[Shan2nu]

I'v been having popup probs for some time now. Everyday, i'd do a search and destroy on spybot but the popups kept coming.

Yest night, while i was browsing, the comp just hung. Nothing that i did seemed to work. So i switched off the mains and restarted the comp. Now, the prob is that the comp goes till the XP loading page and then everything goes blank.

Could the hard drive have crashed or is it something else. Today being a sunday, i don't think i can get it checked by a professional.

Last time the comp refused to start, all it needed was a little cleaning. Could this be a dust prob as well?

Shan2nu

[viper]

Hi Shan2nu,

You can try doing this. Restart the computer and go into startup options. XP has a feature which allows you to go back to Last Known Config that worked.

Not much of a techie but this feature has helped me out often.

Viper

[netarchie]

What you need is a good AntiVirus/Personal Firewall program. You can try the free zonealarm.

[Shan2nu]

Restart the computer and go into startup options

How do i do that? The comp doesn't reach the OS window. This is the last thing that i see (ofcourse, mine is XP Pro) http://www.wpc-fr.net/images/article...logga_stor.jpg

What you need is a good AntiVirus/Personal Firewall program. You can try the free zonealarm.

For that, i'l first need to access the OS.

Shan2nu

[Vid6639]

Shan2nu the XP startup options comes before the screenshot you sent. You generally have to press F8 or F10 just when it boots to access the menu depends on mother board.

You can also see if it boots up in safe mode and then go and try and repair XP from there.

The last option is to get a bootdisk for winXP and boot from there.

[esteem_lover]

Press F8 after the BIOS screen to activate various start up options. Like viper said, choose the last known good configuration & you would be all set unless of course there has been a virus

[hemi]

if nothing works,try to repair it by using winxp cd and check if same problem pops up.

[amitverma]

first off, did u have System Restore turned ON? if yes, then the problem is solved. If NO, then you need to follow some advance steps.
first lets get u booted into XP.
since u are seeing the loading screen, your hard drive is safe.
when the BIOS POST screen goes away, keep pressing [F8] until u see the XP startup menu options. Now these steps are to be followed if the above mentioned Last Known Good Config option didnt work for you.
Choose Safe Mode. Now I am 99.9% sure that it'll take u to the OS.
now if u have system restore ON, just restore it to a previous date. if u had it Turned OFF, open the RUN dialog, Winkey+R, type regedit.exe and press enter.
Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE]/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Run. Here u will find certain programs that are launched on startup. if u think a suspicious malware or spyware or relatively unknown filename is present here, delete that.
CAUTION: be careful what u delete. better still type, the strings name here and we'll let you know its to be deleted or not.

[theMAG]

Microsoft Windows Defender or Lavasoft AdAware are 2 realtime antispyware apps that are quite some distance ahead from other apps. To counter the bootup problem you're facing:

1. At the time of initial boot, enter into the BIOS settings. F1/F2/Del depending on your PC make

2. Select the option that says Load Failsafe Defaults. Save and exit

3. Now if the you're able to boot into SAFE MODE, use msconfig to deselect all non-Microsoft apps/svcs loading at startup. Also reduce the display resolution to a very low value: 640*480, 16 colors etc.

4. Instal one of the aforementioned antispyware apps in Safe Mode and run a complete scan - you'd be surprised at the results

5. Try restarting and allowing normal boot. If yes, again using msconfig, add only essential svcs at startup such as AV, Antispyware. Keep everything else DISABLED.

[rahul_intlad]

Shan2nu Like the above posts mentioned press F2/F8/F10 after your bios screen is visible. If even after trying the last known known good configuration the OS is not loaded then restart the PC.Again continue the F8 process but this time choose safe mode from the menu.

In safe mode you will get an option of system restore[if you had activated the feature] available on startup in safe mode
[ start->All programs-> accesssories->system tools-> system restore]
System restore is quite self explanatory and all you have to do is restore system to a suitable date.No data files will be lost in the process,only any installed programs prior to that date would be lost.

If however you do not have system restore on or no date is available for restoration try start->run and type msconfig
From msconfig try to see the start up tab.Unselect any funny looking program in the start up tab.[Dont think you should use regedit if you are unfamiliar with it]



Now regarding pop-ups try this software:
1>.Lavasoft adaware[free edition],really good at removing all sorts of spyware
Lavasoft

If you are not going to use system restore then while in safe mode itself you can install the program and perform a scan.If you are using system restore then best to install and perform a scan after you start the OS in normal mode.

2>. Also install this program as well spyware blaster[works in the background]
SpywareBlaster

3>. Zonealarm is the best but not recommended for people not so familiar with it.

4>. Windows defender recommended only if your OS is not a Pirated version.


PS:
And yes last option as vid said boot from a bootable xp cd.

[rahul_intlad]

Originally Posted by rahul_intlad

Shan2nu Like the above posts mentioned press F2/F8/F10 after your bios screen is visible.

Slight correction it should have been after your bios screen[start up] goes away and before anything else is visible.

I have assumed you have a single OS on your PC,if not the process is slightly different.

[amitverma]

spyware are intelligent bots placed in ur computer to extract important data [like credit card numbers etc] from your pc. they do not hinder in the core functioning of the OS. they might slow it down heavily but the PC still boots fine. many a times, even an expert cannot detect the infection.
since you are unable to boot into the OS, it seems a case of virus-infection. a thorough full system scan is necessary.
update ur virus definitions immediately.

its not really a big threat. if u are able to boot into the safe mode, the problem can cured.

[Shan2nu]

Thanks a lot guys. Tried F8 and it gave me a list of options.

Chose safe mode the first time but that didn't work. Restarted the comp and chose the option where it uses the last settings that worked. This time, it went to the part where the comp scans the drives before loading windows.

As i type, the OS is loading. Will try to run regedit.exe and see what happens.

Shan2nu

[Shan2nu]

Typed regedit.exe and got a message saying "Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator". What next?

I really wanna remove any probs the OS might be facing.

I've got a Norton 2003 cd with me. Will install it for the time being.

Shan2nu

[Vid6639]

think your comp has been infected would suggest you back up all your data format the computer and then load the norton AV.