Some Programs Not Working

[user123]

There is an error message that appears whenever I restart. I never remembered to write it down and post it here. Here it is:

Error loading C:\Windows\System32\NvCpl.dll

Invalid access to memory location.

[AnnMarie]

Hmm, another problem appearing. This new error is related to a nVidia file. The problem is getting worse and I am also mindful of something you said a few posts back.

apparently there was a disk check scheduled too

If you didnt schedule the check, it may have run because of inconsistencies on your drive.

And is it possible that my personal files could be corrupted, or my flash drive perhaps, so that if I were to transfer them to my computer after the factory restore it would cause the same problem again?

Anything is possible but that scenario is fairly unlikely. Wouldnt you check a few of the files after copying them across to another drive? Here is what I think you should do. Backup your data before going any further. See here. Make sure that you backup to either an external drive or DVD or CD if you use Automatic Backup. More help here.

If you choose to backup manually, an easy way to do this is to copy the entire Documents folder for each user account. You can also run a search by extension to make sure that you have got all the files that you want to keep. For example use *.doc or *.jpg as a search parameter (* is a wildcard and all documents and jpg files will be found). Your Favorites folder which you will see above your Documents folder can just be copied too but it is a little bit more complicated than that with Windows Mail. See here for help with this.

Any third party programs will need to be reinstalled.

Also, is it better to use the CD's or HP_RECOVERY (D:\)? Or is there no difference?

I dont know. Check your manual user123. If you have HP Recovery Manager installed, it also should offer an option to backup your files. See here for more help.

Once you have backed up your data and before you perform a recovery, I think it would be a good idea to check your hard drive. Programs failing and the issue getting progressively worse can be a sign of a failing hard drive. You need to obtain and run the Manufacturer of your Hard Drive's diagnostic utility. I dont work on hardware issues so if you need help with this, please post a new topic in the Hardware Forum and include your full specs.

[user123]

I did schedule a disk check a while back; I think there was one scheduled for at system restore point. The problem, on the contrary, is not getting worse. The performance of my computer had been getting progressively better for a week or two. All of these errors were present throughout the problem, it's just that some of them only report errors when I restart, and I didn't think to write them down.

So, I will try reinstalling IE and backing-up my files, as well as running the diagnostic tool. Once I finish that I'll let you know how it went.

Thank you,

user123

[AnnMarie]

Ok. Are there any other problems that you havent mentioned yet? I really need to know the full extent of your problems to help you user123.

[user123]

Here is the full description of the problem:


Around the end of July, my computer suddenly began working very slowly. If I tried to open any program, it would take a very long time to do so, if it did at all. Most programs simply crashed. Several times, the computer stopped responding, and I restarted. Over the course of the next week or two, the performance gradually improved until I could run some programs again, even at almost-normal speed. My first priority at the time was to scan the computer with AVG to try and fix the problem. The problem, however, did not go away, although at one point AVG found a backdoor Trojan on my flash drive. I assume it removed it, though I'm not positive as I'm not very familiar with this type of thing. Now, many of my programs didn't work. If I attempted to open them, they crashed and I got the typical program-not-responding message, or in some cases, dialog boxes offering to send error reports to the respective companies. Among these programs were Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Windows Live Messenger, ROBLOX, Windows Sidebar, Google Sketchup, Secunia PSI, SimpLite-MSN, Java(TM) Platform SE binary, and Speech Recognition. I also repeatedly get the same message for Microsoft Feeds Sychronization. Also, whenever I restart, I get the error message listed below as Error Message 1. I lost all of my email, though I was still able to send and receive it. Soon after my email was recovered. I also found the downloaded files for Mozilla Firefox, and using those I was able to reinstall Firefox, which now works fine. The rest of the programs, however, continue to crash when I try to open them. This problem details I get when IE crashes are listed below as Error Message 2. Since then I have made several attempts to fix the problem, including clean booting, running DDS.scr, running the System File Checker, and System Restore (which doesn't work because all of my restore points are after the problem started).



Error Message 1: Error loading C:\Windows\System32\NvCpl.dll

Invalid access to memory location.



Error Message 2: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: iexplore.exe
Application Version: 8.0.6001.18813
Application Timestamp: 4a6621ae
Fault Module Name: WININET.dll
Fault Module Version: 8.0.6001.18813
Fault Module Timestamp: 4a6638d8
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 00087149
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: fd00
Additional Information 2: ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
Additional Information 3: fd00
Additional Information 4: ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

[AnnMarie]

Ok now that I have the full story, I think we should check for malware. Logs produced by utilities like DDS dont show infected windows files nor will they show a rootkit infection.

Download Dr.Web CureIt! from here and copy it to your machine.

Plug in all USB drives and boot into safe mode (restart your computer and tap F8 continuously as it restarts)

Doubleclick on the drweb cureit.exe file and click on Start and Ok and allow it to run the express scan. This is a short scan and will scan all files currently running in memory. If something is found, click the Yes button when it asks you if you want to cure it but do not ok any delete option.

Once the short scan has finished, click on Complete Scan and click the green arrow > to the right and the scan will begin.

When the scan has finished, click the "Select all" button and then click on the Move button. This will move any infected files to the %userprofile%\DoctorWeb\quarantine folder.

Next and this is important, from the main Dr.Web CureIt menu (top left), click File and choose save report list and save the report to your desktop. The report will be called DrWeb.csv and it can be opened in Notepad.

Close Cureit and restart your computer to completely remove any stubborn files. You may get a message saying "No operations performed with some objects in list. Exit program". If so, click "Yes" (You may get a popup offering you a discount if you purchase DrWeb AntiVirus. You may or may not wish to take advantage of this offer later but for now, just close the popup and wait for the scan to finish).

Please post the log in this thread.

[user123]

Er... I'm having trouble downloading the program. When I go to that URL and click Download, a bar appears at the top of the screen asking if I want to download. I click Download, and the page redirects to a different page. The Run/Save dialog box never appears.

[usfemail]

++More nonsense removed by Moderator++

[AnnMarie]

Can you please download it to another machine and copy it across to the one we are working on like you did with DDS user123.

[user123]

Oh sorry.This was on a different computer. Whenever I try to download on this computer, Firefox crashes.

[AnnMarie]

You have two computers that you cannot download files on? It sounds as though they may both be infected. I think it would be a good idea to download the file on a public computer or ask a friend to download it for you.