Dell Problems!

[bulldogz400]

Ok guys, I'm new here and have an old school Dell Dimension 3000 (yes, laugh away), had it for like 3 years but it's worked great until now. About 2 weeks ago it started acting up, I figure it'll be best if I list the symptoms and go from there:

1. Internet Explorer no longer works. If I try to open, the IE window will pop up and then immediately disappear completely...not in the task bar, nowhere to be found. (NOTE Firefox still works, and I have fine internet connection)

2. iTunes no longer works. Here's the weird part, get a message saying "itunes detects an error in your audio configuration). Like IE, it opens for a split second, and then disappears completely.

3. No audio will function. iTunes, youtube, no sound anywhere. Under "Sounds and Audio Devices" it says "No Audio Device", leading me to the conclusion that it's not even recognizing I have an audio driver. I've tried to reinstall the audio driver but that doesn't work. Weird part is when I restart and type in my password, the default Windows sound will come out of the speakers, yet once the computer is up and running, no more sound.

4. Many default passwords that I haven't used in YEARS are now once again the defaults. My new passwords have been replaced..very strange.

Not trying to be long winded, but I figure the more info I give off the bat the easier the problem will be to recognize. I'm at the end of my troubleshooting capabilities and need help. Please advise!

Thanks in advance...

 

[91shelby]

run an antivirus, a antispyware program and a registry cleaner

 

[BASHERS33]

I used ccleaner, some free virus scan/fix on live.com, and spybot for doing the above on my dell (dimension 5100). I've had mine 3 years also and it started making horrendous noise so I decided to get a new dell instead of fixing it. Then people said changing out the power supply is easy so I did it. Seemed to fix it, but it has faint hints that it may act up again. And now I am using the NEW dell and deciding whether or not to keep it. I hate that I spent that much money!

All of your issues seem weird though. If it's not a virus then I wonder what happened. Maybe somehow it restored part of it and not all or something weird like that.

 

[bulldogz400]

Adaware scan shows no spyware, is there a free virus scan out there that you guys would recommend?

Not having iTunes absolutely sucks! Need to get this figured out!

 

[Rubber314Chicken]

I'd check out your sound card in device manager (right click on my computer-properties-hardware-device manager)

it should say this device is working properly or something like that. if not try rolling back the drivers. if it doesn't have the drivers use firefox to get the drivers. it should tell you all you need to know about the sound card with device manager.

 

[bulldogz400]

All the options under "Sounds, Video, and Game Controllers" say working properly (in the Device Manager section)...yet still no sound.

I feel it's deeper than just the sound problem though, because as I stated, iTunes will not even stay open for more than 1 second before it simply disappears from the screen. Any ideas?

 

[Rubber314Chicken]

hmm... try a system restore to back when it was working? try a drivers cd?

 

[bulldogz400]

Well I tried a system restore to a few weeks ago and all seems to be working properly again! Had to reinstall Quicktime and Firefox but all is well.

So does this shed light on what may have gone wrong?