crashing or shutting down problem

Hello. Hope I can remember this all properly.

Saturday morning I turned on my computer and when it came up I hit "update Norton" which is usually the first thing I do. When it was done and I went to close the Norton box, my computer was frozen and I had to push and hold the button to turn it off. When it came up, I had messages in my message center about my antivirus or something and my Norton was red and in need of "fixing" which meant it had to re-download a bunch of updates.

Sunday I turned on my computer and when I checked to see if it was up yet (it takes a while so I usually go do some other things while I wait), it was stuck on the "your computer was not shut down properly screen". Well, I had shut it down properly the night before and I believe what happened is that it came up or part way up and then crashed or shut down. It was stuck on that screen though and again I had to push and hold the button to turn it off.

Today it came up and I hit the "update Norton" and the next time I looked it was stuck on the "welcome" screen and again a hard shut down. And also again, the Norton problem. Now I still have 3 messages in my action center that won't go away even though I let Norton update again and then I restarted my computer. The 3 messages are:

Spyware and unwanted software protection - it says that my Norton and Windows Defender (I don't have this unless it is part of Windows 7) are not on. If I click to turn Norton on (which it already is) nothing happens and the message does not go away.

Virus Protection - says it's not on even though it is. Same as above if I click to turn it on.

Network Firewall - Ditto.

Any ideas about this?

I looked for weird stuff in my installed programs and don't see anything. My last windows updates were on the 8th and mostly seem to be for office, nothing weird looking to me, which isn't saying much. I'm wondering if Norton is trying to do something that isn't working but I don't know how to find that out OR if my hard drive is failing. Just a fear I've been having lately.

Thanks for any insight.

First thing I'd do is run a chkdsk on the hard drive to make sure it is OK. Do the complete scan that checks the surface of the disk. Here are instructions that show alternate ways of doing this.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/guide-to-using-check-disk-in-windows-vista/

The computer will probably have to reboot before running chkdsk.

If the computer was turned off while it was writing back to the hard drive, that could cause corrupted files. Sometimes chkdsk can fix them, sometimes not.

If chkdsk finds errors, run it again until it finds no more errors. If chkdsk indicates that it made repairs, see how well the computer runs after it's made them.

If chkdsk finds no errors on the hard drive, maybe the problem is just Norton. Try uninstalling and reinstalling Norton. After uninstalling through Control Panel\Programs, be sure to use the Norton Removal Tool to get rid of all trace of Norton.
https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us

Then reinstall Norton, download updates and see if it behaves itself.

Thank you Jenny100. I will do the chkdsk. Hopefully I can get to the weekend before doing it though as I imagine it will take some time.

Maybe you can run it overnight.
That's what I do.
With big hard drives, it takes a loooooong time.

But if the computer goes to "sleep" will it keep going? I hesitate to leave it on overnight because of my cats. I used to do that when the computer was in my room but now it's in the kitchen where I can't keep an eye on it.

I think my drive is 1TB and I can't remember how many files even though I did a full Norton scan on Saturday. That took 4 hours.

I'll think on it as it is only Monday. Don't want to go through this every night and make matters worse.

Just change the power settings to stop it from going to sleep for these scans.

When something freezes the computer, instead of using the power button to shut down the computer try Ctrl/Alt/Delete to bring up the Task Manager. Click on the program which is frozen and then End Task to, hopefully, stop and close the program.

Draclvr - I have it set not to sleep but it still does anyway.

Homer - I tried that. It didn't work. And I wasn't in any program at the time. I thought it was just my mouse the first time and unplugged and replugged it a couple of times but that didn't work. And the one time it was on the "welcome" screen, not at my desktop.

I did do the chkdsk overnight. Turned my monitor off so the cats wouldn't be interested in movement and got up a couple of times to check on it. The computer being on seemed to deter the one cat from sleeping on my chair as she usually does at night. It was making some noise while it ran.

How do I know if chkdsk found any errors or made any repairs? There wasn't any log or anything when I got up.

Anyway, I'll have to see what happens tonight.

My action center still shows those 3 messages. What do you make of those? (See my original post.)

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96938-check-disk-chkdsk-read-event-viewer-log.html

See if this is any help
http://www.itguyswa.com/my-computer-goes-into-sleep-mode-after-5-minutes-how-can-i-stop-it/

Thanks mj2c and Jenny100.

I'll look into these when I get home tonight providing my computer still works.

Jenny, it sleeps usually after an hour or so. I'll check the settings again though.

The article shows how advanced power settings for a USB mouse can cause the computer to sleep -- and shows how to change them.

So tonight the computer froze right away again and then would not come back on. I patiently let it sit for awhile and tried again and was given an option to Launch Startup Repair so I did that. It asked if I wanted to try to restore to an earlier point so I said yes. (I lost 1 of 3 games I had installed Saturday that will require me to get a new code to unlock it.) Had to "fix" Norton again. Action center still shows my virus protection, spyware, and firewall are off but as far as I can tell they are on.

I found a number to a repair place so I think I'm going to have to call and take it in.

I looked at the event log but of course could not make sense of it at all.

I did find the place about the USB mouse and sleeping but left it alone.

Thank you for your help!


Just noticed my clock is wrong now in my computer even though the time zone is accurate. The time is 1 hour ahead. I hope this stupid thing works tomorrow!

Would somebody please be kind enough to tell me where to find the list of programs that start up with my computer when I turn it on? I know I've seen it but can never find anything when I'm looking for it.

Thanks.

Oldbroad,
The easiest way in the world to find out what starts with your computer is to download and use WinPatrol.
You can set any startup program to delayed starting or stop it altogether.
I believe the free version will do the trick for you although Plus is really a deal, a lifetime subscription that, among other things, gives you added info about any file that makes you wonder what it does and if you really need it there.

Anyway, give the free download a try.
You might like it.

Gil.

Thanks traveler. I will keep this in mind. It does sound good but since I'm having trouble with my computer right now I'm not sure I want to download anything. That "delayed starting" does sound like it might be helpful right now though. Kind of what I had in mind actually. I'd just like to take a look-see at the list.

I could not have a computer without WinPatrol! One of the most useful utilities out there.

But if you want to just go take a look, click on Start and type msconfig into the space. Click on the msconfig search result and then click on the Startup tab. One of my favorite things about Windows 8 is the ability to manage startup programs from the Task Manager.

When I typed msconfig in it showed me this: Programs (1) msconfig.exe and Files (1) RE: broken sword 4

Is this correct? Am I supposed to click on the msconfig.exe?

oldbroad,
Go to Start/Run and type in msconfig then click OK.
That will take you directly to it.

Gil.

In Windows 7 you do not have to use Run. In fact, there is no Run in the start menu unless you enable it. Yes, click on msconfig.exe.

That's odd, I don't recall enabling Run but I use Aero.
Maybe it 'comes with'?
At any rate, it's there on the Start menu at the bottom right.

Gil.

A Run button in the Start Menu is not enabled by default, but is easy to get.
Here's how to enable Run in the Windows 7 Start Menu.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/enable-run-command-on-windows-vista-start-menu/

It's certainly possible if you have a brand computer, Run was enabled by default. If you do a fresh install of a non-OEM version of Windows 7, it is not enabled by default. You don't need it to get to msconfig like you did in XP - you just enter msconfig in the search box and click on the search result.

Thanks!

What did you find, oldbroad? I use this site often to find out what some of the listings in Start are. You can search alphabetically. I usually leave virtually nothing running at startup that isn't absolutely necessary.

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_search.php

I just had a long-distance friend who was using Norton 360 and although her computer problems has all the earmarks of malware, it turned out to be Norton itself causing the problems on her Windows 7 computer. That's probably not the cause of your issues though.

I didn't find anything yet. I did end up downloading WinPatrol and looked in there a bit. I need more time when I'm not so tired from work to look at it all better. The only thing I really saw that I might try to put on delay is Steam and anything else I see that updates itself right away when the computer boots up. I don't want things updating until I'm more sure the computer will stay on. I haven't had any problems with it once it finally comes up (after two or three attempts).

I agree - wait until your mind is fresh. But when your mind is clear and you want to tackle it, the usual way to find out what might be causing a problem is to simply disable everything and reboot. Then enable things you really need one at a time. NEVER have STEAM enabled in startup - that is one of the absolute worst. But other than your antivirus or maybe a couple of others, everything you find in there can be disabled.

Question, Drac.

What about the Microsoft programs in there?
Do you disable them?

Gil.

Yes. That link I posted explains what they are. I never knew for sure, but when I looked them up, I didn't see any reason why they should be running at startup. I've never had any issues after disabling them.

Nice link, Draclvr.
Better than looking each one up separately with Google.

That's what I used to do... a pain for sure.

So, I left my computer on for about a week but have recently shut it down 3 times due to storms in the area and each of those 3 times it booted up just fine. Here's the 3 things that happened during that week.

1) I had some Windows updates to install which usually happens automatically but for some reason I had to initiate it. Maybe because I hadn't been shutting down which is when the updates always occur.

2) My Norton updated (the program, not just the virus definitions which it always does) and the Action Center stuff cleared out of there.

3) I have a paid for MSN Premium account because I prefer the MSN mail to any other I've tried. For quite some time there had been a prompt to update whenever I signed in or out of MSN but for some reason I didn't trust it. I googled it and it seemed like it would take me backwards to an older version of what I had so I just kept saying No to the update. Since I was having the freeze up problem, one day I decided I might as well try the update since I was going to have the computer looked at anyway. Well DUH. It WAS an update. MSN Explorer and email is working better and voila, my computer works now too!

So, fingers crossed, knock on wood, and all that other stuff. I think my computer is fixed.

By the way, I did purchase WinPatrol, not that I know what to do with it.

I've found exactly the same thing sometimes - just wait for the next Windows Update or something like that!

With WinPatrol, whenever something tried to put itself into your Startup, the little Scottie Dog with give a "ruff" sound and tell you about it. If you don't know what it is, you can click on the button that says Plus Info and find out what the program is. Maybe you've just installed something and it needs to run once the next time you boot up. Or maybe it's something nefarious - you will know immediately. It's also the best way to manage your Startup programs. Just right click on the little Scotty Dog in your hidden icons down on the lower right to open up all the options.