PC problems thread

[Borsuc]

It's just that I heard once from someone that the Video Card or something similar (Motherboard perhaps?) can cause that as well, if it's not working properly (and thus it will probably stop functioning after some time)

That happened to one of my old cards in fact

Lately the computer just "restarts" whenever it wants, then it says "The System has recovered from a serious error". Hmm is that because of the hard disk, because I just pressed a "Save" button once and it restarted

next time I pressed it, it saved fine that file.

[Asheera]

Lately the computer just "restarts" whenever it wants, then it says "The System has recovered from a serious error".

I got that a lot of times in the past when playing games mostly (even H5), have no clue why though...

But lately it stopped (I didn't have that restart problem in a looong time - like 5-6 months )

[Muszka]

Try reinstalling that pesky OS. Sometimes it helps. If still restarts than your cooler might be the faulty one. I would vote for the video card's cooler, but can be the processor's too. Cleaning helps sometimes. HDD can be too, but than watch out for your data to not lose any, if it dies. Also the power supply can turn crazy. And last, but not least the voltage oscillation might cause the problem.

@Ash
I've taken a look at my PC's shutdown time. It was more than 20 seconds. (only the "Windows is now shutting down" part). But I don't care, since I know I have a lot of programs installed, and most of them are always on.

[Asheera]

The difference is that I don't have a lot of programs running in the background, and sometimes (rarely) it shuts down in 5 seconds or less (only the "Windows is Shutting Down" part)

[Borsuc]

Try reinstalling that pesky OS. Sometimes it helps. If still restarts than your cooler might be the faulty one. I would vote for the video card's cooler, but can be the processor's too. Cleaning helps sometimes. HDD can be too, but than watch out for your data to not lose any, if it dies. Also the power supply can turn crazy. And last, but not least the voltage oscillation might cause the problem.

May be the coolers, they are pretty old (both the processor & the vid card). Dirt/Dust is not the issue, I clean it regularly at 1.5-2 months.

This HDD however is not very old because I had an old one that kept "stopping" from working and the whole system froze when it required HDD access, so I replaced it.

No Voltage oscillations for me -- I have a UPS

[Muszka]

And what about the OS? Tried reinstalling?

[Borsuc]

Heh I've got too many programs and too lazy to reinstall it. You're right it could be a cause, though I scanned with NOD32's online scanner and didn't find any spyware/viruses (of course it's not perfect).

What I hate most is the "install" process, why can't they just make a copy & work scheme? It would take so less pain to reinstall the whole thing

[Muszka]

Actually there are some ISO mirror maker things, what enable you to create a backup copy of your OS (So far I've heard only of software for Windows but I bet that there are for other OS's too) anytime. It's advisable that you make your copy when you installed your OS freshly and installed your programs, so next time you won't have headaches because of such thing.

Btw NOD32 is a piece of junk. It's cheap and doesn't consumes much memory. Try Avira/Avast/Panda instead. I use Avira and I had virus problem only once (jeefo - killed by Panda), even though (because of the fact that I use proxy,) I cannot update it weekly, not even monthly. Many friends of mine recommend Avast, with decent results, so I recommend it as well. Panda is great, but eats as much memory as much you have. It's hunger cannot be satisfied.

Oh, and I feel your pain. I should do a reinstall myself too, but there are so many things on my HDD, that I just don't want to think about it.

[Borsuc]

Actually there are some ISO mirror maker things, what enable you to create a backup copy of your OS (So far I've heard only of software for Windows but I bet that there are for other OS's too) anytime. It's advisable that you make your copy when you installed your OS freshly and installed your programs, so next time you won't have headaches because of such thing.

You mean an ISO of the whole harddisk with boot sector and all that? I'm not sure if it will work if I change my hardware components and drivers, for example, but it sounds like a good idea

Btw NOD32 is a piece of junk. It's cheap and doesn't consumes much memory. Try Avira/Avast/Panda instead. I use Avira and I had virus problem only once (jeefo - killed by Panda), even though (because of the fact that I use proxy,) I cannot update it weekly, not even monthly. Many friends of mine recommend Avast, with decent results, so I recommend it as well. Panda is great, but eats as much memory as much you have. It's hunger cannot be satisfied.

NOD32 is one of the best anti-viruses out there, just because it doesn't eat a lot doesn't mean it's poor, in fact it means it's highly optimized. Look at Norton, consumes much memory and is way behind in the anti-virus section. Granted, there are a few better ones that eat a lot more (e.g: Kaspersky) but basically NOD32 is kinda good (I'm talking about reviews from programmers). And I used the online scanner, I didn't install it -- it would make my computer slower as it is.

Of course I haven't tried the above you mentioned but I doubt they will find any virus since I usually scan all the files with Virus Total (a cool online service) which uses a LOT of anti-viruses before I run something suspicious. And I have a Firewall and Firefox with NoScript addon so it should be fine

[Asheera]

NOD32 is one of the best anti-viruses out there

I actually read somewhere in a PC Magazine that it's not very good

[Borsuc]

Opinions vary I guess

(as a note: usually NOD32 reported when Kaspersky reported on VirusTotal as well, which means something; and it doesn't have "false alarms" on very small programs either, as it should!)

[Muszka]

You mean an ISO of the whole harddisk with boot sector and all that? I'm not sure if it will work if I change my hardware components and drivers, for example, but it sounds like a good idea

Kind-of. Actually it clones only a partition, as far as I know. Of course you can clone them all, but would be useless. Also you can make another clone when you get some new hardware/drivers, but you don't change your video card between every two OS reinstall right?

NOD32 is one of the best anti-viruses out there, just because it doesn't eat a lot doesn't mean it's poor, in fact it means it's highly optimized. Look at Norton, consumes much memory and is way behind in the anti-virus section. Granted, there are a few better ones that eat a lot more (e.g: Kaspersky) but basically NOD32 is kinda good (I'm talking about reviews from programmers). And I used the online scanner, I didn't install it -- it would make my computer slower as it is.

Sorry that I put it wrong way. The lack of memory eating isn't a criteria. Not at all. Avira and avast are both antiviruses which don't consume memory.

I don't value Kaspersky that high. I had it, and did no wonders, but slowed my machine.

Although the Windows firewall isn't useless, it is just the same good as other Windows programs (I mean the included ones). And Firefox is great but isn't an antivirus.

[Borsuc]

Although the Windows firewall isn't useless, it is just the same good as other Windows programs (I mean the included ones). And Firefox is great but isn't an antivirus.

Obviously I already have a Firewall --> for me an antivirus should be just an antivirus (probably it's why you find NOD32 weak, since it doesn't have a firewall IIRC).

And of course Kaspersky eats too much resources, that's why I use the free Virus Total service for it

[PhoenixReborn]

Help!

I didn't understand what Alcohol 120% was when I installed it. Then I figured it out and uninstalled using add/remove programs. I don't support piracy and I don't want that *** on my pc because I fear conflicts with other programs.

I use a program called Ccleaner and this shows me that Alcohol is still on my machine.

I tried to clean the registry...but Alcohol won't go away.

1. Run "regedit"
2. Find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{E9F81423-211E-46B6-9AE0-38568BC5CF6F}", then delete that.
3. Find "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\32418F9EE1126B64A90E8365B85CFCF6", then delete that.

Now, to remove Alcohol driver you need to go to HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services here you should fínd the Keys for the Alcohol Driver in the current version, a347bus and a347scsi, delete these Keys and remove corresponding files from Windows\System32\Drivers folder.

Check C:\windows\program Files\Alcohol Soft and delete the folder.

Those are the steps I followed.

32418F9EE1126B64A90E8365B85CFCF6 doesn't appear on my list, nor alcohol soft folder.

[darknessfood]

Have you tried to uninstall that from the map itself (C:/probram files\alhocol120)... Or select the map hold shift and press delete, you should remove the whole folder that way...

[Pol]

Alcohol 120% is program like any else. Provides you with mounting cd/dvd images and theirs creation capabilities. And if you deliberately decide to use it wrongly, it's your fault. You're also supposed to pay for it, after trial period.

Now to the removing, you probably already started with normal uninstall. And that's the reason why you're not seeing virtual mechanics registry strings(a347bus and a347scsi - one or the other) and installing record.

I would say, don't bother with it. If mechanics are gone here is nothing left to interfere with anything.
- starforce, heavenforce, windowsforce etc..

(Yes, yes - it also can be that registry strings changed, in that case I'm sorrry.)

[PhoenixReborn]

Alcohol 120% is program like any else.

Then why do programs like Securom deliberately target it and conflict with it?

Also, doesn't trial mean trial?

I would say, don't bother with it. If mechanics are gone here is nothing left to interfere with anything.
- starforce, heavenforce, windowsforce etc..

(Yes, yes - it also can be that registry strings changed, in that case I'm sorrry.)

Ok, King's Bounty and Heroes V run...it's just sometimes Heroes V crashes unexpectedly and then I noticed Alcohol was still "there" so I thought that might be a cause. I'll leave it be.

[darknessfood]

Yeah, many users had that problem with those kind of programs. SecuRom and things a like say it's illegal, even when you bought the game (what is the case, I did read games like Far Cry 2 and RA3 didn't install). But by removing the whole folder, and cleaning of the registery, it must be gone. Run Ccleaner, and clean the regisery with that, it should work out...

[Asheera]

I hate SecuRom, Starforce and all those kind of things

They cause trouble only to those who bought the original game, since the cracked version has them disabled.

[darknessfood]

Indeed, it just sucks, and I don't see the point. Why invest time and money into something that is cracked from the day of release. Bethesda doesn't do this, I like that, it saves them sooooo much time. If you buy your game, you actualy get screwed big time, f*ck you DRM...