Hello all,
I am having to write you from my archaic Celeron M Toshiba Lappy in hopes that I
can ask for some help with my tower.
Last night, I had unfortunately installed some malware/ransomware called Windows
Police.
I had noticed that it was not allowing me to install any sort of disinfecting software
and would not even let me execute searches in Firefox or open an IE browser.
I decided to break out the laptop and install a program via USB to disinfect (Malware
Bytes Anti-Malware) to hopefully deal with the problem.
The main issue developed after I installed the program and it told me that I needed
to restart my computer.
I did so, and in doing so, my comp proceeded to start a reboot loop that prohibited
the OS from loading. Every time I go into the F8 screen, and use Safe Mode (by itself,
with Networking and Command Line) it still reboots itself.
I have tried to use the XP CD to boot from to use recovery console and it seems to
just bypass the detection of the CD and does not boot from it.
I have loaded up two different programs that have a linux kernal from which I was
thinking I could disinfect the boot sector, both of which found a few files that
were infected with malware and removed them, but this still did not remedy the issue.
I was thinking that if I could get the recovery console up and running that I could
run a repair or at the most extreme a reinstall of the OS (if that is indeed what
is corrupted).
My specs are :
Custom build
AMD Athlon 64 2600+
2 GB Corsair RAM
Radeon 2650 512 MB
750 GB External Hard Drive, USB
2 Internal HD's at about 30 and 120 GB each (the former having the OS on it)
I have gone through and made sure each component is well seated in its slot, so that
does not seem to be the problem. The sticks of ram have heat sinks on them and would
theoretically discharge any wires touching them, though I have still made the effort
to keep wires away from them.
Most recently I bought the new 512 MB video card and have been using it successfully
to play a few semi-new games (fallout 3) for several weeks now.
The old card (which I still have and have swapped it out thinking that could have
been the problem), is a XFX GeForce 5500 256 MB. Swapping it out seemed to have
no effect on the rebooting pattern.
I believe I have an updated BIOS, updated XP to the most recent security issues via
Windows Update a few weeks ago and keep my hard drives relatively clean and intact.
When I took the F8 Screen to disable automatic rebooting upon system failure, I encountered
a blue screen of death with the notable text of a STOP error:
--------------
Technical Information:
STOP: 0x0000007e (0xc0000005, 0xb9f217c0, 0xba4c352c, 0xba4c3228)
Atapi.sys - Address b9f217c0 base at b9f0b000, Datestamp 4802539d
---------------
As of right now, I am feeling like it is possibly corrupt sectors on the hard drive
(possibly the one with the OS on it?), a boot sector virus that will not allow me
to load much to remedy the situation, or something just as pernicious.
I would greatly appreciate any insight that any of you have as well as possible solutions.
Thank you all for your time!
I am having to write you from my archaic Celeron M Toshiba Lappy in hopes that I
can ask for some help with my tower.
Last night, I had unfortunately installed some malware/ransomware called Windows
Police.
I had noticed that it was not allowing me to install any sort of disinfecting software
and would not even let me execute searches in Firefox or open an IE browser.
I decided to break out the laptop and install a program via USB to disinfect (Malware
Bytes Anti-Malware) to hopefully deal with the problem.
The main issue developed after I installed the program and it told me that I needed
to restart my computer.
I did so, and in doing so, my comp proceeded to start a reboot loop that prohibited
the OS from loading. Every time I go into the F8 screen, and use Safe Mode (by itself,
with Networking and Command Line) it still reboots itself.
I have tried to use the XP CD to boot from to use recovery console and it seems to
just bypass the detection of the CD and does not boot from it.
I have loaded up two different programs that have a linux kernal from which I was
thinking I could disinfect the boot sector, both of which found a few files that
were infected with malware and removed them, but this still did not remedy the issue.
I was thinking that if I could get the recovery console up and running that I could
run a repair or at the most extreme a reinstall of the OS (if that is indeed what
is corrupted).
My specs are :
Custom build
AMD Athlon 64 2600+
2 GB Corsair RAM
Radeon 2650 512 MB
750 GB External Hard Drive, USB
2 Internal HD's at about 30 and 120 GB each (the former having the OS on it)
I have gone through and made sure each component is well seated in its slot, so that
does not seem to be the problem. The sticks of ram have heat sinks on them and would
theoretically discharge any wires touching them, though I have still made the effort
to keep wires away from them.
Most recently I bought the new 512 MB video card and have been using it successfully
to play a few semi-new games (fallout 3) for several weeks now.
The old card (which I still have and have swapped it out thinking that could have
been the problem), is a XFX GeForce 5500 256 MB. Swapping it out seemed to have
no effect on the rebooting pattern.
I believe I have an updated BIOS, updated XP to the most recent security issues via
Windows Update a few weeks ago and keep my hard drives relatively clean and intact.
When I took the F8 Screen to disable automatic rebooting upon system failure, I encountered
a blue screen of death with the notable text of a STOP error:
--------------
Technical Information:
STOP: 0x0000007e (0xc0000005, 0xb9f217c0, 0xba4c352c, 0xba4c3228)
Atapi.sys - Address b9f217c0 base at b9f0b000, Datestamp 4802539d
---------------
As of right now, I am feeling like it is possibly corrupt sectors on the hard drive
(possibly the one with the OS on it?), a boot sector virus that will not allow me
to load much to remedy the situation, or something just as pernicious.
I would greatly appreciate any insight that any of you have as well as possible solutions.
Thank you all for your time!
