Virus question...

[Mike]

I am trying to figure out why a computer won't boot to XP.
After the POST messages, I just get a blank screen.
After booting with a bootable NTFS cd, I see that the Windows directory is
empty!
Is there any type of virus that would/could have wiped out the contents of
the windows directory?

 

[Malke]

I am trying to figure out why a computer won't boot to XP.
After the POST messages, I just get a blank screen.
After booting with a bootable NTFS cd, I see that the Windows directory is
empty!
Is there any type of virus that would/could have wiped out the contents of
the windows directory?

Yes, but failing hardware could also cause this. There is no way for us
to know what caused your problem. If any data was left, back it up using
a Bart's PE or Knoppix. Scan it with a current version antivirus before
putting it on any clean machine. Then test your hardware and if good,
clean install Windows.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand


Malke

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I am trying to figure out why a computer won't boot to XP.
After the POST messages, I just get a blank screen.
After booting with a bootable NTFS cd, I see that the Windows
directory is empty!
Is there any type of virus that would/could have wiped out the
contents of the windows directory?

First - are there any other directories that could be the Windows system
directory?
What does the BOOT.INI in the root of the system partition say it should be?

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

<- that is something like what you would be looking for.

As for 'is there a virus that would/could have wiped the contents of the
windows directory'... I cannot say I know of one offhand - but I don't see
too much trouble in creating one that would do so upon a reboot of the
system. However - it is highly unlikely that is what happened.

 

[Mike]

First - are there any other directories that could be the Windows system
directory?
What does the BOOT.INI in the root of the system partition say it should
be?

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

<- that is something like what you would be looking for.

As for 'is there a virus that would/could have wiped the contents of the
windows directory'... I cannot say I know of one offhand - but I don't
see too much trouble in creating one that would do so upon a reboot of the
system. However - it is highly unlikely that is what happened.

boot.ini points to Windows