Error message on start up...and some other weird things...

jninjacash31 · 07-14-2008, 06:19 PM

To start, my computer has been acting weird for a couple weeks now (ever since my 10 year old boy came to visit and started downloading questionable items and visiting questionable websites). It's a Dell. I have XP. It was running extremely slow in internet browsing and in playing games (both by browser and by disk), opening programs, etc. Also, in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason it would restart itself.

I have AVG free and also Spybot. Neither program has detected any viruses.

One night, as I was running AVG and Spybot, it restarted itself in the middle of running the programs and the start-up stopped on the DOS screen giving a message stating that it has detected an error in the EIDI (or something like that) controller and recommended I back up my files, replace my hard drive and get tech support.

I have not backed up my data yet. But, since this start-up error message, when I go to my control panel, the following items will not open (the icon next to each item is gone, replaced by a wordpad looking icon [don't know how else to describe it):
Add or Remove Programs
Game Controllers
Java
Mail
Phone & Modem Options
Power Options
Security Center

These literally will not open when I click, double click or right click and select 'open'.

Is this a partial hard-drive shutdown?

On a scale of 1 to 100 in computer knowledge, I am only about a 35, so when responding keep that in mind.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Jninjacash31

**Deleted090308** · 07-14-2008, 09:56 PM

Welcome to TSF.

Sounds like the computer is infected.
Please run Kaspersky's online scanner: http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
Choose to scan "My computer" - that will check everything on the HDD.

kaspersky.jpg

If Kaspersky cathes anything:
Please follow the 5 steps here: IMPORTANT - Read This Before Posting For Malware Removal Help

Post the logs here: http://www.techsupportforum.com/secu...this-log-help/

07-14-2008, 06:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
jninjacash31 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 1 OS: XP	Error message on start up...and some other weird things... To start, my computer has been acting weird for a couple weeks now (ever since my 10 year old boy came to visit and started downloading questionable items and visiting questionable websites). It's a Dell. I have XP. It was running extremely slow in internet browsing and in playing games (both by browser and by disk), opening programs, etc. Also, in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason it would restart itself. I have AVG free and also Spybot. Neither program has detected any viruses. One night, as I was running AVG and Spybot, it restarted itself in the middle of running the programs and the start-up stopped on the DOS screen giving a message stating that it has detected an error in the EIDI (or something like that) controller and recommended I back up my files, replace my hard drive and get tech support. I have not backed up my data yet. But, since this start-up error message, when I go to my control panel, the following items will not open (the icon next to each item is gone, replaced by a wordpad looking icon [don't know how else to describe it): Add or Remove Programs Game Controllers Java Mail Phone & Modem Options Power Options Security Center These literally will not open when I click, double click or right click and select 'open'. Is this a partial hard-drive shutdown? On a scale of 1 to 100 in computer knowledge, I am only about a 35, so when responding keep that in mind. Thanks in advance for any and all help. Jninjacash31

07-14-2008, 09:56 PM	#2 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,282 OS: Xp	Re: Error message on start up...and some other weird things... Welcome to TSF. Sounds like the computer is infected. Please run Kaspersky's online scanner: http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner Choose to scan "My computer" - that will check everything on the HDD. kaspersky.jpg If Kaspersky cathes anything: Please follow the 5 steps here: IMPORTANT - Read This Before Posting For Malware Removal Help Post the logs here: http://www.techsupportforum.com/secu...this-log-help/