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Compaq.. have to fix it

C

Cloudy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 31, 2003
Messages
372
So my girlfriend's computer sucks. It's a compaq her parents bought her about a year ago for highschool graduation. It recently got super-laggy (more so than usual, I mean), so I tried to scan with norton, it closed about two minutes into the scan. I tried using symantec's online virus scanner (it took about 2 days to complete) and it found 7 infected files. Of course, I couldn't fix the problems if I didn't buy the software. :/ The next thing I did was download several free scanning and removal tools. They together found the same number of files. I managed to get rid a few of them, but the rest wouldn't have it.

I tried to enable file sharing on her computer so that I could scan her stuff myself, but her computer wouldn't have it.

My new idea is obviously a reformat. Although, there is no bios I can access hence there is no boot to CD option that I can enable. That leads me to believe the only way I can reformat her computer is to right click on the drive, and hit reformat. I've never done that to windows while within windows, so I have no idea what will happen. My next problem with this option is her ethernet. Her lan is integrated onto her motherboard. I'm worried that her lan won't work until you get the proper motherbard chipset drivers are installed. I looked on compaq's site and didn't see any such drivers. Would windows automatically let me use her ethernet without the proper drivers? I've not installed drivers for PCI ethernet cards several times and went with it, but never have successfully with onboard. Here is the list of downloads for her model.

Thanks for all the help I know I'm going to get from all you great people.

The site looks great.
 
Well, it's not possible to format the drive while using Windows. Feel free to try it for yourself.~ Is it Windows XP? My guess would be there would be no problem locating the driver for the onboard (by this, I mean Windows probably wouldn't have any problems loading the correct driver by itself during installation), but just in case, does shen ot have the CDs that came with the computer? If she does, do they not have the drivers?

Have you already tried booting with a CD? My guess is it would already be enabled since this is a must for modern computers, and especially if they don't let you change it. I also recall Compaqs providing Restore CDs which you boot with to restore to factory settings, so I don't see why you would have a problem booting from a CD.
 
I always find it funny when people blame the hardware OEM for when Windows degrades due to a lack of upkeep. Anyways, an OS reload is always a good idea on systems that get loaded with crap/viruses/spyware, etc. If it's a hardware issue, and I can be of help with warranties, etc, please let me know. I have some contacts in our consumer products areas.
 
Ok, here is what you do.

On your computer, make a cd with Ad-aware, Spybot, CWShredder, and AVG anti-virus.
All of these tools are free, search google for the locations.

Boot her computer into safe mode w/ networking (F8 on boot) and start installing/running the utilities (update each application first by clicking on the update buttons in each program).*

*I'm assuming that she has a broadband connection since you are worried about ethernet drivers. If not, make sure the updated ref files are on the cd when you burn it. Those files are out there, it will just take a little bit of leg work on your part to find them.


While you are on her box, delete everything out of her temp folders in the following locations(don't delete the folders, just the contents of the folders)
c:\documents and settings\...\local settings\temp
c:\documents and settings\...\local settings\temporary internet files
c:\windows\temp

you may have to enable "view hidden files" to see the local settings folder in documents and settings

It has been my experience that a lot of really nasty things live in Temp folders. Plus it is just a good habit to get into to clean those out every once and a while.

Do all of that, reboot into regular Windows and see how things are running now. I'll bet that you have solved the problem and don't have to nuke and pave the OS.

Good luck
 
Yes. WindowsXP. I'll try many of these suggestions and get back to you guys in a day or so on how the problem is now or if it's any better. Thanks again.
 
Ok, here is what you do.

On your computer, make a cd with Ad-aware, Spybot, CWShredder, and AVG anti-virus.
All of these tools are free, search google for the locations.

Boot her computer into safe mode w/ networking (F8 on boot) and start installing/running the utilities (update each application first by clicking on the update buttons in each program).*

*I'm assuming that she has a broadband connection since you are worried about ethernet drivers. If not, make sure the updated ref files are on the cd when you burn it. Those files are out there, it will just take a little bit of leg work on your part to find them.


While you are on her box, delete everything out of her temp folders in the following locations(don't delete the folders, just the contents of the folders)
c:\documents and settings\...\local settings\temp
c:\documents and settings\...\local settings\temporary internet files
c:\windows\temp

you may have to enable "view hidden files" to see the local settings folder in documents and settings

It has been my experience that a lot of really nasty things live in Temp folders. Plus it is just a good habit to get into to clean those out every once and a while.

Do all of that, reboot into regular Windows and see how things are running now. I'll bet that you have solved the problem and don't have to nuke and pave the OS.

Good luck
Click to expand...

This sounds good. I really do hate COMPAQ's. I would just throw the computer out the window and watch it plunge to the ground like a POS it is. Of course that is just me. Good Luck too.

Caliche
 
Caliche said:
This sounds good. I really do hate COMPAQ's. I would just throw the computer out the window and watch it plunge to the ground like a POS it is. Of course that is just me. Good Luck too.

Caliche
Click to expand...

Yeah, i do the same with Dells ;)
 
blackrino9 knows what he is talking about. Those are great suggestions, and are what I do for my computer.
 
There should be a restore CD or a hidden partition on the drive with a image on it. Compaq's generally use Intel network cards so drivers should not be an issue. And they do have a BIOS you an access, you just have to know how to get to it. I would suggest you read the manual before working on it anymore.
 
I did everything that blackrino9 said.. updated and ran all three of those programs he listed (well, not ad-aware just spyboy) and the computer is still running like crap. However, 5 infected files and about 100 piece of spyware was removed. I don't know what to do now. There is no image cd with her computer.
 
you know what, to find out what kind of hardware you have, go to device manager
start -> my computer -> (right click) propeties -> hardware _> device manager
ok click and wirte down the hardware you have. and thats it.
 
I'd almost bet there is a restore partition on the hard drive........try booting to a win98 boot disk.....run fdisk.......it will even work with an NTFS file system....option 4 in fdisk will display partition information, and every compaq I have worked on has a bios.......try F2, Del, or F1 as soon as you get video output to the monitor.....that should get you in.
 
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