Help with "Pink Screen" Trojan/Virus

[Lost_Prophet]

I'd like some thoughts and recommendations for those of you in the know. *I'm am FAR out of my field of expertise here. *

If any of my symptoms sound familiar and you can help lead to a solution, I'd be much appreciative.

These problems came about after I installed Kazzaa file sharing software.

My system has flaked out and I believe I have 1 of 3 possible problems. *

1. I have a sophisticated trojan/backdoor installed.
2. I have a sophisticated Virus
3. My Video Card is on the fritz.

Basic System specs: (High end modern system).

1. Windows XP Pro
2. GeForce 3 Vid Card
3. 512MB DDR Ram
4. LAN, Zone Alarm (Standard), Windows Firewall Off, standard drives...


Solutions taken:

1. Full Virus Scan with Nortion Antivirus with latest Definitions. *(Reported Clean)

2. Full Trojan Scan with TDS-3 Trail version *(Reported Clean).

3. Net search for "pink screen" with no usable results.

4. Uninstalled Kazzaa and erraticated all reference to it from the registry. *Now system slowdowns went away.

5. Ran Ad Aware with latest dataset. *(Reported Clean).

6. Next step is using Recovery Console in an attempt to repair, reinstalling video drivers and then a reinstall of Windows XP Pro. *I want to avoid a reinstall if possible.

Symptoms:

1. Periodic screen flash as lines across the top of the screen. *This happens very quickly and does not interfere with work. *Hard to tell if the flashing of these lines are pink or white.

2. *Screen flashes all transparent pink. *Sometimes stays this way for a min or two then goes away. *It is as if the green settings on my video card has been turned off. *Looks like someone put pink plastic wrap over my screen. *I can still work.

3. *A few oddball problems like ALL my system restore points have failed, my windows XP CD "suddenly" and timely could no longer be read.

4. *Screen Savers no longer work. *They run like molasses, take forever to start and turn off. *

5. *A few cases of fatal system error crashes (Blue Screen of Death).

6. *Some serious system 'busy cursor", slow downs and a few instances of "can not delete file because it is in use by another application" errors.

* Symptoms in 6, above, went away after uninstalling Kazzaa.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you feel prompted to send an email, please send it to Shrowd@bigfoot.com. *

Thank you.

[Paul Wilders]

Hello Lost_Prophet,

At first glance, it doesn't seem a trojan or virus/worm to me; hardware seems to be the the trouble here.

Could you try a different monitor for testing purposes?

regards,

paul

[Checkout]

Sounds like a bad cable connection. *I had something similar with an older machine where one or two pins were slightly bent or the cable wasn't pushed in firmly enough.

I saw this today, thought it might interest you.

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-873181.html

[Lost_Prophet]

Thanks for the replies.

I was unaware of what Brilliant was up to, but since I do my best to maintain privacy, I had already removed all the brilliant software as soon as I installed Kazzaa.

As for swapping out the video card, that is not an option for me. *I don't have another system that can handle it. *However, I can blow out the cables/connectors, check for bent pins and also reseat the card.