Need help ASAP

[Gamerkid07]

Ok so for about 5-6 days my computer has been acting up. So this is the story. The computer was off when I came into the house (my room is across the yard in the guest house). I turned it on and it did the whole loading screen. Then it said something about how to start the windows. It gave me about 3-4 options. One of them was start Windows normally. So I hit enter and it starts to go to another load up screen. Once it's past that it sits in a black screen for about ten minutes. Then it goes to the desktop. But the desktop is blank and only shows the background picture. It takes about another 2-3 minutes to load up all the desktop icons and taskbar. Once all that is loaded up it runs just fine. Then once you start doing stuff such as getting on the Enternet and load up a website with a lot of things on it. It will go back into a black screen (not shutting off) and it will just sit. The computer it's self wont shut off nor will the monitor. Then the tower wont shut off. You have to unplug the power cord from it to get it to shut off. Then you have to do all the same things again to get it back to showing the desktop and icons. I found out today it's not just when you try and load up cetain things on the Enternet. I was doing some other things (Disk space cleanup) and it did it again. It seems to be when it has a lot to load up that it does it. I play a game on here and I can start to play that game but about a minute or so into playing it goes to the black screen. If the computer is on and no one is on it and it's just sitting their it will be fine. You can leave it on all day without it doing that. But once to many things start going on or a site with to much to load up, thats when it does that. Could it be the graphics card going out? Tomorrow I'm going to open up the tower and make sure everything is plugged in right and blow out all of the dust ( that could be the problem) and see if it helps any. The tower hasn't been cleaned for about 2 years. So I know a lot of dust has built up inside and might be slowing down the fans and causing it to over heat. Any other ideas are welcome. Thanks for any help you can give=-).


The computer is a Windows XP home Edition, Version 2002, Service Pack 2. It has 1.79GHz,512 MB of RAM.

 

[Rudster8161]

definitely a virus AND trojans. you need to start into safe mode and rune all the free anti virus software you can find good luck. sounds like you were hit hard with the stuff. find out if someone used it before you turned it on. they probably were doing something they shouldnt have on the internet. you MIGHT have to reinstall windows if you cant clean out your HDD

 

[Gamerkid07]

Ok, I plan on deleting everything off the HDD tomorrow once I get all the dust cleaned out of the tower. My brother was the last person on the computer at the time. One of the ladies from next door was coming over and using it also. Friday we are getting a new tower and I'm going to take this one and fix it (clean the dust and delete everything off the HDD). Then I'm going to try and find a monitor for it. Now my computer keeps wanting to loose connection to the Enternet. I keep having to turn off the router for about 20-30 seconds and then turning it back on once it starts to slow down loading up a webpage. Would could that problem be=-).

 

[Rudster8161]

try to put the router in a cooler location. sometimes they can overheat and malfunction. doubt it is the problem though but might as well try it.

 

[Gamerkid07]

It's in a cool place, it just started doing that as well=-). This computer is on a death dive. So far it hasn't done that again. I really hope deleting everything off the HDD and only puttings things back on that I need will work. I plan on getting a monitor so I can play some games on here. I also plan on getting a new v card=-). If that does't work, any other ideas that could help fix this stupid thing.

 

[blackjack]

A clean Install if windows is the best way to be sure, you could try an anti spy ware program like spybot first, but personally for a piece of mind a fresh start would be the best option here, make sure you have all your driver handy, (graphics card, sound card ,etc. and write down your INTERNET provider details so you can reconfigure your INTERNET and mail server.

 

[Gamerkid07]

Thank you everyone for your input! This morning I took the tower outside and took one side of the shell off. I looked inside and dust was everywhere! I blew all the dust out blew it off the heatsinks and fans and everything else. I put it all back together hoping it was fixed. I turned it back on thinking I was going to have to wait, but it started right up! It did the whole Windows XP loading screen. Then when to the username log in right away! That alone took 10-15 minutes to get to! Then I typed in the user name and password and it loaded everything up right away. All the dust was making it so hot that it couldn't breath. I'm really glad I didn't wait to blow the thing out. I'm just hoping the power suply didn't start to over heat, or anything else for that matter!

 

[blackjack]

Well I'm glad you got it sorted, you actually did something Ive been telling other members on here for months I cant believe I never mentioned it to you , lol ,anyway you should be cleaning it out at least every 3-6months.
I had to do mine only yesterday as it started playing up and just like you it was filthy inside lol, next time you have to do it clean the CPU fan then take it off(unscrew 4 screws and remove two little metal plates) their you will see your heatsinc and I bet your bottom dollar thats covered in dust, so Hoover it out or use a fine paint brush and clean between the panels now your computer will be like bran new.

 

[NEED WOW NOW]

yea and in the future i would download speed fan its a simple program and u really only need it for the temperatures (it monitors the temperatures in the computer)
If it gets toooo high like above 70Cs or 60Cs at normal running then its time to clean out the computer

 

[blackjack]

CPU COOL is just as good. http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/System_Maintenance_and_Repair_Utilities/CPUCooL.html