Interesting Phenomenon

[Sean]

Dallas,

I would be interested to know two things when this happens next:

(1) Look at the date and time on the computer.  Time should be on the far right of the task bar, date displays in a callout when you hover your mouse over the time.  Or Start/Run/CMD then date/t and time/t will get it for you.  If one or both is/are incorrect, then we can look at where the computer(s) may be picking up a corrupt time value.

(2) Try "repairing" the connection.  Hover over the appropriate network icon in the system tray, then right-click and select "Repair."

If this was related to either MSW noise or EMI of some sort, it's hard to imagine what sort of problem would affect HTTPS but not HTTP.  FWIW.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[HighTechRedneck]

If this was related to either MSW noise or EMI of some sort, it's hard to imagine what sort of problem would affect HTTPS but not HTTP.  FWIW.

You raise a good point.  It seams highly unlikely that a power problem would strike two different computers in such a specific way.

Dallas, you have mentioned your AdAware, what about your anti-virus software, are the definitions and software itself up to date?  It is foreseeable that a virus could have affected two networked computers in precisely the same way.  Why the problem went away after removing the power is a curiousity though.  By any chance, when you shut it down normally, is it a full shut down or is it "hibernating" or in "standby"? 

Hibernating saves the memory contents to the hard drive and then restores them from there on power up.  Startup from Hibernation is a lot faster than a regular boot up and any open programs remain just as you left them.  Standby mode keeps the memory running and puts all other hardware in a low power or off state.  Power on from Standby is almost instant and everything is just as you left it.

[Tony LEE]

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[HB of CJ]

Haven't read the other posts yets, sossss this is kinda maximum blind kinda.  My dinkum-thinkum skills are absoultely non-existant, but it seems to me that a computer clock would have its own dedicated battery-type power supply to guard against all sorts of lousy commercial power delivery.

Is your inverter sine-wave or kinda sine-wave or is it kinda not sine wave at all?  Maybe you have experienced a condition of lousy unclean power that compounds situations/problems within the computer?  Kinda (love that word!) begs the question of running your computer thru a dedicated UPS? 

[gus]

Dallas,

Do you have to pay extra for AT&T/Cingular 3G connection through your cell phone? I have an ATT cell phone and have been thinking about doing that but if I have to pay much extra it won't be worth it.


High Tech,

My opinion of MS's Win versions is that there is more of a lack of intelligence than artificial!

[Hartley]

Dallas,

I thimk you found the answer... Get away from that Cell tower!

The radiated power for them is not in milliwatts but many watts, Like 30 or more
depending on how many cell sites are sharing the tower.

My pacemaker gets funky within 200 feet of an operating cell tower. When you are that close also with basically unshielded computers and wiring, There is a ton of crap signals that can migrate into devices and raise caine...

Uh.. Lets say your CPU is a 2 gzh like most of the new onces. Place an operating computer in an environment saturated with 800-900 mhz and 1800-1900 mhz with a radiated power of several watts... The wires and cables and even circuitry inside the computer become and antenna.. Throw into the mess your 28 milliwatt wireless transceiver operating at 2.4 ghz...

Data will get jammed as well as signals and stuff will start working wierd...

As for the noisy inverter... I stand by that after years of experience with line noise and
inverter systems. Also setting up 2-way radio gear on towers with high power tv and FM transmitting antennas nearby.

RF is a Fickle and problematic foe.... It is not fun going up a 1,525 foot tower in the dead of night to install line filters and get RF burns trying to plug in a power supply for a repeater.

I won't ever do that again, Not even 50 feet.

Stuff happens for a reason.

[DavidInWilmNC]

Like I said earlier, I had the same thing happen (the Ad-aware thing) on two computers.  Our PC's are not near cell towers and are not on any funky power.  In fact, one is here at home and one is at work.  I think the Ad-aware issue is unrelated to the other problems.  I downloaded the latest definitions from lavasoft.com, and my Ad-aware time issue was no longer an issue - it still has the correct definitions date.

David

[lyndon]

Dallas, are your computers identical to each other? I think that there might be a small chance that two identical computers would behave the same way as a result of outside noise, whether it's RF, line harmonics, or whatever. But for two different computers, at the same time? This seems impossible. (Aluminum hats, anyone?)

If the computers are different, consider booting one from clean media such as a recovery disk, after a hard shutdown. Then run a virus scan. If you have confirmed a timing issue, the common element might be something nasty and stealthy, preloaded from the boot sector before anything else has a chance to find it.

Don