Message on boot-up

Question

I am not sure if this is Bios related, but everytime I shut down or restart, I get the following message right before the black windows XP screen with the blue scrolling bar appears:
A totally black sceen with a white font text message at the top : Caution: This hard disk may be infected by virus !

All you have to do is hit any key and it continues to finish the boot up process and works great.

But you have to hit any key or it will stay at the black screen and not finish the boot up process.

I do not have a virus currently, based on the anti virus program I run I did however, have a virus many months ago and my not have deleted it properly and wonder if the virus may still be hiding somewhere. Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot and repair this problem. Thanks

fireberd · Answer

You have a virus.  NEVER run a PC without an up to date virus program and up to date virus data file and do regular virus scans.  Also NEVER run a PC on-line without a Firewall - you are only asking for 'disaster'.   If you have Windows XP, there is a built in Firewall in XP and activate that.  There are also free spyware programs around and you should have one of those, such as Adaware or SpyBot and run them frequently.

Bugbatter · Answer

If the suggestions above do not help, It probably would be good if we could see what is running around in there, so I'm going to send you for a diagnostic tool. After you run it and post on the HijackThis board we will know more.
** There is a list of trained analysts at the top of that board in the Announcements. If someone else replies, it will be your decision whether or not you want to take advice from them.

Click HERE OR HERE to download HJTsetup.exe

1. Save HJTsetup.exe to your desktop.
2. Open Notepad > Click on Format > Uncheck Word Wrap, if checked.
3. Double-click on the desktop icon for HJTsetup.exe and by default it will automatically install to C:\Program Files\HijackThis.
4. Continue to click Next to accept the default settings in the setup dialogue boxes until you get to the "Select Additional Tasks" dialogue.
5. Put a check by Create a desktop icon then click Next and continue accepting the default suggestions.
6. At the final dialogue box click Finish and HijackThis (HJT) will launch.
7. Click on the " Do a system scan and save a logfile" button"; A log showing the results should open in Notepad.
8. Click on Edit > Select All (or CTRL+A) then click on Edit > Copy (or CTRL+C) to copy the contents of the log.

Posting Your Log:

1. Next, just click the New Message button in the HijackThis forum
here: http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board?board.id=si_hijack
to start your own thread requesting assistance.
2. In the Message Body window that opens, simply Right-Click and select Paste.
3. Please add text to describe your symptoms.
4. Include in the message subject line a description of your problem. For example, "Popups warning of infection".
5. Make certain you post the entire log by clicking the Preview Post link at the bottom of the window and comparing it to the log from your scan before you click Submit Post

** Note: "The box next to Automatically convert carriage returns to HTML line breaks" should be checked if that appears at the bottom of your Message Body when composing your post.

NOTE:
* DO NOT have Hijack This fix anything yet. Most of what it finds will be harmless or required.

gwreeves · Answer

Thanks for the help.   I posted the logfile and hopefully someone will have some suggestions on how to fix the problem.  It's really strange because the computer works great except for having to do the hit any key reboot thing everytime.   I have no other virus related issues as far as I know. It's been doing this for nearly a year, so you would think that a virus would have presented itself by  now. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to help.   gwreeves

1972vet · Answer

Did you post it Here?

Virus & Spyware

Message on boot-up

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