Major system instability (Win 7 Ultimate x64)

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GJSNeptune

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Messages
12,372
Asus P5Q Pro
E8400 @ stock
Corsair 2x2GB XMS2 DHX
Corsair HX620
EVGA GTX 260

I don't know what happened, but earlier today my computer suddenly powered down like it was reset. Then it seemed to freeze on the initial Asus BIOS screen. I shut it down and powered it on. Everything went normally to the login screen. After logging in, I got an instant BSOD. Mostly IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL, System Services Exceptions, stuff like that. I tried a few more times and kept getting the error. I tried Safe Mode and got errors, but managed to finally get in without getting a BSOD. I did a virus scan with MSE and it found two trojan downloaders or something. No idea how that happened. I had MSE clean them, and then I used CCleaner to purge junk and fix the registry.

At one point I tried to start up in Safe Mode w/ networking, but got BSODs after logging in. Sometimes I got a BSOD if I waited to log in. It's been a few hours now, and I've done all I can think to do. I popped in my Windows CD and had it run a memory diagnostic and try to find startup errors, which it didn't. At one point the Windows installation gave me the option to scan for problems, and it apparently attempted to repair stuff, but I don't know what. It didn't seem to help. I wiped my NVIDIA drivers and reinstalled the latest. I reinstalled my LAN drivers as well. No improvement, except I finally managed to start Safe Mode w/ networking successfully.

I came across BlueScreenView, and, in order of most recent, it lists the following Caused by Driver:

ntoskrnl.exe
ataport.SYS
ataport.SYS
ntoskrnl.exe
ntoskrnl.exe
atapi.sys
ataport.SYS
ntoskrnl.exe
ntoskrnl.exe
ntoskrnl.exe
ataport.SYS
ataport.SYS
ntoskrnl.exe

It's hard to know what's causing the critical errors when I can't boot into Windows in Normal mode. My input devices are working properly. What could these trojans have corrupted?

Any ideas on what more to try? I have no spare hard drives to move data to reinstall Windows, and I can't spend any money on a new one. If at all possible, I need to repair my current installation.
 
You use the install DVD for a repair install. Though if you honestly think that was caused by trojans I would reformat and reinstall, if it were me.
 
Have you ever overclocked the GPU or CPU? Those blue screen errors can happen frequently on both.
 
I've never overclocked my video card, but I had the E8400 overclocked to 3.6 from the day I built the system about two years ago until last summer or so when I had instability, but I know that was hardware-related. I've been running a replacement GTX 260 for several months now with no issues. I know these problems are stemming from malware or something. MalwareBytes managed to detect 800+ hits, mostly (or all) something called whitesmoke.

It's not worth messing with anymore, and I'm due for a reinstall anyway. I'm currently moving data to other hard drives so I can start fresh again. I'm just afraid my TechNet license won't activate.
 
You shouldn't be using a technet license anyways for you main system you use all the time, it is evaluation software. I don't see why it wouldn't activate unless it was obtained in a bad way.
 
Yeah, but it's all I have for now. People used to say the keys would still work if your subscription ended, but with the recent TechNet changes, people started saying they wouldn't work, and I think I read about people who reformatted/reinstalled couldn't activate. Guess we'll find out shortly.
 
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