Computer question.

[magooch]

What is the most probable things to cause a computer to hang up when it is booting up.  From time to time, this computer will get stuck when it reaches the point during boot up, where is says "checking DMI files."  

Sometimes all I have to do is reset it and it goes ahead and boots up successfully.  Today, when my wife was using the computer, it suddenly reset itself and started trying to reboot.  It got hung up in the same old place and nothing I tried would coax it into rebooting.  I shut it off and gave it a rest and then tried again later.  It still wouldn't boot up until I monkeyed around with a DOS startup floppy.  The startup disk didn't really do anything, but after I hit the enter key a couple of times and then reset again, the computer went ahead and booted up successfully.

Any suggestions?

[Graybeard]

I'm not very computer literate but I'd say you either have 1. a virus or 2. are totally eaten up with spyware/adware or 3. both of those.

To help those more knowledgeable than me it would help to know what operating system you are using. Do you have a virus program on the computer? What if so and how often do you update it? Do you have spyware/adware protection? What? How often do you update?

If you have XP there was a worm awhile back that hit it that did something like what you're talking about. If you're running an older system there is a really nasty one I have in mine now. It's locked away where it can't get loose but so far Matt's not figured out how to get it to go away either. This one has been the toughest one we've dealt with yet. Norton has a fix but it don't work. I have no clue what all Matt did to get it into the Norton Protected Trash Bin but now he can't figure out how to completely delete it either.

Both viruses and being loaded up with spyware/adware can do this to you. Do you get lots of things popping up from time to time?

The answer to these will help folks who know more to help you.

[JPSaxMan]

Magooch, you had better do something. FAST. GB is right. I had the same exact problem with my computer, slow booting up, taking it forever, then one day it didn't boot at all. System crash. Luckifully, the hard drive wasn't eaten at and most of my data was saved. But programs and the OS were shot to ****. What I did with mine was take it to a friend who was a computer freak, he was able to take all my files, store them on his computer, format my hard drive, put the OS back on, then put the files back (AFTER being scanned for viruses).

If you don't do something, your computer will die :cry: . If that happens, you'll be better off taking your computer and your rifle to the range and having a ball. Hope ya fix it.  

[Num_1_Dad]

How old is the computer?? Could be something as simple as a power supply that is on it's way south, a memory stick or processor going bad will do what you are describing too.

it suddenly reset itself and started trying to reboot

sounds alot like a power supply.

Which operating system do you have installed?

[magooch]

This morning the computer booted up perfectly in about 5 seconds and is operating perfectly so far.  

This computer was custom built and is only about one year old and it really doesn't have many miles on it.  The operating system is Windows XP Home version and I do have Norton System Works, Ad-Aware and Spybot, all of which I keep updated and run often.

Last night I ran a bunch of tests and defraged the hard drive etc.  Norton and Microsoft have been downloading a lot of updates and changing the way some of the systems operate.  None of that should have caused the problems, but who knows.

Anyway, everything is fine right now.  I'm reasonably sure that I have no viruses, or worms and I keep the spyware cleaned out at least every couple of days.

Thanks for the tips.

[SamSpade]

First let me say I do this for a living.  I will try to put in layman terms.  A computer when it is off doesn't remember anything.  As you boot up it looks at the CMOS or ROM (Read Only Memory) to see what it is.  Then it looks for it's hardware: Memory, disk drives, monitor, keyboard, etc. Then ala this is who I am.  

In this process of booting up if any one of these components are not working properly it will stop.  The first thing that I would do is to check all of my plugs, internally and external by unplugging them and replugging.  It is very common for these connections to become corroded and by replugging they will make good contact again.  Realize that most of these plugs have very small connections and some cases as many as 20-30 pins.  All it takes is for one not to make a good contact.  If this doesn't solve the problem try booting up with a component not connected, like disconnect the floppy drive and boot up without it.

This can be difficult to diagnose.

[jh45gun]

Could be a virus or loaded with Spyware like GB said. Also I have seen Norton can screw up your system I took it off mine and it was causing reboot problems. I am lucky I got a buddy who works on them so he fixed it for me no charge ( OF course he was the one that put Norton on in the first place but he is also the one that told me Norton was giving me the problems) A good program to have besides the spyware and anti virus programs and a firewall is a program called GO BACK by Roxio which he also installed on my computer. If you have a virus you cannot get off or a other problem you can go back a couple of days when your computer was working good and it reverts your harddrive to that period in time. OF course anything you added forward of that period will be lost but sometimes it may be worth it. I had a worm on mine I used this program and the worm was gone. Jim

[SamSpade]

Don't confuse Norton System Works with Norton AntiVirus.  It has also been my experience that Norton System works can be more of a problem than it is worth.  But Norton AnitVirus is probably the best on the market if you keep it up-to-date.  Once you install Norton System Works you have a hell of a time getting rid of it.

Microsoft has a Beta version of it's new Anti Spyware software that seems pretty good.  It monitors your computer fulltime to let you know if anything is trying to be loaded.  It can be downloaded free from their website.

My advice is that there is nothing FREE on the internet, YOU pay a price for everything.  Keep your computer simple and don't load every utility and diagnostic tool you can find.

His problem seems to be more hardware oriented than software oriented.  If it was software it would have the problem on every boot.  The way we approach most problems on a computer is a process of elimination one step at a time.

[magooch]

Thanks again for all the advice, everybody.  The computer is still working fine.  

I might change my mind someday, but I like Norton System Works.  I use some of the utilities quite often and they seem to keep things running nicely--especially the defragmenter.  It is much faster than the Windows version.  I also like the one button scan; it often finds errors and fixes them quickly.  

This all reminds me, I've got to renew our subscription pretty soon.

[jh45gun]

Yea it was Norton system works that I had installed. Never again. I do have that new Beta spyware added it yea it works great. That go back software  is nice to have though and works well. SO does the free version of AVG anti virus software.  I had McAfree did not like that either as it gave me problems. I see even hot mail does not use them anymore. Jim

[Dubious Dan]

Graybeard:

If you haven't tried it yet, boot in the safe mode and run your AV program and see if you can get rid of that file.

[Graybeard]

Graybeard:

If you haven't tried it yet, boot in the safe mode and run your AV program and see if you can get rid of that file.

That's the first thing Matt tried. He makes his living doing this stuff. This one is persistent. It's corralled but doesn't want to leave completely.