From bad to worse

After my long absence i was looking forward being able to catch up and enjoy WoW again. I guess it was not meant to be. I have been plagued by connection issues with only being able to spend a minimum amount of time playing. I now believe that I have the IC probs fixed and low and behold WoW crashed at login and I can't get it going. As soon as the the news screen loads errr starts to load, (no news displays) WoW shuts down and the screen goes away Not only is WoW misbehaving but also my windows messenger does the same thing... As soon as I "sign in" it goes away like POOF! and it's gone.

Blizz trouble shooting claims that a windows update should fix it...NOT!

I dunno what to do, all seems to be functioning properly elsewhere in my PC.

Lost and confused

AWWWwww so sorry RS!!! We sure miss you. Have you tried asking if Red has any ideas?

I had thought of that but as i was fiddling with the PC some more, the whole damn PC CRASHED!! I still have my old desktop here but it won't handle WoW. I have his (Red's) cell number but I think that it is now beyond my capabilities even with his help. I guess it will either need professional repair or replaced altogether, may be quite some time before I can afford that *Sigh*

sorry, I just seen this. What is your computer saying as you turn it back on? Tell me everything it is doing. When you boot it up, does it count memory, if so, how far does it get before it locks up again. If it locks up at windows try this.

Fresh boot the machine and press f7 constantly untill a menu appears that will say...boot windows normally, boot to dos, boot to windows safe mode. Choose "Boot windows to safe mode"

I don't want to insult your intelligence at all, so just forgive me if I do in explaining this.

Booting windows into safe mode means that windows will load the very basic that it needs to run. If it boots to safe mode then you know that your machine is okay and its a software problem. viruses or spyware most likely. At this point you have a few options if it boots to safe mode. I would just wipe the hard drive and start all over, fresh and new, but thats not practical so you may want to find an antivirus cd to boot your computer up with and let it scan your hard drive to clean it.

if your computer doesn't even get a chance to go to windows, then it is most likely a hardware problem. If you get a bunch of beeps at the begining as it is turned on, you need professional help. I could help if you want, we may be able to figure it out and see if we can find whats wrong. But from the sounds of what you first wrote, sounds like a virus.

I appreciate the willingness to help Sarge, by the way good to hear from you. I hope all is well in your world. I don't have time this morning but I will give you more details later on after I get home from work or tomorrow. This is exactly why I posted my sad story here LOL I had hoped someone in the family might know something, Based on what you have said it may may not be as bad as I initially thought.

Here is a brief breakdown : When WoW crashed I got a "crash" message from them and then began looking into fixes. I noticed that my "anti-virus" wasn't working properly, I use "Trend-micro" (When I try to open it it says "a version of this program is exiting, please try again later" but it never finishes exiting) anyway this is where I began my search for repairs, My version is no longer supported but I am a paid registered user and am due a free update for the 2010 version but can't get damn thing to open to get my registration #.
DOH!!! I went to uninstall it as it seemed to be part of the problem and wasn'[t responding anyway but , NO DIce there either same message. I went to "trend-micro" and downloaded "Housecall" but after download get an error message from windows says failure at start up.

From the windows error thing I got help which said to run "Scan Disk" on my PC so I set that and it ran at next start up, it was set to scan and repair if possible. It found an problem but could not repair it. It told me the same as you to restart my PC in "Safe mode and remove the new or malfunctioing software" I tried this several times safe mode, not safe mode, safe mode w/network always the same thing just goes back to the scan disk results page. Telling me to restart in safe and giving me a string of code. DOS code or the registry number info for the bad software. Anyway, I will look at it again and give you that string of code and any other info it says next time.

Okay so it wasn't very brief...LOL I HATE COMPUTERS WHEN THEY ARE BROKEN!!!!

Computers are like women, we enjoy them greatly, but they can also be our biggest source of stress and headaches.

You say you have another computer that works, even though it is slower. What I would do at this point is put the old computer's hard drive into the new machine and boot it up. You will get a lot of driver updates, which is fine. If the new machine boots up with the old hard drive and runs fine, then you know that your problem is with the new hard drive. What you can do at this point is set the old hard drive up as the master, and the new hard drive up as the slave and run an anti virus from the old hard drive. Then scan disk. If all else fails, you may have to just format the new hard drive, f-disk it, format again (all you have to do is f-disk then format, but I do format before and after so the virus can see its doom on the first format...lol) but you have to format after f-disk, otherwise the hard drive will be unusable. Then re install everything. This will take time, but given the time you already put into this problem, you might save some from trying to figure out exactly the problem here.

Just suggestions based on what I would do in your place. Just a warning, if you put the new hard drive as the slave to the old hard drive, and if there is a virus on it, then you run a chance that the virus will copy itself over. However, a hard drive that is getting ready to go bad will do the same thing that you are talking about. The crashes being a result of the computer trying to access information from bad sectors on the hard drive.

If your old computer's hard drive is big enough for your needs, the easiest thing here would be to just use it.

If you decide that a fresh format and install of your new hard drive is best, then just put your windows dvd in the dvd drive and just boot it up. It will run scan disk, format and fresh install.

I just wish I wasn't so far away, I would work on it for you. No worries, I am certified lol.

All that swapping of hard drives sounds way over my head, and I am not sure that that the hard drive from my desktop (working but old and slow) will fit in my laptop (crashed)... I have tried to start in safe mode and every other mode as well still get the same blue screen, this is what it says:

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need need." (can't do this because I can't get past this screen) LOL

"If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select advanced start up options, and then select safe mode." (I can select it all day long but I always end up staring at this same screen, does nothing else)

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0X000000ED (0X86F6A030, 0XC000009C, 0X00000000, 0X00000000)

I'm thinking it is time to throw this damn thing out in the front yard, then run over it with the lawn mower, then take the leaf blower and blow the pieces out into the street after numerous cars have run over it, I should sweep up the remains and put them in a paper sack then douse the sack with lighter fluid and set a match to it. Once the flames have died down I should take a square nosed shovel and scoop up the embers and give them a proper burial at sea.

didn't know it was a laptop. My bad. I would like to tell you to relax, it isn't worth destroying your computer for a seconds worth of satisfaction, problem is, my monitor was giving me stability problems and one day it went out while I was doing a holiday daily. I picked up the moniter and calmly disconnected it and walked to the door, and slung it outside hard. It broke and I was happy. Of course I had another monitor to take its place.

Okay, here is what we will have to do. If you have your windows xp cd, then put it in the machine and boot up. After the installation files are copied, windows will ask whether you want to install or repair, chose repair. This should open the windows recovery console.

Type in the following command:

CHKDSK /R /P

After analysis, type in :

FIXBOOT

Then remove the cd and restart your laptop. The problem should now be solved

If this doesn't help then it usually means your hard drive went bad on you. let me know something

LOL y'all warm my heart! Impressive skillz there Sarge!

Re: your comment about women and computers being alike....
Reminds me of a story....

Adam was walking around the Garden moping and kicking rocks. God noticed and asked him what was wrong.
Adam said, "I have all that you have provided, yet still I am lonely."
God said, "I have great plans for you! I am going to create for you a woman."
Adam: "What's a woman?"
God: "She will be your mate. She will adore, help and support you, obey your wishes, agree with everything you say, cook your food, make your dwelling a spotless home, have and raise your children, always look her best for you, and wear the cutest little nighties every night."
Adam: "Wow! ...What would she cost me?"
God: "An arm and a leg."
Adam: "What could I get for a rib?"

RS!!!!!! I miss you!! We gotta get you fixed!

ROFL Luv! Wonderful story

Alni, I am working on it I miss all of ya'll and having fun with ya. I am so lost without you. It is a near unbearable, unconnected existence I am living As far as "Getting me fixed" Hmmm...I dunno if there is a fix

I am working on it right now Sarge seems to be going well... Although progress in the " recovery console has slowed considerably was at 67% for about 15 mins and just ticked to 68% complete...I am logged into the chat here on the portal page if you wanna join me there

Alni told me that you got it working. I'm glad your laptop is working again. Hope to see you soon.

Well, "working" is a subjective term...LOL I still have major issues with the PC.
Your information was right on in helping me get it to the stage where I am with it now. Thank You very much! Also a big Thank You to Alni and Moe for their online tech support. I could't have done it with out ya'll, all of ya'll!

I still haven't been able to find my original WoW disk. I need to re-install it. I still need to go buy a new card for WoW time but I still have other issues with the PC to tend to I guess before I try to "play" on it. Maybe you have time for some more tech help here.

1) My PC will not perform it's "shutdown" from the start menu.

2) Windows messenger loads and lets me sign in shows connected and begins, then closes and get an error message " Windows messenger encountered an error and needs to close" then it goes away

3) Outlook opens and does the send and receive, then sometimes but not always, it may do the same thing except after the error message (same as listed in #2 above) it does not close although the error message says it is going to close.

everything else seems to be operating normally

Windows XP does the same thing to me on shut down, Its done it on me since the last update I think. I don't pay it any attention, I just push the power button and shut it down from there, I've only had to run scan disk once after doing this.

As for the shutting down of internet programs like windows messenger. Every now and then, once in a blue moon, my WoW does the exact same thing. Then it prepares and sends an error message, which I think tech guys on the other end just laugh at cause nothing seems to get done about them. I'm not that savvy when it comes to this new fangled windows xp inner workings, when I took my A+ certification, dos was on it lol, so I can't really help here. Sorry

If I had to guess about your windows messenger I'd say try this, go to windows messenger website and download another copy just to make sure, here is a link

http://download.live.com/Messenger?CMXID=2120.FDFB22B5-6866-478E-B5A5-AE0FA753F19A&WT.srch=1

Laptops can be a funny thing, I once had my internet explorer come up with error messeges everytime I tried to get to the internet, I was trapped, so I opened the "my computer" box and typed in the internet explorer URL and it sent me to the internet explorer download page, I was able to re-download it and install it and it worked fine after that.

I also can not help with the location of your WoW CD, but have you checked under the bed? Maybe in the freezer? IDK

The WoW air time is another thing I'm sorry to say that I can not help you with, I'm doing good right now to just keep mine on...

I hope some of this is useful to you, we all miss you but glad that we can interact with you on the forums, Thank you alni for the forums.