MAJOR problem in XP...is it a virus?

[fireberd350]

Yesterday I did some work on someomes PC and formatted and installed XP Home. I had it running for about 40 min installing various applications they needed. Then this shows up.
https://cms.psu.edu/AngelUploads/Files/sfm129/error.JPG

It shutdown and would not start again, not in safe mode not anything. I had to boot from the XP cd and do a recovery which reinstalled windows.

I thought maybe it was the blaster worm so I ran the blaster fix from symantec with nothing found. And I did a full system scan on Norton with nothing found.


Any ideas what this could be. I need to fix this so I can complete the job. Thanks alot, Steve

 

[tjthorson]

That is the sign of the lovesan/blaster worm at work....

But, what was the reason for the reformat? Have you done a complete diagnostic on this machine? Bad RAM, bad or overheating processor, flaky power supply, or bad cards can cause these same problems. I would run some walking tests on the RAM first, if you can't do that, at least remove and reseat everything in the case just to be sure.

Why did you have to run the stinger? Do you not have adequate virus protection running? That should have been one of the first thngs run.

 

[progress1vebmx]

That is the blaster worm alright. I couldn't fit it either, I ended up formatting.

 

[abesgn]

On every fresh XP install, I first install all mother board drives, hardware drivers, DirectX 9.0, Then your graphic card driver, then any anti virus software, and finally connect to the net and run Windows automatic updates to make sure i have the current update security protection and patches installed, with windows updates for XP, the Worm Blaster removal tool is automatically downloaded and removed along with a host of other useful tools.
By the way my current system is a custom built:

Black Aspire Turbo Dreamer case with 7 fans ( 3 blue neon fans)and clear plexiglass side. Built in Indiglow Temp display.
ASUS A7N8X mother bloard.
AMD 2800 processor (Clocked to 2.8 GHz)
(2) 128GB hard drives
(2) 512 PC 3200 memory sticks
ATI Radeon 9800 XT video card
2 Ethernet, 8 USB, and 2 Firewire slots
One DVD player (16X), one DVD burner (8x), and one CD Burner (52x)
Running Win XP and Win 2003 Server using dual boot (One OS for each hard drive)

 

[JoeNational]

Ok folks pc tech right here and that is exactly the lovsan virus and best thing is stinger.exe by mcafee, go to their website and download it run it and it will find it and delete it best solution for the problem.

 

[d0n_3d]

first of all you need to format and install windows xp PROFESSIONAL...

second as soon as you get everything installed as far as the operating system...IMMEDIATELY install mcafee viruscan and get a popup blocker...especially if you have a cable or dsl connection to your computer...

you shouldn't have to install any drivers manually to any devices...microsoft made that easy for you by the operating system automatically installing all your components...

and yes that is a virus...friend had the same exact thing on his computer...ended up formatting it

also when you format...make sure you do a CLEAN fresh install and not an upgrade...upgrading leaves behind old files

 

[tjthorson]

you shouldn't have to install any drivers manually to any devices...microsoft made that easy for you by the operating system automatically installing all your components...

HA! You been reading the documentation again? NEVER believe anything Microsoft says about how "easy" and "painfree" something is. If you have been around Macroshaft as long as me (circa 1978 on the Apple IIs), you know it never works exactly as advertised or documented.

New machines already don't have the drivers in XP. As machines get newer, you will have to manually load more and more drivers.

They are moving in the right direction with XP, but its still far from perfect.

Little known factoid - Microsoft waited until they had hit the "big" accomplishment of under 100,000 known issues in WIndows XP before releasing it.

Nice to not have the bar set to high for you and still have people buy it, eh?

Anywho, it should be very elementary. OS, anti-virus, drivers, updates, extra software. In that order.

 

[d0n_3d]

maybe it's just my computer...i have formatted XP pro on my machine many times and never had a driver issue...yeah i know it's not perfect but it's the best windows they've ever made so far IMO

you can go weeks at a time without really rebooting

 

[striker_29]

Anybody else tried service pack 2 yet? It worked good on a fresh install of xp, but crashed my laptop that really needed to be reloaded anyway. SP2 is still in "beta" version, I wonder how many known issues there are with it lol.

 

[fireberd350]

i installed norton AV first thing but it did not catch it. I tried the symantec fixblast.exe with no luck like previously mentioned. Thats why I thought it wasn't the blaster worm. Also I saw no signs of MSBlast.exe

What I did was run services.msc and change the restart setting for the RCP service. So now it cant restart itself.

Then I went in the registry and removed the wump.exe file and also deleted that file from windows/system32

It has ran fine now. As soon as I take it back to his house I'll get it online ASAP and get the updates going.

Thanks for the help but I think I got it now.

 

[JadeMonkeyStang]

Just make sure that you download and install the Windows XP Security Patch so that you don't get blaster again. Stinger does a great job removing it (and its variants) but offers you no protection from getting it again (which will most likely happen and depending on your ISP may be guaranteed next time you go online). I've never had an issue removing it, just with it coming back after removal on unpatched systems.

In regards to the driver debate, do you NEED to install drivers on a new XP install? Most of the time no. Will you get much better performance, stability, and improved functionality if you do? Almost always yes. At least install the drivers for your video card, sound card, and motherboard. Also make sure you install the 4in1, intel accelerator, or other setup specific drivers for better performance.

Also remember that when you install an antivirus program it's already out of date. If you're not updating it regularly you're not protected. Make sure you update it!


-Jade

 

[abesgn]

I knew i was right.....