xp will not boot in any mode

[Gary L Greco]

It started about 3 weeks ago . I thought it was a virus, one day i had
trouble after installing the demo version of CU3 Adobe package of products
for testing out illustrator. My machine became slow and unresponsive ,so i
uninstalled it and many other programs as well. I tried to run a restore and
it kept givning me the error that it could not complete the task and needed
to restart.
I thought it was a virus and tried to acess mc afee online to run a scan and
it would not alow me. So i removed all files i could remember installing
before that date, Dec 12th.I ran another scan from another virus scanner and
found some small questionable files erased them and still no big improvement.

I still could not go into safe mode no matter how i tried, i then tried the
recovery console and used the FixMBR and FIX boot , seeing if i could restore
what appears to be a corupted mbr and now it won't boot into windows at all.
It just gets to the windows logo passing the f8 selection like it wasnt there
at all and restarts all over again.MAP shows all the correct partitions and
drives.

Any ideas on what i can do?
Saside from removing the drive and installing it into this pc and running a
virus scan to see if i can repair it?

Sounds like a virus or corrupt upgrade, or both. My luck both...

Gary L Greco

 

[Rich Barry]

Gary, you could try a procedure that I have found works if you have System
Restore points that go back before this started. Just connect the problem
drive up to your working
PC. Then
go Windows Explorer>Tools>Folder Options>View. Check " Show
hidden files and folders". Uncheck " Hide protected
Operating System files". Then go to X:\System Volume
Information\restore\RPfolder\Snapshot Folder. X=Your problem drive.
RPFolder will be numbered ie: RP1.

Copy the first five files after

the Repository Folder. Then go to X:\Windows\System32\Config Folder. When
Config folder is open create a new folder. Then

move SYSTEM, SOFTWARE, SAM, DEFAULT and SECURITY files that already exist
there to new folder. Now paste the five files you copied from

Snapshot Folder. Rename each file by removing REGISTRY_MACHINE_ from each
file. You should now have a recent working

Registry. Recent being keyword. If you used the five files in the Repair
Folder it will put you back to the registrys original state when first
installed.

Note: Usually you will see a few if not many RP folders. Choose the Fifth
most recent. So if your most recent RP Folder is

numbered RP20 then choose RP15 to select the registry files. Or in your
case go back before the problem occurred.

 

[Gary L Greco]

thaks Barry i did get up and running ,i had run a bootcfg/rebuild,
Still trying toget the virus off it.
Win32/Vundo is what the iobit security scanner found,my mcafee wont run at
all.
It just keeps reinstalling it, this is going to be...not....!

Thanks
Gary

 

[Daave]

Last week, I removed a Vundo infection from a friend's PC. I used
rkill.com and MBAM, using the directions here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-vundo-virtumonde

Note Step #8. Since Vundo deletes a core component of MBAM, you need to
download *two* files:

http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe

http://mbam.malwarebytes.org/program/random.php

Afterwards, I ran an online scan. Here are two choices:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

IMO, you should uninstall McAfee (it is overrated and taxes system
resources and costs money.. and apparently didn't catch your
infection!), being sure to use their removal tool:

http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507

and use the free version of Avira AntiVir in its place:

http://www.free-av.com/

Also, uninstall MBAM (the reason is included on the Bleeping Computer
page) and reinstall it:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Choose the free version. Keep it updated. Perform regular scans.

Also, keep your Windows XP patched. Just make sure to select the
critical security updates. You can configure Automatic Updates to inform
you whenever new updates are available. You can also regularly visit
this page:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/