Disappearing Files, Hijacked IE6 Browser, etc. etc

lsdelete is a service added by Ad-aware, which Ad-aware is dependent upon to run. You can disable it as follows.

Click Start>Run and type services.msc then hit Enter.
Locate the lsdelete service in the list and double click it to open it's properties dialog.
Set the startup type to disabled and click Apply, then OK to exit.
You will need to change the startup to manual or automatic, then Start the service to use Ad-aware.

Click Start>Run and type msconfig then hit Enter.
Select the Startup tab.
Uncheck everything in the list then Exit and allow it to restart the machine.
Take note of the machine's behavior now.
Go back to the startup tab and rechecked on entry then restart.
Continue doing this in an effort to locate any one thing or combination of things that might be causing the system grief.


Just a repeat of my earlier statement ........

That was actually a recommendation to leave well enough alone, other than checking for driver updates. I don't put much stock in many of the recommendations, hence my statement 'It can sometimes be a good troubleshooting tool.'

 

I ran through services.msc but there wasn’t an entry called lsdelete, but there was one called Lavasoft Ad-Aware Service, which had the choices you mentioned.

It was set to Automatic, so I changed it to Disabled.

As I mentioned previously, I can’t access msconfig from the Run window. I have to use a shortcut.

I cleared all the checkmarks, and rebooted, but it made no difference in the machine’s performance….so I checked what I needed in the System Tray, and I think I’m back to what passes for "normal.â€

I’ll mention in passing that I had replaced my 512 MB of memory with 2 GB, hoping that it might help. It didn’t, but I had problems with the installation, and got my very first Blue Screen of Death (two of them).

I went back to 512 MB, and I hope I’ll be OK now.

The only negative I’ve noticed so far is that I can’t copy to a floppy. I keep getting told the disk isn’t formatted (it is). Whether this was caused by the memory changes, I don’t know. The condition may have existed beforehand; I haven’t tried it for a long time.

No more PC Pitstop games for me! I returned to a point before I had made the receive buffer changes, and presumably, it got rid of the Registry changes.

Some people never learn.

Or almost never.

Edit: I reactivated Ad-Aware because I had lost the use of real time Ad-Watch.

I mentioned above that my floppy drive was acting up.

Today I discovered my CD-ROM drive also has a problem.

I inserted a blank disk in the drive, but the drawer button locked up, and I couldn’t remove the disk. Rebooting allowed me to open the drawer during startup.

My second CD-ROM (actually a DVD) drive acted up, too. The drive light wouldn’t go out, but I was able to remove the disk. Then the light went out.

It appears that the new memory installation really caused problems, and I don’t know what else I’ll find. (Unless this was just coincidence, and the causes lie elsewhere)

I printed out the BSODs, so if you think the info will help, I’ll post them.

Under the circumstances, I believe these problems have to take priority over the others.

If I haven't worn out my welcome, I’d really appreciate your help with this.

With many thanks.

P.S My last external drive backup was the day before my debacle. I’d be leery of overwriting it the next time its due, which will be the end of the month.

 

I tried editing my post again, but I guess my time ran out.

It may make no difference, but the backup to which I was referring is a mirror image backup.

 

Once again, I'm late for another edit.

After telling you that I had reactivated Ad-Aware, I realized I had promised I wouldn't go against your recommendations.

You'll be happy to know that I've disabled it again, and I'll leave it that way until told otherwise.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Lets check the msconfig problem. Try each of the following commands from Start>Run and let me know if either works.

msconfig.exe

%systemroot%\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\Binaries\msconfig.exe

%systemroot%\system32\dllcache\msconfig.exe


Memory ......... are those new memory sticks? Matched? Are you quite sure they are of the correct type?

Remove your original stick and put in just one new one to observe the behavior. Then take that one out and try the other. If both appear to be OK, try each in a different slot.

How many memory slots are available?

 

I’m glad we’re still a team…..I need all the help I can get!

I tried all three of the "˜Run’ configurations, and much to my surprise "˜msconfig.exe’ worked. I don’t know how or when that happened; it’s been a long time.

I hope it holds.

%systemroot%\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\Binaries\msconfig.exe also worked, but
%systemroot%\system32\dllcache\msconfig.exe did not. Instead, I got an error message saying "Windows cannot find "˜C:\Windows\System32\dllcache\msconfig.exe’.â€



I’m glad you asked about the memory sticks.

I bought them at a store I’ve known in the past to have very knowledgeable salespeople.

When I told the salesperson what I wanted, she handed me two (matched) sticks of 1 GB each. I actually questioned her about her choice, because they didn’t seem to be what I needed, but she assured me they were.

She was wrong.

When I installed them and booted, only one (two slots available) was recognized.

I have a little program called PC Wizard, which gives much more detail than System Information, and when I ran it, it showed DIMM 2 as empty. But farther down the page, it showed that there was, in fact, a stick installed in DIMM 2.

I’m not certain I remember the sequence that followed accurately, but I think it’s close.

I took the stick from DIMM 2 and replaced the one in DIMM 1 to make sure they were both working.

Then I put the first stick into the second slot, and rebooted.

At some point after that, the machine recognized both sticks, and Setup confirmed it.

I ran PC Wizard again, and it, also, recognized DIMM 2.

Then the fun started….all by itself, the machine reverted to 1 GB, and it was at some point after that, that I saw the two BSODs I spoke of, back-to-back after each of two Windows starts.

So I removed both sticks, and went back to my one 512 KB stick.

When I ran PC Wizard again, I could see the differences, including frequencies and voltages.

Needless to say, I returned the two 1 GB sticks, and exchanged them for 1 of what I’m reasonably certain is the right one. (In fact, the salesman had to go to the stock room to find it….my machine is 5 years old, and I guess everything in it is obsolete).

However, I’m not going to try it until I get my machine straightened out.

Besides the problems I’ve listed in my previous post, there was also at least one change in Setup; I got a message that the CPU speed was too high, and when I checked, it was set at 2667 MHz. When I switched to Manual, the message didn’t reappear, so I guess I must have done something right.

I reset the BIOS to default, and hopefully, the manual settings I chose afterward are reasonably close to being correct.

That’ll teach me not to squeak by without writing down the settings.

I hope this information will prove helpful, so that we can resolve my floppy and CD-ROM problems. (Haven’t found anything else, so far, but who knows?)

The CD-ROM drive that locks shut with a disk in it, will open and close OK when empty.

Incidentally, the reason for my concern about backing up, is that whatever caused the drive problems—and anything else--might be part of the information that gets backed up.

P.S. I wasn't going to mention my previous problems until we got these more recent ones resolved.

But I just read your PM and I intended to ask if there's any possibility that some Microsoft Update(s) might be responsible?

I also wonder if there might not be a hidden bad guy on my machine.

When I told you about Firefox, I neglected to mention the fact that each add-on has 3 buttons, all of which were grayed out.

The new reinstall was OK.

And just yesterday, AVG wouldn't download updates.

So I uninstalled/reinstalled it, and so far it's been OK.

In fact, some features worked that I hadn't realized had stopped working.

I must have done something terrible in a past life.

 

Do a search of the entire C: drive for msconfig
Make sure you do an advanced search to include hidden files and folders.
Post the results of that search here please.


Good chance your board only supports 1 GB (1024 MB total, 512 MB per slot) of RAM, though at only 5 years old it would surprise me. I would expect that 1GB would be supported per slot. It might have been an unsupported type too, eg; your board supports PC2100 and you got PC 3200. I'd like for you to grab a copy of SIW and run it. You can use the standalone version. It will tell you how much RAM is supported, and what type. We might gather a log from it yet too. It can gather some good info in regards to drivers loaded, devices initiated, open ports, etc.

While you have it loaded, check the sensors for whatever temps can be reported. Let us know what those are, and the specs for the device reported (if cpu temp, give us processor specs, etc).

Try uninstalling the cd drive in the Device Manager, then reboot and see if the behavior persists. You can use SIW to identify it and check for firmware updates too.


Floppy drive - does it read any discs?

 

About an hour after I turned my machine off yesterday (Saturday) I realized you literally meant ‘matched pair,’ when you asked about the memory sticks.

It’s been a while since I associated that term with electronic parts, and what I meant was that the sticks had the same part number and manufacturer.

Sorry about that.

About msconfig:

I ran a Search, including hidden files and folders.

When I tried pasting the results, all that happened was that the files appeared as icons.

If there’s a way to do it so I can copy the files and paths, please let me know.

In the meantime, I can tell you that there were only three instances of msconfig.exe that are relevant….

C:\Windows\$NtServicePackUninstall$
C\Windows\ServicePackFiles
C:\Windows\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries

There was no path including ‘dllcache,’ so I searched through Windows\System32\dllcache, and the msconfig dll file was missing.



I haven’t yet run the SIW program, so before I do, let me quote from the motherboard manual:

“2 x 184-pin DIMM sockets support for PC2700/……non ECC DDR DIMMs for up to 2GB memory.” (166 MHz) (DDR-333)

There are also two slots for 1 GB each of SDRAM (168-pin)

The PC Wizard info for the new sticks reads “DDR-SDRAM PC-3200 (200 MHz) – [DDR-400]”

As you can see, you were pretty close in describing the differences between the two.



Here’s the info I got from SIW, which seems to be a really neat program:

Memory Summary:

Maximum Capacity = 1024 MB.
Maximum Memory Size = 1024 MB
Memory Slots = 2

(I’m confused. Are these figures for each slot, or both slots? If the latter, they disagree with the motherboard specs)



CPU:

Intel Pentium 4, 2.66 GHz---Identified in SIW as ITE IT87
Temp = 75 deg. F.

HDD:

80 GB in two partitions
Temp = 100 deg. F.

[These readings were taken on Sunday. I tried reading them again today (Monday), but the only item that appeared was the computer name. The rest of the page was blank].



I uninstalled the CD-ROM drive with the frozen drawer, and when I rebooted, it opened OK with a disk on board. Thank you.

I tried the same thing with the other CD-ROM drive in which the drive light remains on while it contains a disk. Nothing changed.



The floppy reads a disk with information on it But the disk seems noisy before the program on it will load, and it seems to take a long time for it to do so. The problem is that I can’t record onto a blank disk.

I get the message that the disk isn’t formatted, and asks if I want to format it, which I’ve done several times.

When finished, the usual message appears that the format was completed. But I still can’t record onto the disk . The drive makes a racket, and then I get the same message that the disk isn’t formatted. Round and round!

Tried the uninstall procedure with the floppy drive, but nada.

Lastly, I installed an anti-spyware program called Spyware Terminator as a temporary substitute for Ad-Aware. The nice thing about it is that it offers realtime protection.

Whether it does anything, remains to be seen.


Edit: I think I know what ails my floppy drive.

I had to handle my machine more than usual during my memory stick experience.

Between buttoning and unbuttoning it, and moving it several times, I may have damaged the drive mechanism.

The proper thing to have done, I suppose, would have been to put a disk in the drive during that time.

Possible?

 

Make sure the flopy drive cables are firmly attached. It may well be it's just getting tired though.

The new memory is incompatible. Take it back and trade it for PC-2700.

Should be able to trust the paperwork that came with the board.

The cd-rom drives may be in need of cleaning. You can get a cleaning cd, which has a miniature brush on it to clean the laser lens. They sometimes get dirty and then cannot read the disk, or can read enough of it to continue trying. Drive light stays on while it's trying to read.

Did you search for msconfig.exe or msconfig? Lets do it this way, because I'd like to have a look at a registry key too. Highlight and copy the contents of the code box below.

Code:

@echo off
reg query  "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MSCONFIG.EXE" | findstr /v  "! ">peek.txt
dir %systemdrive%\msconfig.* /a h /s >>peek.txt
start notepad peek.txt
exit
cls

Open a command window, right click within the window, then paste the copied text. When it's completed it's instructions, the command window will close and a log will open. Post the contents of that log please.

 

Here are the results of the Code you asked me to run.

I noticed that it found msconfig.exe in the dllcache folder, after my having told you it was missing.

I repeated the search again, and there it was.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\MSCONFIG.EXE
<NO NAME> REG_SZ C:\WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\Binaries\MSCONFIG.EXE
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 408F-B282

Directory of C:\i386

08/29/2002 08:00 AM 9,591 MSCONFIG.CH_
08/29/2002 08:00 AM 56,259 MSCONFIG.EX_
2 File(s) 65,850 bytes

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$

08/04/2004 12:56 AM 158,208 msconfig.exe
1 File(s) 158,208 bytes

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\Help

08/29/2002 08:00 AM 17,240 msconfig.chm
08/25/2006 09:29 PM 1,097,836 msconfig.chw
2 File(s) 1,115,076 bytes

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries

04/14/2008 05:42 AM 169,984 msconfig.exe
1 File(s) 169,984 bytes

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch

09/03/2008 05:38 PM 30,308 MSCONFIG.EXE-35E4DAE9.pf
1 File(s) 30,308 bytes

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386

04/14/2008 05:42 AM 169,984 msconfig.exe
1 File(s) 169,984 bytes

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache

04/14/2008 05:42 AM 169,984 msconfig.exe
1 File(s) 169,984 bytes

Total Files Listed:
9 File(s) 1,879,394 bytes
0 Dir(s) 28,329,189,376 bytes free



I opened the computer to check the connector seating of the floppy drive cable. As far as I could tell, it was seated properly. Checked the others, also.

While I had the case open, I decided to try my new 1 GB memory stick (I had returned the first ones about two weeks ago for an exchange).

For some reason, it didn’t work, either.

Among other things, I got two BSODs; both the same, this time.

I never got to the desktop, so I couldn’t check either SIW or PC Wizard for the specs.

At one point I entered Safe Mode, but couldn’t navigate very much.

The stick is marked PC2700-25330 (?), DD333-1G/BJ (?) and 1 GB 333MHz CL2.5 (which I presume is the voltage).

Except for the extra numbers and letters, it sure sounds like the right one.

I checked the manufacturer’s website, and the only other choice with the PC2700 designation is one for 72 bits, as opposed to 64 bits.

The only thing I noticed for sure, was that during POST, while the memory count was taking place, the line above it said the CPU speed was 2000 MHz, instead of 2667, which is not only the correct speed, but that’s what Setup reads.

I put my 512 MB stick back. Looks like I’m at a dead end.

From what I’m able to tell, the increased memory wasn’t helping with my program loading problems.

Is there any likelihood a graphics card with more memory would help?

Anyhow, when I checked the floppy again, nothing changed. It might be best to replace it. I’ll have to get a USB type, though, because the one that’s on my machine is mounted behind the slot, which is cut into the front panel; the front panel also has an oval hole for the drive button to protrude through, as well as a window for the LED indicator.

I understand there may be some disadvantages to an external floppy….are they serious?

I’d try getting an original replacement, but I can’t read the info on the drive body. I suspect it’s not available anymore, anyhow.

Regarding the CD-ROM drives, the first one still locks up, but I’m able to eject from My Computer.

The second one still shows the drive light on with a blank disk, but when I put an installation disk in it, it seems to work properly.

I’ll take your suggestion about a cleaning CD. It may help.

One last thing….please tel me how to use the "Quote" feature.

Thanks.

 

All of the info gathered RE: msconfig looks correct, so if msconfig.exe works and msconfig does not, I'm a bit stumped.

I'm also stonewalled with your memory issue, floppy issue, and cd/dvd issues. Hardware isn't my strong suit. I also feel the hardware issues are probably directly related to the operating system problems. I would be more than happy to peruse an export from SIW in hopes I see any driver issues or something, if you want to email it to me. Do not post it here. It contains info not for public eyes. In lieu of that, I'd recommend starting a topic in the hardware forum to see if they can help you sort out the various problems.


It may well be time for one of those 'refresh the system with a clean install' things I've seen others refer to. The operating system can get cluttered over time.

 

SIW is "in the mail.â€

I must have misled you about msconfig/msconfig.exe.

Either would work via Start "“ Run before a virus attack.

When that was cleared up, it was back to normal for a while, but then it stopped working again.

That’s why the shortcut…but somehow it started working once more during this thread, so perhaps something you had me do fixed it.

I was afraid you’d suggest the advisability of a fresh (or repair) install.

It goes without saying, that I’d like to avoid that if I can….I’m not very good at that sort of thing.

In view of the present state of affairs, it might be a good idea for me to start a thread in the hardware forum, as you suggest.

So if SIW doesn’t find anything, that’s what I’ll do.

 

I received no email. You did click the link to send it?

 

My Sent Items folder showed that the message left here OK.

When I saw that you hadn't received it, I thought the problem might have been that the file had an extension of .html, so I renamed it to .doc, and sent it again, each time via OE.

Since I haven't heard from you since, I sent it again today, using your link and I put the file in the body of the message, rather than as an attachment.

Please let me know if you received it.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong for a change.

Thanks.

 

Yes, I received both of them. Odd though, there's no information shown in the devices listing. Please open SIW and expand the devices category, then select any device and see if any information populates in the main window. Then try a few more. If they do indeed populate, select the Hardware heading, then File>Create log. Send the new log please.