kevsim

Amd Athlon processor, MSI motherboard with 512mb memory, Windows XP Media edition.

My daughters computer was giving many problems, USB ports (4) failing one by one , computer running slow etc.
A check with AdAware, Spybot Search and Destroy and AVG did not rectify the problem.

Finally decided to reinstall the operating system, (at this point of time had not checked processor usage), it took 2 days to format the drive and 4 hours to install the operating system from disk 1.

A check using 2 DOS based programs, the memory was checked but no faults appeared.

There was no other software installed except the operating system but Task Manager showed the processor at 100%, under processes it showed “System” running 100%, “System Idle” at 0%.

Using MSCONFIG, all System.ini, Win.ini, Services and Startup files were disabled and computer rebooted, but the “System” still showed 100%.
I would appreciate any advise.

kevsim

linderman

sounds like a virus or other similar nasty to me!


formatting a hard drive does NOT wipe out viruses and other infections


but Dariks boot n Nuke will ! (free)

wipe out the hard drive with that / then reinstall windows

bet it wont take sooooooo long then !


if it does / then let us know and we can begin the diagnostic testing


best regards

joe

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kevsim

linderman,
Thanks for the info.
Do you think this nasty may also cause the USB failures and long install time.
Also when the OS is reinstalled does the AMD processor need any drivers?
kevsim

linderman

USB failures I dont think would be caused by an infection

the long install time is very possible caused by infection

usually the USB problem is an indication of bad motherboard

but try the hard drive wipe first

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kevsim

linderman,
I thank you for your time and effort.
I have downloaded the recommended software, but before I use, is there a Boot Dos utility to measure CPU usage while in DOS. I am still a little afraid the disk format will still take a few days. If CPU stuck at 100% in DOS surely hard drive would take some time.
kevsim

kevsim

Linderman,
Sorry for the delay in replying, my daughter has been on holidays.
The Dariks boot n Nuke software was used and took around 5 hours to complete on a 120Gb drive.
Every time we tried to install Windows XP, the installation would stall at 34 minutes before completion (Installing Devices). Up till that point the installation time was normal.
There is no equipment connected to the computer except Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor.
The onboard sound is disabled in the Bios.
I would appreciate some further advise.

kevsim

linderman

sounds to me like you are having "memory leakage" problems

you will need to download Memtest which is a bootable utility >>>> its provided in either a floppy version (easiest to do) or an ISO file which you burn to a CD

boot the computer into the Memtest utility and let it run for two hours >>>> test your system running only one stick of memory at a time

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linderman

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kevsim

linderman,
Mainboard is MSI RS482M4/.
We previously checked the memory for 3 hours without any faults.
After 2 more tries the operating system completed.
The processor was still at 100%, turned of USB in the BIOS and the processor dropped to 3%.
Turned the USB back on, processor returned to 100%.
The computer is now running OK, except there are no USB ports operating.

The time the USB's began to fail is as follows -
One of the ones in the front stopped working about 6 months ago. The other one stopped working about 3 weeks before all the trouble started, (computer running slow). When that one stopped working (other front), we started using one of the back 4 ports. One of the back 4 had the printer connected the other had the mouse which left 2 ports to use. All 4 of these stopped working at the same time about 2 weeks after using them.

USB has been enabled in the BIOS and in Device Manager the following changes were made -
I have turned off 3 USB root hubs. The USB PCI controller is on and 2 standard USB is on.
The USB in the BIOS is now enabled and the computer running OK except for no USB ports.
I would appreciate some further advise,
kevsim

linderman

best advice ........ return that board to the vendor if possible or RMA that board back to MSI......when it comes back ...... list it on ebay

then go to mwave.com / click refurbished / then go to motherboards

look for an asus or gigabyte motherboard or go to ebay and look for a used DFI socket 939 board

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