Booting problem **URGENT - still no solution :(**

[vm]

nope. boot sector viruses latches on to the system's memory, and spreads to any hard drive you have on your computer everytime you reboot.

muad: i can boot from A diskettes. if you mean booting to any program than yes, but i haven't tried booting to XP with one though, simply bc the XP one takes 6 diskettes..i don't have 6 as of now.

 

[Muadib]

Yes vm, I did mean booting to anything with a: . Can you now access the c: drive after booting from a:? See if you can do a dir c: .

 

[vm]

<< It might be the cable, but I dont think it's the controller since it looks for the drive, and he's not getting a controller error during boot. >>



I did try a new cable, didn't change a thing.


thanks for the help by the way..i'm pretty tired, I've been trying to figure this out for a good 8 hrs now, so i'm sorry if i sound like i have an attitude = (

 

[DN]

<< nope. boot sector viruses latches on to the system's memory, and spreads to any hard drive you have on your computer everytime you reboot.

muad: i can boot from A diskettes. if you mean booting to any program than yes, but i haven't tried booting to XP with one though, simply bc the XP one takes 6 diskettes..i don't have 6 as of now. >>



Hahahaha.. DUDE..

You obviously turned off your PC before you put the 2nd hard drive in, right..? It "replaced" the one you had in there originally, right..? That's what I understood from what you have said so far -- so there was no way a virus was "moved" over to the 2nd hard drive, nuff said..

Anyhow, you seem to be a pain in the <insert word here> to help -- you don't want to listen to suggestions -- you deny this, you override that, you don't believe this or that -- I'm done trying to help.. Go help yourself and don't ask for help if you aren't going to listen to what people have to say.. I mean, YOU obviously know what the problem is or isn't, so.. *cough*

 

[Muadib]

LOL, @ DN. However, I've been there vm so I know what you're going through.

 

[vm]

*ignores DN's post*

 

[vm]

ok, i tried booting from A: and doing a C: dir

it works fine.

here's what it says when i put the sequence to

Floppy
HDD 0
CD rom

(without a floppy in)


VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA....
BOOT FROM CD (BOOT FAILURE - INSERT SYSTEM DISC THEN PRESS ENTER) (something like that. thats without a system disc in the cd drive)

it's like it doesn't see the OS on the HD at all til i put the XP cd in...notice the HDD 0 boot step doesn't result in any message of any kind?

 

[Muadib]

You may not like this, but I'm back to thinking it's the hard drive. Do you have a boot floppy with fdisk and format on it? If so follow my steps in my first post as this should also take care of a boot sector virus. You should do this from a floppy not made with your PC as any made on it could be infected.

 

[vm]

I formatted the C:/ drive twice already.

but not the other partition on it..but all that's on that are movies, nothing else. and I am not formatting those, since I can't back em up on CD (too big).

would formatting the non-boot partition with just movies files on it help it?

I don't want to reject the idea, but i'd much rather keep that as a last resort possibility...

 

[Muadib]

would formatting the non-boot partition with just movies files on it help it? I don't want to reject the idea, but i'd much rather keep that as a last resort possibility...

Yes, the couple of times I've run into that type of virus the only way to get rid of it was to totally wipe the drive. Don't do it on your main drive yet, use your other drive. Make sure the floppy you use is write protected, and unplug your pc before you start for a few minutes to make sure your memory is clear.

 

[Cosmo3]

Have you upgraded the bios I see they have one dated 10-19-01 and it fixes some Windows XP issues also on the Epox web page they have lots of bullitins concerning Windows 2000 that you may check out. Hope this helps.

 

[vm]

ok, good idea, i should try it on my 6gb drive before i do it with the 'good one'.
only problem though, how would I know my d:/ would be clear from the virus? there's no way in hell i can format that one..I got 20gb of work files and music on it..can't back those up, it'd take about 35 CDs to do that : |
I don't want to have the problem fixed on one drive and then have the virus spread back on it after.. (possibly)

i'll try updating the BIOS before i do that..

 

[Muadib]

You may not have any choice. If this works with you 6GB drive, then your other drive is infected, and must be cleaned.

 

[vm]

Well the BIOS didn't help...

i'm exhausted, i'll try formatting my 6gb tonight and see how that goes.

thanks alot for the help : )

if that doesn't work well, i'll post here again and beg for help ;/

 

[Muadib]

Don't just format it. Be sure to follow my instructions.

 

[vm]

Yea..i will.

one last question:
it can't get any worse right? I mean if I let it be like that, can it get to be a bigger problem?

cuz I can live with having my XP CD in everytime i reboot if it means I don't have to format my 3 drives


edit: i'm going to bed now..so i won't reply til tonight.

thanks again!

 

[RemyCanad]

Also use a newly created clean boot floppy, becuase if your using the one that you have been all along the virus may of spread from the hd to the floppy and now the floppy is spreading to the other hd.

 

[Va1heru]

Check to see if you have protected your master boot record in the BIOS. If so then you cannot fix it or fdisk it. Disable Boot sector protection then boot from CD or floppy and fdisk, reboot, and format your drive.