Got a virus and computer doesnt start

[OiKiN]

I got my uncles computer with me to redo everything. Well I reinstalled XP and began to install programs. I needed somthing for one of the programs and ended up with a virus that shutdown my computer and now it wont start up. I tried sticking the windows cd to reinstall but I got to the 'push any key to boot with cd' I did that and I get the same black screen and nothing. Im asking for help to some how format with dos. What do you guys need to help me out?

thx

could i take out the harddrive and with a magnet delete everything even the virus? I hope the virus did nothing to the dos... How can I reset everything?

my friend said the harddrive may be F***ed. Man it one big 120 or so,thing hard drive

[Matrixi]

could i take out the harddrive and with a magnet delete everything even the virus?
NONONONONONO! Unless you want to say bu-bye to your HD. So when you insert the windows CD and boot the computer, it doesn't start the installation? This should happen even if you don't have a hard-drive connected..

Well, you could also try downloading and making a boot disk (google is a friend) and then boot from that disk that boots you up to a basic dos with few commands. Then you could format your hard-drive from there and re-install windows.

Let me know how it turns out.

[OiKiN]

so what am I looking for? What kind of boot disk? and and now I dont even get to the cd check screen anymore. It goes right past the screen were it asks and then the blank screen. :schwitz:

umm i just unpluged the hd and it boots into the windows setup. but when i have the hd pluged in it goes to a black screen.

[Matrixi]

That sounds a bit weird. Does your HD show up ok in the bios? If it doesn't check that the HD cables are plugged in properly, old IDE connectors might look like they are all the way in, but actually aren't.

If the HD shows up ok in the bios, get this boot disk program (writes itself automatically to a empty floppy) and boot the computer using the boot disk. http://www.mirrors.org/archived_software/www.bootdisk.com/xpfiles/xpboot.exe Then you should be able to format the hard-drive from the boot disk dos.

[OiKiN]

do i just stick the exe on the floppy? or do i also click on it? When i do click on it it says needs a empty floppy

i stuck the exe on the disk and stuck it in the computer and it says
Non-Systen disk or disk error
Replace and strike any key when ready

[Matrixi]

Get a empty floppy, insert it in to your disk drive, run the boot disk program, boot the computer using the created boot disk..

[OiKiN]

now im at the page were at the bottom says a:\>

[OiKiN]

how do I format drive C i can figure out how to set A to C and format

[filur]

"format c:"

"c:" to hop to C: which isn't really needed.

Easier to change your boot order in bios so that the CD boots before the HD, your settings are probably the other way round now which would explain why the cd-setup isn't starting when your HD is present.

[OiKiN]

i rote format c: and it says invalid drive specification
and i did just reinstall windows with the cd but i ended up with a virus now got to start over...

[Matrixi]

As I asked before, does the HD show up ok in bios?

[dUmAsS]

i rote format c: and it says invalid drive specification
and i did just reinstall windows with the cd but i ended up with a virus now got to start over...
it means the filesystem hasnt been mounted, corrupt or something.

go into the bios and first see if the hdd has been recognised, then change the boot order to floppy, cd, HD0, usb, lan

if it still wont boot off the cd then you need to go to your computer and click on the exe you downloaded. it will ask for 6 blank floppys, feed them to it and stick the first in the other machine. it will then boot from the floppy and tell you when to insert the next ones.

also when windows is installed DO NOT connect it to the network if its pre SP2, if you can download SP2 from here (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&FamilyID=049c9dbe-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a) and burn it to a cd to install on the other machine

[OiKiN]

it sees the hd ---- Maxtor 6Y120L0 im still looking how to change the order

[OiKiN]

im at the screen with that boot disc... im not sure if my drive is R or S and i cant format any

[dUmAsS]

im at the screen with that boot disc... im not sure if my drive is R or S and i cant format any

what do you mean? the floppy drive is A

can you take a screenshot or picture (if out of windows)

[OiKiN]

cant get picture.. ill just stick the harddrive into my computer and then format it in windows that should work...

[Matrixi]

NOT a good idea. The virus might spread from the infected HD to the clean HD the moment you boot in to windows. Then you have two PC:s to format and re-install. :)

[Shotglass]

you could try to boot into linux (just the install routine of most linuxes should do the job) and fdisk that virus back to hell

[OiKiN]

ohh well i did it and got no problem... thx for the help u gave out

i want to resinstall my computer anyways.. it runs slow.