Hi, this has happened on 2 computers, after playing a game or just going for a quick chat onto a game's linked server.
The first computer is a HP m8247c with legit Vista. I wanted to give you a link for the specs, (sorry, I'm writing this on my cellphone, and I can't select and copy the specs from the hp.ca site). As a newbie, I am not allowed to give you the link, but it's easy to find, although I don't think it's necessary to have the computer's specs to be able to envision the problem. The second computer is an e-machine, built up a couple of years ago and running on legal XP.
My 13 years old son used to play an online game, Teeworlds, a couple of times per week. Our home computer operates on Windows Vista, with Avira Antivir for the security.
The last time he played that game was the last time the computer worked. I tried to ask him what had happened, but he couldn't tell me. Then, a similar thing happened with a second computer... That refreshed his memory. For what he remembers now, the next time he turned our computer on, he clicked on the Teeworlds icon, clicked run, then a blue screen appeared with lots of writing on it about memory transferring to hard disk and a lot of numbers at the bottom of the screen. He then force closed it by pushing on the power button. At the next restarting, he couldn't get further than the HP home screen, not able to get into Windows, and then the screen turned black, with only the insertion pointer blinking. I tried many times to restart in Safe Mode, without results. The computer is frozen, doesn't obey any command, the screen is totally black except for the insertion pointer and I have to push on the power button on the tower to turn it off.
A few weeks later, with our computer still down, my son went to his grandmother to do his homework on her computer. That computer operates on Windows XP with 2 antiviruses, one of which is Avira. He went to the game's site on that computer, then, looking for a friend, logged onto a server where this guy was. That server worked like a CTF, but in the server list had a different game type name. He went onto that server, exchanged a couple of messages to say hello, logged off and did his homework. The next time we turned that computer on, a lot of writing appeared on the screen, then it went black. Not even the blinking of the insertion pointer in that case. Following that, it has been impossible to turn the computer off, even by pushing on the power button. We have to unplug it. It won't start in safe mode either.
This reminds me that last spring, we got another plague, Vista Internet Security 2010, which also froze the computer. Fortunately, I was able to login in safe mode and was able to find a solution on the web, that included both a patch to temporarily disable the popup windows and a scan with Malewarebytes. I am now writing this on my cellphone, but when I recuperate our computer, I'll get back to you with the exact name of the expert. Credits are due to whom they belong.
By the way, we then had the misfortune of having an up to date Norton Internet Security as protection. It never saw anything, even when doing full scans in safe mode, and "They" insistingly wanted to charge me 99$ to solve a common bug their product had let pass. Ha! We are not with them anymore.
Did we get this malware through Teeworlds? That's a good question. The thing is, we don't do any other "risky" activities. One thing is certain, though, the last two bugs appeared just after using a server linked to that game. But anybody can set up a server linked to that game.
I want to repair the computer myself: I cannot afford to send the computer in for repair or debugging. And I don't want to erase the hard disk.
I am willing to learn and to take the time to do all the work necessary to fix this, but I simply don't have much of a clue on what to do.
At least, with the second occurrence of the same problem, we now known where/how it probably began.
I can't put a link to my thread on that subject in the Teeworlds forums, but if you need, you can look for a thread entitled: "Got a computer bug -- through Teeworlds??"
Thanks for looking! ;-)
The first computer is a HP m8247c with legit Vista. I wanted to give you a link for the specs, (sorry, I'm writing this on my cellphone, and I can't select and copy the specs from the hp.ca site). As a newbie, I am not allowed to give you the link, but it's easy to find, although I don't think it's necessary to have the computer's specs to be able to envision the problem. The second computer is an e-machine, built up a couple of years ago and running on legal XP.
My 13 years old son used to play an online game, Teeworlds, a couple of times per week. Our home computer operates on Windows Vista, with Avira Antivir for the security.
The last time he played that game was the last time the computer worked. I tried to ask him what had happened, but he couldn't tell me. Then, a similar thing happened with a second computer... That refreshed his memory. For what he remembers now, the next time he turned our computer on, he clicked on the Teeworlds icon, clicked run, then a blue screen appeared with lots of writing on it about memory transferring to hard disk and a lot of numbers at the bottom of the screen. He then force closed it by pushing on the power button. At the next restarting, he couldn't get further than the HP home screen, not able to get into Windows, and then the screen turned black, with only the insertion pointer blinking. I tried many times to restart in Safe Mode, without results. The computer is frozen, doesn't obey any command, the screen is totally black except for the insertion pointer and I have to push on the power button on the tower to turn it off.
A few weeks later, with our computer still down, my son went to his grandmother to do his homework on her computer. That computer operates on Windows XP with 2 antiviruses, one of which is Avira. He went to the game's site on that computer, then, looking for a friend, logged onto a server where this guy was. That server worked like a CTF, but in the server list had a different game type name. He went onto that server, exchanged a couple of messages to say hello, logged off and did his homework. The next time we turned that computer on, a lot of writing appeared on the screen, then it went black. Not even the blinking of the insertion pointer in that case. Following that, it has been impossible to turn the computer off, even by pushing on the power button. We have to unplug it. It won't start in safe mode either.
This reminds me that last spring, we got another plague, Vista Internet Security 2010, which also froze the computer. Fortunately, I was able to login in safe mode and was able to find a solution on the web, that included both a patch to temporarily disable the popup windows and a scan with Malewarebytes. I am now writing this on my cellphone, but when I recuperate our computer, I'll get back to you with the exact name of the expert. Credits are due to whom they belong.
By the way, we then had the misfortune of having an up to date Norton Internet Security as protection. It never saw anything, even when doing full scans in safe mode, and "They" insistingly wanted to charge me 99$ to solve a common bug their product had let pass. Ha! We are not with them anymore.
Did we get this malware through Teeworlds? That's a good question. The thing is, we don't do any other "risky" activities. One thing is certain, though, the last two bugs appeared just after using a server linked to that game. But anybody can set up a server linked to that game.
I want to repair the computer myself: I cannot afford to send the computer in for repair or debugging. And I don't want to erase the hard disk.
I am willing to learn and to take the time to do all the work necessary to fix this, but I simply don't have much of a clue on what to do.
At least, with the second occurrence of the same problem, we now known where/how it probably began.
I can't put a link to my thread on that subject in the Teeworlds forums, but if you need, you can look for a thread entitled: "Got a computer bug -- through Teeworlds??"
Thanks for looking! ;-)
