reboot.

 

[RoyJackson]

1) Indexing was turned on. 2 line items were on, one for C: and one for Cocuments and Settings. So, I guess it was indexing my entire C drive :shocked: I turned them both off.

I'm also defragging right now.

2) I have a 149 GB hard drive, & 27.58 GB is free (18%) ... Am I too close to full?? (recycle bin is empty; although I could prob delete some other things if needed)

Does any of this sound like it would cause the hard drive to spin constantly & kill the network connection? (hard drive has been spinning for over 2 days straight now)

18% might be, at least, part of your problem.
If you're familar with compressing (zipping) files, you could do that rather then delete. Compressing can really reduce a file size, but doesn't do so good for pictures, videos and sound files.
Also, consider uninstalling programs you don't use often...just make sure you have the setup disks to re-install.

I tell ya...troubleshooting a PC can be a hassle...it's even more of a pain if you have to do it long distance (like this thread).
It may come to the point you just want to forgo the hassle and either take the PC to a technician or just replace it.

 

[magicheater]

18% might be, at least, part of your problem.
If you're familar with compressing (zipping) files, you could do that rather then delete. Compressing can really reduce a file size, but doesn't do so good for pictures, videos and sound files.
Also, consider uninstalling programs you don't use often...just make sure you have the setup disks to re-install.

I tell ya...troubleshooting a PC can be a hassle...it's even more of a pain if you have to do it long distance (like this thread).
It may come to the point you just want to forgo the hassle and either take the PC to a technician or just replace it.

Yes, replacing the PC seems to be common as quickly as technology changes. Although repairing your Tractor seems to be the norm here!

 

[WilliamBos]

For years I had a PC and always had some kind of anti virus installed. It seemed like every time the AV term expired there was some issue with the computer and I needed to re up with the AV provider and they would "fix" the problem..... For a fee. Finally bought a Mac and after two years... No issues what so ever. Never again will I deal with a PC

I agree 100%!! Happy with my Mac, no plans on going back.

Trend micro housecalls is a good free scan, and ESET Nod 32 is awesome too!!

 

[deepNdirt]

There seems to be 2 issues here, whether or not they are related to causing the problem one would have to troubleshoot with process of elimination,

Have you looked into the Device manager to be sure all the Hardware components are working? there should be no exclamation Mark beside anything, although this doesn't always mean everything is OK, a Hardware component could still need it's driver reinstalled,

You ar not able to get an on line connection:
Have you tried turning off/on the Modem/router and let it reset...
when the computer Boots-up it's tools trey do you see the Monitor Icon load that shows the connection status?
if the computer is setup to have an automatic Internet connection and cannot connect it should prompt you of a connection problem,.....
although I have seen at times where there may be a problem with the Integrated Ethernet port, and I'll troubleshoot by switching off the MO port and install a PCI Ethernet card and has resolve the connection problem, ....... As has been mentioned and as much as we all would like to help there is not a lot of things other than to troubleshoot and exchange Hardware out to try and locate the problem, Advice & suggestions is about all we can do from afar, and really cannot advice you to spend money on parts that might not be what you need to resolve this issue, I have boxes of hardware and cards that I use to switch out components when troubleshooting problems,

After many years of paying someone else outrageous prices to fix my computers I decided to go into it myself in attempt to save money, Probably costing me more in the long run But at least I got some experience on how to work on them, along with acquiring many many spare parts On a 3-4 year old computer it might be time for you to give yourself a 1on1 crash course of dissecting a computer,

It can help to be able to get on line and find your model and read about other people experience of having the same problems with the same model and what they have done to resolve the problem...:thumbsup:

Be sure to unplug the computer, a computer retains about 5 volts of charge in the motherboard even when unplugged, this is to help with powering it on, be sure to press the power button to drain out this charge,
also you need to avoid creating a static charge by using a grounded
anti static wrist band,

 

[orezok]

There is a good chance that your HD is in an early stage of failure. I suggest buying a new drive and backing everything up.

 

[RoyJackson]

There is a good chance that your HD is in an early stage of failure. I suggest buying a new drive and backing everything up.

Distinctly possible...so far, we've been discussing software problems. Hard drives to go bad occasionally.

 

[zzvyb6]

Get to a dos prompt, better if Windows was not started, else go to "Run" and do the "chkdsk /F" command. It should ask if you want to kill windows an the answer is "yes". This command will try to fix corrupted sector files used by windows for paging (disk memory) and other system processes (like the Registry) that can tie up the disk reading.

Meanwhile, if you can run Internet Explorer at all, go to "Internet Options" and delete everything where there is a checkbox. Most users have hundreds of temporary files from sites commonly accessed which clog up paging space and disk buffers.

From Task Manager, select the 'Performance' tab and look for the Resource Monitor selector down below. You can paw thru these sub-windows and try to figure out which process is tying up the system. Then kill it.

My guess is that the chkdsk decorrupter will do the job. Look for these 'fixed' files under the windows/system and system32 folders and delete them. There may be hundreds.