computer restarts

[rtcatfish]

Hello, I have an HP Media Center 873N. For the past three months, mostly while online it restarts, sometimes it goes to a blue screen with a bunch of code errors, sometimes it just says It has recovered from a serious error and whether or not to send an error report. After several conversations with HP Tech Services and getting 8 restore cds from them which didnt work, I just got it back from sending it to HP, they said they replaced the Hard drive, cooling fan, and front panel (which was cracked and chipped when returned,) and it is still doing the same thing. Now they want me to send it back again. Anybody have this pc with the same problems? Should I demand a new one or let them try to fix it again? Thanks for any ideas.

[david eaton]

If it's still under warranty, then make them fix it. If this means a complete replacement, it is no more than you paid for, and have a right to.

Digging into it yourself could well invalidate the warranty.

[mjc]

For the past three months, mostly while online it restarts, sometimes it goes to a blue screen with a bunch of code errors, sometimes it just says It has recovered from a serious error and whether or not to send an error report.

Umm....I take it you have XP?

Have you run an AV scan?

That sounds an awful lot like you could be infected with msblaster (http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blaster.worm.html) .

There are also some other possiblities but give blaster a check first...

Also, could you please provide the exact error codes?

And run a HijackThis (http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/) post the log here.

[rtcatfish]

I thought the blasterworm was it also, I used the blaster removal tool and installed the patch, It still does the same thing. Here what the hijackthis says:
Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.1
Scan saved at 12:31:55 PM, on 11/9/2003
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTsvcCDA.exe
C:\WINDOWS\ehome\ehSched.exe
c:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\MsPMSPSv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\ehome\ehtray.exe
C:\windows\system\hpsysdrv.exe
C:\Program Files\USB Storage RW\shwicon.exe
C:\HP\KBD\KBD.EXE
C:\Program Files\WildTangent\DDC\DDCManager\DDCMan.exe
C:\WINDOWS\ehome\ehmsas.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\navapw32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTHELPER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\hpztsb0 5.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\hphmon04.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Share-to-Web\hpgs2wnd.exe
C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe
c:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Share-to-Web\hpgs2wnf.exe
C:\Program Files\hp center\137903\Program\BackWeb-137903.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\HPHipm11.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\wuauclt.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\HPINST~1\plugin\bin\pchbutton.exe
C:\Program Files\MSN\MSNCoreFiles\msn6.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\rtcatfish\Local Settings\Temp\Temporary Directory 1 for hijackthis[1].zip\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://us6.hpwis.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://srch-us6.hpwis.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://srch-us6.hpwis.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://us6.hpwis.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://srch-us6.hpwis.com/
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch = http://srch-us6.hpwis.com/
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = http://srch-us6.hpwis.com/
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.ocx
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - c:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O3 - Toolbar: hp toolkit - {B2847E28-5D7D-4DEB-8B67-05D28BCF79F5} - C:\HP\EXPLOREBAR\HPTOOLKT.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - c:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ehTray] C:\WINDOWS\ehome\ehtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [hpsysdrv] c:\windows\system\hpsysdrv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE NvQTwk,NvCplDaemon initialize
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ShowIcon_KYE Electronics Corp._USB Storage R/W v1.14e057] "C:\Program Files\USB Storage RW\shwicon.exe" -t"KYE Electronics Corp.\USB Storage R/W v1.14e057"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KBD] C:\HP\KBD\KBD.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [StorageGuard] "C:\Program Files\VERITAS Software\Update Manager\sgtray.exe" /r
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DDCM] "C:\Program Files\WildTangent\DDC\DDCManager\DDCMan.exe" -Background
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DDCActiveMenu] "C:\Program Files\WildTangent\DDC\ActiveMenu\DDCActiveMenu.exe " -boot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Recguard] C:\WINDOWS\SMINST\RECGUARD.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NAV CfgWiz] c:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\Cfgwiz.exe /R
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NAV Agent] c:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\navapw32.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WINDVDPatch] CTHELPER.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] C:\WINDOWS\UpdReg.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Jet Detection] "C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy\PROGRAM\ADGJDet.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPDJ Taskbar Utility] C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\hpztsb0 5.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPHmon04] C:\WINDOWS\System32\hphmon04.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPHUPD04] "C:\Program Files\HP Photosmart 11\hphinstall\UniPatch\hphupd04.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Share-to-Web Namespace Daemon] c:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Share-to-Web\hpgs2wnd.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [msnmsgr] "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Acme.PCHButton] C:\PROGRA~1\HPINST~1\plugin\bin\pchbutton.exe
O4 - Global Startup: hp center.lnk = C:\Program Files\hp center\137903\Program\BackWeb-137903.exe
O9 - Extra button: Related (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Show &Related Links (HKLM)
O12 - Plugin for .spop: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Plugins\NPDocBox.dll
O16 - DPF: {0E5F0222-96B9-11D3-8997-00104BD12D94} (PCPitstop Utility) - http://pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/PCPitStop.CAB
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{381DF353-E2FE-4439-850E-5D7025F1B5C2}: NameServer = 205.171.3.65 205.171.13.251

[mjc]

Other than a bunch of HP related stuff there isn't much there.

You can try disabling these....

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [hpsysdrv] c:\windows\system\hpsysdrv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KBD] C:\HP\KBD\KBD.EXE (will prevent the HP extra keyboard buttons from working)
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DDCActiveMenu] "C:\Program Files\WildTangent\DDC\ActiveMenu\DDCActiveMenu.exe " -boot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WINDVDPatch] CTHELPER.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] C:\WINDOWS\UpdReg.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Jet Detection] "C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy\PROGRAM\ADGJDet.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPDJ Taskbar Utility]
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPHmon04] C:\WINDOWS\System32\hphmon04.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPHUPD04] "C:\Program Files\HP Photosmart 11\hphinstall\UniPatch\hphupd04.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Share-to-Web Namespace Daemon] c:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Share-to-Web\hpgs2wnd.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Acme.PCHButton] C:\PROGRA~1\HPINST~1\plugin\bin\pchbutton.exe
O4 - Global Startup: hp center.lnk = C:\Program Files\hp center\137903\Program\BackWeb-137903.exe

Use MS config to disable all of those and if everything is fine try turning one at a time back on....there are also a couple that could permanetly be removed, but troubleshoot them first.

Also the RAM or the power supply may be at fault...so if it isn't a software issue then back to HP it is.....