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Topic: Virus Help?
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Raptorgirl
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posted August 20, 2004 23:05
My father's computer apparently has some sort of virus on it. At least, that's what I think it is. When you start the computer, it gives you a message saying that Windows wasn't shut down correctly. It gives you the usual options: safe mode, normally, et cetera. But whichever option you choose, the computer gets to the Windows start screen (with the logo) and then promptly restarts, giving you the exact same message. The process repeats itself ad nauseum.
Is this a virus, and if so, how can he fix it?
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CommanderShroom
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
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posted August 21, 2004 04:49
RG
What are the specifics on this system? Age, OS, & specs.
You could have a virus, then again if the system is 5-6 years old, you may have a hardware failure.
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Does he know our big secret?
Has one of us confessed?
'Bout the wires circuits and motors
Buried in our chest
Posts: 2418 | From: Somewhere between the gutter... and probably another gutter | Registered: Mar 2003
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Raptorgirl
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posted August 21, 2004 07:08
Windows 2000. The computer is about 3 years old, but it's a refurbished model. Any more than that, I'd have to ask my dad. That'll have to wait, though, as I'm leaving for the airport (going to Austin, Texas for a few days) in about 20 minutes.
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drunkennewfiemidget
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
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posted August 21, 2004 08:49
I highly doubt it's a virus. I've never seen a virus do that in my life. Only things that normally do that are hardware failures, bad settings in the BIOS, and a corrupt windows installation.
Here's what I'd suggest:
A) did you change anything in the bios? if not, you can probably ignore the bad settings idea.
B) did you add new hardware? I think you said it was a laptop, so the answer is a likely no.
C) reinstall .. don't format, just reinstall on top of the current installation.. a repair if possible, that might fix any corrupt files causing your problem.
D) reformat and reinstall.
As I said before, I doubt that it's a virus.
Posts: 4892 | From: Kitchener, ON, Canada | Registered: Jun 2004
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dragonman97
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posted August 21, 2004 10:16
I've got to disagree dnf - I've heard stories about a virus like this, though no one has given me a name for it yet. My boss had this happen to his son's machine (XP), and he said that it would reboot as soon as you logged in, normal or safe mode alike. Whatever it is, it's nasty! If someone can find out which virus this is, I'd love to know, so I can better answer this question the next time I hear it - either in the forums, or professionally.
/me gets ready to go on a consulting call - ka-ching!
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There are three things you can be sure of in life: Death, taxes, and reading about fake illnesses online...
Posts: 9039 | From: Westchester County, New York | Registered: May 2001
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Tut-an-Geek
SuperFan!
Member # 1234
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posted August 21, 2004 20:31
quote:
Originally posted by dragonman97:
I've got to disagree dnf - I've heard stories about a virus like this, though no one has given me a name for it yet. My boss had this happen to his son's machine (XP), and he said that it would reboot as soon as you logged in, normal or safe mode alike. Whatever it is, it's nasty! If someone can find out which virus this is, I'd love to know, so I can better answer this question the next time I hear it - either in the forums, or professionally.
/me gets ready to go on a consulting call - ka-ching!
Right, about a month ago my neighbor in the dorms had the same thing happen. I couldn't find what it was, since I couldn't get any anti-virus software going. I tried to use BitDefender Live!, and it looked pretty cool, but it didn't support that Toshiba laptop (bleh). I ended up formatting and reinstalling XP Pro.
Posts: 3764 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Jace Raven
Solid Nitrozanium SuperFan!
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posted August 21, 2004 21:53
I have had the same prob on many comps and only ended up re-formatting.
This post brought to you in party by JaceRaven Productions. Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved.
+1 to post count -- Gandolf_teh_Gr34+
Posts: 1791 | From: Seoul, Korea | Registered: Nov 2003
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CommanderShroom
BlabberMouth, a Blabber Odyssey
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posted August 22, 2004 04:54
quote:
Originally posted by Raptorgirl:
Windows 2000. The computer is about 3 years old, but it's a refurbished model. Any more than that, I'd have to ask my dad. That'll have to wait, though, as I'm leaving for the airport (going to Austin, Texas for a few days) in about 20 minutes.
DM is right about the possibility of a virus. I have seen that myself.We have have that on a few old Vectras(5+ yrs old) Just never put 2 and 2 together.
Unfortunately that is a 3 yr old refurb. And laptops unlike their more sedentary kin do get beat up a bit. You may be forced to do a fresh install on everything. If there is a large amount of important data on there reinstall Win2k w/o formatting the drive. Then pull the needed info off and reinstall fresh.
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Does he know our big secret?
Has one of us confessed?
'Bout the wires circuits and motors
Buried in our chest
Posts: 2418 | From: Somewhere between the gutter... and probably another gutter | Registered: Mar 2003
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The Famous Druid
Gold Hearted SuperFan!
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posted August 22, 2004 06:31
First thing I'd do is boot from a knoppix(*1) disk, and if it starts ok, save as much of what's on the disk as possible (burn to CD, or save on a network drive). If you don't know any unix/linux, ask around, linux geeks are a dime a dozen these days.
Once you've saved all your data, then you can worry about trying to fix the actual problem.
(*1) - Knoppix - a Linux variant specifically designed to be fully bootable and usable from CD.
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If you watch 'The History Of NASA' backwards, it's about a space agency that has no manned spaceflight capability, then does low-orbit flights, then lands on the Moon.
Posts: 10313 | From: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: Oct 2002
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zesovietrussian
SuperBlabberMouth!
Member # 1177
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posted August 22, 2004 10:07
Win9X can be loaded in "logged" mode; IIRC, this can also be done under 2K. If you can, go ahead and try to start Windows in logged mode, then boot from Win2K CD and load up the recovery console. Take a look at bootlog.txt, that might give you some clues about your problem.
Posts: 1092 | From: Boston | Registered: Mar 2002
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Steven
Maximum Newbie
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posted August 23, 2004 19:12
I agree with many others.
I foresee at least a reinstall if not a format in your future.
God Bless,
Steven
Posts: 16 | From: Tennessee, USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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Raptorgirl
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posted August 27, 2004 21:21
As far as I know, Dad hasn't solved the problem yet. He's talked about calling HP and getting the CD to reinstall everything. I'm still not sure how he can resinstall everything if he can't even get to the Start menu. Then again, I know very little about computers. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Orpheus
Highlie
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posted August 27, 2004 21:40
Virus or not I'm betting on some corrupted windows files. This kind of problem is a real pain to track down and usually not worth the aggrivation. Just do a reinstall. As for reinstalling things HP will probably send a 'rescue disk' which is bootable and will just reset the machine's software configuration to what it was when new.
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my cats make me crazy
Posts: 554 | From: Galveston, TX | Registered: Oct 2003
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dragonman97
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posted August 27, 2004 22:14
A quick reminder: If you reinstall your system, be sure to get the Windows Updates ASAP!!! If you can, download the most critical ones (XP SP2, or Win2k SP4, the Blaster & Sasser patches, etc.) on another machine, and burn them to a CD. Then, install them on the machine before you even connect to the internet.
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There are three things you can be sure of in life: Death, taxes, and reading about fake illnesses online...
Posts: 9039 | From: Westchester County, New York | Registered: May 2001
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-ct-
BlabberMouth, the Next Generation
Member # 209
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posted August 27, 2004 22:22
quote:
Originally posted by dragonman97:
A quick reminder: If you reinstall your system, be sure to get the Windows Updates ASAP!!! If you can, download the most critical ones (XP SP2, or Win2k SP4, the Blaster & Sasser patches, etc.) on another machine, and burn them to a CD. Then, install them on the machine before you even connect to the internet.
correct on all counts except SP2 for XP
wait a bit on that, there are issues and problems with it that could affect your ability to even boot the pc
(i had a customer the other day where i ended up having to do a repair install on his system, simply because of an automatic SP2 update)
don't be a guinea pig here, hold off another 2 weeks or so
but DO get SP1 for xp...
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Things are always darkest... just before you pull your head out of your butt, void where prohibited, keep away from flame, surcharge(s) may apply.
www.harddriveHELL.com and demoniclemon.com
Posts: 1906 | From: nowhere, man | Registered: Jan 2000
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dragonman97
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posted August 27, 2004 22:37
quote:
Originally posted by -ct-:
quote:
Originally posted by dragonman97:
A quick reminder: If you reinstall your system, be sure to get the Windows Updates ASAP!!! If you can, download the most critical ones (XP SP2, or Win2k SP4, the Blaster & Sasser patches, etc.) on another machine, and burn them to a CD. Then, install them on the machine before you even connect to the internet.
correct on all counts except SP2 for XP
wait a bit on that, there are issues and problems with it that could affect your ability to even boot the pc
(i had a customer the other day where i ended up having to do a repair install on his system, simply because of an automatic SP2 update)
don't be a guinea pig here, hold off another 2 weeks or so
but DO get SP1 for xp...
I've been running SP2 for 2 weeks already - it's been available for corporate download (the full 250 MB for awhile). Of course, it hung on reboot, but it seems fine now. I know it's risky, but I'm advising it in this case becaue it will pick up all the major vulnerabilities, rather than requiring you to find a few obscure ones to burn to CD.
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There are three things you can be sure of in life: Death, taxes, and reading about fake illnesses online...
Posts: 9039 | From: Westchester County, New York | Registered: May 2001
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-ct-
BlabberMouth, the Next Generation
Member # 209
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posted August 28, 2004 01:21
quote:
Originally posted by dragonman97:
...I've been running SP2 for 2 weeks already - it's been available for corporate download (the full 250 MB for awhile). Of course, it hung on reboot, but it seems fine now. I know it's risky, but I'm advising it in this case becaue it will pick up all the major vulnerabilities, rather than requiring you to find a few obscure ones to burn to CD.
me too (no hangs) - and things seem to be prefectly fine on my PC
i'm still gonna say, for the average user, to not install SP2 just yet
SP1 and everything else windows update finds would be fine right now
while SP2 will get the major stuff, it's also leaving open/CREATING other major stuff
here's a LOT more details
news articles about SP2 vulnerabilities are just a google away
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Things are always darkest... just before you pull your head out of your butt, void where prohibited, keep away from flame, surcharge(s) may apply.
www.harddriveHELL.com and demoniclemon.com
Posts: 1906 | From: nowhere, man | Registered: Jan 2000
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