Computer Ills | FerrariChat

Computer Ills

Discussion in 'Technology' started by Aureus, Jun 11, 2004.

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  1. Aureus

    Aureus Formula 3

    When I try to open any audio file with windows media player I get this annoying beep and nothing happens. If I try to open up WMP itself I get the same annoying beep. If I try to open an audio file thats on the desktop I get the annoying beep, plus my mouse can no longer affect the desktop*

    *This requries more explination. I can not select a different icon, and right clicking anywhere on the desktop behaves the same as if I had right-clicked on the audio file. If I delete the audio file I simpley have no icon selcted and can not select a new one with the mouse. However the keyboard still works and I can select different icons using the arrow keys. The mouse works normally everywhere but the desktop.

    Even when I reset the preference to open the audio file with realplayer or winamp it still gives the annoying beep and the same affects on the mouse. However the icon refuses to change from a WMP icon to a RP/Winamp icon and I suspect its not changing the preference. Meanwhile if I click "open with: realplayer/winamp" the file opens normally and plays and there are no affects on the mouse.

    Any ideas or clues?

    The machine in question is an Emachines T2742, yes I know I need a different computer.
     
  2. infraredline

    infraredline Formula 3

    Mar 15, 2004
    1,036
    San Francisco
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    John
    Wow.. I am steering clear of this one.
     
  3. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    Apr 3, 2001
    11,237
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    Randy
    Doesn't sound like NT/2K/Xp, but rather old Win9x, correct?

    Does audio work anywhere at all?
     
  4. imperial83

    imperial83 F1 Rookie
    BANNED

    May 14, 2004
    2,893
    Yes, well you have the idea.

    Here is a clue. www.dell.com

    ok I am sorry. It's a friday and I want to go home. I think you should try rebooting the computer a couple of times. Also maybe you have a virus. Try to delete the temporary internet files to free up some memory.
     
  5. ralessi

    ralessi Formula 3

    May 26, 2002
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    Rikk
    There is probably some obscure fix somewhere that will take you forever to find. On my last comp one day WMP suddenly just stopped opening for some reason. I would click and the harddrive would whirr but nothing would happen.

    You are going to have to format your comp. Not that bad really, it will increase performance noticeably and give you a chance to clean up your harddrive as well.
     
  6. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    Apr 3, 2001
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    not really an obscure fix for this, but it isn't just a breeze to go in there and suggest something out of the blue without a little further information.

    also, don't suggest it is a virus. a virus is much more creative than this. if that's all a virus did, it wouldn't be such a problem.

    formatting and reinstalling? that's a last case scenario and an easy give-in to the issue here. I believe the problem should try to be resolved before starting from scratch again. while it will resolve the issue here (99.9999%) it is much more hassle for the typical user to set everything back up. not to mention dataloss. so, please avoid suggesting it.
     
  7. imperial83

    imperial83 F1 Rookie
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    May 14, 2004
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    There is more than one type of virus and I beg to differ that some virus do some very lame things like not allowing you to use your mouse or making wiered noises. Not all of virus, malicious code, worms or trojens behave in the same creative or non creative way. Anyway a virus scan using an anti virus software or an online virus scan is not a bad thing. You never know.
     
  8. ralessi

    ralessi Formula 3

    May 26, 2002
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    Rikk
    Well think of the common computer user (just in general, not really suggesting EOS is because I have no clue). Their comps are probably filled with spyware and other random odd assorted crap that really shouldn't be there. They have probably had there computer for 1-2 years and haven't even thought of formatting it. How often do you format? It really does increase performance and it is never really a bad thing to do it every few months (although it can be a pain if you only have 1 harddrive and lots of data).

    Secondly, I am sure lots of money spent on new computers could be saved by a simple format (i.e. Oh man my comp is so slow, I need a new one when it is only 1 year old).
     
  9. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    Apr 3, 2001
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    While the statements regarding the typical computer user are 110% true, one thing you might not realize is the data loss tha tthey will not realize until you depart from the scene of the format itself. They lost all their passwords, email configuration, they'll be calling their ISP to get passwords reset for email accounts, calling up the ISP for phone numbers to dial up to, etc. Not to mention, all those digital photos they saved up.

    I'd much rather spend an hour or two fixing the actual issue instead of avoiding it by a format/reinstall. To me, that's just a half-ass solution.
     
  10. Enzo

    Enzo F1 Rookie

    Feb 14, 2002
    4,088
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    Pat Pasqualini
    What operating systems are we talking about here? What version of Windows Media Player are you using? Maybe try to upgrade the Media player to a newer version or possibly just try a different media player. There are tons of media players out there. Try www.download.com and do a search.



    I also think Schatten is right that it is not a virus or anything like that ( I may be wrong) Suggestions to just reformat is not always the answer. It does fix the problem but in a time consuming way and like what has already been said the chance of data loss could be great.
     
  11. Aureus

    Aureus Formula 3

    The computer is about a month and a half old. Windows XP Home. I couldn't tell you which version of Windows Media Player it is because I can't open it lol.

    I would be happy to use a different media player (such as realplayer/winamp) but since I can't change the preference for which program's open which files it'd be a major pain to right-click open with: blank program each time.

    Ralessi: I typicaly do a re-format about every six months and a defrag monthly.
     
  12. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    Apr 3, 2001
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    Try BS Player out: http://www.bsplayer.org/
    For Codec issues: Defiler Pak, get it here: http://hellninjacommando.com/defilerpak/

    Try those two things, and then we'll see where we are going with the rest of the issues. But if you could, while you are at it, download and run the new version of spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

    Shouldn't take too long for all of it, and no rebooting required (although sometime it says you need to with spybot, but isn't necessary unless it cannot catch everything).
     
  13. Enzo

    Enzo F1 Rookie

    Feb 14, 2002
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    When you install a new media player it should try and associate the files types with itself automatically. Give it a try. What do you have to lose by putting on another media player
     
  14. LetsJet

    LetsJet F1 Veteran
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    May 24, 2004
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    I re-read your post a couple of times and I think I understand what your saying. When trying to solve computer problems like this it's important to know if it ever was working correctly. If it was what did you change / add software / open an email attachment / something around the time this started happening. My first thought is the OS is the problem but way to early to tell. You might be able to do a system restore back before you had the problem and see if it works. Another thing to try is to go to the control panel / add/remove programs and remove media player. That should remove the connection and allow you to use another player. Have you had to shut down the computer w/o using the shutdown button? Got to give us more to go on. I will try and help..........
     
  15. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    Apr 3, 2001
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    not much at all. actually I prefer BS Player beacause it isn't such a resource hog nor is it bloatware. It just comes right up and plays the file.
     
  16. Aureus

    Aureus Formula 3

    No I have not yet needed to use the power button on the PC itself.
    I honestly don't recall it ever working properly. I had simply been using winamp to play a mp3 or two and I tried to play a video and windows media didn't work so I simply shrugged it off. Whats concerning me now is the desktop issues.

    However I'm in the middle of a norton scan and it says 7 threats out of the first 10,000 files. So I'll get back to you guys after the scan is done.
     
  17. ralessi

    ralessi Formula 3

    May 26, 2002
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    Rikk
    You guys also might want to try out Media Player Classic.

    You can download it from this page:

    http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/

    It isn't a microsoft product despite the name, but it is really nice. Lots of options that you can choose and you can get plugins for it so that you don't have to download the dreaded quicktime and realplayer to view those types of files.

    I watch a lot of downloaded movies on my comp and it is really good for that.

    Also, if you want a pretty good comp forum for help and general advice/talk check out www.hardforum.com
     
  18. Aureus

    Aureus Formula 3

    agh, whats the point of norton if all it does is say "failed to delete" for half the files!

    The scan discovered 13 viruses and deleted 8. The remaining are

    hp2[1].exe norton says security risk
    bundle[1].dll norton says spyware
    msgked.exe norton says adware
    msikd.dll norton says spyware
    msmc[1].exe norton says adware

    wmplayer.exe.tmp norton says security risk.

    I wonder if that right there is what is causing the problem. Any programs out there that can help me with that?
     
  19. Enzo

    Enzo F1 Rookie

    Feb 14, 2002
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    try doing a search on those files and delete them yourself. Let me know how that works. I would still download an additional player just to be on the safe side.
     
  20. zach_300zxTT

    zach_300zxTT Formula Junior

    Nov 28, 2003
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    Zach Lindsey
    Does Norton give you the option of quarantining the infected files? That's what I usually do when the delete fails.

    You should also go to the link (at bottom) and download Ad-Aware, if you don't already have it. I scan my computer weekly with Norton Antivirus and about four months ago I downloaded Ad-Aware. I did a full system scan and it found just over 300 adware/spyware files.

    Apparently, Norton just doesn't catch everything, and Ad-Aware is like the broom that sweeps up what Norton left behind. Check it out, it may even solve your problem.

    Here is the link to the download site for Ad-Aware:

    http://www.snapfiles.com/get/adaware.html

    Have a good one,
    -Zach
     
  21. LetsJet

    LetsJet F1 Veteran
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    May 24, 2004
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    Ok spyware or adware doesn't mean virus. Another program, other then Norton, I would recommend you run is PestPatrol. www.pestpatrol.com. You can get a 30 day trial to try it out. Follow instructions and tell us what you've learned. If you had a virus it could be the culperate. I would not suggest you download / install another music player until you know your system is clean. You can still remove the program winamp and reinstall it later. Have you been running the windows update program to get the patches? If not, you should do it.

    A little progress -
     
  22. Aureus

    Aureus Formula 3

    spybot eliminated 57 more things that Norton had missed, but not wmplayer.exe.tmp. I was able to delete that manually and it doesn't look like it popped back up after a re-boot. This did not fix the situation though.

    I've unistalled windows media player from the system and re-installed wmp 9.0 and it is working so far. I'm going to run another virus scan to see if anything crops up in a different spot. Doing this did fix the situation (and should of been the first thing I did).

    I thank you all for the help and ideas and links.
     
  23. LetsJet

    LetsJet F1 Veteran
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    May 24, 2004
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    Glad to help.......
     
  24. imperial83

    imperial83 F1 Rookie
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    May 14, 2004
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    I knew it. I am happy that you ran the virus scan. It can never hurt. I hope that your computer problems are solved after you have fixed windows media player.
     
  25. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    Apr 3, 2001
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    Randy
    Good call. And sorry that I doubted it was a virus. Just didn't sound like it, but glad it was discovered. Still, with some viruses, not really the current ones, a format wouldn't remove them. Something like the old monkey.b virus which resides on track 6 will just be alive once data hits it.
     

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