Updated windows and now everything is messed up!

[Dee_Ann]

Hi guys,

I followed the advice of someone and let my PC install a ton of updates.

Since then, it's FRIED...

The satellite app, freezes up, a lot. Before, it was working fine. No problems.

It doesn't matter if I'm watching OTA or FTA, the video will freeze, the computer becomes 100% unresponsive to the world BUT, the audio continues to run just fine. And if it's recording when it locks up, the recording plays back ok.

Once it gets stuck like that it may take me 10-15 minutes of banging on the keyboard to regain control of the PC again.

Here's what I suspect the problem is. Now my knowledge of PC's is fairly limited so I'll do the best I can.

When I told the pc to do a windows update it told me there were a LOT of things that needed updating. Like an idiot, I told it yes on everything.

One thing that stood out to me though was the notice that my Nvidia display driver needed updating. Ok, fine. Do it..

After the update (done via Microsoft Update) I got a notice by the microsoft updater that the Nvidia drivers were damaged and needed to be repaired. Oh oh..

The video went into some horrible 1985 looking BAD graphics, like some prototype windows ugliness.. It told me the driver was wrong or damaged or something like that and they needed fixing. More or less something like that.

Panic ensues...

So I went to the Nvidia site and selected my video card and downloaded the newest drivers and started to install them.

It told me that the drivers were broken and had to be removed before the new drivers could be installed.

I told it to go ahead and it gave me several more nasty warnings about things being wrong/broken/mangled and I clicked through and finally got the thing to tell me the new drivers were installed.

After rebooting the pc like 2 dozen times I finally got the video to look like it should. Or so it appeared.

After several hours of panicking the pc seemed to look and work like it should.

But not for long. It didn't take long for it to start freezing up and causing me a lot of grief.

At this point I am now left with a pc that is barely usable. The locking up is totally random and can't be predicted. It may run a few hours without trouble or it may do it 4 - 5 times an hour. Very frustrating.

I have a screen shot that shows the microsoft installed Nvidia driver but when I go to the other screen that lets you uninstall driver updates, it is not listed by name, only a long list of drivers named KBxxxxxxxx....

No descriptions at all, just cryptic file names that are all pretty much the same thing. It's totally impossible to tell what all those drivers are for and I'm afraid to just start uninstalling stuff at random.

I'm also afraid to use the system restore option, I did that one time and it erased WEEKS worth of files! I'm not doing a system restore.

Do I need to just wipe the whole flippin thing out and start over new?

Windows is on a separate disk from the video recordings I want to keep so I can disconnect the other disk to be sure I don't lose videos. But what about programs that I installed and their data? Is there a way to back them up and restore them?

The pc is fried anyway, media player is broken and when I try to install it it tells me that it can't install it. DUH... I think that happened last year when the pc got infected with a bunch of viruses.

I'm worried about two things in a big way.

My iTunes on there and all my iPhone files and my Amazon Unbox Soaps files.

I am freaking out because the Unbox help screen says that I have to uninstall the program and that when I do it will wipe out the videos I downloaded to the pc! AND, worse, that those videos may no longer be available again for me to re-download later after I redo windows!

So Amazon tells me that videos I paid a premium for so that I could download them and keep permanent copies of on my pc, have to be wiped out and that I may not be able to download them again after that. :rant:

That is so totally unacceptable! (not to mention, I'm furious that I can't watch them on my iPhone!)...

So what can I do about Amazon unbox? Is there a way to back it up ?

I attached a screen shot of the suspect, or at least what I suspect is the big problem. But really, there are so many other problems that I'm thinking it might be best just to start it over. I just don't know how to go about starting over without losing important stuff..

Thanks!

 

[turbosat]

Wow, rotten luck Dee. I'm no windows expert but I believe I would start with uninstalling the video card driver (windows calls 'em Display Adapters, I think) and reboot. When it comes back up, if it wants to look for a new video driver-point it to the new one you downloaded, where you stored it on the hard drive, and see if that kicks it in the pants. All those KBxxxxx things are updates you downloaded, it could be that one of them borked your OS-it has happened before. I used to stick to only the critical updates when I used windows, and even then-the same thing happened to me before also. Once I think I had to 'uninstall' about 6 so-called updates before I got the computer going again. Then, sure enough, a couple of days later MS put out a "fix" to one of their updates!

 

[radio]

You can use the "system restore" but go slowly when doing so and read the options carefully. There's an option that will take you back to a certain day on a calendar it displays when you will figure your system was properly working. Another option will overlay/repair windows in some versions, and the third one is a FULL restore, which is actually called "recovery."

During a normal restore, no current e-mail, saved files (documents) or pictures are erased. This is safe to use. However, since it uses a snapshot of your system, any PROGRAMS
that were installed afterwards need to be put back in. Hence the "restore to" date when it was working.

Hope that's of some help.

 

[zamar23]

Dee_Ann

What's your PC hardware configuration: Proc, Mobo, RAM, GPU, Card models?
What Sat Viewer version do you use? With what Codec versions & combination while watching OTA & Sat channels?
Does the PC hang when NOT watching TV?

Install Sysinternals Process Explorer, keep it open and watch what process maxes out your processor when the PC hangs.

Run CCleaner or better Wise Registry Cleaner to clean old stuff from PC and its Registry.
Remove file duplicates with NoClone or similar app (don't touch protected system file duplicates)
Run System File Checker to repair corrupt & missing system files.
Defrag your System hard drive to speed up access to files.
Run good Antivirus & Antimalware app. to check & remove malware.
Open Device Manager - Display Adapters - your adapter - Uninstall Driver. Reboot and reinstall the driver.

You should setup Windows Update to check for updates daily & install automatically. Updates sequence can make a difference.