Help! A Virus Ate My Computer!

[eipeks]

Ok, so I got a seriously nasty virus (thank you cheap av software) and I just decided to format the HDD and start all over. ( I was past due on my 6 month clean up anyway).

So I booted up with my XP CD, and noticed that the setup was taking a reeeeaaaaally long time. Files were copying slow, setup was taking too long compared to normal. I figured I might have a Boot Sector Virus.

So I floppied up, FIXMBR'd and Flashed my BIOS just to be sure. I then formatted each drive (2 of them) about 4 times each.

Attempt 2 at reinstalling also took a VERY long time, almost painful.

So I ran a program called HDAT2 all night and found that my smaller HDD was fine, but my Large storage HDD was crapped out.

I unplugged my storage drive, and tried reinstalling again, but again, the install is pretty slow compared to normal.

Any thoughts or ideas as to what might be causing this slow down?

 

[Lexluethar]

Dieing hard drive IMO.

It is HIGHLY unlikely if even at all possible for a virus to cause a slow format. If it is taking too long to format and install you either need to ensure your CD isn't scratched, or run a utility that checks the integrity of your hard drive, as it may be dieing.

 

[eipeks]

I did run HDAT2 on my install drive and everything came out fine.

My second hard drive had all sorts or sector errors. So I unplugged it.

The format went fine, it's just reinstalling XP that is taking a really long time, on my install drive. The CD is also fine...

 

[Baez]

How old is the drive?

 

[Nitestick]

what type are the hard drives (IDE or SATA most likely, i'm guessing IDE)? if all your drives are IDE it could be caused by a faulty CD drive even (depending on your configuration).