Greetings!
Two years ago I was helped by moderators and helpers on this forum, and so I have returned.
Background (long but please bear with me!): I am using a 3-year-old homebuilt P4 computer, shared by the family. In early March I added another 512mb of RAM (DDR 400) to speed things up. The computer did indeed run faster but would periodically reboot and show a "serious error" message box, which then opened a MS website with recommendations about possible causes, including recent hardware changes, outdated drivers, viruses, and the like. One recommendation was to run the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, which showed the memory to be OK. From reading various forums I eventually became acquainted with Memtest86+ and used it to test the 2 memory sticks. This revealed memory failure during test#5. Interestingly, in testing each memory stick separately, I found that my original 512mb stick had gone bad, not the new one. So I pulled the old one and ordered another new 512mb stick from the same vendor I had found on that very famous auction site that begins with "e".
In the interim, the computer seemed to run OK with the new 512mb stick, and when the second one arrived, I put it in and tested the pair again, using Memtest86+, which yielded another test#5 failure. Rats! However, tests of each stick individually produced no failures. From the memory forums I learned that my experience was not uncommon, and that I should reverse the sticks on the motherboard. Upon doing so, the pair tested OK with Memtest86+.
After a few days, I started experiencing reboots again. This time I de-selected the automatic restart option, found under "Startup and Recovery" on the "Advanced" tab of System Properties. This allowed me to read the BSOD error messages. These varied but were typically STOP 0x000000** messages, where the ** differed from failure to failure. I searched each message on Google but never came up with a definite explanation, only a reference to general RAM problems. However, some forum respondents mentioned that they had found rootkit infections of their computers that mimicked this same behavior.
Today I checked the scan logs of the AVG Free Edition that I use, and found that most (but not all) of my overnight complete system scans of the last 2 months did NOT complete. The log summary said something to the effect that the log was corrupted, and the number of files checked was much less than the number (approx 470,000) typically found in a complete scan. So I tried to run a BitDefender on-line scan. This crashed with another BSOD. Next I turned to the 8-step procedure here to collect the log files, but could not (and still cannot) get a complete scan using AVG 8.5 Free Edition without a BSOD failure. I downloaded a new copy of AVG, uninstalled the original, installed the new copy, and got the same results. Nevertheless, I did collect the 3 logs and have attached them.
Most of the evidence points to RAM, although it tests OK now, but I thought I would ask for your help on the rootkit virus side. Any and all advice will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!
Two years ago I was helped by moderators and helpers on this forum, and so I have returned.
Background (long but please bear with me!): I am using a 3-year-old homebuilt P4 computer, shared by the family. In early March I added another 512mb of RAM (DDR 400) to speed things up. The computer did indeed run faster but would periodically reboot and show a "serious error" message box, which then opened a MS website with recommendations about possible causes, including recent hardware changes, outdated drivers, viruses, and the like. One recommendation was to run the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, which showed the memory to be OK. From reading various forums I eventually became acquainted with Memtest86+ and used it to test the 2 memory sticks. This revealed memory failure during test#5. Interestingly, in testing each memory stick separately, I found that my original 512mb stick had gone bad, not the new one. So I pulled the old one and ordered another new 512mb stick from the same vendor I had found on that very famous auction site that begins with "e".
In the interim, the computer seemed to run OK with the new 512mb stick, and when the second one arrived, I put it in and tested the pair again, using Memtest86+, which yielded another test#5 failure. Rats! However, tests of each stick individually produced no failures. From the memory forums I learned that my experience was not uncommon, and that I should reverse the sticks on the motherboard. Upon doing so, the pair tested OK with Memtest86+.
After a few days, I started experiencing reboots again. This time I de-selected the automatic restart option, found under "Startup and Recovery" on the "Advanced" tab of System Properties. This allowed me to read the BSOD error messages. These varied but were typically STOP 0x000000** messages, where the ** differed from failure to failure. I searched each message on Google but never came up with a definite explanation, only a reference to general RAM problems. However, some forum respondents mentioned that they had found rootkit infections of their computers that mimicked this same behavior.
Today I checked the scan logs of the AVG Free Edition that I use, and found that most (but not all) of my overnight complete system scans of the last 2 months did NOT complete. The log summary said something to the effect that the log was corrupted, and the number of files checked was much less than the number (approx 470,000) typically found in a complete scan. So I tried to run a BitDefender on-line scan. This crashed with another BSOD. Next I turned to the 8-step procedure here to collect the log files, but could not (and still cannot) get a complete scan using AVG 8.5 Free Edition without a BSOD failure. I downloaded a new copy of AVG, uninstalled the original, installed the new copy, and got the same results. Nevertheless, I did collect the 3 logs and have attached them.
Most of the evidence points to RAM, although it tests OK now, but I thought I would ask for your help on the rootkit virus side. Any and all advice will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!
