Serious Computer Issues...

[The_Professor]

Yeah, find out the make of the hard drive.

Use something like the Belarc Advisor if you need to.

Then use the hard drive manufacturers diagnosis tool to R/O a failing drive.

Something as simple as a failing fan can cause your hard drive to heat up and fail, besides actual problems with the drive.

[jimjohson]

Had an Acer brand acting that way, bought a new one from Best Buy and with the geek squad deal I brought that one in for free evaluation/repair minus parts, it ended up being the hard drive but didn't have the rescue disc to replace and repair. Then found out Acer had problems like this after about 1.5-2 years.

yeah I bought a Acer once. it barley lasted out it's warranty. bought a Dell and did what Chuck N advised, he's right I felt lots better.

[JimH]

Well, I have had the computer for almost 6 years now. Worked great up until a week ago. Now, I am awaiting a keyboard. Dang thing has a wireless keyboard, so half the time I can't get it to go into safe mode to try all these suggestions.

[Beer-lord]

6 years! I build a new one every 2-3 years......but I keep my cars for 12!

[JimH]

Yeah, I try to take as good of care of my computers as I do my vehicles.

In other news, I am posting from my desktop. I may have found the issue. I went through the logs like Russki suggested, and it appears that the first failure I got was from AVGADIS or something. I guess perhaps I made the mistake of running two antivirus programs at the same time. I was running AVG for a while, and then I was looking at antivirus reviews on CNET. I decided to try Comodo internet security, because it seemed to provide better firewall protection and stuff like that. I ran if for a few months now, but I didn't want to uninstall AVG until I know Comodo was working. I found the error, uninstalled AVG, and now I have had two successful startups in a row!

Thanks guys for your help. I think I need to check on the startup processes though in msconfig, it runs a bit slow.

And, do you guys have feedback on antivirus programs? Is it fine to keep Comodo? Or should I switch back to AVG? Or stop being a cheapskate and buy a program?

[Beer-lord]

I'm surprised you weren't warned about having 1 antivirus program installed when you installed the 2nd.
Between work and home I have many antivirus programs. AVG, AVG free, Webroot, Avast, Security Essentials. I've not had a virus problem in ages but I don't go looking for trouble either.

[JimH]

I am pretty sure I was warned, but I ignored it. I planned on uninstalling one anyway after I made sure Comodo worked. It has a 5 star review on Cnet, and AVG only has a 4.5 star. It seems to work really well.

In msconfig, I am looking at a bunch of stuff in the services and startup tab. Dumbing down the question, what are these? I guess the startup tab is what starts up when the computer starts up. I am sure some of them can be disabled, like iTunes, and stuff like that. But the services? Should I disable some of those?

[Beer-lord]

Can you post a screen cap of what you see or list some?
There are lots of things you can likely disable but some things you may be using. Most of the Microsoft stuff should stay.

[JimH]

I disabled some stuff I knew I could, like iTunes autorun. I didn't disable any Microsoft stuff. I can post a screenshot tomorrow, see if there is some other stuff to disable. So far the computer seems to be running well. Three restarts in a row and no issues.

Thanks again for all the help.