Windows 7 and software woes

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Wolfdale75

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
133
Hi Guys,

I'm hoping some of you can help me diagnose some Windows 7 (Ultimate, 64-bit) problems.

Did a fresh install of Windows after previous copy suddenly decided to revert to factory settings!

- no anti-virus product that I try will work - I've tried Avast, AVG, Avira, BitDefender - you name it. They either will not install or they fail to initialize when Windows boots.

- ZoneAlarm firewall refuses to initalize when Win boots or otherwise behaves erratically

- Frequent Firefox browser crashes - random pages

- Random BSODs

- Windows occasionally decides of its own accord to change the theme or screen resolution (have the latest video card drivers)

- Some network problems - sometimes the system cannot see the network adapter even though it is correctly installed

- Occasional Windows boot failures


I am wondering - do these problems sound like a serious hardware error or maybe even a boot-sector virus of some kind?

When I did a Windows Memory Diagnostic it said my memory has issues, but sadly nothing more specific than that.

Could bad memory really be causing these kind of issues? I note that my system is averse to installing/running security software - anti-virus and firewall - could that be a sign of malicious code running somewhere hidden?

Thanks for your thoughts!

I've scanned the system with Spybot, Avira (on the rare ocassion it worked) and Kaspersky Online free antivirus. No detections.

Cheers! Wolfdale75
 
Definitely run Memtest 86+ for a couple passes.

I've seen all of this type of behavior like this before, but it was with Vista on AMD AHCI device. It simply would not work regardless of the drivers. I know it's a shot in the dark, but if you are on AMD AHCI, switch to IDE and reinstall.
 
I'd run Tdsskiller from Kaspersky to check for rootkits. Sounds like the Pihar bootkit to me. Also run your HDD manufacturer's DOS based diagnostic & memtest.
 
With your symptoms, my first thought was memory. Have a scan with memtest86 and if it finds a bad stick, replace it. You already have one tool telling you that its bad... it obviously has some problems.
 
Hi Guys,

Thanks a lot for your thoughts.

i've run just about every rootkit scanner that is user-friendly and I can get my hands on. Result: nothing found. (Tdsskiller rendered my mouse useless).

I ran MemTest86+ last night. No errors found.

Does anyone have any other thoughts?

Thanks! :)
 
1. take drive out put it in an external enclosure and scan it in another PC that has up to date protection, remove any infections that are found. if nothing is found, move to step 2.

2. Use a boot disk and do a low level scan and then a destructive read write test. If drive passes do the test again, if it passes, move to step 3

3. Reinstall OS* and call it a day.

*DO NOT RESTORE IMAGE FROM A BACKUP and use ONLY OEM Windoes install media. (IE DVD ROM from MS or OEM such as DELL)
 
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