This is too weird...

[nihil]

but how can that afect my PC? Offline is OK, it should crash then also...

Sorry, I did not develop my argument clearly. Sure the power saving etc. works when the device is not connected to the internet, but they are background processes, that may be conflicting with something that starts when you make an online connection? It was really an extension of my "deadly embrace" theory.

My usual style of troubleshooting is to turn all this off until I get a stable system, then gradually restart them until I find the culprits. It is really just an elimination process

I am not too sold on DDos/DoS at the moment. The people who do that sort of thing would want you to know that it was them or at least that it was a deliberate attack? That seems to be the way their egos work, unless you are some major corporate entity? For example, can you think of anyone who would want to do this to you?

Well my idle temps are around 23C and go up to about 35/38 on full load with a room temperature of about 21C (it does not get very hot here). That is why I would suggest 15-20 above room temperature. Although your processor is probably safe at 85C, that does not mean that your system will work properly. Instability with Athlons seems to creep in around 60C in my experience.

Please check your BIOS and make sure that you are not overclocking anything...........video card is a favourite for producing the symptoms you describe

Cheers

[masster]

Originally posted here by nihil
The people who do that sort of thing would want you to know that it was them or at least that it was a deliberate attack? That seems to be the way their egos work, unless you are some major corporate entity? For example, can you think of anyone who would want to do this to you?

I wish I could answer to your question, but hey... if I knew for sure, I'd be 5 minutes later at their door with an axe ) So, what can I say? The network I'm in, working as admin, belongs to a university. The server in discussion is not connected to any intranet, but goes outside only through a router (having also a firewall role). I would really like to know how to catch the wiseguy, if any

About CPU temperature: PC crashed at 45C and 30C as well, so I'd eliminate this issue.

Awaiting answer from the rest that replied earlier...

Cheers.

[nihil]

About CPU temperature: PC crashed at 45C and 30C as well, so I'd eliminate this issue.

You are right, I did not think that your current problem was a temperature issue, just that your temperatures seemed a little on the high side. With temperature issues you tend to get more consistency? it should cut out after a certain period of time.

I am not convinced that it is an attack either. As I suggested, what is the motive?

I am inclined to suspect some sort of applications/services conflict.

Please try disabling all power saving, all automatic updates and any services and applications that you do not immediately need. This seems to be a by chance occurrence, so it is the check for update software that I suspect is conflicting with something that runs normally? or two update routines are trying to use the same resource?

At this time I would probably install a simple firewall like ZoneAlarm, and authorise nothing. It will then ask for permission for things to connect to the internet and I would catch the culprit. I am sure that you can get a 30 day trial?

Good luck!

[masster]

Originally posted here by nihil
I am not convinced that it is an attack either. As I suggested, what is the motive?

Sorry to ask, but what world are you living in? It's like saying that if you go away from home, nobody will knock at your door and nobody will rob your house, because nobody has a motive... Before having installed ZAP, I used Neowatch trial for firewall and Norton AV (client for a NAV corporate in my network, so update only from that intranet server). As you might know, Neowatch doesn't update anything anymore, it's discontinued by authors because Neoworx was bought by McAfee. The problems I've had were the same. But watching the logs of that firewall, there were THOUSANDS of portscans, from probing SMTP for spam relaying to thorough, deep scans for trojans and stuff. What I'm trying to say, unless you live in Canada and you can afford leaving your door unlocked all the time, I don't get at all the relevancy of "what is the motive?" Because this PC EXISTS and it's online. And any potential gained control on it it's a new start from launching "anonymous" attacks.

Anyway, I will start putting in practice from Monday all advices received from you, those that replied. Not to mention that right now my PC is frozen . Again. So I need a lot of luck... But maybe starting from nothing installed (only OS) and going to all software that I need to use properly that PC, I might succeed.

Thank you again all.

[Egaladeist]

Hi masster,

Going back to your original post I found a person with the same problem...but it was related to a video card/drivers...you said...

FREEZES. No mouse, no keyboard, nothing works. Only the reset button can change anything.

and what I put in bold matches...

Yes!!!! And I thought I was the only one... I'm using WinXP SP2 plus all the updates with an ATI Radeon 9000 card. When using the mouse to, say, seek, or click a menu, the whole desktop freezes (no mouse, no keyboard) and the only way out is the PC's reset button. The XP is a relatively clean install (two weeks old).

I've been having the problem on-and-off for six months. It appears to be linked to the graphics drivers and/or use of overlay video. I used to get it frequently with my old Hauppauge WinTV card (one of the reasons I bought a new card, the Compro) but I've also had it happen with Windows Media Player (playing video) and PowerDVD.

I thought at first it was a USB issue since I have a cordless USB mouse that I invariably used as a remote but I ruled that out. Thinking back, I then decided the problems started around the time I installed a USB WI-FI stick but last week I replaced the USB stick with an ASUS PCI-card and had a freeze with in half an hour Sad

Since the problem only occurs when overlay video is present and is not tied to any one application, I decided to roll back my video drivers. Part of the issue is that the recent ATI drivers clog the event log up with "Invalid Pixel Format" messages (http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33813474). So, the day before yesterday, I decided to re-install XP over itself to ensure all files were rolled back and then went back to the ATI drivers from January 2004. Touch wood, since then I've not had it happen.

http://www.tv-cards.com/messageboard...tart=45&t=9052
TV-Cards.com :: View topic - Compro VideoMate DVB-T300

Eg

[¤The¤Spe©ialist]

First of all its not a DDOS, your computer has anywhere between a slim and non-existant chance of instantly freezing up due to flooding, I don't care what all these liars within the security industry have to say to deny this. It wouldn't take an army of computers to cause a dialog box to popup which states "the memory could not be read", agian... this has nothing to do with flooding, everything to do with software flaws.

Your annalogy is also flawed...

[nihil]

Sorry to ask, but what world are you living in?

I am living in the REAL world my friend

I don't get at all the relevancy of "what is the motive?" Because this PC EXISTS and it's online. And any potential gained control on it it's a new start from launching "anonymous" attacks.

My point is very simple, and I would have hoped that I made it clear.................it freezes your machine? that is not how RATs and the like work.

1. If your machine is frozen it is no good to anyone?
2. These malwares HIDE they do not advertise themselves.

What you describe is something that I encounter regularly................sometimes hardware, but also caused by software conflicts.

What makes you think that you are important enough to attack? or even to "own"?

You seem to have some sort of persecution complex?

[Tiger Shark]

Damn... this thread is screwed up.....

I don't care what all these liars within the security industry have to say to deny this.

Specialist.... Stop being a complete ******* to try to prove how bright you _might_ be.... Your assessment is correct - it doesn't require a DDoS to freeze a box... Congrats.... you're brilliant.... any old DoS will do it...

But, so will a screwed up exploit..... on eMule for example... Keep on trying the buffer overflow on a single box till you get it right.... Do I need a NOOP sled or can I plop it directly into the memory address? Can I fuxx the box with a stack or heap overflow? Does the specialist understand the difference?

Masster: Did you ever think of running a sniffer on the connection to see if the traffic inbound is the same/similar each time the box freezes? Didn't think so.... But then again, neither did anyone else.... Fire up TCPDump or Ethereal and capture the traffic. Compare the last few packets prior to each drop of the box.... If they are similar then you are a target.... If there's nothing you aren't being attacked...... You have an "internal" issue.....

pretty simple huh?

[Pecosian]

This could be a complete shot in the dark but I used to use the free version of zone alarm and never had any issues, then I upgrade to the pro version and all of a sudden my computer would freeze, take 20 minutes to boot, etc. There was an issue with the service it runs to scan packets I believe, it's been a little while though. As soon as I removed ZA and installed another software firewall I never had the trouble again. Unfortunately I never figured out what caused the problem, but I knew it was the ZA service because when I kept it from starting but let everything else run, crippling the firewall but letting it's front end run, the problem suddenly went away.

Maybe it was because part of the upgrade went wrong, I don't know but you might want to try using a simple free one, if you don't have a router/hardware firewall in place, and seeing how that works for you.

[Relyt]

Good Evening,

Is it a security problem I'm dealing with?

From a different perspective, I’m a very suspicious individual and would tend to look at users/intrusions before considering this a hardware/software issue. And realistically, it’s no secret that universities and colleges have been test beds for little deviant wannabes and preferred hop sites for criminals. So my response to your original question, absolutely could be!

It appears to be a random issue without pattern (some classic attributes of a hack or testing/using wares). Given that info, the freezes could be a symptom of what is coming in/going out. Sniff it as indicated by TS, gather info and then you can determine if you need to be a parts changer, mess with the software, or build the gallows.

cheers