Computer Blues...

[Christie]

My computer has been working wonderfully up until last night when I turned it on. It boots up, but then as the desktop is starting to come up, it gets very slow. No icons show up, except the mouse pointer. I managed to shut it down using Ctrl-Alt-Del about five times, reset it, but I get the same result.
These errors appeared after using Ctrl-Alt-Del again:
Kernel 32 caused general protection fault in Module KRNL386.EXE
Error OE:016F:BFF8E64B
I left it on for an hour and noticed these dialog boxes: Updating Start menu Shortcuts: Group 1 icons, and then Internet Tools, and finally Group 2 Icons. Eventually my taskbar appeared w/the Start menu, time, sound icon, etc. After another hour my desktop shortcut icons reappeared. However, you cannot open anything. The mouse will not help either. I've tried right/left clicks on the desktop, opening icons, and the start menu. After clicking the start menu it takes up to 10 minutes to open and still you cannot get anything to run! The mouse, when moved, periodically is making a strange grinding/clicking noise within my tower (I have a cordless mouse). The tower is also not sounding like it normally does.

I have checked and rechecked all the connections and still cannot understand what has happened within 24 hours of using the computer with no trouble to this situation!!!

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Geordie No 1]

If your machine was running fine recently, then it`s quite simply a matter of performing a System Restore. This can be selected from Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools and rolling your system back to a restore point when you know your machine was good.

However, one must also wonder why your machine has suddenly collapsed on you.

At a first glance at this, I would have to ask whether or not you have changed anything within your System Configuration, maybe installed a program, or heaven forbid, incoherently installing a virus. For the latter, a virus scanner would help, and for the former the Sys Restore should do the trick.

Any form of weird noises coming from the tower/mouse is not good!

Computer components can fail without apparent warning, especially if booting-up from cold, though I must admit, I am rather stumped as to what precisely is wrong here...it`s as if some application is working very very slowly which prevents other apps. from loading in turn.

You could also try Start>msconfig>Start Up and remove everything which is third party to essential windows boot, such as virus scanner, MS shortcut bar etc. etc. and, if successful with booting, you can reintroduce each application until you find out which is the culprit.

Keep us posted and good luck!

[Christie]

Thank you so much, Geordie! I will give your suggestions a go and see what happens.
I haven't installed any programs and haven't downloaded anything in months, which is why I am so baffled as to what has happened. It was also suggested to me that I open my system unit and try dusting the fans??? I was sure I had a virus, but like I mentioned, when would I have contracted it and why is it striking now?? I also have McAfee (sp?) Virus Protection...

[Geordie No 1]

Yep, periodic maintenance won`t hurt, but mind to leave your machine with the power off at least a few minutes before cracking the case open, some components will retain a little current (as Geordie remembers to his peril when double checking whether his network card was seated home fully).

There are known issues with McAfee regarding Win ME. You may want to ensure that you have the latest patches etc.

Some viruses don`t surface for quite some time.