Computer Shut Down

Sure it's a troubleshooting site  

If you do not have a virus program recovery disk to boot from...

Well, here is exactly what I would do:

-Take the hard drive out.
-Reset the BIOS using the jumper on the MB.
-Put a brand new one in.
-Install a fresh copy of your favorite OS.
-After you have the new installation fully armed with all sorts of aggressive anti-malware apps, plug the old drive back in and try to clean it.

Yeah it's extreme I know, but I had to do it once myself.

Also, sometimes malware can stress an older computer so much that something goes out. If this happened it was on it's way out anyway. It's quite similar to what happens when a new, hardware-challenging game comes out.

If that happened you might need to do some further troubleshooting, but I suspect a setting or two got altered in BIOS, and you'll be back up and running soon.

Those are good ideas.

Thanks, though it seems drastic to get a new Hard Drive, unfortunately I am beginning to see that it may be necessary....

It's desperate for sure, but especially if you have data you want to save, it's the safest route.

Messing about with a heavily infected drive you are booting from often just spirals out of control. I had it so bad I didn't touch the drive for a year, until I was sure I had the software to deal with it.

Waiting a week is likely enough   Give your anti-malware apps time to catch up to any new virus that may be on the drive.

Hey,

I ordered my new hard drive, so unfortunately it did come to that, as now it attempts to open plain windows, when I have XP, so it is guaranteed to error every time.

My last question is that I do not understand how to reset the BIOS once my new hard drive arrives. If someone would not mind explaining that a little more I would appreciate.

Thanks guys I am amazed by your knowledge.

-Ryan

Look closely in your mobo manual if you have one. If not, examine the mobo closely and read all the labels on connectors and exposed pins. Somewhere there should be a pair of pins or just two metal bumps labelled "BIOS Reset" or something similar. Also look around for the BIOS battery. It is usually about the size of a quarter and mounted in a plastic holder. The basic idea is that you will remove all power to the BIOS chip and then short out the Reset terminals for a few seconds. This will deprive the BIOS of all the power necessary to maintain its current info and force it to reset itself when power is restored.

Before you start out on this, make sure you know how to get into the BIOS and read and set all its parameters. If you can, I'd go into BIOS now and write down the current settings for everything there, because you may need to restore some of these settings. It will be a long list!

So once you have found the battery and the Reset contacts here's the procedure. Oh, and you'll need a small screwdriver or something metal suitable to touch the two reset contacts to short them out.

Shut down the computer. Disconnect completely the power cord from the wall so the unit has NO power supply. Open the case and remove the BIOS battery from its holder - it should just slip out of a springy metal clip. Take your screwdriver and touch the two reset contacts to short out (connect them together) for a few seconds - no more than 5 secs is needed. Replace the BIOS battery - make sure it is turned the right way! Reconnect the power cord. Push the front start button and, as the machine boots, enter the BIOS setup screens. The first menu should have a choice to restore all BIOS settings to Factory Default, so choose that. Then start from the main menu and go through all the settings and compare to your notes. Several things will have changed, so note them.

Now, maybe the default start-up settings are what you need - after all, that is why the reset was proposed. But a few may need to be set back to what they were before you started the reset. Change the ones you have to, save the new settings and reboot to see whether it is working properly. You may need to take a few tries at getting the BIOS set the way you need.