A File from which no system process can escape...

[kupocake]

I have an mp3 in my music folder which locks up my entire computer whenever any of the following come into contact with it:

- Opened through music player
- Opened in Explorer
- Rename
- Delete
- Any kind of right-click action
- All the above, in safe mode
- Virus Check (either via selecting the file or doing a system-wide check)
- Scandisk (which now happens EVERY time my PC boots, so I have to skip it if I want to see Windows.)

What is going on, and is there anything I can do aside from leaving it alone and making sure none of the above processes happen to it?

 

[JFry]

Can you put it in your virus software quarentine?

 

[Cole]

Get a Linux live CD (download ubuntu live and burn it to a cd) and delete it from there.

or

If you have an XP CD load up into it, go into the repair section, and delete it via the DOS system it gives you.



This kind of reminds me of this graphics card I had. Well my internal modem got fried, and it burned part of this graphics card. It was a PCI Nvidia Geforce 4 420MX. Anyway you could put it in any computer, and that computer would not start up in any way(no fans. No nothing).

 

[Barney Fife]

Maybe thats not a MP3 file, but bigger more severe type file.

 

[Asus]

Can you use hijackThis and tell it to remove the file on the next restart?

 

[No Limit]

Make sure no programs are sending anything out from your network, do this by closing all your open applications and go to your command prompt. From there type netbios -b and hit enter.

This will show you all open connections as well as which process created it.

If there is nothing there you probably don't have a virus, it sounds more like a corrupt drive. So go to your command prompt again and type chkntfs C:. If it says NTFS is dirty type chkdsk /f and hit enter. Even if it says its clean you migh still want to run this command. Reboot your computer which will check your computer and autmatically fix any issues. Though it sounds like dskcheck is already running and freezing your computer give it a try this way just in case.

If this fails create yourself a ms dos start up disk and try deleting it from there. If this fails it sounds like your only option will be to live with it or format your drive, this means a sector in your disk has been damaged pretty badly and you are shit out of luck.

 

[ehudyoda]

codec

There is a slight chance its a codec problem.
any new codec(s) installed lately?

 

[Hazar]

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000888.html

 

[-Psy-]

Ah memories. Those ad that state, "YOUR ARE THE 10,000 PERSON TO VIEW THIS AD! YOU WIN! CLAIM YOUR PRIZE NOW!11!!!", inside a little shaking window make me laugh so much...

 

[Laivasse]

This sounds very much like a problem I once had, and if it is indeed the same problem then it is not a virus at all.

I once tried previewing an incomplete file in a certain P2P program, which created a whopping great temporary movie file. My media player crashed, however, and thenceforth I had this all the same problems kupo described with this temp file. It doesn't run any malicious programs or create any reg entries, rather it simply screws up your entire comp when anything at all tries to access the file in any way - and I mean anything; explorer windows, anything. It's like something bad has happened on the HD which makes Windows' brain melt when it looks at it.

Solution: delete the file in DOS. Use a Windows98/WinXP CD to get to the DOS prompt before Windows starts.

 

[lePobz]

I once had a similar problem but traced it back to a corrupt folder thumbs file.

 

[kupocake]

Can you use hijackThis and tell it to remove the file on the next restart?

I was able to do this, so file-wise i'm safe. However, the computer is still stalling in Scan-disk, on the free-space checking stage. My guess is that something is borked on the disk itself. Fair enough, i'm due an upgrade soon and this 60GB drive must be about 5 to 7 years old. It's just annoying rather than system shatteringly awful.

 

[bam23]

Tried deleting it with a command line in cmd.exe?

 

[VirusType2]

I was able to do this, so file-wise i'm safe. However, the computer is still stalling in Scan-disk, on the free-space checking stage. My guess is that something is borked on the disk itself. Fair enough, i'm due an upgrade soon and this 60GB drive must be about 5 to 7 years old. It's just annoying rather than system shatteringly awful.

Sounds like a good idea. I hear they sometimes give you little warning. Something seems to be wrong? Get your important data off of there immediately.

 

[Asus]

Well, a spot on a hard disk can become bad. Yet the rest of it works fine. When a hard disk is made there are many spots that are bad but when the disk is first setup it is told not to use those spots. It ignores them. I bet it would work fine if you used the tools that hard drive manufactures provide on their site to redo the master boot record and also zero-fill format the drive. I've heard you can get it to ignore any new 'bad' spots. Probably requires a floppy drive. D:

If you want, buy a new drive. That is a pretty old drive.
Although it doesn't sound like the motor or head are breaking down.