Fucking Irritating Piece Of Shit Windows Xp Computer

[dogwomble]

sorry for the irritating topic, but this machine is just PISSING ME OFF and PISSING THE OWNER OFF something chronic. It's literally DRIVING US NUTS and the person who solves this problem for us gets a night of sweet love as a reward and, if I had it, $3,000,000 cold hard cash.

OK, I've just rebuilt this guys Windows XP Professional machine (AMD XP 2400+, 512Mb RAM, 80gb HDD, 64Mb GeForce 2). due to what I suspect was a virus attack causing the machine to go absolutely ape shit. Iv'e told him to go and get Norton Antivirus, and he's run that over and cleared out a few things. I've also installed AdAware and that has also removed everything. I also installed ZoneAlarm 4 as the person's firewall.

There's a problem that now occurs. Every time the machine boots, the machine automatically dials the Internet. we don't tell it to, it just does. if you go through to Start -> Connect To -> Show All Settings, the machine freezes, however we can modify the settings by right clicking on the ISP's entry in the same menu.

On top of this, occasionally when you dial you get an "Error 777: The remote network or modem is out of order" (abbreviated version).

I've tried to tell it to NOT FUCKING WELL AUTODIAL but the machine interpreted that as either "Cause an Error 777" or "FUCKING REDIAL EVERY TIME THE MACHINE BOOTS AND IF YOU FUCKING WELL CANCEL IT WILL TRY AND RECONNECT EVERY FUCKING TWENTY SECONDS".

CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL US WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING WRONG BECAUSE I'M LIKELY TO GET VERY VIOLENT WITH THIS MACHINE IF IT DOESN'T FUCKING WELL BEHAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

</VENT>

[pleed]

Windows XP is excrements piss.

Try to reinstall Dial up Networking
Go into device manager, remove the network card and modem then restart the PC.

also run gpedit.msc from the run menu, there are some boot up options relating to dial up stuff in there.

[thingy]

XP has lots of little features that like to be connected to the internet all the time. They're fun. Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Connections -> Setup. Go through the wizard again and tell it that you're connected to the 'net through a LAN. This will disable all the "dial on demand" features, and it will still work through dialup (every program will assume he's online, will have to dial manually all the time).

Download SpyBot Search & Destroy - it finds things AdAware doesn't. Never run one program without running the other, they both have differing strengths. BHODemon is also another anti-spyware necessity, but I don't think this last paragraph is relevant to the problem.

[FibreMux]

also che scheduled tasks

[jambo]

Did he buy Norton 2003 by any chance?

[dogwomble]

I don't know what version, but one would assume Norton Antivirus 2004.

Thanks for the tips. I'll see what I make of them.

[dogwomble]

OK, apparently the reinstalling the DUN worked. YAY!

I'm being remidned more and more with this job why I ditched WinXP on my machine and went back to Win2K.

[tikdoph]

You said you "rebuilt" the machine... do you mean you reinstalled Windows XP over the top of the previous installation or something else? If your machine is playing up badly enough, it's usually best to just format and reinstall. Reinstalling over the top of a previous installation is like putting new paint over old paint... it looks fine at first, but then it starts flaking off and you're back to square one.

If it's trying to connect to the net, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Connection tab -> select "Never dial a connection".

You can also close down programs that start automatically when Windows boots by going into the System Configuration Utility. One of these may be trying to connect to the net. It's probably best to boot into Safe Mode first, then go to Start -> Run -> type MSCONFIG -> click OK -> click the Startup tab. Here you'll need to use a process of elimination... most items listed should be pretty self explanatory. I'd suggest unticking everything that's not a Norton AV or Symantec folder, etc. Most other stuff will just be junk. If you're concerned about messing something up, untick one item, then reboot. If there are no ill effects once you've restarted the computer and Windows is up again, go back in and untick the next item, reboot, etc. Or, just bite the bullet, untick them all, close your eyes, and hope for the best. Of course, this method won't tell you which one the culprit is, so the choice is yours.

I would also recommend downloading a decent Registry cleaner.

Lots of people have had their modems damaged in thunderstorms lately. If you're getting an Error 777, I would also recommend checking the modem. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Phone and Modem Options -> Modems -> Properties -> Diagnostics -> Query Modem... it may give an error message. Keep in mind though that this test is by no means foolproof as it does not check every component in the modem, but it can be a good indicator as to whether the modem is damaged. If there is an error message, chances are the modem is screwed. If there isn't, test more conclusively by installing it in another machine and using it to connect to the net on that. If it still gives an error message while trying to connect, chances are that the modem is screwed.

Let us know how you go and good luck.

Edit: I'm really going to have to work on my typing speed.

[dogwomble]

Yeah, well, I'd sorta done something in between for the rebuild. I'd originally tried a reinstall-over-the-top but that failed, so I did a reinstall into a new directory but did not reformat because there was data on the partition that needed to be kept and I was unable to get into the machine to back it up. I then just imported data and settings and just reinstalled the drivers & apps & wiped out the old install.

The "never dial a connection" thing ... well, I tried to do that, but that's when it decided that "Don't autodial" actually meant "autodial repeatedly" and started behaving like described.

If it continues to happen, I'll check for modem damage.

[frednurk]

If you want to know whether or not a program is trying to dial out- the easiest way I have found is to install a software firewall like zonealarm. This is a less than 3 meg program that is free in the cut down no bells and whistles version, and pretty powerfull. It will tell you not only who or what is trying to get in, but more interestingly, what is trying to get out. Chances are it is something simple like a Fax console trying to get ready to receive a fax. If this is the case then just config it for manual answer.
If no installed program is doing the dirty deed, then you need to look further, but I doubt it. XP can be a prick to get a handle on what it's doing, but with a few good (free) tools you can keep it under the lid. I would also concur that adaware6 and spybot are mandatory. Hope this helps :)