System wrecked - where to go for help

[Misterfyer]

Following what I suspect to be a virus attack, I can no longer access my C
drive fully - Windows Explorer only sees My Documents. System Restore is
completely disabled, I get an error message from Internet Explorer every
minute or so. Most desktop icons were wiped. Attempt to return to last known
good config doesn't work. XP will not reload from CD. Where do I go for
help?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Following what I suspect to be a virus attack, I can no longer access my C
drive fully - Windows Explorer only sees My Documents. System Restore is
completely disabled, I get an error message from Internet Explorer every
minute or so. Most desktop icons were wiped. Attempt to return to last
known
good config doesn't work. XP will not reload from CD. Where do I go for
help?

If you tell your PC to use the CD drive as its primary boot device then it
WILL reload from your WinXP CD when booting from that CD. You must, of
course, allow the installation process to format your disk.

 

[Misterfyer]

Thanks, Pegasus. I think I already tried that and the PC just hung with a
black screen (+ a tiny winking dot - top left) But . . . I'll try again. If
you don't hear from me, my grave is plot number 722b Hendon Central.

 

[PaulM]

When you do a repair install or a clean install, unplug all printers, USB
hardware, except keyboard and mouse. Set to boot from CD drive and go.

--

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Following what I suspect to be a virus attack, I can no longer access my C
drive fully - Windows Explorer only sees My Documents. System Restore is
completely disabled, I get an error message from Internet Explorer every
minute or so. Most desktop icons were wiped. Attempt to return to last
known
good config doesn't work. XP will not reload from CD. Where do I go for
help?

Your first priority should be to consider the value of whatever data was on
the drive. If it's of no value, you can set the system to boot from CD,
and do a clean install, starting with removing the system partition,
creating and formatting a new one.

If the data is of value, consider getting a new hard disk - these are cheap.
Where I am, bare 500-gig drives are now in the $90 range. Remove your old
drive and set it aside, install the new one and install XP to it. When you
have the system working properly and A/V installed and updated, you can
attach the old drive and restore data from it.

If you are having difficulties booting from the CD, clear the CMOS (power
down, remove the battery, find the CMOS CLEAR jumper, reset it, put the
battery back in) and restart. You might want to force the issue by also
disconnecting the hard disk. XP setup will go partway, then halt when it
does not detect a hard disk. Then you can re-connect the drive, knowing
that the rest of the basic hardware is functioning. Do disconnect any
un-needed peripherals, including printers, modems, scanners, etc.


HTH
-pk