Computer going up

I got the computer back. The motherboard was replaced as requested, and it's supposed to start up fine now. However, don't get your hopes up.

I haven't set it back up yet, and there's still no telling if the thing is prone to locking up randomly. I'll update this as soon as possible.

UPDATE Apr. 20: Everything's fine. It just starts up really slow.

Computer update

I have still not received any info about the computer I used since I took it in on the 16th. I'm assuming they are replacing the motherboard but I am not totally sure.

At this rate, I'm not sure if they've done a format on the hard drive (and not one of those where the data is shredded), but at least I still have plans to use some freeware recovery programs as well as one recent program provided by Giveaway Of The Day.

If all goes well, maybe you might be able to see the alternate-universe version of YTP ss07 5 (The T-Clone's Last Stand).

Computer down!

I, the user, am typing this on another computer.

For the past two weeks, my computer has undergone a tragic downfall so to speak.

• Feb. 2 (Tues.): IE 7 got hijacked by fake antivirus prompts multiple times. Apparently at the same time, some undetectable trojan was slipped through the mess.
• Feb. 4 (Thurs.): Computer started locking up randomly. As in, everything freezes, keyboard, mouse, power button don't work at all; if there are any sounds playing, it starts stuttering. Never recovers. Forced to pull the plug each time.
• Investigation: Conclusively I found out through the next week that apparently this trojan caused the BIOS settings to be reset to defaults (for safety). I tried using memtest 86 and Windows' diagnostic tool, but there were no errors. Also, CPU usage and RAM meters (Windows Sidebar gadgets) did not indicate that sudden high usage bursts happened at the time of the lockups.
• For the week, I also tried several antivirus programs (including Dr Web CureIt) in regular and safe mode. They did not detect the cause, or the computer locked up during the scans.
• Feb. 6 (Sat.): Updated Vista to service pack 2. Unfortunately, this removed all my System Restore points!
  
• Feb. 13 (Sat.): Computer got bricked because during a legitimate BIOS update, the computer locked up.

I am planning to take it over for service on Tuesday, but they'll obviously wipe off the hard drive if they go through with it. This means that I may have to return to my old Win ME computer, and all my random YTP videos will not be returning.