HELP! Major computer problems...

[+pcpilot 181]

Man! This is wierd...My wife and I came home last night to find both hers and mine computers off. Normally we leave them on. They are on a LAN connected to a DSL modem behind a hardware firewall and the MS firewall. I try to start my wifes' computer and when it gets to the windows welcome screen, it reboots. It continues to do this cycle of rebooting until I tire of watching it and turn it off. I try to boot it up in safe mode and get error messages and a message asking if I want to repair a damaged .sys file I think it was. I try this option placing my copy of XP in the DVD tray. But all the comp wants to do is boot to XP setup. Ok fine I figure, lets try a re-install and see if that works. Half the attempts it goes thru all the startup crap and when its ready to run windows it comes up with another error message. The other times it just freezes. Ok, so maybe the harddrive is bad. I place another drive in the comp and get the same problems as with the first drive. Both drives I have tried ti reinstall XP and one of them I tried to reformat to no avail.

 

My own personal computer I started up last night seemingly just fine. I even took my wifes hard drive out of her comp, placed it in mine and backup/burned her important files to a DVD. Sometime during the latter part of this process, the computer shut off. I removed the dvd to find it had burned the files to disk which was good provided some virus isnt on the dvd now along with the other files. I try to reboot my computer and it wont even come on! The power actually flickers for a second when I unplug the power and plug it back in, then push the start button. But then it goes out hard. Im not even able to boot my comp! I was thinking maybe a power supply failure but havent changed it out to see yet, maybe later tonight. Hope the mobo hasnt been fried in some manner.

 

I find it hard to beleive that both computers would suffer seeming hardware failurs at the same time. I thought maybe a power surge but both comps are on their own UPS with surge protection. The other devices on the UPS's still seem to work fine like the DSL modem and the network router, the monitors, printer, and phone. Is it possible for viruses to actually cause hardware damage? Ive only heard of such things as destroying or changinf files on a drive. Could a mobo or cpu be damaged by a virus? Any ideas on what may be going on here? Im going to the McAfee website and see what I can learn. Thanks for any insight fellas...

[+Erik 1,805]

Boot into the bios and set it to boot from the cdrom first.

Insert the XP CD into the cdrom drive.

Reboot the machine.

 

This will cause the machine to boot from the XP CD not the hdd. If it boots into the windows installation screen then it's something on your hard drive possibly in the boot sector. If it doesn't boot to the installation screen then it's hardware related. The chances of both machines crapping out at the same time are huge so I'm with you on thinking you've got some malware on those machines or they've been bot'ed.

 

Erik

[+pcpilot 181]

Hi Eric, thats essentially what I did. My comps are set to attempt boot first checking the floppy, then the cdrom, then the HDD. I put the XP disc in the cdrom and tried to boot to this disc. It wanted to install XP. On attempting the install, it came back with several error messages or wouldnt complete the setup routine for the install. It was the same for both HDDs on both comps. Since the one comp wouldnt even come on anymore, I took its HDD and tried to make it boot in the working comp. It behaved the same as the first HDD with same or similar error messages and freezeups.

 

If during bootup, it tries to do the install routine, there is likely something like malware on the HDD? The thing is, the computer wouldnt even finish the SETUP routine for the install of XP. It never made it to the actual XP install program before something would go wrong.

 

Whats a bot? Could malware cause hardware to malfunction? Could malware mess with the rom on a HDD for instance?

 

 

PS. I found out what a bot is. Sure hope that wasnt it. Still dont know for sure if malware can cause actual damage to haedware or just to data. Its wierd you know, the wifes' computer HDD seems infected from its behavior. But my comp still hasnt even turned on which seems more like a hardware malfunction! Ive built and worked on computers over 10 years and Ive NEVER seen anything this dramactic! wierd...

Edited June 8, 2007 by pcpilot

[Wudpecker 0]

If you are still there, PC Pilot, let me say my son-in-law is having identical problems to yours.

---Can't boot XP

---Can't repair XP

---Is right now attempting a new install as I type.

 

If your files are important and you can't use another working computer to test the hard drives as slaves----

---A) Take the drives into a shop for testing and re-install of Windows (you can use your CD copy)

If you can test them as slaves

---B) Spend some money buying a hard drive recovery program. You will need a working operating system on another computer and test your bad drives as slaves.

 

Since you are obviously online, that means you can download and try out several different ones by Googling for them.

Few or none will actually help you until you pony up the dough. They are not stupid. But some seem more user-friendly and capable than others and show you how they work.

------HD Tune is Freeware. Let's you check the health of the HD.

------HDD Regenerator let me repair a non-functional HD ONE TIME. Happily that's all I needed.

------PC Inspector smart recovery seemed good.

------I forget which of the following let me do partial file recoveries: iUnformat, Zero Assumption Recovery, MultiStage Recovery, Meetsoft Final Recovery 2.2. SwissKnifeV3 was a partition recovery tool. None allowed significant recovery without purchase.