PC Suicide?

[Valkysas]

My computer just killed itself, I think. The last 2 weeks, it would open and close windows at random, like opening a folder that was buried inside another folder while I was listening to an MP3 and not touching a damn thing. it was also opening random links in both internet explorer and firefox without me touching anything. repeated virus and spyware scans turned up nothing.

about 10 minutes ago, I put a blank CD-R in the drive to back some stuff up, and out of nowhere, it opened every single episode of Turn A Gundam that I have on my computer in seperate VLC media player windows. thats 32 episodes running at the same time. the computer locked up completely, would accept no input at all, and so I unplugged it after waiting about 5 minutes. plugged it back in, and now it's stuck on the black Windows XP startup screen.

I'm typing this from my dad's computer. the PC never had any problems prior to two weeks ago. it functioned great, and never had any problems, and has only locked up twice that I can remember, and only once has it required that I manually cut off the power and restart it.

any suggestions on what to do?

[Valkysas]

Re: PC Suicide?

Well, it finally loaded up again. running maintenance stuff and then I'll run stuff like CCleaner, Ad-Aware, and AVG just to be safe.

could still use some advice about it's erratic behavior though.

[Alzar]

Re: PC Suicide?

that sucks

[Alex]

Re: PC Suicide?

I'd suggest backing up everything that you need, for one.

Other than that, I dunno.

[Patryn]

Re: PC Suicide?

Demonic possession?

When it starts spitting pea soup, it's time to call your local priest.

[RPGD]

Re: PC Suicide?

Here's hoping my recommended software works.

[goldgecko4]

Re: PC Suicide?

Call your local compumancer and have them exorcise it before trying to run anything else

[thetruecoolness]

Re: PC Suicide?

In all honesty it sounds like a Virus that just isn't being detected. However there is a small chance, that maybe you keyboard is acting up (only if you notice it when typing things though). I know on my keyboard sometimes when I take it somewhere in a bag the refresh key will get stuck. A long shot to be sure, but still a possibility.

But if you haven't tried Housecall yet I would recommend it, http://housecall.trendmicro.com/. Other than that you might want to try to reinstall windows, unless you'll loose some programs you don't have installers for. Though before doing that you might want to find one of the CD bootable versions of Linux and try to back up your data either to another HD or a cd (though sadly I don't know how to use Linux's cd burning software so you'de be own your own there).

[Jamos]

Re: PC Suicide?

Your computer could possibly be a hacked.

[thetruecoolness]

Re: PC Suicide?

Do you have a firewall installed Valk, besides the default XP one (something like ZoneAlarm). I would see if the same things happen when you disconnect from the internet.

[Valkysas]

Re: PC Suicide?

I have Zone Alarm, I tried trend micro, at RPGD's reccomendation I used Microsoft's Windows Defender, I have had the problems with my wireless connection disconnected. it can't be a keyboard problem because the keyboard would have to input very specific commands to open random files that are in folders that arent even open. The Turn A Gundam episodes that opened without their folder ever opening were buried 3 folders deep.

nothing has found any problem yet. reinstalling windows is not an option at this time, since I cant find my installation disc.

[EternalMoogle]

Re: PC Suicide?

My old computer had similar unexplained problems. Opening stuff I didn't tell it to, turning on and off by itself, crashing for no apparent reason, internet connection vanishing at random, etc. I tried everything I could think of. I had a good firewall, scanned my computer regularly, but there was never a problem I could find. Even reformatting didn't fix it. Well, it did for a few weeks, then the problems would come back. I ended up having to fight with tech support for over a year before they admitted they must've screwed something up and sent me a new computer (With a few upgrades. Huzzah!).

But this sounds very similar to what I was experiencing, and sadly, I can offer you little advice. Except that you should back up whatever you need as soon as you can. One day I turned my computer on and everything was gone. My desktop background was back to factory default, and everything that had been on the desktop (basically, all my important files) had vanished. All my programs and stuff on the C driver were still intact, but all my personal files were gone.

Anyhow, I hope your problem is fixable. Just be prepared for the worst.

[Doyleman]

Re: PC Suicide?

This happens to me quite frequently.

On random occaisions (lasting between 10-30 seconds) the mouse will jump everywhere across the screen when I roll it (instead of a nice roll), window's will automatically fly up, the start bar starts up, and 3-4 Menu's open (with copy/paste/delete/move/etc).

I haven't a clue if its a program error or a virus. It seems to quit faster, however, if I just dont touch anything until it's done.

[JPS]

Re: PC Suicide?

try unplugging the internet line from the comp and reboot it and see if it still happens, thatll solve the internet or computer mystery.

If its not hacked then go to the msconfig screen and turn everything off from starting on startup with exception to desperately needed programs.

It may help to clean you virus vault, unlikely one could operate from there but doesnt hurt to try

But youre on a lot so I assume youve had this problem fixed....so what was wrong?

[Red Dragon]

Re: PC Suicide?

Without looking at the computer I can't be to much help. For all I know it's just a mouse or keyboard problem. Try booting up the computer without either plugged in (or if you can't, disable the drivers) and restart.