Hope someone here can help me, as I don't know what to do, short of taking my computer to a shop to be fixed. Here's the situation -- I have been having computer problems, "blue screens" that are happening more and more. I don't know if there is a connection, but suddenly, when I click on the Norton icon, no screen comes up. Plus, now the Norton toolbar isn't coming up on my browser. What can I do??? I hope there's an answer (that won't cost a lot of money -- as in taking my computer to a shop).
Hi scotjudy333,
First of all stay away from the shop! 
we'll do our best to help you - for free!
We do need some information for starters: such as your operating system and SP#, which Norton product are you using and which version (Main page Support > About to find that info), Since you mention the Norton Toolbar - which browser are you using and which version is it? (can normally be found under Help > About). Also can you give us an idea of what you are doing when the blue screens occur - general surfing, watching video, checking/ reading sending email, playing games or whaever.
We'll be waiting for the addtional info.
Thank you for responding to my post! I will try to give you whatever information you need. First of all, my laptop is a Dell Inspiron17R. It uses Windows 7/64-bit. The browser I have been using with the Norton Toolbar is Mozilla Firefox version 17.0.1. What is "SP#"?
As for the blue screens, I do nothing, but just let it "dump"? the memory or something, then the computer reboots. Then I try to go on as normal. Unfortunately, my computer went blue screen 4 times within a couple of hours today. Very frustrating!
Is there any other info you need? If so, please be sure to explain what it is (my computer knowledge is somewhat limited 
).
Thanks for the fedback,
I'll be using the following to try to help you navigate to where the information is: Start (the Windows Icon in the lower left corner of the monitor) > left click on the following.
Left click Start > Control Panel > System > Windows edition > there should be a Service Pack 1 listed.
You really have to be doing something before the blue screen occurs - as I asked, are you just surfing the internet, checking email, using a specific program or playing a game....or is it just sitting there idle and it blue screens?
Left click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features > scroll down to Norton Internet Security > on the right hand side of that line tell us what the version number is.
Please let us know.
You said:
I'll be using the following to try to help you navigate to where the information is. Start > left click on the following:
Left click Start > Control Panel > System > Windows edition > there should be a Service Pack 1 listed.
Me:
Once I clicked on Start > Control Panel, I saw System and Security. I didn't see anything about "Windows edition" there. What am I supposed to be looking for? (Told you my computer knowledge is limited . . . . ).
The version # for my Norton Internet Security 2013 is # 19.9.0.9.
Blue screens -- I don't think I am doing anything in particular when my computer goes blue screen, but a number of times it happens when I am on iTunes listening to podcasts I subscribe to.
What other info do you need to know that would help?
scotjudy333 wrote:You said:
I'll be using the following to try to help you navigate to where the information is. Start > left click on the following:
Left click Start > Control Panel > System > Windows edition > there should be a Service Pack 1 listed.
Me:
Once I clicked on Start > Control Panel, I saw System and Security. I didn't see anything about "Windows edition" there. What am I supposed to be looking for? (Told you my computer knowledge is limited . . . . ).
No problem - I thnk I have enough info to help you without that bit of info.
The version # for my Norton Internet Security 2013 is # 19.9.0.9.
Actually from the version number you provded, we now know your NIS is not totally upgraded. You are in fact sitll on NIS 2012 and chances are your program has not been upgraded to run Firefox 17.0.1.
Blue screens -- I don't think I am doing anything in particular when my computer goes blue screen, but a number of times it happens when I am on iTunes listening to podcasts I subscribe to.
This may well be another problem - totally unassociated with NIS - but let's try to get your NIS upgraded and working properly and see what happens with the blue screens
What other info do you need to know that would help?
Please follow the instructions in the following link:
When complete, run LiveUpdate (rebooting as requested) until such time that it responds "no updates found".
Let us now how this goes.
First of all, there are a couple of things that I neglected to mention before that I think could be significant in diagnosing this problem. One, when my computer re-boots, most of the time it goes to CHKDSK. And regarding the blue screens, there have been mainly at least two different ones. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the exact wording of them, but I will do my best to give you what they are. The first blue screen I remember says something like "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_EQUAL". The other one has been happening a lot lately -- "KERNEL" & "DATA" are among the words. The next time this blue screen happens, I will try to write all the words down and put this in a post here as soon as I can. There is one other thing that has happened, but I am afraid to mention it here -- lets just say that it involves torrents.
Norton Internet Security 2013 -- my account hasn't been upgraded?!? I got an email from Norton dated Wednesday 28 November 2012 whose subject line said "Your Norton Internet Security subscription has been renewed -- renewal price enclosed". Would it help to post this email here, or is there somewhere I can forward it to so you can see it? Oh, and I remember checking on the window that comes up when I click on the desktop thing that has the green stripe on top with "Secure" on it, at the bottom of the window that says something about Subscription Status soon after that email, and it said I had 36(0+) days left on my subscription. Are you sure your information says that our renewal hasn't gone through?
One I post this, I will follow the instructions you put at the bottom of your last post.
I used the link and followed the instructions there. As a result, one of two things has been happening -- one, my computer freezes up and I have to re-boot; or two, after I click on "Run" and then the window that gives permission to make changes, I get an "error message" that says:
Norton Remove & Reinstall
Could not gather details about the installed layout or license. Click here for information on how to uninstall and reinstall your Norton Product manually.
The "here" link sends me to the same instructions your link sent me to. What do I do now??
Haven't heard anything from you since just after midnight last night -- is something wrong?? Have I said something wrong?? What's going on??
I should mention that my husband uses my 2013 Norton Internet Security on his laptop and it is behaving normally. So, I think the problem on my laptop must be connected with the blue screen problem. So, is my situation hopeless?? Soumds like I will have to take my laptop to the shop, after all.
scotjudy333 wrote:Haven't heard anything from you since just after midnight last night -- is something wrong?? Have I said something wrong?? What's going on??
I should mention that my husband uses my 2013 Norton Internet Security on his laptop and it is behaving normally. So, I think the problem on my laptop must be connected with the blue screen problem. So, is my situation hopeless?? Soumds like I will have to take my laptop to the shop, after all.
Hiscotjusy333,
First of all you have not said anything wrong, nor done anything wrong. I was out of town most of yesterday and was taking care of "real-life" things the rest of the day. Please remember if our user names are not in RED we are volunteers and we help as time permits.
That said - it would have been nice to know all of the circumstances surrounding this situation when you first posted asking for assistance.
For starters, going on what info you provided now, please go to the following link and try what Umesh P suggests in their reply part way down the page.
If you use System Restore, you will need to turn off Tamper Protection in NIS. From main Page of NIS > Settings > General > Product Security > Norton Tamper Portection > Off > Apply > OK.
The System Restore will mess up your NIS install anyway, so if it throws errors - it is to be expected.
Try the above and let us know where you are at in regards to the BSOD's.
Hi scotjudy333
It would really help if you could give a little more information from the BSOD. It will usually mention a file name that will help identify what the error is.
You can stop the computer from automatically restarting after the BSOD so you will have time to take notes or a picture.
Click on the Start button, control panel, system and security, system. Then on the left, click on Advances system settings, then click on the Advanced tab. Under Startup and Recovery, click on Settings. Then Uncheck Automatically restart under System Failure. Next time you get a BSOD you will be able to record the file names for us. You then use the power button on your computer to shut down then restart.
In the mean time, have you ever had another security program installed on your computer? If so you will have to fully remove that as it can be conflicting with Norton and causing the problems you are seeing.
As Yank noted, this may not be a Norton problem but a Windows problem.
You can check your system files to see if there is something amiss there.
Click on Start and type cmd in the search box. Right click on the cmd.exe and click run as administrator. Type 'sfc /scannow' without the quotes and enter. Let us know if any errors are found.
After we hear back with this information, we can dig a little deeper.
First of all, what is BSOD??? In an earlier post, I pointed out that my computer knowledge is limited, and you seem to assume that I know what is going on more than I actually do. So, you are going to have to explain this more in simple terms, please?
Second, is what you are suggesting going to take my computer back to the beginning, so to speak?? I don't like that idea, as I have some software that I paid for, and so I would lose that. Uh Uh.
Please try to understand the position I am in when you respond with suggestions, okay? Oh, and one other thing -- I do not have access to my Norton Internet Security on my computer AT ALL.
scotjudy333 wrote:First of all, what is BSOD??? In an earlier post, I pointed out that my computer knowledge is limited, and you seem to assume that I know what is going on more than I actually do. So, you are going to have to explain this more in simple terms, please?
Second, is what you are suggesting going to take my computer back to the beginning, so to speak?? I don't like that idea, as I have some software that I paid for, and so I would lose that. Uh Uh.
Please try to understand the position I am in when you respond with suggestions, okay? Oh, and one other thing -- I do not have access to my Norton Internet Security on my computer AT ALL.
Sorry for getting ahead of you.
BSOD is the Blue Screen of Death that you referred to when the system crashes. On that screen there is information about the reason for the crash. That information will help us figure out what problem you are having. If you are able to follow my instructions above, you will be able to read the messages.
None of the instructions I gave will remove any software you have paid for. The sfc check looks at the system files for Windows to see if anything is missing or corrupted. It will try to replace any files that are not correct.
Before I try what you suggested in your first post, let me see what I can tell you about the BSOD's I have been experiencing. There are 2 main ones. One says something like KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR (this one happed at least a couple of times today/Wednesday and I put this one down as best I could remember) and the other says something like DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_EQUAL (I wrote this down as best I could remember). I have also had a couple of times that didn't say anything like these two I just described other than to say that there was an error that caused the need to shut down. Hope this all makes sense to you.
Does this help you?
Oh, I have noticed when the BSOD happens that it says something at the bottom of the blue screen about memory being dumped. Will unchecking the thing about the automatic restart cause any damage to computer memory and it being dumped? Doesn't sound technical, I know, but I hope this question makes some sense to you.
The memory dump is a file that is created when you get a BSOD. The files include a lot of technical information that an expert might be able to use to diagnose the reason for the crash.
That is beyond my knowledge.
The main thing we need is the name of the file that is blamed for the crash. This is noted on the blue screen.
How do I do this when I can't even access it? As I said in one of my initial posts, the Norton toolbar no long appears on the browser I use (Mozilla Firefox version 17.0.1), and nothing happens when I click on the Norton widget on Windows Sidebar. Is there any other way to access Identity Safe?
The instructions I gave above are not for your Norton product, but for Windows.
The first instructions are to get you ready for the next BSOD so we can get more information about what is causing your problem.
The second is for checking your windows system files.
Both sets of instructions start with you left clicking on the Start button at the bottom left corner of your computer screen. Then click on the other links or tabs noted in order. CMD.exe opens a command line window as shown below. Then you type in the instructions I gave and press the enter key.
The first set of instructions has been done -- the "Automatically Restart" block has been unchecked.
The second set of instructions is up to the scan, which is taking place now. It is up to 31% through. When the scan is done, I will post the results. Sure hope you are able to help me with the BSOD problem -- thank you so much!
scotjudy333 wrote:The first set of instructions has been done -- the "Automatically Restart" block has been unchecked.
The second set of instructions is up to the scan, which is taking place now. It is up to 31% through. When the scan is done, I will post the results. Sure hope you are able to help me with the BSOD problem -- thank you so much!
Good to hear.
I'm off to bed for tonite, but I'll leave you with a little "homework". A check of your hard drive. Even with no errors found with the sfc scan, there could still be physical issues with your hard drive. It is similar to the chkdsk checks being automatically run, but it is more thorough.
To check your hard disk, click on the Windows Start button. In the search box type CMD. Right click on cmd.exe and click on run as administrator. In the command prompt type "chkdsk c: /r" without the quotes. A message will come up asking if you want to check the disk on the next restart. Answer 'Y'. Reboot and the check disk will run before Windows starts up. This check will check the file system as well as the physical disk surface. This scan can take a long time, depending on the size of your hard drive.
I'll check in the morning for any errors from both your scans.