Sudden Onslaught Of Bsods After computer has functioned fine for more than 3 years.

[vhortex 1]

If this is the same computer you mentioned on another thread that got infected, then it is possible that you have a corrupted OS due to viral attacks. Virus can stay in your computer for years and only activate at a certain time. I use to have that type of virus sitting on my work computer for 2 years without it ever activating. The virus was intentionally added by a jealous coworker and sad to say, it never completes the required trigger to run. :DUntil now I am guessing that one of the trigger is to contact a certain computer to activate, my computer at work on the other hand have firewalls installed to prevent my computer to connect to any machines on our network and only allows outgoing connection to the mail server and incoming connections was also limited to the update server and the mail server. :)I setup it that way since I don't trust our corporate antivirus which always end up spreading infections rather than fixing them. ******************Crack softwares can potentially destroy a windows registry hive that will cause BSOD. A virus attack from an outside source can trigger BSOD since it is really trying to shutdown defenses and the most common method is to shutdown windows to a certain level and still allow inbound/outbound communication. Windows is a multi-thread software and sometimes, a BSOD screen still allows incoming connection (tried and tested).******************Hacking softwares can trash your partition and corrupt your windows registry including your device driver.******************Sudden power interruption while windows is being update can cause unknown random BSOD. This will persist since you already own a partially corrupted system files.*******************Try using windows repair kit, it is included on windows installer. I never know which edition have that kit since I only own windows XP pro SP1 which have dos repair shell which of course does almost nothing and Windows 7 which have installation fix.What you should see on the kit is a windows file integrity scanner which will check bad files. To avoid problems in the future if ever you need to reinstall, make sure that you have a ghost partition. This will reinstall everything back up to the state when you created the ghost partition.

[tgp1994 0]

If this is the same computer you mentioned on another thread that got infected, then it is possible that you have a corrupted OS due to viral attacks. Virus can stay in your computer for years and only activate at a certain time. I use to have that type of virus sitting on my work computer for 2 years without it ever activating. The virus was intentionally added by a jealous coworker and sad to say, it never completes the required trigger to run.

I don't think I have/had any kind of specialised viruses like that on my computer. Anyhow, the BSODs were happening before I was infected. (Oddly enough, the infection has almost seemed to have fixed my problem I'm still holding my breath.)

 

Until now I am guessing that one of the trigger is to contact a certain computer to activate, my computer at work on the other hand have firewalls installed to prevent my computer to connect to any machines on our network and only allows outgoing connection to the mail server and incoming connections was also limited to the update server and the mail server.

 

I setup it that way since I don't trust our corporate antivirus which always end up spreading infections rather than fixing them.

That doesn't make much sense... I'll quote myself above and say that I doubt I have anything like that

 

Crack softwares can potentially destroy a windows registry hive that will cause BSOD. A virus attack from an outside source can trigger BSOD since it is really trying to shutdown defenses and the most common method is to shutdown windows to a certain level and still allow inbound/outbound communication. Windows is a multi-thread software and sometimes, a BSOD screen still allows incoming connection (tried and tested).

 

Hacking softwares can trash your partition and corrupt your windows registry including your device driver.

I'd like to try and keep the virus issue and BSOD issue in separate threads. No crack or hacking software has been installed recently.

 

Sudden power interruption while windows is being update can cause unknown random BSOD. This will persist since you already own a partially corrupted system files.

Haven't had any of those.

 

Try using windows repair kit, it is included on windows installer. I never know which edition have that kit since I only own windows XP pro SP1 which have dos repair shell which of course does almost nothing and Windows 7 which have installation fix.

You mean do a repair install? Afaik any windows version can do that when you pop in the setup cd, and I'd like to hold off on that as a last resort. And why in the world are you only running SP1?

 

What you should see on the kit is a windows file integrity scanner which will check bad files.

Oh, wait, that does sound different. Do you happen to remember the exact name?

 

To avoid problems in the future if ever you need to reinstall, make sure that you have a ghost partition. This will reinstall everything back up to the state when you created the ghost partition.

Bleh, performance decrease. And I don't exactly have the space to keep that ghost partition.

 

Thank you for all of your input! This did add some new angles to the whole thinking process.

[vhortex 1]

You mean do a repair install? Afaik any windows version can do that when you pop in the setup cd, and I'd like to hold off on that as a last resort. And why in the world are you only running SP1?

Reinstall/replace is different from a real repair. Repair means to replace the broken files with a healthy one and flag for an update. Reinstall/replace is the thing you see on most windows setup CD which will replace or reinstall a certain module.

 

Having Windows XP pro SP1 installer CD does not mean I am running SP1. There is no limitation written with the installer that I can't upgrade upward to SP2 or SP3.

 

The point is, if I have Windows XP pro SP1 and Windows SP2 comes out, I wont bother buying that new installer instead I will just slip in a Live CD, slip stream that SP2 patch to my Original Windows XP pro SP1 and then burn. Now I have a Windows XP Pro SP2 installer which I can pop in and install (I never reinstall windows, upgrading the installer allows me to "repair" files correctly)

 

Oh, wait, that does sound different. Do you happen to remember the exact name?

Sadly no, I have no use for it so I ever bother remembering the name. It is usually available to professional edition installers on exception with windows 7 (unless you own a starter kit).

 

Bleh, performance decrease. And I don't exactly have the space to keep that ghost partition.

There is no performance descrease when you have norton ghost, you can just run it via command shell or run if before windows boot up (shecduled), the space will still be used and the partition will be hidden. There are hundreds of replacement for ghost partition.

[tgp1994 0]

Reinstall/replace is different from a real repair. Repair means to replace the broken files with a healthy one and flag for an update. Reinstall/replace is the thing you see on most windows setup CD which will replace or reinstall a certain module.

I have never seen any windows setup CD replace only a select few files before.

Having Windows XP pro SP1 installer CD does not mean I am running SP1. There is no limitation written with the installer that I can't upgrade upward to SP2 or SP3.
The point is, if I have Windows XP pro SP1 and Windows SP2 comes out, I wont bother buying that new installer instead I will just slip in a Live CD, slip stream that SP2 patch to my Original Windows XP pro SP1 and then burn. Now I have a Windows XP Pro SP2 installer which I can pop in and install (I never reinstall windows, upgrading the installer allows me to "repair" files correctly)

Ya, I know, I know, I confused what you had said for a second there and assumed you were actually running Windows XP SP1.

There is no performance descrease when you have norton ghost, you can just run it via command shell or run if before windows boot up (shecduled), the space will still be used and the partition will be hidden. There are hundreds of replacement for ghost partition.

I would consider running it before bootup a performance decrease (adding time to the boot procedure). And like you said, the space will be taken up. Despite there being hundreds of replacements, I don't think there's anyway around it.

[yordan 10]

You don't really nead ghost to decrease your PC's performance. If you want, you can make your initial backup, and then remove the software from your PC, so you will not see it starting at boot time.And if you don't want the backup to use too much space on your hard disk, you still can put it on an external disk.Of course, do not forget the free alternative to Ghost, which is name CloneZilla. You boot it off a CD, so nothing to be installed on your hard disk. The backup can be made on an external file server, maybe you already have on on your home network.

[tgp1994 0]

You don't really nead ghost to decrease your PC's performance. If you want, you can make your initial backup, and then remove the software from your PC, so you will not see it starting at boot time.And if you don't want the backup to use too much space on your hard disk, you still can put it on an external disk.
Of course, do not forget the free alternative to Ghost, which is name CloneZilla. You boot it off a CD, so nothing to be installed on your hard disk. The backup can be made on an external file server, maybe you already have on on your home network.

Hmm... I kind of like the one time idea. I guess the only problem is: I wouldn't be able to get into the habit of backing up often enough to make it worthwhile... and then, what if I backup an alreadt infected file?

You're right though, I should be backing up something.

The idea of an application or utility that scans windows file for corruption is very interesting, since I think I'm still infected. (Mysterious outgoing HTTP connections from the system idle process, some of which ESET blocks because they are known attack sites.)

[yordan 10]

you make a backup after a fresh Windows install.The second backup when all your application, spreadsheets, picture management and surfing softwares are installed correctly.And then a monthly backup.In case of problem, you go back to the previous month. If the problem is still there, you go back two or three monthes before the s supposed crash.

[tgp1994 0]

you make a backup after a fresh Windows install.The second backup when all your application, spreadsheets, picture management and surfing softwares are installed correctly.
And then a monthly backup.
In case of problem, you go back to the previous month. If the problem is still there, you go back two or three monthes before the s supposed crash.

Keeping that many backups? I think that would total at least 1.6 terabytes of data for me. Much more than I could store, and much more than what I'd want to pay an online service to keep.

[yordan 10]

We are talking about the operating system backup. It's only the c: disk, without any date. It should be someting like no more than 30 gigs.And you store it on an external disk.You store the intial backup, and then a rolling backup : the month 1, then the month 2. After the "month 3" you destroy "month2", and after month4 you destroy "mont2". You don't need to pay an online service, a USB disk close to your computer is enough.

[tgp1994 0]

We are talking about the operating system backum. It's only the c: disk, without any date. It should be someting like no more than 30 gigs.And you store it on an external disk.
You store the intial backup, and then a rolling backup : the month 1, then the month 2. After the "month 3" you destroy "month2", and after month4 you destroy "mont2". You don't need to pay an online service, a USB disk close to your computer is enough.

Oh, I see. Well, I generally have about ~220 GB stored on my main drive, so... that would be about 600GB of data on my other drive. Ehh, I dunno.

[Quatrux 4]

If your C disk is 220 GB when it's quite a problem, what do you store there?Usually the operating system takes only 20-40 GB with the required applications, you don't need to store anything else in a backup, you can hold all your documents, movies, music, pictures in some other partition..Of course, it's Windows fault, that it uses C disk to store everything, pictures, desktop and etc. But you can overcome this by just using a backup utility windows offers or some 3d party software which can backup your operating system and installed programs into lets say ~20-40 GB backup, where you can choose what to backup.Usually when you buy a laptop/desktop it comes with a backup partition and some kind of a backup utility already installed.

[yordan 10]

Oh, I see. Well, I generally have about ~220 GB stored on my main drive, so... that would be about 600GB of data on my other drive. Ehh, I dunno.

This means that you need to organize your PC differently. Seems that you have your operating system and your data/movies on the same place! This is absolutely not safe!Next time you should organize your PC differently.
You should have at least two partitions, one devoted to the operating system (for windows, this is usually the "C" partition) and another partition devoted to your data, games, movies, photos, texts, spreadsheets, etc..
So, in case of problem in your data disk, you still have an operating system for trying to repair the data.
And if you loose your operating system, the data are still there, you simply need to re-install or restore your operating system, you loose no data.
In that case, system disks is very small because it has only microsoft windows and your applications (OpenOffice, Firefox for instance), so your ghost backup is rather small and you can have two copies of this backup (the initial one and the most recent one).

[tgp1994 0]

If your C disk is 220 GB when it's quite a problem, what do you store there?
Usually the operating system takes only 20-40 GB with the required applications, you don't need to store anything else in a backup, you can hold all your documents, movies, music, pictures in some other partition..

Of course, it's Windows fault, that it uses C disk to store everything, pictures, desktop and etc. But you can overcome this by just using a backup utility windows offers or some 3d party software which can backup your operating system and installed programs into lets say ~20-40 GB backup, where you can choose what to backup.

Usually when you buy a laptop/desktop it comes with a backup partition and some kind of a backup utility already installed.

I think the point is to backup the documents, movies, music, pictures, etc., not necessarily the os. The os can be reinstalled, documents can't.

This means that you need to organize your PC differently. Seems that you have your operating system and your data/movies on the same place! This is absolutely not safe!Next time you should organize your PC differently.
You should have at least two partitions, one devoted to the operating system (for windows, this is usually the "C" partition) and another partition devoted to your data, games, movies, photos, texts, spreadsheets, etc..
So, in case of problem in your data disk, you still have an operating system for trying to repair the data.
And if you loose your operating system, the data are still there, you simply need to re-install or restore your operating system, you loose no data.
In that case, system disks is very small because it has only microsoft windows and your applications (OpenOffice, Firefox for instance), so your ghost backup is rather small and you can have two copies of this backup (the initial one and the most recent one).

So, supposing I was going to install a program, would it go in C:\Program Files, or F:\Program files, supposing F was the other partition?
Edited October 26, 2010 by tgp1994 (see edit history)

[yordan 10]

So, supposing I was going to install a program, would it go in C:\Program Files, or F:\Program files, supposing F was the other partition?

We were talking about system backup in order to avoid problems from loosing the operating system.Yes, while your data are in f:\, your program is installed somewhere like c:\program files. The important point is not the program location, but the other settings you don't see concerning this program, for instance the changes to the registry, or the startup of subservers and associated Ethernet ports!
So, it's interesting to have a backup of all this, able to be rapidly restored while the user date are not disturbed in the f:\ partition.

[tgp1994 0]

We were talking about system backup in order to avoid problems from loosing the operating system.Yes, while your data are in f:\, your program is installed somewhere like c:\program files. The important point is not the program location, but the other settings you don't see concerning this program, for instance the changes to the registry, or the startup of subservers and associated Ethernet ports!
So, it's interesting to have a backup of all this, able to be rapidly restored while the user date are not disturbed in the f:\ partition.

Alright, that sounds good.

Thank you guys for your suggestions.

BSOD regarding, my guess is that a virus may have infact been causing it - I am no longer getting any BSODs since when I nuked my computer with anti virus applications.

And thank you, everyone, for your time and patience given while we tried to sort out this issue.