Can a virus make your computer randomly restart?

[[NK]Mutant]

OK, yesterday afternoon my dad installed some work stuff on my computer in case they needed it while the war is going on. Not much happened until around 7:00 when my computer came up with a BSoD message saying a problem had occured and it had shut down my computer, and was doing a physical memory dump. It said to restart your computer if youv'e never seen this message before. Well, I have seen this message bedore, but not in, oh, say 3 months. So i let it run, my computer restarts itself, and begins to boot up. However, I get the same message soon after starting my computer. This time, I restart before it can finish the dump. I start up my computer again, even sooner this time the same error message pops up. I do the same thing (restart before it can finish the dump), and let windows boot up. This time, on boot up, my computer restarted. In order to get it to boot properly, I had to boot up in my last configuration that worked. Even then I can only use my comp for a few minutes before it restarts again. Does this sound like a virus, or what? My dad thinks it might be a hardware problem. I don't think it's any of the stuff he installed from last night cause I already got rid of it. As i said before, I had this problem (not as bad) a few months ago, but it seemed to go away by itself. Is there any advice any of you can give me?

My specs:
Athlon Firebird 1.4 GH Processor
384 megabytes of DDR ram
a GeForce 4 ti 4600 video card
40 gig hdd

any help would be GREATLY appreciated

[notbob]

a short circuit on a pci card can too

i had a modem that would randomly restart the computer as it hit a spot in the dialup routine
i switched it to another slot (where it wasn't so close to the video card fan) and that took care of it

random restarts are rarely "random" they usually happen when a program does a certain thing, or a piece of hardware kicks in etc.

on xp you can check control panel/administrative tools/event viewer/applications(or system)

try to find patterns that led up to crashes

[[NK]Mutant]

Well, i'm now a step closer.
That BSoD comes up with the error message
"PFN_LIST_CORRUPT"
I did a search on google and found some stuff about it.
Still, any more ifo would be nice.
Oh yeah, thanks Notbob.

[zaphodiv]

2k or XP?

> I don't think it's any of the stuff he installed from last night cause I already got rid of it.
Uninstallers don't allways return everthing to the previous state. My guess its that the software you installed has changed some system files.

You should have antivirus software anyway, get some.

[Krell]

I agree with notbob and zaphodiv, use the event logs to see whats happening, although we already know pretty much what it is. After you have viewed them, save them, then clear them. It will be handy.

I heard of this happening on DELLS and Gateways with NT or W2000 that have a lot of peripherals attached to them, and you may have to pretty much uninstall and reinstall your drivers, including your motherboard drivers. Check device manager for anything suspicious, also use System Information to look for "Problem Devices".

If you have your drivers disks, or an internet connection, I would go to Device Manager, and uninstall the lot of it, then reinstall the Motherboard drivers, then the AGP, IDE, and peripherals, and let windows assign memory ranges for them. I also saw a reference to using the latest service pack for this. The Aida32 util will save your ass when looking for your drivers, and knowing whats going on with your system !!!

GeForce 4 ti 4600 video card

My "gut" tells me this is your culprit, but its just my humble opinion. If you can go to the BIOS, make sure that your AGP Aperture size is not too large, maybe 32 Mb, try that setting. With only 384Mb RAM, I can see where you will fight for memory space and have to page if your Aperture is higher.



Here are two references that I found in Microsoft's Knowledge base, pretty much the same.


Error Message:
STOP: 0x0000004E (parameter, parameter, parameter, parameter) PFN_LIST_CORRUPT

Explanation:
This is a Windows 2000 Executive character-mode STOP message. It indicates the memory management page file number (PFN) list is corrupted.

User Action:
If this is the first time you have booted after installing new hardware, remove the hardware and boot again. Check the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List to verify that the hardware and its drivers are compatible with Windows 2000. For information about the hardware, contact the supplier. If you are installing Windows 2000 for the first time, check the Windows 2000 system requirements, including the amount of RAM and disk space required to load the operating system. Also, check the Hardware Compatibility List to verify that the system can run Windows 2000. If Windows 2000 is loaded and no new hardware has been installed, reboot with recovery options set to create a dump file. If the message continues to appear, select the Last Known Good option when you reboot. If there is no Last Known Good configuration, try using the Emergency Repair Disk. If you do not have an Emergency Repair Disk, contact your technical support group.






How to Troubleshoot a "STOP 0x0000004E PFN_LIST_CORRUPT" Error Message
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

This article was previously published under Q291806
SYMPTOMS
When you use a Windows 2000-based computer, you may receive the following error message on a blue screen:

STOP 0x0000004E PFN_LIST_CORRUPT (Parameter1, Parameter2, Parameter3, Parameter4

1 - value 1
2 - ListHead value which was corrupt
3 - number of pages available
4 - 0

1 - value 2
2 - entry in list being removed
3 - highest physical page number
4 - reference count of entry being removed
CAUSE
This behavior occurs because a driver or other problem damaged the input/output (I/O) driver structures.
MORE INFORMATION
To troubleshoot this behavior:
Run hardware diagnostic tools that are provided by your computer manufacturer.
Disable all file system filter drivers, such as backup utilities, virus scanners, or firewall software.
View the following Microsoft Web site to verify that the hardware and the drivers for the hardware are compatible with Windows 2000:
http://www.microsoft.com/hcl/default.asp

For information about the hardware on your computer, contact the manufacturer.
If you receive this error message randomly, or when you try to start a program, remove extra memory or have the random access memory (RAM) in your computer tested. This behavior may occur if you have bad RAM.
Last Reviewed: 10/11/2002
Keywords: kbDriver kbenv kberrmsg kbprb kbtshoot KB291806

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B291806

[[NK]Mutant]

Well, i'm a step closer to solving the problem.
It turns out that the ram was the problem. My computer started making a "beeping" noise, and I know from experience this means that a piece of ram went bad. Sure enough, the 256 piece of ram had gone bad. I took it out, and my computer has not randomly restarted yet. I have a lifetime warranty on it, so I should be able to get a replacement for free. But it's gonna be hard to... "work" for a few weeks with only 128 megs while it ships here. Thanks for all the help, guys.

Oh yeah, this is not the first time a piece of 256 ram has stopped working from this company... Maybe I should consider ordering from a different company...

[Krell]

Do yourself a favor, DO this.

Download the memtest, make a floppy, leave it in and reboot to it.

Unless you do this, your just in speculation hell.


As I stated, Aida32 will TELL you what your memory is, you may not even have LIKE KINDS of ram !!!!

Prove it to yourself, and do these two things.

[nasrules]

@Krell: only 384? thats quite a bit for most ppl!

[Krell]

If his stick of 256 really IS bad, then he's trying to run his system essentially on 128Mb, and when you reserve memory for AGP Aperture, and device Drivers, you have to no room for anything else. So page page page. puke.

Also if part of his memory is bad, but still accessable, then the memory controller is going nuts, and he will get blue screens, invalid page faults, etc.

With XP I recommend 512Mb. Memory is CHEAP people, so dont be such tight asses, as I stated, its better to "chuck" the 128 if need be, and get 2 sticks of IDENTICLE and warrentable memory.

[overdo]

i would also recommend 512 megs for XP. i use up 160megs just with the stuff i would ordinarily run. using word, IE, video player bumps this up quite quickly.

NB ordinarily running is NAV, NPF, only the necessary XP servies, multiproxy, kazaa lite and wmp9.