Is this the result of a virus?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Antonio
  • Start date Start date
A

Antonio

I installed XP home edition on client's computer. All
worked fine until another used it to print 200 pages off
internet. It crashed with 6 pages left with message error
in paging file system. He said it kept rebooting but when
hitting start windows normally nothing happened except
the same thing. He had (2) hard drives, (2) 256 memory,
DVD player, CD-Rom(Writer), Printer, Scanner, Router,
LAN, One monitor, and floppy. I took machine and cleared
BIOS, disconnected all peripherals, and got it to boot
into CMOS. Set it up to use minimal resources and try to
boot but get error code 7 setupdd can't be found. I start
removing all extra components and use basics. Same thing.
I reformatted his drive without XP OS and get error that
IDE is wrong. No boot records are found when booting from
CD. No boot records found booting to HDD. Tried reloading
XP and it copies files but when rebooting get error code
7 and setupdd can't be found. If I try to install from CD
he has, I get error that winnt.exe can't be found. I try
to boot from CD and message says no boot record found on
CD. I installed it before from this CD for him without
problems, now I get these errors. I reformatted two
partitions on his HD that were labelled C & D and had
installed XP on his I & J drived HD. (I) being the one
with XP on it. He had ME on C but we reformatted it now
to avoid conflicts with drivers, etc. so it's now blank.
After clearing all passwords, CMOS, BIOS, etc., why can't
I get computer to enter WINDOWS? Also, he said he had
been unable to access SAFE MODE when it was functioning.
I can't get it to enter SAFE MODE now either. I had all
driver updates when I left it with him. I tried using
minimal hardware and tested each. It's all good. What do
you suppose is wrong?
 
-----Original Message-----
I installed XP home edition on client's computer. All
worked fine until another used it to print 200 pages off
internet. It crashed with 6 pages left with message error
in paging file system. He said it kept rebooting but when
hitting start windows normally nothing happened except
the same thing. He had (2) hard drives, (2) 256 memory,
DVD player, CD-Rom(Writer), Printer, Scanner, Router,
LAN, One monitor, and floppy. I took machine and cleared
BIOS, disconnected all peripherals, and got it to boot
into CMOS. Set it up to use minimal resources and try to
boot but get error code 7 setupdd can't be found. I start
removing all extra components and use basics. Same thing.
I reformatted his drive without XP OS and get error that
IDE is wrong. No boot records are found when booting from
CD. No boot records found booting to HDD. Tried reloading
XP and it copies files but when rebooting get error code
7 and setupdd can't be found. If I try to install from CD
he has, I get error that winnt.exe can't be found. I try
to boot from CD and message says no boot record found on
CD. I installed it before from this CD for him without
problems, now I get these errors. I reformatted two
partitions on his HD that were labelled C & D and had
installed XP on his I & J drived HD. (I) being the one
with XP on it. He had ME on C but we reformatted it now
to avoid conflicts with drivers, etc. so it's now blank.
After clearing all passwords, CMOS, BIOS, etc., why can't
I get computer to enter WINDOWS? Also, he said he had
been unable to access SAFE MODE when it was functioning.
I can't get it to enter SAFE MODE now either. I had all
driver updates when I left it with him. I tried using
minimal hardware and tested each. It's all good. What do
you suppose is wrong?
.
Click to expand...


Have you tried deleting the Master Boot Records? This can
be done by deleting the partitions on the hard drive(s)
then re-creating them. if there is a Master Boot Record
virus, this would be the only way to remove it.

If it's not the MBR, I would think the only other problem
would be hardware related. Start swapping out hardware
until it works. I's start with hard drive and Ram.

Hope this helps!

Gary Thorn
MVP-Windows Technologies/Xbox
Associate Expert

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights

More about the Windows XP Expert Zone:


More about the MS MVP Program:
http://tinyurl.com/n08
 
Antonio said:
What do you suppose is wrong?
Click to expand...

its broke. try rewriting the mbr and repartioning the hard drive, if that
doesn't work then either the hd itself or the ide controller is probably
fried.
 
OK, I'll try. I was confused about the MBR however. I
thought it sounded like a driver conflict or perhaps a
hardware problem. But, after reformatting and removing
the 2nd drive, DVD, 1/2 memory and testing it to find it
was good, I focused on controllers for USB. I'm curious
to know if the inability to continue the installation
process as before(meaning the boot record from CD being
read) relates to a prior MBR? If I reformatted the HDD,
shouldn't the computer boot from the installation CD?
Since it doesn't, is the computer being told by a command
not to? What's stopping it from doing what it has just
done yesterday? A virus? How do you suggest I write the
MBR? Thanks.
 
if it won't boot from the cd it can't be a virus unless it changed your bios
settings. but i think you said it gave an error on trying to read the cd,
since most cd's these days are run off the ide controller on the mother
board its probably that which is fried.... time for taking it back to the
manufacturer for repair i think.
 
Hmmm...Well David,that's mostly what I said. The thing
is, I'm working from what was relayed to me. What I was
actually told was that there had been several instances
which I tried to condense in my first attempt to describe
the problem. He said that after it crashed he read the
BSOD and noticed it referred to the page file system
having a mistake. He cleared the CMOS and reset the BIOS
during his attempts to boot up. I know he changed many of
the MOBOs BIOS settings trying to boot to various HDs,
CDs, Floppy, etc. When I got it there was nothing but a
check signal cable message. I cleared CMOS, and went into
barebones trouble shooting mode. That's where what I
originally relayed was picked up in my description of the
problem. So, the BIOS settings were changed by him and
that's why I suggested the virus perhaps, but either way,
they did get changed. It has allowed me(the MOBO i.e.) to
enter the CMOS/BIOS phase prior to booting. And, it then
follows the error code 7...refusal to allow installation/
scannow of files beyond that point. The board does seem
to work otherwise. I don't know, maybe it's bad. From
this added description do you still think so?
 
Will do. I'll be reaching his location towards the end of
the day and will report back to you with my findings
later. Thank alot. Appreciate your input.
 
Just getting back to you with some findings. I expected
the worst seeing that you thought the mobo was fried.
Cleared the CMOS, removed a HD, reinstalled memory, went
with the CD_ROM only and it fired up. But, it kept
restoring the same BIOS as I'd change it. No passwords
were in use I was told. Used a madboot disk to clear it
and couldn't. I couldn't access it even after clearing
passwords. Weird. Tried booting to CD and it wouldn't
install. Used bootdisk and it wouldn't either. I wiped
and reformatted drive. That worked...for a while. I was
able to get through setup, reboot, and start
installation. During install, it decided to hang. I
noticed it was on windows will complete installation in
35 minutes... for about 35 minutes. Rebooted and it gave
the BSOD. Went through files and stopped again. Booted
from CD and it started setup again only to stop at
setupdd again with an error code 7. Removed the setup
files again ..no access. Wiped and reformatted HD. Again
booted to CD and made it to same error. Swapped HDs. no
luck. Seems to be a device conflict/ driver problem.
Windows won't load drivers to maintain functioning of CD
for entire install. Controllers? If I can't copy setup
files how do I update drivers that cause this problem?
Once setup starts, I can't delete the boot record without
wiping and reformatting. That's strange. I've got some
disks I made to try when I get back over there.
Hopefully, setup with bare bones will continue long
enough to complete the install. I did get a virus warning
from the madboot disk during a reformat. But, I wiped the
drive and reformatted??? I've got some strange log files
as well that I found in Command.exe. Still think it's a
hardware problem? I'm baffled by it all.
 
Hi! I wanted to get back to you and let you know what
happened. First, I want to thank you David. You were
right when you said try to install XP with the bare
minimum of components and add from there. I did and it
worked. When I added the second stick of memory it
crashed and gave the same symptoms. On rebooting the
cause listed on the screen's error warning attributed the
crash to a faulty, out of date, or corrupted video
driver, unless there had been a power failure. I removed
the faulty memory stick and added the rest of his
hardware without incident. By the time I downloaded all
the updates for his system I never did have the time to
run the diagnostic tests. Curiously, the first tool that
I was set up to run was a memory test. I'll run the
diagnostics next time just for my own peace of mind.
Anywhoo, thought I'd pass this along for future
reference. The timing of the virus and the symptoms being
the same had me going there. Again, thanks for your
input.I really appreciate it.
 
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