Sbrideau

Well, I live in Canada too, and there's a few kinds of insurance. My family, for example, has the small one on the 2 old vehicles and the big one on the newer vehicle. The difference, is that the big pays for everything, while the small only pays for medical expenses.

ctfmon[Caution: Executable File] can be a virus/spyware/trojan/worm too. It has to be at the right place in the system folders to not be any of the things I mentionned earlier. If I know enough about HJT, I would think it's a trojan in this case.

I will say, you should get rid of Norton, that will free up a lot of resources on your computer as well, and replace it with Avira if you want a free av or Kaspersky/NOD32 if you don't mind paying. What did you use to scan? Also, good programs are Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware ;).

I would try Hijackthis, Housecall or Kaspersky's online scanner. Kaspersky got me rid and protected from a lot of viruses for quite a while now. Housecall got a few spywares off my computer once (on the one time I ran it XD). You could also check the Add/Remove programs in the control panel, I've seen some rogue antiviruses being listed there for some idiotic reasons I don't know :lol:

I don't know, but I just downloaded it and it killed my Java lol.

The biggest I had, was on Jos Louis, you know the small Vachon cakes :P. I ate a superpack (16 of them in there) in 1 or 2 hours. Luckily I never have sugar rushes :D. There's some times though I eat a full box of oreos in one whole night lol :P. Though for them it was like 3 years back.

Wow, I thought all windows XP versions had recoveries, that's what I'm used to see with every other Windows I saw (I.E. Windows ME, XP(my version) and Vista). Means I have it because I have Professional.. (I.E. Media Center Edition).

Or another solution would be to call higher in the company and complain, they will make sure your boss does what he's supposed to. At least that's what their supposed to do.

bballer, just to say, they're not the only computers you can do system recovery. All computers are supposed to have either come with recovery cds/dvds or a recovery partion. In other cases, windows will prompt you to make recovery cds (which mine did + I have a recovery partition on my Hp media computer).

It is unlikley to help, and do NOT flash it if the computer is frequently crashing\shutting down. If it crashes in the middle of an update, you will have some SERIOUS problems, ranging from having to change from jumpers (if you have a dual bios) to replacing your motherboard. It sounds very much like a thermal event; something such as a CPU\GPU overheating cannot necessarily be felt by touching the case. Make sure all your fans are spinning, clear of dust and other blockages, and that there is plenty of space between the outside of the fans and your desk\wall. Try running some sort of graphics card (aquabench works) and CPU (Prime95 works) stressing program to see if the computer overheats faster. Obviously maintaining an up to date antivirus scanner is a good idea; the 70% CPU usage is a sign of something running in the background sucking up resources. This could be aggravating an overheating problem, or an inherently bad cooling system (although unlikely). Possibly talk to your computer manufacture, and see if they can solve the problem if you cannot. Heh, it doesn't take long to update the BIOS. I have a question for you. How much have your worked with computers? Also i said to clean the fans above. You might want to watch what useless information you put out there first. Yes a BIOS update can mess it up if it isn't flashed right. This does help to get your BIOS up to date to work with the latest drivers. If you are a computer consultant in real life i will be sure to never ask you for advice. Ever since windows came out, I mostly specialize in Microsoft. Personal arguments being over, I'll continue on with the rest of your post. Is a bios update likely to solve a recent problem? No. Is the computer likely to be trashed if it fails? Yes. Will it fail if the computer crashes while it is being flashed? More then likely. I've flashed BIOSes dozens, if not hundreds of times, and the likelihood that it will help a new problem is very low, and CERTAINLY not worth the risk of bricking the motherboard. I was suggesting the fans as part of an overall solution, exactly the same as I would to a client, regardless of what he was advised before. BIOS are updated for two reasons - adding new features that you need, or solving existing conflicts. The fact that his problem seems to have appeared recently (surely he hasn't been having it for two years now!) indicates that flashing the BIOS would NOT help, and is a VERY bad idea when the computer is constantly crashing. Replacing the motherboard in a laptop is time consuming and expensive if you do it yourself, and VERY expensive if you hire someone for it. If the motherboard is specialized, it may not at all. Is a tiny chance at fixing your computer worth the very real possibility of having to replace it, or pay 300-500+ dollars to repair it? Giving out worthless advice is one thing, giving out advice that could easily destroy the client's computer is another thing entirely. Try all the other fixes recommended, and talk to the manufacture (especially if it is still under warranty). Flashing this BIOS in this situation is a very last resort. It would help if you provided some more detailed information (how recently the problem came up, how often it happens, what are you doing when it happens, what have you done to try and fix it etc.) Okay.. Let's see. It started about 3 months ago, less than once a week. The computer would beep at me, and blackscreen instantly. Pretty much the only thing I've been doing when this happens is playing Runescape, which is a moderate load on my cpu. (Usually it runs at about 80% while playing). I'm not really sure they're connected, because playing Runescape is one of the few things I do on my laptop. ;) I've tried multiple times to revive it from this state, but nothing has worked. Ctrl-Alt-Dlt: Nothing. Alt-Esc: Nothing. Closing + Repoening: Nothing. Trying to turn off or possibly restart using power button: Nothing. Unplugging all peripherals: Nothing. 2 weeks ago it was left on in this state. When I found it like this, it was making a soft, repetitive noise that I couldn't really trace, but with some certainty decided it was coming out of the speakers. None of the above mentioned techniques worked here either. I took the battery out and restarted. The fan sped all the way up (I've never heard it go anywhere close to that fast) and the resting cpu usage was constantly around 70%. I looked at all the processes, but nothing was out of line. It was just system processes taking up more cpu than normal. I ran a full system scan using Norton Antivirus, and that came up with absolutely nothing. I ran the boot menu diagnostics, and they gave the results mentioned in my OP several times. I tried using the system restore to set the disk back to 2 weeks before this started happening, but it had no effect. *Phew* Hope that helps :pray: Thanks for responding to my pm :) [/hide] No problem, I enjoy computer problems : Anyway, that does help a lot. First of all, try scanning with another scanner that detects more; earlier versions of Norton do not detect spyware. Try Spybot Search & Destroy (safer-networking.org), Ad Aware 2008 Free Edition (lavasoft.com), and last but not least AVG Free 8.0 (free.grisoft.com). I would recommend uninstalling Norton, install AVG, updating it, then running a full scan in safe mode. If you would prefer to leave Norton installed, do not install AVG and use the other two instead. The three of those should show up any spyware. Have you contacted the manufacture, and is the computer under warranty? Where\who did you get it from? I would recommend using Avira instead of AVG, since AVG has gone downhill quite a lot lately, i've seen a few computers having viruses I removed using Kaspersky, and one of those computers was almost completely disabled because of the viruses and spyware there were on there. Also, removing Norton is a very good idea, it will already free up quite a bit of ram and cpu. I know I said Kaspersky in the other paragraph, but Kaspersky only has a one month free trial, but I strongly recommend it, or NOD32.

Where did you get that? S[racist term]en is not even a word in french. Ham would be Jambon in french. There's a thing most say while learning english, and it's that for french people, it's easy to learn english, but for english people, it's pretty hard to lean french, and the fact is, most of the time it's because of exemptions, the french language has a lot of exemptions too to the language rules. Btw, Am I the only one here that has french as first language?

Solved. We have tried multiple things, as I was on msn with the laptop with sloter, and nothing worked, which is pretty odd. I did a system recovery, and got back the hard drive to it's original 2 partitions. Also odd that the computer can't keep the boot loader more than a few times I start the computer. :-k I'm lucky I always keep an updated backup.

Ok, I'll pm you to give it. But now, the only way I could get in ubuntu would be the live cd, it's back to the blank screen (with only the white flashing line...).

Thank you very much :). You're helping me so much, and I wanted to install in the first time to learn, and it seems to already be doing what I wanted, I'm learning from you here lol. There's still a problem though, everything works, exept when I choose Windows xp media center edition in the list... Ubuntu works, Windows recovery works, but not the windows itself, it just says "starting up..." and nothing happens exept the small white bar flashing...

Well, could you explain me how I could do it, it says it's not root file system etc like I said in first post, but I can't do it as you said, since it's grayed out... [hide=][/hide]

Oh, thank you very much ;). I'll be doing that tomorrow since I don't have anymore time tonight :).

Thanks VARN, I will need to find someone that has the CD now since the computer didn't come with a Cd, it came with a recovery partition and missed its shot when making the recovery dvds-_-. I think I will do what sloter told me to before going and looking for people that has the cd.

Today I tried to install Ubuntu on dual boot on my desktop, it failed, and it [bleep]ed up my computer -_- can't enter in windows anymore...

Well, if it locks up on that option by itself, I say you should contact an admin, since you have tried and nothing worked.

Hi, My computer can't get to load Windows, and maybe by my fault. I tried to install Ubuntu from the cd I had downloaded and burnt. Unfortunately, the partition I had created with Gparted had the error of not having a root file system or something like that (had chosen fat32 to be able to share some files with windows according to their documentation.) After it failed twice, I decided I wouldn't install it, but the problem is, when I restarted the computer, after putting everything back like it was, After the blue hp screen I usually see in the beginning, the screen just stays black with that little flashing bar at the top left corner of the screen. I basicaly don't really have any idea what would be doing this, and that guy on msn that has dual boot with ubuntu and that is tech savvy refuses to help me. Any help I could have here? If you need specs, ask for them. Thanks in advance. Currently writing with my laptop.

Well, personnaly having been in 6 operations in the past to try to cure an infection I had to my right ear (The last being to reconstruct my ear), I can say you are way too stressed atm. It's normal to have some stress before the operation, but there's nothing at all to fear. You said you were afraid to not wake up? It's pretty impossible to not wake up from anestesia(sp?), since there are proffessionnals near you waiting along your side. Also, the chances of waking up during the operation are less than the chances of winning a lottery ticket. For example, the last operation was supposed to last 3 hours, but I was asleep for 6 hours instead, The operation had lasted 5 and a half hours since there was still some infection left and they had to clear it >.<. You will be fine, in 6 operations I had, nothing went wrong. Well, exept for that last one, when I woke up, but my lungs weren't awake, so I had a hard time getting oxygen -> the nurse came and put an oxygen mask.

Edit: Oops, please delete this post mods :).

Well, Skate would need to wait for Newegg.ca to open since it was stated that it's Canadian dollars ;).

Did you clear the dust in the years you had the computer? If not, it could be a problem of overheating because of the dust blocking the fans, but I don't know enough to be sure, you have to answer sloter's question.

Here in Canada (Well, at least in New Brunswick) they removed that kind of food too, so you can't buy fries or sodas, but there's no such thing as a list of what you bring from home, you can bring as much junk food as you want from home, there's going to be no consequences. You're quite unlucky my friend :shock: .