Repeatedly experienced severe crashes while playing Q2 online

[Jman-CRU]

Guys, after I visited the forums and restarted my PC yesterday, my boot screen had changed from "Dell" to "Acer". Looking at the logs, I found that at 4:33:47 pm Berlin time my ports were scanned and I received 5 UDP packets that were recognized as DoS.
WTF? Looks like my system spontaneously decided it was time for a change, huh? :->
The IP was logged (64.27.28.2), but I guess it's most likely spoofed.

@ Foc: You're not using one...? Hehe, dunno why, but I could see that coming.
Well, I perfectly understand the thing about the beeping - my former lodger/host who is a truck driver used to transport dangerous material and one day brought home a couple of old truck batteries and a PSU which was still functional. He put everything together and soon we were to experience the negative effect. Several times we met in the hallway in the middle of the night and were like "Wtf, fire alarm?", before he killed the beeper. Hehe. 
Yeah, I came across the Furman equipment when I googled power conditioners and I guess I went kinda pale...
Btw, I am not using any of the hardware of my damaged systems anymore, for I already suspected it suffered damage. I am also aware that the system I am using now might have already been damaged by spikes or micro-outages.
Sigh... Looks like this is going to be expensive. That seriously sucks; I was hoping it wouldn't get too bad. I wanted to use my savings to start studying again next year, but I need a working, reliable and powerful system for rendering, too.
Anyway, thanks again for your suggestions. Your help is appreciated!

@ Vae: Thanks for your suggestions, too. It's indeed a start; I'm going to take a closer look at these and several other models as soon as I got used to the thought of spending parts of my savings on computer stuff again.
 
@ Cowie: Memory leak issue? Do you mean damaged RAM?

Any comments on my question regarding the WSAEHOSTUNREACH host unreachable crashes and bt-utp packets I mentioned?

[VaeVictis]

if you really do think you were hacked, just remember:

hackers happen, fix your networking gear to be more secure to make sure it doesn't happen again... and if you don't know how to clean up, just reformat everything and start over

[yahoo]

Guys, after I visited the forums and restarted my PC yesterday, my boot screen had changed from "Dell" to "Acer". Looking at the logs, I found that at 4:33:47 pm Berlin time my ports were scanned and I received 5 UDP packets that were recognized as DoS.
WTF? Looks like my system spontaneously decided it was time for a change, huh? :->

 @ Cowie: Memory leak issue? Do you mean damaged RAM?

1. Dell -> Acer .Means that your BIOS had been flashed(or perhaps updated maybe theres an auto update feauture)/ Or perhaps that ur bios resetted to a previous version.
2. Yeah RAM. Blue screens are mostly hardware probs. specially that hyberfil.sys crash.  Your system has some problems doing the hibernation process.

[yahoo]

if you really do think you were hacked, just remember:

hackers happen, fix your networking gear to be more secure to make sure it doesn't happen again... and if you don't know how to clean up, just reformat everything and start over

lol.
Anyway aside from that remember:
1. Does all your PC problem happens only if you play q2?
2. If it does then someone is prolly pissed at you and went to all the trouble to find your ip and hacked you.

Just isolate your problem. Which application causes it. If they are graphic, memory or cpu reliant then its hardware. Also try to reinstall your OS.

[Jman-CRU]

@ Cowie: My BIOS has no auto-update function. And this is not the first time the BIOS settings changed out of nowhere (without battery trouble!) - just the first time on this computer.
Of course I'm trying to isolate the problem(s), but I'm simply not savyy enough. I know more about computer stuff now than I did in 2005, but it's still not enough, and I will never be an expert.
It's like with this BIOS thing: I'm now sitting here, wondering what the hell this means - was it some power supply trouble again affecting the CMOS, or is it related to that port scan and DoS and somebody somehow managed to flash my BIOS so that now this system is compromised? How can I find out whether this change is something malicious or just a reset?

After you guys told me, it now looks like a lot of damage was caused by this line/power supply issue. This means the moment I got a line conditioner etc., that'd be one problem less. The solution won't be cheap, but it'll solve the problem. Thank God!
But over the last years there has been odd stuff, too, that can't be explained by power supply issues. I've bothered poor quadz more than enough with this, and I'm not going to start again.
What I know is: I've used XP for many years, and it was compromised. While I tried to figure out what's normal and what's not, step by step trying to learn about basics to secure the system, my XP was an open door. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a fact.
So I don't think a Quake2 player started hacking me - I think in fact a hacker who accessed my system later started playing Q2 for his personal amusement.

I think I got rid of most of whatever malicious shit was on my old system, and security has improved a lot. But I'm not sure I got rid of everything. For I can run my system offline without experiencing any trouble for months, but whenever I go online and start playing Quake2, the trouble seems to start again. I even ran a 24h test with r1q2 and bots having fun on a LAN server, and it never crashed - I go online, and it crashes every day!
And I'm concerned that I'm not able to keep hackers from intruding again.

That's why I came here - to ask stupid questions, get help from more experienced guys, and I don't mean poor quadz who already did enough. Maybe I should open another thread dealing with security stuff, since I got a pretty good explanation for my problem with hardware damage.

[|iR|Focalor]

Well if you DO decide to format the HDD, just remember to delete the partition too. You'll have to setup a new one, but if you leave the old partition and just format the data in that existing partition, things can be left behind and you might have the same problem again, especially if the system was infected with some type of rootkit like one of the many "0access" variants. And if you go that far, might also want to look into getting ahold of some type of forensic drive wiping program to run from a boot disc. When you format using the OS disc or whatever, it's not gonna wipe everything completely clean back to all zeros. They typically advise people to use one of these when selling an old PC or HDD so that whoever gets ahold of it later can't recall any personal information from the previous owner, but it's also good for eradicating remaining portions of malware that are too stubborn or impossible to be completely removed by antivirus programs. I've attempted to use one called DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) on my last PC, but I never got it to run correctly. Supposedly it's one of the best drive nuking programs around. I was having a problem with the CD drive that every time it would spin up, it would crash the system again, even with the OS install CD. The one or two times I did manage to get the HDD formatted and WindowsXP reinstalled on it, it took me probably 100 tries to get it to complete 100% before it would reboot. Took me literally 2 days once of sitting here ALL DAY AND NIGHT doing it over and over and over again until finally the last time it installed the OS 100% without rebooting. VERY frustrating. I hope no one else ever has to go through that.

[ImperiusDamian]

I was having a problem with the CD drive that every time it would spin up, it would crash the system again, even with the OS install CD. The one or two times I did manage to get the HDD formatted and WindowsXP reinstalled on it, it took me probably 100 tries to get it to complete 100% before it would reboot. Took me literally 2 days once of sitting here ALL DAY AND NIGHT doing it over and over and over again until finally the last time it installed the OS 100% without rebooting. VERY frustrating. I hope no one else ever has to go through that.

I bet!! I'm glad there are ways to boot from USB flash drives and what-have-you. One of my computers is a low-end netbook with no CD drive so being able to boot from flash stick was great. I put Linux Mint on that sucker.

[The Happy Friar]

A power issue can blank your bios settings.  Short, static, etc.

Do you have your computer in something furry, like a rug?

[PANTONE 7717C]

I can run my system offline without experiencing any trouble for months, but whenever I go online and start playing Quake2, the trouble seems to start again. I even ran a 24h test with r1q2 and bots having fun on a LAN server, and it never crashed - I go online, and it crashes every day!

Nowadays our computers are always connected to the internet so better take the time to know and to configure your router the right way. Go to portforward.com and look under Routers > Portforwarding Guides and pick your router from the list then and look for Q2's setup in the games list. Also test some ports using their pfportchecker tool and of course check to see if what you really need for Q2 (27910) is open and functioning. And if you haven't tried it already, temporarily stop using anticheat, just to rule out as many things as possible. Maybe also think about changing your router's admin password. List_of_default_Router_Admin_Passwords

http://ask-leo.com/should_i_change_my_routers_password_and_if_so_how_often.html
(...) there is malicious software out there that, using Javascript in your browser, can actually attempt to access your router. Knowing the administrative password, if you've never changed it, that software can then reconfigure your router to disable many of its firewall characteristics and allow more serious malware to infect your system. (...)

For future problems with malware and especially boot virus crap I would suggest getting the free Avira Antivir Rescue cd. It's a Linux based downloadable rescue cd, which lets you scan the pc without having to boot your OS. There's a windows .exe version and the .iso version (The .iso can also be used from usb stick). The download links are always up-to-date but you can also update while running the rescue cd if you have internet connection.

[yahoo]

A power issue can blank your bios settings.  Short, static, etc.

Yep it can do that but wont explain how the hell his bios got flashed

[|iR|Focalor]

A power issue can blank your bios settings.  Short, static, etc.

Yep it can do that but wont explain how the hell his bios got flashed

There are a few vicious rootkits out there with the capability of screwing with your BIOS.

[VaeVictis]

I was having a problem with the CD drive that every time it would spin up, it would crash the system again, even with the OS install CD. The one or two times I did manage to get the HDD formatted and WindowsXP reinstalled on it, it took me probably 100 tries to get it to complete 100% before it would reboot. Took me literally 2 days once of sitting here ALL DAY AND NIGHT doing it over and over and over again until finally the last time it installed the OS 100% without rebooting. VERY frustrating. I hope no one else ever has to go through that.

I bet!! I'm glad there are ways to boot from USB flash drives and what-have-you. One of my computers is a low-end netbook with no CD drive so being able to boot from flash stick was great. I put Linux Mint on that sucker.

i don't like to format my flash drives constantly for booting purposes xD

so i just set up a centos pxe server in vmware, works great, just have to bridge the connection onto my network with my laptop, and then boot a computer over network




far as the bios shit goes, foc is probably right, rootkit's can make you tear your hair out and put your head through your monitor before you realize what is actually going on lol

[yahoo]

far as the bios shit goes, foc is probably right, rootkit's can make you tear your hair out and put your head through your monitor before you realize what is actually going on lol

I rather go with the power supply or grounding problems. The Dell bios is more likely manufactured by Acer and Acer also sells some generic boards with same config. Something got screwed which corrupted the Dell settings thus reverting to a default setting( in your boards case -Acer).
Some bios have two boot logos or menus. One is a generic and a branded one as specified by their client.

[ImperiusDamian]

i don't like to format my flash drives constantly for booting purposes xD

Yeah me neither so I just keep one 1GB one as a boot stick for Mint.

so i just set up a centos pxe server in vmware, works great, just have to bridge the connection onto my network with my laptop, and then boot a computer over network

That works too.

[Jman-CRU]

Again, thanks for your replies! You guys are a great help!

@ Foc: I'm already using DBAN to nuke my drives, especially all the old ones in use when I had XP installed. Works just fine, but of course it takes a long time until the whole drive is wiped. Even if you just choose to erase it, depending on the size of the drive it takes several hours - with other settings even days. But you can indeed be sure the drive is definitely clean then - if you want it safer than that, use a hammer, hehe. Else I'm using the shred function of the partition editor that comes with Gnome or KDE. I don't think this function is as safe as the old DOS low level format, though...
Yeah, some of the CD and DVD drives out there suck ass; I had to plug an old DVD RAM drive to a USB port via IDE to USB box just to be able to use live CDs and install stuff because the built in drive of my recent system would go spinning up and down for 15 minutes until the live system was finally bootet.
Hey, I think I recall you were saying you had a BIOS virus on your board some time ago, is that true?
How did you find out it was there and what did that fucker do?

@ Happy Friar: My PC was standing on carpet, but no longer now.

@ Panjoo: I usually pull the network plug if internet isn't needed. Plus, if I'm online but idle, my router disconnects after 1 minute, only reconnecting on request.
Thanks for your advice! I already did most of it after the last crash, though, hehe. I started using a better router with more detailed options in 2011 or so, using a safe password, too, but before that
last crash, I spent most of the time on securing the windows firewall instead of the router firewall. Now I got a special set of rules for playing Q2, explicitly blocking every port and every outgoing traffic that is not needed - and only allowing connections to tastyspleen server. If I knew which ports AC needs and what IP it needs to connect to, I'd allow those, too, but since I don't know, it is blocked just to be on the safe side.
I've started using the Antivir Rescue CD, too, after I found that with XP, the installed Antivir had apparently been circumvented in no time. Scanning the system while the OS is inactive is indeed much more reliable, especially when searching for rootkits, but as always, the problem about AV software is the virus database. Over the years, I've scanned one and the same folder with the same files many times, and every year Antivir would find one or two new pieces of malware in it. Stuff it wasn't able to detect before. Same with malware scanners like AdAware or Spybot S&D.
I finally decided to put those old files on an EXT4 partition on a USB storage device and not access them with any Win system anymore, unless it's a virtual Windows machine. But maybe I should just destroy all of that old data to put an end to the risk of re-infection and download the Q2 stuff again, too.

@ Cowie: I would agree on your assumption that the Dell BIOS was corrupted and it reset to default settings of the board manufacturer. And I am starting to believe it is the same power/line issue.
Checking the BIOS with a flashrom reader shows that the BIOS lock was enabled and the BIOS write function was disabled. If this refers to the jumper settings on the board, I guess it's impossible the BIOS got flashed - good as hackers may be, they're no wizzards.

Also I'm starting to think that the wall plug the router is connected to might be on a different circuit than the PC plug box, although it's in the same room. If that's true and there's a voltage difference, then the network cable would be a bridge between the two circuits. There could be spikes every time I connect the cable, and voltage drops whenever I pull it. That would certainly explain why so many shit seems to happen when I go online/have been online.
It looks like a whole shitload of problems is going to be solved the moment I got a line conditioner!