VIRUS WHICH NO ONE CAN FIND

[WhiteTornado]

Hi,

I am having an impossible time locating a likely virus on a system – I like to check if anyone has some tips as I rather not have to re-format. The symptoms are that the mouse is going out of my control, then it erratically moves and starts to erase the screen, then the screen goes as if it melts and then the system freezes. This will happened every time I go to Microsoft Update or when I would go to the control panel in the add/remove program tool. I am using Windows 2000, all the patches are installed. I have Norton 2003 with all updates. I have done a full scan normal mode as well as in safemode, I have tried several other on-line virus scanners (Panda, TrendMicro, McAfee, Norton) ALL the scans done shows NO Viruses!!! I checked in the run area of the registry and nothing strange there, I thought maybe I am getting hacked, so I set the firewall on in my SMC barricade, still happends, I unplug the network cable and try add/remove programs, STILL there!!! So it is in the machine. Now, sure I could just reformat, but this is too challenging and I now must find this thing so I will know what to do if this ever happends to a friend.
Cheers!

 

[michigan]

WhiteTornado -

Not sure if that's a virus or not. I read a post awhile back with very similar symptoms your having, but ended up being the video card (AGP Diamond/Savage). You may want to double check you have the latest/greatest drivers. Maybe even go into safe mode (or standard monitor) w/256 color and see if it still happens. Just another thought, if you have an optical/USB or wireless mouse, you may want to re-install it's drivers as well.

Did this just recently start happening? Did you notice it after a past window update/patch?

 

[WhiteTornado]

Hi,

Ok thanks, interesting thing, I would not have suspected that to be a cause. One other detail to the symptoms it is giving me: when it occured while I was on the Internet, the blue planet (Internet icon) on the status bar turned into a black ball, then, when it occured while I was in the control panel, everywhere where you normally get the yellow small folder icon turned into a black folder.

Harware wise I have PS2 periphérals, the video card is a small 16Mo Diamond Fusion card.

The first time it occured was while I was trying to get the remaining Windows Updates, this was last week. Then I simply reformatted and re-installed the system. Now, after it is nearly all done, this is creeping up again, except that this time it is also doing it while I open the config panel.

Cheers!

 

[enkie]

yep. it sounds like a hardware problem. try borrowing a video card, replace it and observe your pc for a few days.

 

[WhiteTornado]

Got it - well this is something I would not have suspected! Will definitely try this out Tks

Cheers!