please help me!!!?

Question

some time ago on my pc i was doing a scan for viruses on AVG software. It discovered one and i sent it to the vault. My pc then reset itself and now whenver i turn it on it doesnt get to windows and keeps re setting itself. Any ideas????

thanks

Answer 1

two things -
#1 the virus managed to get into the memory,
#2 your MBR (the virus has corrupted your master boot record)
that's why windows won't boot up anymore.

does it get past the POST stage?(power on self test).
or does it even get to the windows boot screen?

i'm afraid the only thing to do is re-format your hard drive and re-install windows.do not try to repair windows,because the problem will start all over again,you have to go the dos level outside windows...which means having to re-format your HD.but you will lose all your files in the process

get a win98 or winME boot diskette.
(much faster than using the spanned dikettes of XP)

if you have some really important files,try recovering them by connecting your drive to another system as slave,in a master-slave configuration.

set the jumpers pins of your hd to "slave".they are at the rear end.there are instructions on how to do this on the stickers on your hd.
on the target(master drive),create a temporary folder for your files.separate from the other folders.
connect your hd to th master drive with an os(windows)installed,and with antivirus INSTALLED set to REAL TIME SCANNING.

after the transfer.do a thorough scan of the folder.

put your hd back to your system.
boot from the floppy.

from the a: prompt,type fdisk
follow the instructions on screen to delete all acitve partitions.

reboot your pc,still from the floppy.

fire up fdisk again.

this time type fdsik /mbr
to repair your mbr.

then do a "create active partition".follow the instructions on our screen.

then do a full format of your drive.

a:format c:

this will give you a FAT32 system.you can convert to NTFS during the windows setup in the "format target drive" option.

right after the windows re-installation,disconnect your internet connection.(you will need your connection for your windows authentication and activation process)

then install the antivirus program before installing any other program.

do the master-slave thing again to save your files back to you your hd.

two ways:

quicker and better -
from the master os - it will detect your os on the slave drive.choose the master from the boot prompt.then use windows explorer to transfer the files.

or -
boot the master drive with the boot diskette.use the copy command from dos.(just remember that dos cannot handle file names longer than 8 characters)

if the fdisk and format commands in dos don't do it,then you have one of those very stubborn and hard to kill mbr viruses.
the only option left is to "zero-fill" (low-level format) your drive.go to the manufacturer's website and download the utility.
example - like western digital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostics

or you can try OnTRACK's generic program,works with compatible disks.check very carefully that your hd is compatible.

just remember - do not use a zero-fill utility other than your hd brand.different instruction sets may ruin it,leaving you with a dead disk on your hands.

but to really diagnose the problem,i have to know at which part the pc resets itself.from the bios loading?...windows booting?...
or "machine-control-transfer" process from bios to windows?

more details will really help.


hope that helped.cheers and good luck.

Answer 2

If you got the virus out, then can't restore to a time before you had it and you have system restore, disable it and get rid of everything in it. System Restore will store parts of viruses and then when you try to boot up it will put them back in. I have ran into this on numerous occasions. Just running repair and not flushing out system restore will maybe work for a day before you are back to the same thing. All repair does is overwrite the Windows files. If all else fails, then as suggested above, you may have to format the drive, but if you are running a Raid 0 system be sure that you don't take out the restore partition.

Ron

Answer 3

you shouldnt take any chances when dealing with a virus infection
you need to find your product recovery disk,this is the disk that came with your p.c when you bought it and will recover your p.c from virus attacks and any other accidents,it will come on a silver disk and in a white sleeve normally,if you cant find it you may use a normal genuine windows xp disk
however some p.c,s have a built in recovery feature,you normally press f10 or f11 and the p.c will go to a screen propmpt were you geta option to recover without loss of data,or to recover loosing data
the idea of a system recovery is to return the p.c to its factory default state,the way it was when you took it out the box
in simple terms this is the only way to deal with this situation,the idea of the windows xp installation is to format the drive and completely erase the virus and any of the files it has infected
the good thing about a xp installation is you dont need to get to the desktop to install xp,you just boot from cd,and windows xp does the rest,so place the disk in the dvd-rw drive and follow the on-screen prompts
a.v.g anti-virus allthough not bad is not a good enough anti-virus for a home p.c,for a excellent free anti-virus try avast(http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html),this is more stable and uses much less memory
good luck

Answer 4

format everything! The fact that you sent the virus to the vault was a good thing. My guess is that the virus had had time to spread before it got to the vault. Format your hard drive via the install Cd of your OS (Windows XP or whatever) and you'll have a clean system.

Right after you format, DO NOT CONNECT TO INTERNET before installing your antivirus again and do a virus check before connecting. Good luck!

Answer 5

The corrupted file may have been a crucial system file.
I would insert the Windows installation CD .... boot with it & choose "repair windows" when the option to install or repair comes up.

This may well replace the corrupted file(s).

regards,
Philip T

Answer 6

if you have windows cd, put it in cd drive and restart the computer. It should ask to press any key to boot from cd, press any key and it will boot from the windows cd. After that run a repair installation as told in the link below
http://mypchelp.blogspot.com/2006/10/windows-reinstallation.html

Answer 7

press F8, then choose restore last time windows worked or something like that. If that helps, let me know, if it doesn't i tell what else you can do.

Yeah, by the way, do not connect to the net, unplug the cable when you restart.

Answer 8

put the hard drive in a friends computer and scan the drive to clear viruses from it

Answer 9

Hi,
A good tool I used to clean up and speed up my PC is CCleaner. You can download it for free here http://j.mp/UrAK6Z
It works like a charm.
Cheers.

Answer 10

ok for a start do not connect to the internet, you should re format your computer, you should have a restoration dsik that came with your computer this will wipe your computer and take it back to the day you bought it.