What the heck is going on?

[shdwlink1993]

My computer has been acting... screwy lately. Let me rephrase that: My computer has been acting like a piece of crap lately.

Basically, it's been crashing more often than... well... FAX and Ulta post in SPAM. And it keeps changing it's reason why. It's cited all sorts of problems, from faulty BIOS Drivers to ntfs.sys (And if that were the problem, the computer should have been having difficulties starting at all), as well as audio and sound drivers.

If the random reboots weren't annoying on their own, they are accompanied with programs randomly crashing as well. No reason is given. They just crash, and usually rather violently. I'm at a complete loss for why.

Not even my internet is escaping from the oddities. Google Searches, of all things, have been randomly (not to mention infuriatingly) redirecting me to other pages instead of the result I clicked (they tend to be pages at www.yellow.com, which redirect me to a page with a cow on it(?)). And not only can AVG not get any updates, but any attempts to manually download them via the site are rejected for unknown reasons. I am becoming infuriated...

And, even stranger, AVG's scanning is interrupted by, surprise, a crash when it reaches a certain point (the same point, mind you)! I'm getting really worried for some reason...

So, does anyone know what the heck is going on? Is it some sort of virus? Bad hardware? Bad programs? All of the above?

[Fantasist]

My guess is bad virus which screwed up your system inside out. First thing you do, try to back up all important data. Then reformat or scan in dos mode (while booting before windows starts). Though, I don't know how that's done.

An other thing you can do is, disconnect your hard drive, attach it to a friend's computer after making sure that PC has the latest virus definitions. Backup everything important and scan the whole drive.

I saved a friend's PC from a disastrous state like that (and he gave me a huge collection of songs in gratitude )

[Blizzard]

Hardware, check it. I had similar problems when my RAM screwed up, when my GFX card cooler died and when my HDD started being a bitch. Try replacing hardware parts (i.e. a RAM module from a friend) and try to cause the errors again. You know the rest.

Your problem seems to be either RAM or HDD. I'd say HDD, but the program crashing seems weird. Maybe it's because of the paging file. The very first thing you should do should be a complete scan of your HDD either with Scandisk or CHKDSK.
The former can be run by selecting Properties after right-clicking and in the Tools tab there is a button (under Error-Checking). Do a maximum possible scan with everything. You will probably have to restart your PC so the scan can be done before Windows boots up.
The latter can be run when you run your PC in safe command - command prompt mode. Just type "chkdsk /?" and follow the instructions when the OS is running. You can enter Windows safe mode by typing "win".

[fugibo]

WinBashing: ShowHide

Wow. And people say that "Windows is just as stable as Linux and OS X."

Not saying to need to switch, but you could download a Linux LiveCD (like Puppy Linux) and boot it, and you could move files over relatively easy, without any further harm to the computer.

[shdwlink1993]

@Myself: The whole thing with the google searches was a virus. That was fixed. Forcibly .

@Fantasist: I've actually been wanting to backup all my stuff and wipe the hard drive completely for a long time now. Dual Booting between XP and Ubuntu has been looking VERY appealing lately... The issue is that I have amassed way too many files to backup reasonably. Just in My Music, there's about 21.5 GB of music. I can't even get that backed up somewhere, let alone the rest of the stuff I have.

Also, this computer is unique in the sense that they really don't want people taking the Hard Drive out. They freaking crammed it in the most inaccessible corner of the computer.

@Blizz: I'll try running chkdisk, because Scandisk takes all of five frames before telling me that it can't complete it. No reason. I heard that it was probably the RAM, but I'm also starting to think that the HDD plays some part in this.

@WcW: I have an Ubuntu LiveCD, but how would that help move files? (Well, at least XP is more stable than Vista and ME!)

[Blizzard]

WinBashing: ShowHide

Wow. And people say that "Windows is just as stable as Linux and OS X."

Broken hardware is not a Windows related problem, mind you. -_-

[fugibo]

@blizz: I was kinda amazed at the amount of PC troubleshooting on such a relatively small forum. I forgot how much computers can screw up :/

@shdwlink:
Some of the more lightweight LiveCD's can boot up in ~1 minutes tops, and since they don't rely on the HDD and can mount/check nearly any filesystem, they're pretty useful for quick fs check CDs or for moving files when you can't boot into the PC without reformating.

[Blizzard]

It's true. The worst problems I had with computers were caused by hardware exclusively. :/ Software problems can be solved usually very easily. Even a full OS reinstall takes a couple of hours for me. :/

[shdwlink1993]

OK. OK. I freaking give up. This computer is being retarded.

I installed Vista for some reason. I'm no longer sure why I did, but I did. At first, it was actually a bit nice. It seemed to treat memory a bit better and my computer didn't BSOD quite as frequently. Admittedly, it's really slow and Cave Story still manages to push the computer's panic button if it's on for any length of time, but it works.

So, I finally lose it after I try recording stuff with Audacity and issues with Sound Drivers come up. I try switching back. And the fun begins. I start up the WinXP disk from the BIOS, and it goes through and puts the fines on the disk just fine. Then, it reboots, like normal. It's then supposed to boot from the hard disk and finish the installation.

What does it do?

It says that a Disk Read Error has occurred, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot. Note that the instructions are completely useless, because, guess what? It's an infinite loop, and the only way I've gotten the computer to NOT loop is by, you guessed it, installing Vista. WTF? I've done this before, no problem! Why the cold treatment now???

So, I'm stuck with Vista until SOMETHING happens and the computer fixes itself, because I have no idea what the computer is trying to do. Does anyone have any idea what this is?

EDIT: OK. Something finally installed, and I'm glad it did, because it's just about the fastest thing I've seen. Windows Server 2008 managed to install stuff 5 times as fast as Vista, and this was while it was deleting a crap-load of files. And you're always the administrator, so there's no IDIOTIC User Account Control or needing to Run as Administrator.

[Blizzard]

You pobably need to format the disk before installing if you wanna get rid of VistAIDS.

[fugibo]

The thing about running as Admin is that it leaves a huge gaping hole for viruses to jump in. For some reason, it's impossible to get the same level of usability as a regular user under Windows as you can in Unix :/