Announcement Concerning HIKYM!

[ChaoticBroth]

No way, I had no idea you use Paint Shop Pro 8. I found it in a pile of old CDs my dad had, and I decided to load it and use it.

It's not actually compatible with Vista, but you can use Vista's Compatibility feature to get it running. I've had it working fine, aside from some hiccups every now and then. I'm not sure if Windows 7 has it since I've never bothered touching that.

Good luck on getting your computer fixed, though.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by MSperoni

I don't really have the time to wait on getting this one repaired or building a new computer from scratch. I don't know from experience how long something like that takes, but I want to get up and going again ASAP so I can get back to work.

If you know someone nearby who can do it, about 1 afternoon + shipping time for whatever parts you picked out. If you have an actual company do it, shipping time + roughly a month. 'Cause apparently their assembly lines are slower than sitting in a living room plugging components together and installing software.



My suggestion:

FIRST: Go into safe mode, activate windows restore points. Restore to just before this shit went down. This should fix it (temporarily at least). Start downloading virus scans and running them like a mofo, as you may still have the offending program on your computer.

If that doesn't work: Go into safe mode, burn any data you want to/have to keep onto a DVD (or 20 or whatever), pop it out, format your HD, reinstall windows.

If it runs in safe mode I'm like 99% sure you have a software problem, so one of those should fix it, for the time being, anyway.

Then get your new computer and use that for everything that isn't HIKYM so this never happens again.


Edit: Best Buy + Geek Squad = Formatted HD. Sooooo just do that yourself before sending it into them, after backing everything up.

[MasterOfMagic]

Yeah, I've heard horrible things about Best Buy. Most people say they charge outrageous sums of money to wipe everything, without even making backups first. And other such nastiness.

I am unsure of how a virus could prevent you from formatting the hard drive. That'd have to be one crazy security leak. What happens when you reboot with an XP install disk in your drive, exactly?

[MSperoni]

Originally Posted by MasterOfMagic

What happens when you reboot with an XP install disk in your drive, exactly?

The windows installer gave a blue error screen in relation to setupdd.sys with a STOP code of 0xf7416f3e. A buddy of mine researched this online and found it is commonly related to problems with failing hardware (RAM, processor L2, etc).

However that seems strange to both of us cos my computer had performed so far without any real issue or hardware burping at all. So to have the hardware "fail" the same time I get a virus is either a case of extremely bad luck for me or something else. I didn't even get an option to format the hard-drive or mess w/ any windows partitions or anything when I put in the XP install disk.


However, instead of taking it into Geek Squad, some very kick-ass and nice tech people who work at the County Courthouse (my Dad is a Judge) offered to look it over and do what they can with it for free. At worst they say they'll just put in some new parts (which I'll pay 'em for), and at best they think they can bypass all this stuff with Windows not being installed, reformat the HD and give me the comp all clean again.

Either way I'd be starting over with my computer, but I've backed up all the critical stuff and so it'd just be a matter of putting all that back on and getting some of my old programs reinstalled like my Wacom and my art program.

However I STILL might get a new computer. I want one to be 100% offline, and I'm not sure if I will get a new one for that. I found one that seems pretty good and very powerful, like 2-4 times better than the one I have now (my computer that got this trouble was about 3-4 years old). That would be cool cos I could run the newer art programs and maybe work on bigger and more detailed images. Also it'd run games pretty well which is a nice perk.

I'd keep the old one as the 100% online computer, to avoid this virus shit in the future



I tried using restore points, but they didn't work in Safe Mode. I don't know why, seems kinda obnoxious really if your restore points don't even work. I also tried running various Malware removal/searching tools like Malware Bytes and Super Anti-Spyware and neither program would work on my computer in Safe Mode.

However another buddy recommended a program called "Combo Fix" which he said would have done everything, but I got this from him about the time I heard from my Dad in regards to the techies at the Courthouse so I figured I'd just turn the sucker over to them. They're experienced guys and I figure if they can't fix it no one can (at least locally that I know of) and it's a lost cause.

[MasterOfMagic]

Sounds like my help isn't needed then. Hope you get it fixed soon~

[MSperoni]

IT'S FIXED!!!

with enough time for me to get a page done by monday!

[Meister]

Hooray!

At least it happened between chapters, I guess, not right in the middle.

[MSperoni]

Only issue is the mouse is behaving a little oddly but everything else works just fine.

[Meister]

Check the mouse for dirt or dust or hair on the sensor or a bent cable or something.

I'm helping!

[Tev]

Originally Posted by Meister

Check the mouse for dirt or dust or hair on the sensor or a bent cable or something.

I'm helping!

And lotion build-up. Don't forget to scrape that off.