Lots of Computer Problems


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Ok -- I'll start by giving the recent history of my computer. Last Thursday, the guy came out from Comcast to install high-speed cable internet on our computer. It worked very well. The next day, I bought my iRiver H120 and installed that and it worked very well. Then all of a sudden, my computer crashed. I couldn't do anything. So I tried to do a reboot. It said that it could not successfully boot Windows. It gave me the options to: 1. Boot into safe mode. 2. Boot into safe mode with networking. 3. Boot into safe mode with a DOS prompt. 4. Boot into the last-known working configuration of Windows. The only ones I knew were 1. and 4. Neither worked. Since I do incremental backups, I decided it would be ok if I did a reformat. I booted from my XP disk, deleted my current partition, and tried to install XP on the unpartitioned space. However, there were MANY copying errors when it tried to install. After [literally] hours on the phone with Gateway (my computer manufacturer) and Microsoft, I came to the conclusion that my XP disk was scratched. However it is an OEM version of Windows XP, so Microsoft would not send me a replacement -- neither would Gateway. So yesterday, I installed 98SE and bought a brand new upgrade version of XP Home. I installed it over the 98. I also bought Ghost 2003 yesterday, but I have yet to open it. Is it worth keeping for $70 -- rather than just reformatting when needed? Ok -- back to the computer -- I was installing everything on my comp -- Firefox, Thunderbird, Bid-O-Matic, Spybot, Adaware, Google Toolbar, etc, etc, etc and I got a notice from AVG (free version) that I had a Trojan installed on my machine. So I ran AVG virus scan, and it came back with three infected files -- it was able to heal two of them. Now this is a two-year-old crappy (well not too crappy -- hardware-wise -- 2.0 GHz P4, 512 MB ram, DVD-R/CD-RW drive) Gateway. Should I go out and buy a copy of Norton Antivirus to fix the Trojan? Should I keep Ghost to fix this crappy computer whenever it crashes? Should I stop putting money into this black hole and buy a new computer? If so should I go for a $750 Dell or get the lowest level $800 eMac and switch to Mac to stop all these hardware problems. I know this is a lot -- here's a guide of what I'm looking for.

Keep or sell the computer

-- If keep, keep or return Ghost

-- If keep, buy or not buy Norton

-- If sell, Dell or Mac

Thanks a lot -- I'm sorry I'm asking so much -- but we're on a tight budget, and I don't want to waste the money :(.

P.S. Mods - I'm really sorry - my question had so many different things, I had no idea what topic to put it in :(.

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That's bad news indeed Will :(

If you do decide to sell it, can I recommend that you reformat first and try to get rid of any remaining problems first? You don't want the buyer going home to find that it's all still fugged up as you are describing above :)

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i only had problem with norton. imo their software sucks. i'd go a for low level format and setup things again.

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If it came down to choosing between Norton Antivirus and Norton Ghost, I'd have to choose NAV, hands down.... especially since you backup regularly ;)

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timko - yeah - i'd write the drive to zeros and install xp again

I was just thinking... if you're going to do that anyway then you might as well just keep the PC. It's isn't a bad spec PC and I'm guessing it does pretty much what you want it for right now (pr0nshop, music, a few games - albeit slightly more modern ones with the details turned down slightly) :)

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It sounds to me like there is nothing wrong with the computer itself (hardware-wise). If I were you I would just format the Hard Drive and do a clean install of Windows. You might want to run checkdisk just to verify that there is nothing wrong with the drive itself (no bad sectors or anything).

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Have you actually reformated it 1st? or just redone windows? :unsure:

If you have reformated it 8 times.. I would just buy a new hard drive.. the computer sounds good enough to keep.

btw dont waste your cash on any norton stuff.

Then again... Is the stuff you are putting back on from a backup?

Sounds like you have a virus on your backup files.

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:huh: If you can see a scratch on the disc, you might want to try one of those CD repair wheels, 20 -- 25 dollars maybe ? Maybe a friend has one already.

The symptoms you described could also be a loose CD-rom or hard drive cable. Or the ribbon cable could just be bad. You might try replacing it. Not very expensive. I had this happen, and no CD proggy would install without crashing.

I replaced the cable and all was well. :)

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I had a bad sector on my hdd once

It made me install windows each and every morning but was fine right til I went to bed, I got a new HDD and all was good.

I would suggest a full format, wipe everything and start again, might lose some docs but you wont lose $600 when $40 odd will suffice.

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