Can a computer virus damage hardware?

Question

I know that viruses can mess with installed software, but can they cause system hardware to fail? How can this be? I want the truth.

(I can handle the truth.)

Answer 1

Generally not. They can 'disable' hardware, but a simple re-installation of Windows (or whatever OS you are running) would cure that if your AV software can't fix it.

Your processors and BIOS have built-in (hard-coded) protection against programs that try to run damaging commands to them.

I suppose a virus could be written that would somehow cause your graphics card or sound card to get into a cyclic event that would overheat the chips, but I seriously doubt it would work.

If you are experiencing a hardware failure, most likely the device (or driver for the device) is malfunctioning (virus or not). My suggestion would be to uninstall the driver then reinstall it.

Also make sure you AV software is up to date...

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

Computer Virus Damage

Answer 4

Depending on the exact issue at hand, a thorough Google search may be be your best bet at resolving for yourself whatever is causing dysfunction. Nonetheless, as a computer technician who runs his own business troubleshooting, repairing, rebuilding, and optimizing computers... I can probably guide you in the right direction. However, without having your PC directly at my fingertips, I can only make general suggestions. In this case, I would surely check out the highly esteemed world-class Reimage software from https://reimagefix.im ..

When people come into our shop and drop off their PC for repair, the first thing we do is run an initial diagnostic. For this function, I use Reimage exclusively. In many cases, I am able to diagnose very quickly what is making their computer run slow, or is giving them the crashes/freezes/errors/grief that brought them to me in the first place. After the diagnostic, in a majority of cases, Reimage is able to remedy All problems and replace any corrupted Windows files. I then proceed to charge a handsome fee for my services that took me all but 30-60 minutes to complete. Obviously sometimes I must work more, but often this is all it takes. It is a very powerful tool that would likely put me and others in my industry out of business if more people knew of it. So don't tell anyone lol, and Good Luck with your PC.

Answer 5

There was a virus called Chernobyl that actually erased the BIOS of the computer. Other devices in your PC have some kind of firmware such as WiFi adapters, Ethernet adapters, optical drives, dial up modems, etc. Viruses could be made that erase or corrupt the firmware of these devices.

Answer 6

Viruses can and have turned hard drives into seemingly useless bricks. But the only thing they can damage is the data stored there. A virus that overwrites the drive’s boot sector renders it inoperable. But a corrupted boot sector is fixable; only the data written to that sector has been damaged, not the magnetic media that stores the data.

Answer 7

Read Bill M's. I dealt with Chernobyl and watched it wipe out 14 computers. 2 were not able to come back to life and I had to throw them away. There are viruses out there that will wipe out a master boot record and render a hard drive unusable.
In my case, both motherboards were destroyed. I have also seen viruses not get wiped out from memory even after reformatting computers.
I personally never want to live through a Chernobyl again.

Answer 8

Yes.... Yes..... Yes...... A fake Microsoft update screwed up my computer about a year ago..... Next I was allowed to use a friends computer, because of my painting and stuff, and after publishing one night.... the next morning the computer, would not start up again.... No Bios, monitor no signal. looking inside and replacement of power to no avail.... hooking up a new hard disc also nothing ....
The Virus scan I ran before the I shut down didn't find anything.... how come my system seems dead ? ..... I dread examining the hard disc with another system... just in case.... I prefer not to screw up any more computers, and when I can't find it and my expert friends can't find it, I don't know what I'm up against..... but I guess a computer virus can just about destroy anything to do with the software and hardware....
There's enough at stake here..... A reliable virus looking like a gadget can give you the edge on the competition, even when it costs us our escape route to the stars, if there is any.... Industry doesn't grasp at future yet, only more economics, as if we can eat paper money when all the plants have died.

Answer 9

Directly - NO
But indirectly yes, such as repetitively carrying out same task over and over again, may cause some parts such as hard disk some amount of corruption, and if it continues undetected may cause some sort of harm

Answer 10

See -- https://reimagefix.im