HP says I have to reinstall XP and lose data - options?

[Greta Grip]

Hi,

I have an HP Pavilion dv4000 notebook purchased August 2005 running MS XP
Home Edition SP2. About 10 days ago it started to hang periodically. It
would periodically not recognize the printer - you would have to plug and
unplug the printer from the notebook, likewise with an external hard drive
and other external devices. Then it started having problems recognizing
the high speed DSL connection. And you couldn't shut it down - you'd have
to hold the power button down for 7 seconds to shut it down. Sometimes
wouldn't reboot fully. All of this periodically.

BTW, I run Norton Internet Security 2005 Antispyware Edition software and
update virus def's daily. 5 days ago I did a complete scan using Norton and
it found nothing. Two days ago I used Scan Disk and it found nothing, and
then defragged the hard drive - uneventful.

HP support walked me through using the XP OS CD to attempt to repair the OS.
It wouldn't work - it would never finish installing necessary files and
instead would reboot from the CD. This it would do over and over.
Contacted HP again. Suggested reinstall OS, I said can't I try to restore
first? Tried using F8 on reboot to attempt restore to last known good
config at HP's advice, wouldn't work. Kept the loop of trying to boot from
CD drive (even though there was no CD in the drive). Wouldn't start in safe
mode. They recommended reinstalling OS. Tried HP phone support who said
use F10 on boot up to enter Sys Bios. From there Tried Hard Drive self
test. It passed. But still wouldn't boot up afterwards. It would show an
error message too briefly to read, something like "Security Accounts Manager
systems failed...is write protected...error status...0000189." This it
showed about 4 times maybe? Then an even briefer error message showed, with
the title bar of the window: "Isass.exe", and the text: ...error
status..." Insufficient system... (I think I read this right...)

HP says this is a virus. Says I should reinstall XP, and though it's under
warranty, I should find a local expert to try to save my data if I can't
live without it before installing XP...

My Questions:
Aren't there any other things to try before reinstalling the OS? HP
mentioned re-setting or re-seating the RAM, and also possibly the hard
drive. How does one do this?
I'm finding it hard to believe I have a virus. If so, is there a risk of
reinfecting after re-install? I do have some data backed up on an external
hard drive, not all of it, and perhaps it's infected??? And there's no
proof it will really work until I try it - most importantly I'm talking
about my MS Outlook .pst and related files!!!

Thanks!!
Carmen

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I have an HP Pavilion dv4000 notebook purchased August 2005 running MS XP
Home Edition SP2. About 10 days ago it started to hang periodically. It
would periodically not recognize the printer - you would have to plug and
unplug the printer from the notebook, likewise with an external hard drive
and other external devices. Then it started having problems recognizing
the high speed DSL connection. And you couldn't shut it down - you'd have
to hold the power button down for 7 seconds to shut it down. Sometimes
wouldn't reboot fully. All of this periodically.

BTW, I run Norton Internet Security 2005 Antispyware Edition software and
update virus def's daily. 5 days ago I did a complete scan using Norton and
it found nothing. Two days ago I used Scan Disk and it found nothing, and
then defragged the hard drive - uneventful.

HP support walked me through using the XP OS CD to attempt to repair the OS.
It wouldn't work - it would never finish installing necessary files and
instead would reboot from the CD. This it would do over and over.
Contacted HP again. Suggested reinstall OS, I said can't I try to restore
first? Tried using F8 on reboot to attempt restore to last known good
config at HP's advice, wouldn't work. Kept the loop of trying to boot from
CD drive (even though there was no CD in the drive). Wouldn't start in safe
mode. They recommended reinstalling OS. Tried HP phone support who said
use F10 on boot up to enter Sys Bios. From there Tried Hard Drive self
test. It passed. But still wouldn't boot up afterwards. It would show an
error message too briefly to read, something like "Security Accounts Manager
systems failed...is write protected...error status...0000189." This it
showed about 4 times maybe? Then an even briefer error message showed, with
the title bar of the window: "Isass.exe", and the text: ...error
status..." Insufficient system... (I think I read this right...)

HP says this is a virus. Says I should reinstall XP, and though it's under
warranty, I should find a local expert to try to save my data if I can't
live without it before installing XP...

My Questions:
Aren't there any other things to try before reinstalling the OS? HP
mentioned re-setting or re-seating the RAM, and also possibly the hard
drive. How does one do this?
I'm finding it hard to believe I have a virus. If so, is there a risk of
reinfecting after re-install? I do have some data backed up on an external
hard drive, not all of it, and perhaps it's infected??? And there's no
proof it will really work until I try it - most importantly I'm talking
about my MS Outlook .pst and related files!!!

Thanks!!
Carmen

Hi Carmen,
You looks like have a nasty one on your Laptop, If you could Go online in
Normal Mode try to Do scan online fron these two links:
For Anti-Virus go here:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.htm
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/trojswizzoraw.html
If you can't go online from your Laptop download the tool from here on the
Computer which you Posting your Message from on Floppy (2) or a CD:
http://www.nasstec.co.uk/tools.html
http://www.avast.com/eng/vps_history.html for Worm and Malware removal
Scan and Clean your Laptop then try to Backup all your Data on a Storage
Disk (DVD, CD, ZIP Disk, USB Drive) and Do clean Install.
If you don't know any of the Above my advice to you, you still in Warranty
with HP read the Contract and contact them to solve the problem in their
Shop ( The one you bought the laptop from) but with anice way not it's your
problem take it!.
If no Joy with HP take to Local Repair near from you and be sure they are
honest if you have sensitive Data on your Laptop.
Hope this helps.
Please send your Findings
Good Luck
nass

P.S If you will do the steps of cleaning be sure that the Printer or the
External Drive are unpluged from the Laptop and Clean the External Drive
after Cleaning the Laptop first and Don't use an Old Floppy being used on
this Laptop as they may infected or have the virus, you just need the
Internet connection and the mouse, Keyboard and nothing else in this case.

 

[DL]

To test the hd you would have to determin the hd manu, visit their web site,
download and create the floppy test utility, then boot the pc with the
floppy in.
Often memory is accessible via a screwed down flap in the underside of the
case, reseating is merely removing memory and refitting.
If your data is critical and you dont have a backup, unless you have the
expertise you would need to take the laptop to a shop where they could image
your hd to other media

 

[John Wunderlich]

My Questions:
Aren't there any other things to try before reinstalling the OS?
HP mentioned re-setting or re-seating the RAM, and also possibly
the hard drive. How does one do this?
I'm finding it hard to believe I have a virus. If so, is there a
risk of reinfecting after re-install? I do have some data backed
up on an external hard drive, not all of it, and perhaps it's
infected??? And there's no proof it will really work until I try
it - most importantly I'm talking about my MS Outlook .pst and
related files!!!

It sounds as if your system is screwed up enough that a reinstall of
Windows will be the only thing to fix it no matter what the cause.

What I have done before in situations like this is to download and burn
a Knoppix CD which you can use to boot-up your computer laptop (into
Linux) after which you will have access to your hard drive and will be
able to back up your files over the network or on a USB drive before
reinstalling Windows. The (free) Knoppix CD file is available at:

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Another free Boot disk you might look at is BartPE. It will boot into
a very stripped-down version of Windows but is a harder to create.

<http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/>

HTH,
John