Vista not responding

[StuartMillner]

I have a dell Studio 15 with the following specifications:

- ProcessorsIntel® Core™ 2 Duo T6400 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)

- Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit

- DVD+RW Drive8X Slot Load Super Multi (DL DVD+/-R Drive + RAM support)

- 4GB4 Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz

- 320GB5 SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)

- High Definition Audio 2.0

- Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card

- 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570

As of this afternoon my operating system has taken up the habit of completely locking down one or two minutes after booting.

Windows explorer will stop "responding" a couple minutes after signing in. The task manager will not come up, and if it was up beforehand it will stop responding also. The start menu will not work, none of the applications on the desktop will open, the gadgets on the sidebar will freeze, and any process (such as transferring important files to a flash drive) will freeze as well. All of the applications that are currently running (As well as the desktop) will turn a milky color and there will be a (not responding) on all of the application windows.

Furthermore I can not sign into safe mode, safe mode with command prompt, or safe mode with networking. If I try hitting f8 before the computer boots and using the repair features they all have no effect, except for the system restore which refuses to work altogether. Chkdisk will run if I force shut down (which I always have to) and after it is done "cleaning" my disc nothing changes. I have tried searching for similar problems, but it seems no one has experienced a complete vista lockdown. I want to get some important files off of my computer before reformatting it.

If anyone at all can help me I would greatly appreaciate it.

[Rik_]

It sounds like your machine is seriously infected. If you have actually got a Vista DVD then a repair install may be the way to go. If you don't have a Vista DVD (more likely) then you really are stuffed and should have kept a backup of all important files.

The one and only way you are going to be able to get at your files I suspect is to remove your hard drive and fit it into another PC with a working Vista install on it already.

Before fitting your hard drive into another PC, you will need to make sure that that PC has decent protective software on it.

I suggest Mbam, Superantispyware, and a decent anti virus program like Avast. All can be found for free via Google.

[cguan_77]

hi, do as suggested by Rik from RCE...and if you like downloading things from the web..be extra careful before running or executing any files..

[StuartMillner]

Thank you for the suggestions, I have Avast (and AVG) installed on my computer already, but it doesn't hurt to run a scan or two. No viruses or spyware appeared to be on my computer. I believe that there was a program that was causing a massive memory leak (which I also believe was my fault), which is why nothing was responding. I obtained a copy of windows Vista and booted from the disc, where I was able to do a system restore. Thanks again.

[Rik_]

By "Avast (and AVG)" do you mean you have 2 antivirus programs installed? If so, you should remove one and keep the other as most antivirus programs will clash because they use a virtual driver.

May I suggest you add Mbam to your machine as it is the best antimalware program there is at the moment. Google will find it and its free.

[StuartMillner]

Thanks for the suggestion, but we've already established that spyware and/or viruses aren't the problem. Fixing a problem that doesn't exist doesn't seem very efficient to me.

[Rik_]

If the machine wont start up then how can you tell that malware isn't the cause?!?

[caperjack]

Chkdisk will run if I force shut down (which I always have to) and after it is done "cleaning" my disc nothing changes

chkdsk doesn't "CLEAN " the disk, it repairs the disks sectors/file system and such !

what program do you suspect has/had the memory leak!
as for having virus/trojans on a computer with a antivius program ,I see them all the time ,computers with free Avast/Avg ect ect or with full purchase antivirus programs still get viruses

[caperjack]

I obtained a copy of windows Vista and booted from the disc, where I was able to do a system restore. Thanks again.

does this mean you got the problem solved ,if so please mark thread as solved

[StuartMillner]

Marked as solved. It's worth something to note that only one post in this thread actually addressed my problem, while the rest were just nitpicking about minor issues that had no relevance.

[caperjack]

Marked as solved. It's worth something to note that only one post in this thread actually addressed my problem, while the rest were just nitpicking about minor issues that had no relevance.

sorry you feel that way ,but i fix computer all the time with the same symptoms as yours and i fix them with and combination "chkdsk /r" and with CCleaner,and malwarebytes ,hijackthis and combofix !all things are relevant, good luck .

PS ,still like to know the program youwere using and suspect caused the memory leak

[StuartMillner]

I'm working on a graphics engine using c++ and SDL, I created a DLL and I'm guessing that I did a poor job with the garbage collection. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction with the CD.

[caperjack]

I'm working on a graphics engine using c++ and SDL, I created a DLL and I'm guessing that I did a poor job with the garbage collection. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction with the CD.

Thank you ,good to see its working again ,you should have mentioned that earlier ,most of us maybe would not have replied .lol