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Crippling computer problem

mrfreeze

Critical Thinker
M
Joined
Sep 14, 2005
Messages
424
So I got a computer from my uncle, and it worked fine. But now out of nowhere I am having a severe problem. It won't run any .exe files. Mozilla is the only program I can make run on the thing. Any time I try to run a .exe, it says that there is no program associated with it. I tried to fix this manually in the folder options, but it won't save the setting. I can't run system restore because (surprise!) it's an .exe file. I am getting sent a system restore disc to try and reboot the whole thing, but don't have the id key for the computer since it was bought second hand and home built. And can't use RockXP to get the key since once again, it's an .exe file.

Any help is greatly appreciated since as of now I have a $100 paper weight.
 
mrfreeze said:
So I got a computer from my uncle, and it worked fine. But now out of nowhere I am having a severe problem. It won't run any .exe files. Mozilla is the only program I can make run on the thing. Any time I try to run a .exe, it says that there is no program associated with it. I tried to fix this manually in the folder options, but it won't save the setting. I can't run system restore because (surprise!) it's an .exe file. I am getting sent a system restore disc to try and reboot the whole thing, but don't have the id key for the computer since it was bought second hand and home built. And can't use RockXP to get the key since once again, it's an .exe file.

Any help is greatly appreciated since as of now I have a $100 paper weight.
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I don't suppose you have an original Windows CD somewhere? Windows may be too far gone for a System Restore.. It may be that your only option is to reformat, and install Windows from scratch.

I have no clue why Windows would suddently behave like that. Doesn't sound like any kind of hardware failure.. Might be a really nasty virus that took over.
 
Try booting into safe mode, perhaps you can run ststem restore from there.
 
Suspect you have a virus, and it's been there from before you obtained the system.

Unless there's anything you want to save from the HDD, do a low-level (zero-fill) format and start absolutely afresh with a new install. As a general rule, it's always best to do this with any second-hand PC you get.
 
The inability to run exe files is a feature of some virus or viruses, I can't remember which, but it should be possible to research on the net, and you might even find a program or cleaner specific to the problem.

It is sometimes possible to run some of the disabled programs by going into a dos window and renaming them with the extension "com."
 
Neither of those .com files will run either. When I run them nothing happens. And I can't get the "Command" box to pop up either. Great, the thing probably came with the virus. At least I can still watch videos.
 
If I can't solve a windows problem in a couple of hours, I just reinstall it!

That might be your best option at this point.

LLH
 
Well it isn't sircam. I found a workaround to run exe files, and ran the sircam removal tool and the .exe registry fixer. Both found nothing wrong. But I can't re-install windows xp now, because while it runs the cd fine, it won't do anything when I click to reinstall xp in the cd's menu. Blargh this is getting to be a royal pain.

I am now running an online virus scan from Norton Anti Virus' website to see if that finds anything.
 
You found a workaround to make .exe files run? Interesting. I've come across a virus before that damaged any .exe that you ran, which left them unusable, but if you've got a workaround then it's obviously not that.

When you try to reinstall XP are you running the setup program from inside XP or are you booting from the CD? The latter is probably the way to go (you may need to tweak a setting in the BIOS - do you know how?)
 
If it's a virus, you will need to low-level zap the HDD and start from scratch. Although, as a head-wank, you COULD rectify everything that is wrong and salvage the disk, it will take you inordinate amounts of time, probably considerable cost, and give you a result filled with suckage.

Unless there's any software or data worth salvaging, zap the disk and start again.
 
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The workaround I found was that if I right click an .exe and choose "run as" and just choose the profile I am using it will run it. And as far as the xp cd, I put it in the cd drive and when it autoran chose "install windows xp" but nothing happens. I have no problem losing all my stuff in order to get it to work right, it's just a matter of getting a complete reinstall to actually run.
 
mrfreeze said:
The workaround I found was that if I right click an .exe and choose "run as" and just choose the profile I am using it will run it. And as far as the xp cd, I put it in the cd drive and when it autoran chose "install windows xp" but nothing happens. I have no problem losing all my stuff in order to get it to work right, it's just a matter of getting a complete reinstall to actually run.
Click to expand...
As Zep suggested, if you have the Windows CD, you will have to reformat your hard drive. Put the CD in the drive, restart, and hopefully it will give you the option to boot from your CD. If not, restart again, and press a key to enter your BIOS (On startup, it should tell you how to do this; it's different for different BIOSes). Change the Boot order to boot from CD first, then your harddrive second (Or floppy drive second, in case you want to kick it old school. :))

At this point, save the changes and restart. It should now boot from your CD, and bring you to the 'Blue Screen of Installation'. This will walk you through deleting your primary partition (Where Windows is installed), and reinstalling.
 
Something as I bad as you describe I would just format the hard drive and reinstall everything. Ask if you need to know how to do it, the process it's not too difficult.
 
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