worm/virus crash, now cannot get to repair console-keyboard freezes

[Pamela G]

My DH was reading his comics on comic.com, when the website closed
unexpectedly and a Windows box came up with a message similar to "Your
connection was lost, Do you want to restore?" and a Yes and No box. sigh. He
clicked on "yes" and all the fun began. The computer started to reboot
itself, and couldn't finish the job. What I observed: on boot up sequence
when it went to the "Scanning IDE Drives" page, a message pops up that "No
drive attached to the Fast Track controller. The bios is not installed",
then it goes to the screen to choose a boot option. No matter which option I
choose, an error message pops up stating that the System32\Drivers\NTFS.sys
file is missing or corrupt, and Windows cannot boot.

I got out our original Win XP disks and attempted a repair. It went as far
as the selection screen, where you choose install, repair, or whatever the
third option is. At this point, my mouse and keyboard stopped responding,
and I was unable to choose an option. Since that time I have rebooted a
couple of times, and the keyboard has remained unresponsive.

I am assuming we got hit with another worm, despite a good antivirus program
and a firewall, and somehow it corrupted something or everything. If I can
get the computer to recognise the keyboard, I have a chance to repair it.
Any ideas? I would rather try to clean the system myself first, as the last
time we got hit with a nasty worm that snuck past our defenses, it was 3
weeks in the shop and several hundred dollars out our pockets!

The pc is a clone, Pentium 2, 2+ Gig processor. 200 MB hard drive. Windows
XP Pro. Has XP firewall and Avast antivirus, all updated regularly. (Got rid
of Norton after the last attack!)

Please, any ideas????

Pamela

 

[Kayman]

My DH was reading his comics on comic.com, when the website closed
unexpectedly and a Windows box came up with a message similar to "Your
connection was lost, Do you want to restore?" and a Yes and No box. sigh. He
clicked on "yes" and all the fun began. The computer started to reboot
itself, and couldn't finish the job. What I observed: on boot up sequence
when it went to the "Scanning IDE Drives" page, a message pops up that "No
drive attached to the Fast Track controller. The bios is not installed",
then it goes to the screen to choose a boot option. No matter which option I
choose, an error message pops up stating that the System32\Drivers\NTFS.sys
file is missing or corrupt, and Windows cannot boot.

I got out our original Win XP disks and attempted a repair. It went as far
as the selection screen, where you choose install, repair, or whatever the
third option is. At this point, my mouse and keyboard stopped responding,
and I was unable to choose an option. Since that time I have rebooted a
couple of times, and the keyboard has remained unresponsive.

I am assuming we got hit with another worm, despite a good antivirus program
and a firewall, and somehow it corrupted something or everything. If I can
get the computer to recognise the keyboard, I have a chance to repair it.
Any ideas? I would rather try to clean the system myself first, as the last
time we got hit with a nasty worm that snuck past our defenses, it was 3
weeks in the shop and several hundred dollars out our pockets!

Several hundred $? You've been ripped-off IMO.

The pc is a clone, Pentium 2, 2+ Gig processor. 200 MB hard drive. Windows
XP Pro. Has XP firewall and Avast antivirus, all updated regularly.

No AV program and firewall in the world would have prevented your DH's
action which caused your predicament, because: "He clicked on "yes""!

(Got rid of Norton after the last attack!)

Wise move.

Please, any ideas????

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

Then you should develop and implement some kind of a Security Concept.

For Win XP the most dependable defenses are:
1. Do not work as Administrator; For day-to-day work routinely use a
Limited User Account (LUA).
2. Secure (Harden) your operating system.
3. Don't expose services to public networks.
4. Keep your operating (OS) system (and all software on it)updated/patched.
5. Reconsider the usage of IE and OE.
5a.Secure (Harden) Internet Explorer.
6. Review your installed 3rd party software applications/utilities; Remove
clutter, *including* 3rd party software personal (so-called) firewall
application (PFW) - the one which claims: "It can stop/control malicious
outbound traffic".
7. If on dial-up Internet connection, activate the build-in firewall and
configure Windows not to use TCP/IP as transport protocol for NetBIOS,
SMB and RPC, thus leaving TCP/UDP ports 135,137-139 and 445 (the most
exploited Windows networking weak point) closed.
7a.If on high-speed Internet connection use a router.
For the average homeuser it is suggested blocking both TCP and UDP ports
135 ~ 139 and 445 on the router and implement countermeasures against
DNSChanger. (Is the Firmware of your router up-to-date?).
And (just in case) Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) has been superseded by
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA).
8. Routinely practice Safe-Hex.

Also, ensure you do:
a. Regularly back-up data/files.
b. Familiarize yourself with crash recovery tools and re-installing your
operating system (OS).
c. Utilize a good-quality real-time anti-virus application and some vital
system monitoring utilities/applications.
d. Keep abreast of the latest developments.

And finally:
Most computer magazines and/or (computer) specialized websites are *biased*
i.e. heavily weighted towards the (advertisement) dollar almighty!
Therefore:
a. Be cautious selecting software applications touted in publications
relying on advertisement revenue.
b. Do take their *test-results* of various software with a *considerable*
amount of salt!
c. Which also applies to their *investigative* in-depth test reports
related to any software applications.
d. Investigate claims made by software manufacturer *prior* downloading
their software; Subscribing to noncommercial-type publications,
specialized newsgroups and/or fora (to some extend) are a great way to
find out the 'nitty-gritties' and to consider various options.

The least preferred defenses are:
Myriads of popular anti-whatever applications and staying ignorant.

Good luck

 

[Pamela G]

Okay, tried a different wired keyboard. It works but, still can't get past
the error messages. Won't recognise the HDs at all. So I went out and bought
a new SATA HD, installed it and tried to get past the corrupted ones so I
could reload/repair Windows. No good. I cannot get my motherboard to even
recognise ANY HDs on the computer. Even after removing the corrupted HDs and
just installing the new HD, apparently the SATA drivers were corrupted as
well. I could add them, but it needs to be on a floppy, and that is
problematic. Why won't XP recognise drivers on a CD? That is dumb! Now I
have to figure out how to put the drivers onto a floppy when the only
computer in my house with a floppy is the one that won't boot up!

Pamela