In all the furor over the msblast worm the past few days, I think I messed up my computer somehow while checking things out.
Symptoms:
Task bar no longer functions. I get the little quick start icons, but no open windows show up in my task bar. The little double dashed line that should be to the right of the quick start icons is no longer there. It is as if that functionality of windows has been removed.
System takes forever to start up, 5-10 minutes where normally it takes 1 tops.
New windows refuse to open. Trying to view the propreties in my hardware profiles menu, new browser windows, and the properties of my services in the services window is impossible.
Also my sound card seems to have been diabled, it shows up in my system menu, however I can’t check on it’s status because new windows refuse to open.
Theories? the only thing that I did was to disable the remote proceedure call from the services window. However it won’t let me start it again. Error 1058: the sevice cannot be restarted either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices. This error message makes no sense to me- the service cannot be started because it is disabled? huh? HOw do I restart it? And is it what is causing my problems?
Well, RPC shouldn’t have been disabled, for one thing. It does a lot of stuff that Windows needs. And yes, disabling a service prevents it from ever starting until you enable it again. It wouldn’t be very disabled otherwise. Somehow, you have to get to your Services window and re-enable it, but I regret that I do not know the way to do so.
A quick Google search, however, turns up this Knowledge Base article, which mentions a way to enable services from the recovery console. Try that.
Actually, as near as I can determine, RPC isn’t disabled. At least as far as msconfig goes. However, in the services tab, it says it is not started. It says it automatically starts.
I can’t get to the recovery console, as far as I can determine, the recovery disks that come with the computer only have instructions on how to completely wipe my system, pressing f10 just brings up a weird dos like prompt, and only if I exit the recovery program. (I get a prompt saying press f1 to format, f2 to exit) I don’t have a windowsXP CD per say, just the disks that came with my laptop, which are labeled toshiba recovery disks.
I don’t understand why something not being started could legitimately be used as a reason not to start something.
Is this really the problem with my computer? I thought it might be because I was looking at that stuff last night. Could RPC service being disabled cause all my problems listed above, or is it something else like a virus?
A lot of that are symptoms of the msblast.exe worm. Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and click the Processes tab, and see if you see msblast.exe listed in there. If you do, seek out the thread on this topic right here in GQ.
Thanks, but already checked for that. Checking for that last night is how I ended up messing up my computer. I was getting the shut-down things a week or so ago, but then they stopped, and as far as I can tell, there is no msblast on my computer.
Thaumaturge, your symptomes match mine. Also, no links (including links to emails) were working. And, i couldn’t send nor receive. Also, I couldn’t disconnect the telephone dial-up without rebooting! Search within SDope Boards on “msblast” or “worm”. See also http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=203867
Unless the program renamed itself, or is a differently named version, I don’t have msblast on my computer. Thanks for the help though.
I’m going to reformat my computer soon, nothing I’m trying seems to help, my norton anti-virus seems to be nuked into non-functionality. The worst thing is not having a functioning taskbar, it is like being on a MAC.
Hey, this is what’s going on on my computers at work, as well. This seems alot worse than what most people are experiencing from MSBlast.exe. Furthermore, the fact that msblast.exe is not showing up in the processes list makes me wonder if it is not in fact a different worm entirely, though perhaps related somehow?