Computer tech help needed!

[Mr. Dan]

Computer help needed. I got a new computer today and it's doing some strange stuff.

First off, I have an Asus A8N-E motherboard and an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ CPU with 1gig (2x 512) of Samsung 400mhz Ram. I also have a 230GB Seagate SATA HD. Now the thing generally runs alright. The hardrive is partitioned into an 85gig and 145gig drives. The problem is the inernet connection. Almost everything I download in corrupt. Some things come in fine others never work at all.

When I tried to download my new video drivers into the my documents folder it spit out an error about the file being too small for a memory address or something like that, but when I tried DLing it to the second drive it worked fine. I then tried to download a game patch to the same directory and it keeps telling me the file is corrupt, and I've tried it three times.

I have no idea what would be causing this. It's really annoying though. I am not using any firewalls or anti virus software yet, just what comes with windows when you install it. I also have installed service pack two. I even get errors from the windows update page though. Any ideas?

To be more specific, files come in corrupt on both partitions, virtually any executable I DL is corrupt, so I can't install any of my hardware or USB devices. I've tried many many files from many many places.

[paki]

did you have these errors before you installed SP2? how long ago did you install SP2?

i just reformatted my computer last night because IE did not like media player (even after i updated.. uninstalled.. reinstalled original.. etc) and my computer freezed at an average rate of once every 15 mins. installing SP1, so far, has done the trick for me.

now you said that you downloaded that file into one partition.. and it was corrupt.. but downloading it into another partition it was fine. I wonder if that partition on that drive is corrupt? I know you can delete partitions but it sounds like you have windows on that one.. so thats gonna be a little tougher.

Try this: get a new hard drive (temporarily) or find one somewhere someone will let u borrow, format it and install windows. do the same setup you have right now (the 2 partitions, windows on the smaller one) and try to download the same files. if it works -- its your hard drive / partition.. if not.. its probably the file you're trying to download.. but that wouldnt make as much sense as the drive would since most of your downloads are corrupt

hope that helps

[jp_recon]

Not sure which browser you're using, but just for ****s and giggles, I'd try running Firefox 1.5 or IE, which ever you aren't currently using. That is assuming you can download it and run it w/o any errors. I really find it hard to believe that SP2 would be the main problem.

Other than that, I would say that there was an error that occured when you partitioned your HD. Do like paki said and try to get a spare HD, preferably non SATA and see if you still get the same errors with SP2. My guess is though, it's got to do with your formatting the drive with the 2 partitions. Did you use any software when partitioning? I'm not a fan of Seagate, so i'm not exactly sure how they run SATA modes. I'm a WD junkie!

Keep us posted.

[Leviathant]

That's some seriously screwy behavior. Paranoid intial conclusions:
1) You have a really nasty virus on your computer, screwing everything up.
2) Your hard drive is going bad, and/or
3) As a result of 1 or 2, your OS has been corrupted and can't handle files correctly.

Can you copy from a CD-ROM to your hard drive without any troubles? Try it a few times. If you can successfully do that, then it's not the OS or the hard drive.



Somehow, download AVG -- it's a free antivirus product.
Then somehow download Windows AntiSpyware Beta. It's free, and awesome. And I don't normally rave about MS products.
Also download Zonealarm -- It's a software firewall. Only the things you approve are permitted to talk to the internet.
And if you don't have Firefox, get firefox.

These three things should be among the first you install on a new PC. They're free, efficient, and they help protect you against inherent flaws in new XP installations.

[BlackElantraGT]

That's some seriously screwy behavior. Paranoid intial conclusions:
1) You have a really nasty virus on your computer, screwing everything up.
2) Your hard drive is going bad, and/or
3) As a result of 1 or 2, your OS has been corrupted and can't handle files correctly.

Can you copy from a CD-ROM to your hard drive without any troubles? Try it a few times. If you can successfully do that, then it's not the OS or the hard drive.



Somehow, download AVG -- it's a free antivirus product.
Then somehow download Windows AntiSpyware Beta. It's free, and awesome. And I don't normally rave about MS products.
Also download Zonealarm -- It's a software firewall. Only the things you approve are permitted to talk to the internet.
And if you don't have Firefox, get firefox.

These three things should be among the first you install on a new PC. They're free, efficient, and they help protect you against inherent flaws in new XP installations.


I second Leviathant's suggestions for this one. After reading his post, my first thought was that he had a nasty virus too, especially since he mentioned that he doesn't use any virus software or firewall.

I really doubt that your hardware is bad, otherwise you'd run into all sorts of problems, not just when downloading.

[hyunelan2]

While it offers no 'real-time' protection from viruses, Trend Micro's online virus scan works failry well: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ and it's free! I would say start there with step 1. If you know it's a virus, that will save you a lot of time trying to figure out what's wrong with your hardware, when it's perfectly fine. If you don't have a virus, that's a good piece of mind, and you can cross that possibility off the list.

[Gun5]

had this alittle while ago with any file I downloaded, ended up reformating I love windows.. lol

f u microsoft

[Mr. Dan]

Well I can download files with other programs no problem. I Got Norton 2006 all in one using bittorrent. I can download really small files using IE, if they are small enough sometimes they make it through all right, sometimes not.

I have also received two blue screen crash messages. Both from different windows components. I can also install anything off a CD fine. It seems to have no viruses. I just got it yesterday I would have been surprised if it was already infected. Any more ideas? :)

[Leviathant]

Did you install that firewall software I was telling you about?

You can plug a Windows XP computer into broadband internet, and if you leave it connected unprotected, it will (not just can, will) be compromised within 24 hours. This is just turning it on and connecting to the internet -- not checking mail or browsing in IE. I say this not from things I've read on the internet, but from watching it happen as I set up networks. I used to never run AV/Firewall stuff, because I was smart enough not to run bad attachments or surf skeezy parts of the web. Nowadays, that's not enough. You have to proactively defend your computer. Before I even connect to the internet, I make sure that I have AVG, AntiSpyware, Firefox and Zonealarm installed. There are inherent flaws in Windows XP network security.

Most viruses these days try to replicate by connecting to the net from your PC. With Zonealarm, or another decent software firewall, you can see what programs are trying to access the internet, and tell them whether they can or not. Might be good for any torrented software that tries to phone home :b

Norton personal antivirus sucks, by the way. Their server software is pretty decent, but Symantec's personal AV software is an ineffective, pricey resource hog.

Can you write down the Stop Codes that hte blue screens give you? My next shot in the dark -- maybe you've got bad RAM.

[paki]

You can plug a Windows XP computer into broadband internet, and if you leave it connected unprotected, it will (not just can, will) be compromised within 24 hours. This is just turning it on and connecting to the internet -- not checking mail or browsing in IE. I say this not from things I've read on the internet, but from watching it happen as I set up networks.

My uncle works for Compaq.. in their labs they have unprotected internet to test out products. XP gets infected within 10 mins of being connected lol

[Leviathant]

My uncle works for Compaq.. in their labs they have unprotected internet to test out products. XP gets infected within 10 mins of being connected lol

Hehe. See, I thought it was something like ten minutes, but I wasn't 100% positive, and didn't want to say something that might be wrong.

[BlackElantraGT]

Mr. Dan,

I would suggest downloading AVG antivirus also. It's free and works pretty well.

It's highly possible that your downloaded bit torrent copy of Norton AntiVirus is infected. Antivirus software is one thing I DO NOT download illegally because often times there's a hidden virus in the program and unless you had other antivirus software on your computer, you would never know that it had one.

Like Leviathant said, Norton's Antivirus isn't all that, pricey, and if you use Systemworks, it's a hog.

If you're not willing to spend the money on antivirus software, at the very least go download AVG.

BTW, when we first got on the internet from this computer, which was a brand new HP built pc from Sam's Club, it automatically started downloading a load of crap, some of which were spyware and viruses. Don't be too surprised if your computer is infected, especially since you're downloading torrents and pirated software. When you download warez, that's just part of the territory. Every now and then you'll run into something bad.

[paki]

link to AVG Free: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

[Mr. Dan]

Thanks for all the help guys. I just had them reformat the HD and not partition. works perfect now. :)