PC on continous loop rebooting.

[Johnathan]

I have a virus on my pc and in the process of removing it, I restarted the pc and it got into a continous reboot mode. I can't go to setup or any type of safe mode, it is not giving me that option. I tried putting the XP install cd in and it is not reading that either. I beleive I got a virus on my boot sector and I think the only option I have is installing another HD and loading XP. Any other ideas?

question 2:
If I install another HD is there a way for me to clean this one up and use it as 2nd HD on my pc? In the process of cleaning it up while in my system do I run the risk of passing the virus to my new HD?

Any info is much appreciated!!!! ;p

 

[PCcashCow]

If your think the MBR is infected then I would fist disconnect the drive and re-flash you bios /force. This will ensure that it is only a disk matter. Once that is done check your MBR with the various free based Dos utilities her: http://www.f-secure.com/download-purchase/tools.shtml

If by chance it turns out that your MBR is corrupt. You may want to fdisk and start over. If you need the data off the disk then your going to have to attach it a functioning system, maybe a network device to it have to come over as packets that a firewall would block as you read files. See what this does for first before you fdisk.

 

[ocnewb]

does the pc post, or are you getting no video what so ever?

 

[Johnathan]

Only thing that comes up on the monitor is the setup screen that shows all the bios settings and then the Windows XP screen then i get a blue screen w/ a error msg, but it is so fast I can't read it. Then it reboots and does the whole thing over again and again.

 

[Bazukaz]

Hi,
If windows setup cannot read the hard drive , it is possible that it has failed.
Does it see the partitions properly ?
The master boot record , if damaged , usually can be recovered by using fixmbr command from the console.

 

[Johnathan]

So my first step to fix this problem is to flash my bios on my MB? Why am I doing this, to make sure my MB is still good? Can someone tell me how do this?

 

[PCcashCow]

When a Virus is the equation of a corrupt harddrive, it' best to flash the bios. If you've never done it the don't bother at this point. Rebuild the MBR with the XP repair utility. You can google fix mbr to get a step by step doc.

If that does not work for you. Your going to need to fdisk your drive in order to write some zeors to both end so of the disk. So your want to fist out your hard drive maker and it's model. Then download the disk utilities that are associated with it. You should be able to run diags. If you you pass then use a win98 boot disk to fdisk your drive. Google that if you've ever done it. But basically all you need to do is delete all your existing partitions, reboot with the setup cd in. Windows should format and fix the rest.

 

[Mondoman]

First, you'll want to get into your BIOS, so press whatever the appropriate key is right after the Windows blue screen reboots. It's often DEL, but sometimes something like F10, etc.
Then, you can set the boot drive order in the BIOS so CD and floppy boot before the hard drive. Then it should boot from your Win CD instead of the hard drive, and will boot from a bootable floppy if you need to reflash the BIOS.

 

[Johnathan]

I cant get into the bios at all. No key will let me in.... it is stuck on continous reboot. It won't boot from a floppy, or cd. It just continues to reboot.

 

[mdalli]

If you can't even get into BIOS, then the root problem is not on your hard drive; your BIOS may have been compromised.

Be absolutely sure of this by disconnecting the power for 30 seconds, disconnecting your hard drive(s) and then powering it back on from cold iron.

Keep in mind also that certain MB/ USB keyboard combos have some lag before the USB keyboard is recognized. Use a PS/2 keyboard to avoid this lag (surplus store if you don't have one).

 

[croc]

'sigh'....

Start out by getting out your MB manual... It will tell you the proper procedure for resetting your bios to default. I didn't see your MB mentioned, so that't the best advice I can give.

Before you do this, disconnect your hd. after you do the above, you should be able to get into your bios.

Can you get into bios?

Yes, then proceed to setting the boot devices. If you have two settings, choose floppy and hdd. If 3 then cdrom, floppy, and hdd.

Once you get that far, report back...

No, proceed directly to RMA....

 

[Johnathan]

Ok... I was able to get the bios to work.. I set it to read CD/Floppy/ HD. From bios I can go into setup screen, but I'm not sure what to do from here. If I escape out of bios it goes to a blue screen and continues the non-stop reboot.

I bought another HD and i was going to reformat the old one and have 2 HD's but when I put it in. It doesn't recognize the new HD. When I take old HD out, it says needs disk to boot.

My HD's are two different types. Old one is sata (thin cable) 80gig WD, and new one is ATA (thick cable) 250 gig Segate. Is it possible to hook them both up since they are two different kind?


Specs
MB: EVGA Nforce4 Sli
VC: EVGA 7800 GT
RAM 1 gig cosair value
power supply- can't rem (nice one)
HD's:
80 gig Western digital (old one)
250 gig Seagate (new one)

 

[PCcashCow]

Ok... I was able to get the bios to work.. I set it to read CD/Floppy/ HD. From bios I can go into setup screen, but I'm not sure what to do from here. If I escape out of bios it goes to a blue screen and continues the non-stop reboot.

I bought another HD and i was going to reformat the old one and have 2 HD's but when I put it in. It doesn't recognize the new HD. When I take old HD out, it says needs disk to boot.

My HD's are two different types. Old one is sata (thin cable) 80gig WD, and new one is ATA (thick cable) 250 gig Segate. Is it possible to hook them both up since they are two different kind?
Specs
MB: EVGA Nforce4 Sli
VC: EVGA 7800 GT
RAM 1 gig cosair value
power supply- can't rem (nice one)
HD's:
80 gig Western digital (old one)
250 gig Seagate (new one)

Yes you can use the Sata drive and ATA at the same time. I would insall the OS on the larger Sata drive and then try to recover you data off the ata drive once the OS is up.

 

[Johnathan]

Ok, I have installed windows xp on my new Seagate 250 gig ATA drive. Now I would like to install the old western digital 80 gig SATA drive as a back up drive but it has a virus on it so I want to just reformat it and start over.

How do I make my computer recognize the 250 as primary and the 80 as secondary? How do I reformat the 80 gig drive?