[Complete]issues do to potential malware infection or failing graphics card

[ASydReign]

The previous thread in which this issue was being discussed can be located here for reference.

http://spywarehammer.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=11789.msg103291#msg103291

My inactivity is partly based off of work schedule and partly based off of the fact that I do not want to use the computer in question much. Allow me to give a up-to-date description of my issues.

It seems as if my computer has reset its graphics settings to a basic state in which my graphics card is not being used. The resolution is now the same as if I were to start up the computer in safe mode. It no longer crashes, however the red lines are still present. Based of that alone I'm starting to feel as if either I'm having a major driver issue or the graphics card has physically failed in some way. The card itself is a bit old and has been used quite heavily for the past 3 years.

It seems as if my computer is free of malware at the moment. Avira picked up on a few issues and resolved them and since then there hasn't been any of the previous issues regarding speed and redirections.

I followed all of the last requests that 1972Vet so kindly laid out. Attached is a txt document that shows all the issues (exclamation points and grayed out drivers) discovered while using his cmd prompt method. As you can see, the graphics card has been discovered to have an issue. Also, as noted in the attachment, I was not able to locate the service profsvc in the non plug and play drivers section of my device manager.

I updated my Adobe reader and VLC player as well as uninstalled ask toolbar (which was associated with Avira) and Bigfix. While doing that I noticed an installed program called "Browser Address Error Redirector" which I felt looked suspicions and another called "UE3Redist". Not sure if these are anything to be worried about however, so I'll leave that to you pro's to tell me what you think.

I did have an issue locating javacpl.cpl in my search bar and was not able to update that. It seems as if that file is non existent on my system.

Thus far that is the latest a most current description of my issues I can give. Like always, I thank in advance the knowledgeable volunteers of Spyhammer for their expert advise and assistance! Hopefully we can resolve this in time for Skyrim :3

[PCBruiser]

Hi,

It looks like you are having some tough problems with the system.  First - something really simple.  Turn off the system, disconnect the power from the wall.  Let the system sit for 15 minutes, and open the case.  Gently, push down the video card into its' slot.  Sometimes with a lot of hot/cold cycles, that card rises up in its' slot and loses some of the connections.  The other potential issue is that many cases have misaligned back planes and as a result video cards in particular do not sit properly aligned with the motherboard slots.  That's a common problem.

Next, do the same with your RAM and any other slotted cards in the system.  Put the case back together, but before you connect the power supply, remove the cable for the video to your monitor, and reset it in its' sockets on both sides.  Those lines could mean a video cable that has either become loose on one end or the other, or has gone bad.   When that happens, it is common to see either red, blue or green lines on your monitor.  Now, turn the system on and see if that has any effect on the video issues.  If there is still a problem, and you have another video cable you can use, try that and see if anything is better.

Before you close the case, replace the motherboard battery with a fresh one.  If that battery fails, the system bios will not work properly.  The battery is a CR2032 and is available usually anywhere batteries are sold - it is a common flat LiIon battery used in lots of electronics.  If you need further instructions on how to do that, let me know.

If the problem persists, go to Start/Run and type the following command:

dxdiag

A new window will open.  Run all the tests in all the tabs, and post the report you get.  In particular, I am interested in any errors that appear in that report.

[ASydReign]

Will do! When I leave for work tomorrow I'll unplug everything and buy a button cell on my way home from work. I think we can scratch off the possibility of the connecting wire being bad though since a bad wire would cause the red lines but I've never seen a wire cause a complete system crash (not to mention I used an adapter for the wire and hooked it up to another system during all of this and it didn't have any problems).

Thanks for the response and I'll get back to you tomorrow!

[PCBruiser]

Bad cable can cause a system crash depending on whether it shorts across two leads that crash the vidcard.  However, if the cable works on another system without issues, we can cross that one off for the time being.  Do check for the possibility of a loose cable though.  For better or worse, this kind of issue could be so many different things, that it is a process of elimination to figure out exactly what is causing the problem. 

One further thing we need to check, GPUs run hot particularly with gaming systems, so we should check temps with diagnostics to make sure that the vidcard fan is working properly.  Even if the fan spins, it might not be spinning fast enough to move enough air to cool the GPU to an acceptable level.  However the diagnostics from the vidcard manufacturer (exactly what card model do you have?) should tell us how GPU temps are running.  Which reminds me - while the case is open, clean out all dust, etc, that might have collected in the system case and make sure that air circulation is OK.  That too can cause issues, and case fan failure could also be a contributing factor to heat issues.

[ASydReign]

Test message to see if I can post again.

[ASydReign]

Sorry, I had an issue where I was sent to a forbidden webpage saying that I was denied access by the firewall due to a possible trojan infection. I ran CCleaner and was able to post again. Allow me to rewrite everything I has previously written.

Opened up the case and checked the GPU and RAM. All seemed fine and firmly in place. Although I neglected to change the battery (I swore I have seen it on my motherboard but couldn't locate it), once told how to I will also be checking loose cables and such. Thanks in advance for that! Everything is also clean and airflow was fine.

The GPU is an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX. I remember that sometime around all the video issues I had updated windows and installed an optional update that said it was Nvidia related. Whether it was before or after the issues I can't remember, but I know it was very close to around the same time. Also, I had updated a game called League of Legends but that probably doesn't have anything to do with it.

I also attached the dxdiad log you requested. It doesn't really look like it found any issues but maybe a trained eye can find something of value in it ;-)

Thank you once again for all the help and hope to hear from you soon, Bruiser!

[PCBruiser]

Hi,

First, here are some instructions for changing out the battery.  Please remember to disconnect the system from the wall power and wait for 15 minutes or so before opening the case.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000239.htm
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/81

although I doubt that is the issue unless your system date and time are always changing to the wrong settings.  Having said that, even a low powered battery, one that has not failed outright, can make the system do some strange things.

The log you posted is fine, and it looks like your nVidia drivers are current.  What I'd like to do is make sure they installed correctly.  So, follow these simple instructions for completely uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers.

1.  Download the latest drivers from the nVidia site again.  Also download the latest nVidia chipset drivers for the rest of your motherboard hardware.  Your motherboard uses the nVidia chipset rather than an Intel set since you have an AMD CPU.

2.  Download this tool http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/ and install it.

3.  Open the Add/Remove CP and uninstall the nVidia video drivers.  Then uninstall the motherboard chipset drivers as well.

4.  Reboot into Safe Mode.

5.  In Safe Mode run DriverSweeper a couple of times until it no longer finds any nVidia drivers.

6.  Reboot into normal Windows.  Your video will look screwy because the system will revert to VGA after you uninstall the video drivers.

7.  Run the nVidia motherboard chipset installer.

8.  Reboot.

9.  Run the nVidia video drivers.

10.  Reboot.

11.  Right click on your desktop and click on Properties.  Once the display CP opens, reset the screen resolution to the default for your monitor, and set the color depth to 32 bit.  That should correct the resolution issue.

Let's see if that fixes anything.  I am pretty sure this is not a malware issue, but is hardware/driver related.  That kind of "line across screen" issue, and incorrect resolution issue is rarely malware related.

[PCBruiser]

BTW, it occurred to me that that "optional" Windows update was likely the update to the latest nVidia drivers.  nVidia has been pushing driver updates via Windows Update for a while.  It is entirely possible that is how your drivers became current.  Video drivers are funny, and take some extra work to install them correctly.  W7 seems to handle those driver updates reasonably well, although it is not hard to imagine that one of those updates failed to work correctly.  When that happens, you can have mismatched driver components, and that usually causes significant issues, in some extreme cases of update failure, it can lead to an unbootable system.  If that's the case here, following the above procedure should clean out everything, all inconsistent driver components, and then install them fresh, which should resolve the problem is my suspicion is correct.

[ASydReign]

I have all the files downloaded and ready to go, I just need some direction in terms of how to uninstall the motherboard drivers. Nothing seemed like it was related to the motherboard in the CP menu. And I have to apologize, but due to my resolution being messed up I had to take a bunch of pictures to show you everything you wanted to see in the device manager. There are 2 more that I will post after this post. Thank you for your time Bruiser and hope you had a good Thanksgiving!

[ASydReign]

Here are the rest. I'm sure there first think you'll notice is the alert on the graphics card.

[ASydReign]

Still with us, Bruiser?

[ASydReign]

PM Sent to Bruiser after Thanksgiving weekend:

Sorry, went on a little vacation for thanksgiving to meet some new additions to the family. I was trying to ask exactly how to uninstall the motherboard drivers. In the add/remove CP I see the graphics drivers but I don't see any that state or seem as if they are related to the motherboard. Before I go ahead and start running everything I just wanted to make sure that I have this all set up and correct. Thanks a ton, Bruiser!

[ASydReign]

Also, in an effort to locate where to find the nvidia chipset motherboard drivers I tried to open up the nvidia control panel and it told me that no displays were using the nvidia gpu (and abruptly closed) although the monitor is indeed connected to the port provided by my gpu. Not sure if this information is of any use or significance but I am just putting it out there if that helps at all. Thank you for your help.

[PCBruiser]

Hi,

If you cannot find the uninstall for the motherboard drivers, just skip that part of the instructions.  When you run DriverSweeper, you will see three nVidia related items in the menu:  Chipset, Video and PhysX.  Check all three.  That should pick up any chipset drivers that may be hanging around.  Do the rest of the steps including Step 7 where you install new chipset drivers.  That should also include an uninstaller if anything is left at that point.  Let's see if that helps.

[ASydReign]

Awesome, now I just need one more thing. How can I tell which nforce driver is the one for my motherboard? The nvidia site offers a bunch but I want to make sure I download the right version.

The model of my computer is a gateway gt5656

http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/getFile.asp?id=21609&dscr=Nvidia%20SATA%20IDE%20driver%20Version:%205.10.2600.0995&uid=326632465

Is this it?

Thanks a bunch, Bruiser!!