Virus scan kills PC

ocset

Hi there, i hope someone can give me some advice...
I have a 3 year old PC which runs XP home edition, never had any probs until about a month ago, when i ran Norton anti virus checker the PC Switched off about two thirds of the way through the scan? :mad:

I have also tried to run ADaware and spybot with the same result about half way through their scans the PC powers down, if i try to power up again it won't start unless i leave it for about five mins then switch back on.
Everything else seems to be working fine?

When ever i run a scan there is nothing else running, i have looked at task manager and can not see anything that shouldn't be there (or so i think...), i have adaware and spybot set to start when i want them to start so the only security software running from boot is Norton.

Please help tia :rolleyes:

superscaper

Powering off without warning and not being able to switch back on straight away indicates to me a hardware problem, maybe over heating or a PSU problem. Maybe worth checking all the fans are working properly and giving a good clean/dust. The fact you are running scanners may be triggering it because of high sustained CPU use. You could try in safe mode and see if it makes any difference.

alanrowell

Start with the advice in the "Malware/Spyware Removal Guide" thread as it sounds as if you have a nasty infection

ocset

superscaper wrote: »

Powering off without warning and not being able to switch back on straight away indicates to me a hardware problem, maybe over heating or a PSU problem. Maybe worth checking all the fans are working properly and giving a good clean/dust.

Hi there, thanks for the reply, but that was my inital thought, so checked the fans and gave a good clean out. Then i ran the scan first thing in the morning after the PC had been switched off all night, with the side of the case off. It wasn't running warm when it powered off again :mad:

How can i test the other components, like the PSU?

Thanks

superscaper

If the psu is going faulty it would be difficult to test without actually swapping it for another one. Could be a similar problem to this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=485346. Have you tried running the scans in safe mode (going through the malware removal guide as above) just to rule out malware?

gaming_guy

i had this when i has a bit of nasty spyware which made the computer power off when the anti spyware had found it

at the time i had win 98 and xp on 2 different hard drives so i booted into the 98 hd and scanned the xp one from win 98 and the comp didnt shut down.

try scanning in safe mode

superscaper

gaming_guy wrote: »

i had this when i has a bit of nasty spyware which made the computer power off when the anti spyware had found it

It was the bit about not being able to power on straight away that made me think hardware as that doesn't involve anything installed on hard drive at all, malicious or not.

gaming_guy

superscaper wrote: »

It was the bit about not being able to power on straight away that made me think hardware as that doesn't involve anything installed on hard drive at all, malicious or not.

oh ok, i missed the bit about it not powering on.

its probably a combination of both then

superscaper

gaming_guy wrote: »

oh ok, i missed the bit about it not powering on.

its probably a combination of both then

Always possible there's more than one problem. Cheaper to sort out a software problem though so best bet is to try and eliminate that as a cause first.

ocset

:mad: Update:

Have installed the Malware removal software as per the thread, rebooted into safe mode, ran Ccleaner, but every other scan kills the PC:mad:

The scans are not showing any probs at the point of power loss...

Have looked at the PSU, its an ATX 300GTF, can i install a 400w PSU? is there much or any advantage in having a larger output, or do i need to stick to the same type/ouput for the motherboard?

Thanks again for the help chaps :rolleyes:

superscaper

You're actually better at getting a bigger output in case you need extra drives etc. I think 400W is certainly not over doing it today. I'm kind of at my limit myself at 300W and need to upgrade my PSU when I next do a major upgrade. It certainly is sounding more and more like a hardware issue.