Presario shutsdown online.

[veedub]

Hello all,
I've just discovered what a great site this is, it's all very helpful.
I've spent sooooooooooo long trying to sort out my problelm laptop, I hope someone can help.
Briefly - I have a Compaq Presario 1246, OS is windows 98, the machine is about 5 years old (I know). The problem is the old shutting down one, I've read so many posts on so many forums and found out so much info about similar problems, but nothing is exactly the same. My laptop won't stay online, using AOL, it shuts itself down after about 10/15 mins and restarts itself. It'll stay on when running other stuff, word, etc. It plays CD's alright (doesn't have DVD drive).
It's been in for repairs, came back still the same, I was told the motherboard has gone, but would all the other stuff stll work ? Checked out the heating, opened it up to check for dirt/dust, done an untold amount of troubleshooting, done a system restore, uninstalled AOL, checked drivers, BIOS seems okay (but not sure if I'd know if it wasn't !) Checked so many things.
Any ideas anyone ? Try not to go too technical on me though.
I'm not using the battery at the mo, using the mains. Could it be the other little battery inside ? Or is that too simple ? As it's been to an engineer I assumed all this has been checked.
Why would everything work apart from it staying online ? Or am I missing something. The modem past checks.
I hope this all makes sense. Any ideas ? Thanks in advance.
Regards.

[david eaton]

Have you run a set of virus/malware scans?
If not, get an on line scan at either Housecall (http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com/enterprise/products/housecall_launch.php) or Panda A/V (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm), and let it fix anything it finds.

Then
Download the latest version of Ad-Aware (Ad-Aware SE Build 1.04) from here (http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/).
If you have a previous version of Ad-Aware installed, during the installation of the new version you will be prompted to uninstall or keep the older version - be sure to uninstall the previous version.
After installing Ad-aware, you will be prompted to update the program and run a full scan. De-select all boxes so that it does not run.
Manually run "Ad-Aware SE Personal" and from the main screen Click on "Check for Updates Now".
Once the definitions have been updated:
Reconfigure Ad-Aware for Full Scan as per the following instructions:
Launch the program, and click on the Gear at the top of the start screen.
Under General Settings the following boxes should all be checked off: (Checked will be indicated by a green circle with a check mark in it, Un-Checked is a red circle with an X in it. If it is greyed out, those features are only available in the retail version.)
"Automatically save logfile"
Automatically quarantine objects prior to removal"
Safe Mode (always request confirmation)
Prompt to update outdated confirmation) - Change to 7 days.

Click the "Scanning" button (On the left side).
Under Drives & Folders, select "Scan within Archives"
Click "Click here to select Drives + folders" and select your installed hard drives.
Under Memory & Registry, select all options.
Click the "Advanced" button (On the left hand side).
Under "Shell Integration", select "Move deleted files to Recycle Bin".
Under "Log-file detail", select all options.
Click on the "Defaults" button on the left.
Type in the full url of what you want as your default homepage and searchpage e.g. http://www.google.com.
Click the "Tweak" button (Again, on the left hand side).
Expand "Scanning Engine" by clicking on the "+" (Plus) symbol) and select the following:
"Unload recognized processes during scanning."
"Obtain command line of scanned processes"
"Scan registry for all users instead of current user only"

Under "Cleaning Engine", select the following:
"Automatically try to unregister objects prior to deletion."
"During removal, unload explorer and IE if necessary"
"Let Windows remove files in use at next reboot."
"Delete quarrantined objects after restoring"

Click on "Safety Settings" and select "Write-protect system files after repair (Hosts file, etc)"
Click on "Proceed" to save these Preferences.
Click on the "Scan Now" button on the left.
Under "Select Scan Mode, be sure to select "Use Custom Scanning Options".

Close all programs except ad-aware.
Click on "Next" in the bottom right corner to start the scan.
Run the Ad-Aware scan and allow it to remove everything it finds and then REBOOT - Even if not prompted to.
After you log back in, Ad-Aware may run to finalize the scan and remove any locked files that it may of found. Allow it to finish.

[veedub]

Thanks very much for your helpful reply. I'll give it a go, I hope the laptop stays online long enough ! (I'm using my desktop for this).
I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again.
Regards.

[veedub]

Well, I'm afraid I've not been having much luck.
I've been attempting to follow the above instructions - thank you so much for the clarity of it all - but the laptop will not stay online for longer than about 20 mins to get this done. :mad:
Is there anything I can do ?
Regards.

[classicsoftware]

Download adaware and update it.

Then get off line. If you have a modem or NIC, pull the plug so there is no connection. Then run the scan with the instructions above.

[david eaton]

AdAware can be downloaded on another computer, and burned to CD, along woth the update files, if you are unable to stay on line long enough to download it.