[Oldcrow]

My daughter's computer (E Machine wind. xp) about three years old. Not used that much, hooked up to ATT UVerse.

The problem is, it starts itself all the time. She has to pull the plug to stop it.

Any ideas for me, what I can look for to solve this problem..

Thanks Oldcrow.

[BeeCeeBee]

Welcome to Computer help Forms, Ron!

The most obvious answer is demonic possession. We have a number of qualified freelance exorcists on staff however they are permitted to charge for this service. Does the monitor swivel 360 degrees while speaking in tongues?

If the exorcism fails there is a real possibility that the computer has not actually completely shut down in the first place and may be going into hibernation or "Sleep" mode. You should look in the control panel and check your power options.

Finally it may be helpful for us to know exactly how it is hooked up to the internet. I have read somewhere that a modem can occasionally interfere with your MOBO. I am no hardware expert but someone will most likely have run accross this and some better answers will follow. There is also the possibility that the problem is with the PSU (Power Supply Unit.)

My money remains on the demons.

[allheart55]

Right-click My Computer and select Properties. Click the Advanced tab.
In the Start-up and Recovery sub-section click Settings.
In the System Failure sub-section, make sure Automatically Restart is unchecked and
click Okay. You will get an error message now when the system restarts and you can
tell us what that is. (That will help us to troubleshoot it. )

[Oldcrow]

Thanks.. I'm having a dishwasher delivered and installed this weekend.. I'll try to get over to my daughter's tomorrow and check this out, and I'll let you know from there. I'll take my flower pot laptop with me so I can stay online..

Thanks and I'll get back as soon as possible..Unless the 'Demons' get me first..

[allheart55]

Hi Ron,

I'm hoping the "demons" didn't get you.........
How did you make out with your daughters computer?

[Oldcrow]

allheart55, on 31 Jul 2010 - 03:29 PM, said:

Hi Ron,

I'm hoping the "demons" didn't get you.........
How did you make out with your daughters computer?

My dishwasher was delivered at 8:00 am Saturday. My plumber son in law had to do cement work today, so I pulled out the old dishwasher and installed the new one.. So far so good. No leaks, and doing a test run right now. Man I haven't worked in some years..I quit working in 99 and bummed around doing part time driving. This was work.. You'd think I was kneeling to pray or something..

I'll be going over sometime Sunday afternoon..after I visit my friend in the nursing home..

Was wondering, maybe do a complete reinstall, whats your thoughts..think this would help, or should I do something else..

Ron..

[BeeCeeBee]

Quote

Was wondering, maybe do a complete reinstall, whats your thoughts..think this would help, or should I do something else..

I think once you have done all the plumbing you should leave the dishwasher alone.

As for the computer a reinstall will only solve the problem if it is software related. That is why it was suggested that you get the error codes.

[Oldcrow]

BeeCeeBee, on 31 Jul 2010 - 07:05 PM, said:

I think once you have done all the plumbing you should leave the dishwasher alone.

As for the computer a reinstall will only solve the problem if it is software related. That is why it was suggested that you get the error codes.

Ah! the dishwasher is for me... I'm the spoiled one, the wife gets to watch..

OK I'll check for error's and let you know..

[BeeCeeBee]

With all the comings and goings we almost lost track of this thread. Have you been able to get the error code(s) ?

[Oldcrow]

OK I got this emachine hooked up now. I had to restart it three times. t kept lagging and stalling, and is soooo slow it's pathetic.

I can't get it to do anything., I did get the Virus program updated and now running a scan. very slow. Everything seems to just hang when you open anything.

**A notice popped up telling me: Your System is low on vitual memory.. I have 145 GB and 132GB Free Space or 91% Free Space. Avast has been going for one hour and not finding anything yet.

OK Now what's my next step here.

I have to go to WalGreens and get some Med.'s. Be back shortly..

[BeeCeeBee]

Virtual Memory, huh? OK lets make sure that is set right. We need to know how much RAM you have, memory not HDD space.

In an XP Machine you need to right click on "My Computer" and select properties. Now look at the diagram below. That will get you to the pageing page that controls virtual memory. Having the wrong virtual memory can slow things down but it usually is controlled by Windows.

Follow the arrows and it will get you to that last page "Virtual Memory."

This is where you need to know how much ram you have. The diagram is from my old XP laptop. It has 1Gb of RAM (1000MB) now the top Number "the initial size " should be 1.5 times the amount of RAM (So mine was set at 1521 (You don't need to be that precise 1500 will do.) The maximum is twice that number. So if you had 512MB your initial size should be about 750 and the max 1500. Make sure that is all correct or change it and then OK your way all the way out of each window.

THUMBNAIL (Click)

[Kojak]

Oldcrow, on 02 Aug 2010 - 07:41 PM, said:

OK I got this emachine hooked up now. I had to restart it three times. t kept lagging and stalling, and is soooo slow it's pathetic.

I can't get it to do anything., I did get the Virus program updated and now running a scan. very slow. Everything seems to just hang when you open anything.

**A notice popped up telling me: Your System is low on vitual memory.. I have 145 GB and 132GB Free Space or 91% Free Space. Avast has been going for one hour and not finding anything yet.

OK Now what's my next step here.

I have to go to WalGreens and get some Med.'s. Be back shortly..

Try the link below.

Low Virtual Memory

[allheart55]

Virtual memory is the space your computer uses when it's short of RAM (Random Access Memory).
Software programs such as MS Office or your Anti-virus can cause this error. If you don't correct
the problem, you will notice performance getting gradually slower and slower. Programs will become
harder to open and close. Web pages take longer to be displayed and freezing will occur.

Barry has given clear instructions on how to increase your virtual RAM in his post. Once you have that
issue taken care of you should notice an increase in performance immediately. (Don't forget to reboot
the machine after increasing your virtual RAM.)

Have you gotten any random blue screens or shut downs with error codes since you disabled the automatic restart?

[Oldcrow]

OK I increased the memory to 1521 both boxes. Moves around much faster now. Shuts down and restarts quicker. But the darn pages like Firefox home page, still hangs when opening..In fact I have clicked the FF Icon at least 5 times now, and still is not responding..

It brings up the programs faster also. Takes like 5 min.'s to open IE7 .Then its a blank page with the header. FF is the same a blank page. I click to closed the page/s and nothing, no response..

[Oldcrow]

allheart55, on 02 Aug 2010 - 09:08 PM, said:

Virtual memory is the space your computer uses when it's short of RAM (Random Access Memory).
Software programs such as MS Office or your Anti-virus can cause this error. If you don't correct
the problem, you will notice performance getting gradually slower and slower. Programs will become
harder to open and close. Web pages take longer to be displayed and freezing will occur.

Barry has given clear instructions on how to increase your virtual RAM in his post. Once you have that
issue taken care of you should notice an increase in performance immediately. (Don't forget to reboot
the machine after increasing your virtual RAM.)

Have you gotten any random blue screens or shut downs with error codes since you disabled the automatic restart?

I increase it to 1521MB in both boxes. Rebooted, it came back nice and quick. Moved around quicker. for programs.. I removed some programs like Adobe. Rebooted and came back pretty good. Moves much better. But IE7 and FF are not responding, just hang or open to a blank page..

I never shut off Restart yet. Want me to do that.

[BeeCeeBee]

This is just out of left field but does this computer have any HP Printer software on it?

Quote

I never shut off Restart yet. Want me to do that.

You should, yes.

[Oldcrow]

Ok I shut the off the Restart, and Rebooted.. It came back on loaded it programs. "No Error Report" Not a thing.

And yes it has a 1021 HP Printer.

[BeeCeeBee]

OK I assume that your daughter has the software disc for the HP. Even if she does not it is easily found on the HP site. I am going to suggest that you uninstall all the programs listed as HP in your list of programs and see if that solves your browser loading problems. Do an actual uninstall and not a delete.

Background: I have a laptop with XP. It had all the HP printer software. No matter what I tried I could not get Firefox to load in less than 3-4 minutes. Once it loaded the first time if seemed to be OK. When I got my W& machine I decided to format the old XP one. Once I did that I decided that was the whimpy way out of problem solving and reloaded an image of the machine as it was. By process of elimination I finally got around to the HP software and uninstalled all of it. From that point on my boot time was cut in half and both browsers opened in seconds. Prior to that I went for over a year without a clue without any answer to that dilemma. By the way IE7 (on the computer) was only marginally better than firefox. Now they are both fine.

[Oldcrow]

Got no errors after shutting down restart. Computer will not respond to any programs, just hangs forever.. Will not stop scanning for updates on O/S. IE and FF will not open, just hang, if they do open, its blank page with a header..

Man I'm stumped on this one.. Shuts down and restarts quick, but thats its limit..

Any ideas, Should I buy more Memory..

I've removed some programs, but there were hardly any in the control panel..

I did get one security update, taken like 10 min.'s to install it..

I think I'll call it a night for now..

[BeeCeeBee]

I am beginning to suspect that this machine may be infected? What say anyone else. Malware Removal?