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October 20th, 2008 07:00
Factory Restore not working!! Possible virus intervention?
Hi all
On Saturday my computer got a heinous virus on it...I'm not even sure what it was. Needless to say it caused explorer.exe to constantly reboot making the computer very difficult to use. I managed to do a system restore which bought me about 2 hours (I thought I had solved the problem) but just in case I backed up the files I needed to the Mac laptop that I am currently posting from. So, thinking I was finally triumphant I restarted and pressed ctrl + f11. Nothing. Windows booted. So I restarted the computer and held ctrl as I rapidly pressed f11. Again nothing, until the Dell loading bar was finished and in the brief moment between that screen and the windows flash screen the computer beeped accordingly to a button being pressed. But the Factory Reset still didn't load. I'm running a Dimension 5150 so I'm certain that the computer actually has the Factory Reset partition. But this is sort of essential because Dell didn't send me a Windows XP disc with my system, and apparently someone in my home removed the product code from my computer. So, basically, if I can't restore to factory settings I'm in deep. (And I have tried EVERYTHING to identify and remove this virus...but it's elusive. It has elements of a sasser(messing with my hosts file) but apparently the spazzy explorer.exe is a Vundo problem. HOWEVER, whatever this thing is has eluded both Kaspersky (which I am no longer able to install) and AVG, AND windows malicious software tool, and the Symantec sasser removal tool.
P.S. to mods...sorry if this is posted in the wrong section. Hard drive seemed fitting...
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shesagordie
12 Elder
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46K Posts
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October 20th, 2008 18:00
If the Dell PC Restore by Symantec utility here, does not work, you could try repairing it, see here.
If you are unable to repair the Dell PC Restore, then you would need to carry a manual clean reinstall of XP.
How to carry out a clean reinstall of XP.
Disconnect all the peripherals from the system except the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
How to configure a Dell Dimension series system to boot to the CD or DVD drive.
This XP reinstallation guide is excellent, or you can use Dell's XP Restallation Guide here.
While installing, remember to delete all existing partitions when you are prompted, then recreate the partitions and format the hard drive, following by installing XP.
After installing XP, you should install the drivers and applications in the following order,
Desktop System Software [if applicable]
Chipset
Video
Network Interface Card [NIC]
Audio
Modem
Then all other drivers and applications.
Followed by installing the Anti Virus utility, updating the definitions, then all the critical Microsoft updates.
Try to note the type of hardware devices you have, prior to reinstalling the operating system. This can help you select and install the correct drivers and applications.
Note: If you are not using RAID, enter the system setup, scroll down to drives, press Enter or + to expand the drive menu then down to "SATA Operation", press Enter.
Change the SATA operation mode to "RAID Auto/ATA" press ESC to save and exit the BIOS.
Bev.
===================================================
Please don't send me questions about your system by DCF Messenger.
Post the issue in the appropriate Board, where they will be answered.
the.students
2 Posts
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October 20th, 2008 21:00
whew what an ordeal!
I actually managed to solve the problem before I read your post but the suggestions are very much appreciated.
Here's what happened:
About a week ago a friend of mine gave me a couple 80GB hard drives for free. So, I decided to plug them in and format them (because he hadn't). This worked well, except for the fact that there is only one IDE slot on my motherboard. So I forfeit my CD drives (I rarely use them, and it wouldn't be too much trouble to power down and plug them if I really needed them) in order to plug the hard drive in. Everything went well, I formatted the drive and began using it without any problems. Then, I got up one morning, fired up the computer and explorer.exe was constantly restarting making the computer very frustrating to use. After a few hours of slows, inefficient investigating I began to suspect that it was a virus. But Kaspersky found nothing. Windows Malicious software tool found nothing. I uninstalled Kaspersky and installed AVG for a second opinion. AVG found a few Vundo files but that's it. So, getting desperate, I powered down and unplugged my IDE slave drive hoping that would solve the problem. It didn't and I just left it unplugged, thinking nothing of it. Then, somehow the explorer.exe problem stopped on it's own. The computer was still slow and behaving rather oddly (my taskbar clock changed from a 12 hour clock to a 24 hour clock all on its own) so I suspected virus infection. I quickly created a system restore point (it had been turned off up until that point, I don't know why =S). Every time I reverted to the system restore point explorer.exe remained stable anwhere from 30 minutes to two hours, and when it began glitching out I simply restored again. It was a little...primitive, but it worked. During these windows I was able to transfer all of my irreplaceable data (around 7GB, most of it pictures, music and openoffice documents) to the Macbook. Then I decided to do a factory restore on the PC rather than doing a fresh install of XP as I don't have an XP install disc. But ctrl+F11 didn't work at startup! I believe that is when I posted here...sometime in the middle of the night hahaha. After a little bit of deliberation I came up with the solution; I downloaded an illegal copy of Windows XP and burned it to a disc. But the problem didn't end here. I went to plug in my CD drives. But they didn't work. The computer didn't detect them. I checked and rechecked all of the connections, then tried again; still nothing. Eventually I figured that the virus must have somehow been making the system ignore the newly plugged in hardware. So, I unplugged the original SATA drive, and moved the IDE drive up into the slot on the computer where the floppy drive is supposed to go. (again primitive, but it worked). Then I was able to plug in one CD/DVD drive and the blank IDE hard drive. Both were recognized immediately by Setup. However, when I powered down and also plugged in the SATA drive, Setup couldn't recognize it! (CD drive and IDE still worked). After a few panicky moments I realized that both SATA slots were set to "off" in setup. So I enabled the slot and restarted. Ta-da! I popped in the pirated windows disk and formatted the C: partition in the SATA drive. Then the Dell PC Restore worked and I restored my original, legal copy of windows and threw the disk away! Problem solved.
Thank you again for the advice!
shesagordie
12 Elder
•
46K Posts
0
October 20th, 2008 21:00
Happy to hear that you resolved the problem. :)
You can request a set of backup discs containing the factory-installed operating system as well as the device drivers and utilities specific to your system from here.
Bev.
===================================================
Please don't send me questions about your system by DCF Messenger.
Post the issue in the appropriate Board, where they will be answered.