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Help: Need help identifying the cause of this problem....

Hi all,

The symptoms: When connected to the internet my desktop runs at 100% cpu usage and 100% network usage. There are no idications of which process is actually using 100% CPU. Whatever is wrong with my desktop is now wrong with my laptop - they both run winxp and are connected to the same router. If I disconnect the router from the cable modem both computers continue to run at 100%/100% - disconnect the network cables

- or disable the connection - and the problem goes away.

Right now I am writing this on my wife's mac - it is also connected to router but works just fine. There is no burner/storage device attached to this mac so I cannot get the latest spybot/adaware/norton updates. My norton is 3 days old and the adaware/spybot are over a month old - don't detect anything.

My first attempt was to completely reformat the desktop; give it a clean slate. However, after reformat the 100%/100% problem continues. (Laptop was not on and not connected to network). What kind of computer virus/trojan/exploit survives a fresh reinstall of the OS? Any advice appreciated, ent

Reply to
entropy123
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On 29 Dec 2004 01:12:13 -0800, entropy123 spoketh

Nothing survives a fresh install of the OS, assuming the whole disk/all disks was re-formatted. However, if the other computer on your network is infected with a worm, it is likely that it infected your newly installed computer.

It is peculiar that the process that eats up all your CPU doesn't show in the task manager. Even if this is going on, you should be able to download something, even if it may take some time.

Try starting your computer up in safe mode, and look through your startup areas. See if you can get a copy of HiJackThis to simplify the search for programs that start up when your computer is started. You should be able to manually remove items from the usual places in the registry (HKLM\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run, HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run). Be sure to check what things are before you delete them, deleting the wrong item could be rather unpleasant...

Lars M. Hansen

formatting link
'badnews' with 'news' in e-mail address)

Reply to
Lars M. Hansen

Its also possible that you can be infected with xp if you update it immediately after install or are simply connected to the internet after install. Really, you need to install without a network connection, then put on sp1 or 2 then go immediately to the windows update site and download the fixes. If your internet connection doesn't have a fixed connection, then it's a good idea to leave your router disconnected from the telephone line, so that you will be given (hopefully) a new ip when you reconnect.

Reply to
jasee

Sounds more like you have a hardware problem with the NIC. What is it? i.e Intel, Kingston, Realtek.... What is its driver?

Reply to
SpidermanRulez

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