Computer Problem.

[matmat]

Figured this was about as good a place as any to ask about this.

I'm running a dual boot (windows ME/ Debian Linux) box, I've been doing this for a very long time now.

Recently (the past two weeks or so) windows has begun to spontaneously restart within a minite or two of reboot. I can usually get the system to fully reboot and then it sort of sits there normal as ever until all of a sudden, with no warnings, the screen goes blank and the machine resets. I do not experience this problem in either Linux or windows safe mode.

I've ran spybot on the box, but I can't get my (up to date) norton AV to do a full scan as that usually takes longer than the restarting will permit.

does anyone have any idea if I should be looking at anything in particular? I mean, it doesn't seem like a hardware problem, I did not really install anything new the last few months...

any thoughts would be appreciated
thanks

[Madison]

Have to tried running Norton in safe mode?

[matmat]

Have to tried running Norton in safe mode?

yes It doesn't let me. I get some strange error message that I don't remember off-hand, but has to do with one of the DLL files. I'll be hacking at this a little in the day and I'll post the specific message later.

[slomo007]

Sounds to me like the symptoms of the Sasser virus. You may try to download and run a program called "Stinger" (made by McAfee specifically for Sasser), but the best solution would be to rebuild if it finds something, even if it says it's "deleted". However, if it's not giving you much of a chance to run Norton, I doubt Stinger will finish either.

I am assuming the Linux partition is not experiencing problems?

[Madison]

Ok, I called my teck-head (wife) and she says to do the following:

Boot into safe mode.

Delete all Temp files, temporary internet files, and cookies.

Go to add/remove programs and remove anything that shouldn't be there.

Run a scandisk.

Run a defrag.

Then try running Norton.

I know it's a lot of work and no guarantee that it will be successful, but that's what I could find out.

[shpuck]

You could also try running Hiajack This, which can be downloaded here:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

I used it for the first time about two months ago on my wife's best friend's computer whose home page had been hijacked. It's possible (I'm not sure how likely) that your windows has somehow been hijacked.

It took me a large part of a saturday to figure out how the program worked, but she told me her computer has been clean since I tinkered with it.

Make sure you find instructions and print them out before trying to use it. I remember finding help on majorgeeks message board somewhere.

An Alternative:
You could also reformat your entire Win OS partition and reinstall everything. Something that's what's needed to turn the trick.

Try what Mads said first, and then, if you have the time to invest, run Hijack This.

[matmat]

thanks for your suggestions

i already ran hijack, spybot and whatever parts of norton AV managed to run (namely, the boot sector and memory checks). They didn't find anything overly malicious ( a couple of tracking cookies, but that's all.

I don't particularly want to nuke my hd . .. I've got too much on it to back up easily. I tried reinstailling ME and actually got error messages off of the original install disk -- suppose that means I'd need to format the HD to get it to work correctly. I don't want to do that, as I've said. I'll just go get my paws on XP and upgrade. Should do the trick, at least temporarily.

thanks for the suggestions;
the scandisk;defrag didn't work either

[Amazinz]

First a computer that continually reboots itself may have a hardware problem. (A memory chip gone bad are notorious rebooters) Have you installed any new hardware lately or opened your box?

When you attempted to reinstall Windows ME, what was the error you were receiving?

Do you get the BSOD (blue screen) prior to reboot?

Is the computer rebooting at the same time on every reboot? This normally a sign of a corrupted system file.

What type of error are you getting when enter Safe Mode?

What did you install immediately prior to the errors occurring?

Do you have System Restore running?

Also,

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Information.
2. On the Tools menu, click Dr. Watson.

Text box at the bottom of the form should show you if you are getting some type of application error. If there any view them for details and post that.