Google Virus and reformating Computer

[remeng]

So recently my computer was infected with a virus that redirected my google searches to sites that had malware on them. I decided that it was time to reformat the hard drive and re-install Win XP Pro. The first problem that I ran into was that the CD-Rom drive was not being read so I couldn't load from CD. The screen would show lue screen saying: STOP: C0000221 Unknown Hard Error" error in the blue screen of death. I finally got the CD rom to be recognized by going into the computer's bios and disable Ultra DMA access.

Now the CD-Rom will load the windows setup install screens. I then go in to the section to reformat the drive and using the full length reformat process it comes to a screen at the end that reads something like: "Unable to reformat the hardware, The Drive might be damaged, check your cables". Well I have a laptop, and the laptop has been sitting in the same spot ever since it was infected, and the computer loaded previously to the error, so I don't understand why I am getting the error.

Next I attempted to just remove the Windows CD and attempt to see what is going on. Sure enough I get a screen that reads: "Operating System Not Found" which I did expect since I was able to patrician the hard drive.

I also attempted to get into the C:\ drive by using the repair action. It was able to load to C:\Windows, but I am unable to really do anything else at this point. Any ideas as of what I need to do to resolve the issue?

I have almost 2 days of research into this with a giant goose egg on solutions and I know the tek-tips community is amazing at helping to solve these kinds of problems. Thank you for all the help!

 

[goombawaho]

Think possibly bad hard drive or failing memory.

Get the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility and run it against the drive. You can get it from their the following page or they all come on the Ultimate Boot CD. The UBCD also has the memory tests. I would run the memory test first, followed by the short version of the hard drive diag utility. If the short test says there is a problem, run the long test if not prompted.

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

(down on the page where it says "mirror sites")

 

[remeng]

So I shut down the laptop last night and figured that I would start it up this morning to see what I can do with the UBCD after I burned the ISO. Now the computer isn't loading from either the UBCD or the Windows CD anymore. Something about this doesn't feel like a hardware failure since to many things don't add up. I still can get into and modify the bios. Any ideas? BTW I have 3 copies of the windows CD and I have tried all 3, and they all work, but none are loading in the infected computer.

What do I do now?

 

[DrB0b]

Physically remove the Hard drive and try to test the RAM with the UBCD and Memtest suggested above and see what it does. If the test loads and fails, bad RAM stick. Remove one and test again to see which stick is bad.

If it passes, odds are your HDD is bad and messing up the rest of the world.

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[goombawaho]

It DOES sound like hardware to me. Which piece - I don't know. Good suggestion about getting the memory tested first without the hard drive.

Any computer should boot up to a CD if all the hardware is okay and the CD is the first bootable device. If not, you have a major problem.

If you have problems booting to the UBCD, make sure it works on another PC to verify that you have a functioning CD.

 

[BadBigBen]

I agree with Goom, in the assessment of that it is a HARDWARE FAILURE...

when you boot from CD/DVD, the installed OS is of no importance nor does it interfere, but what can and does interfere are already mentioned, e.g. the HDD and RAM...

another problem child can sometimes be the DVD/CD drive itself, so do not leave it out of the equation...

but I would suggest the following to be done FIRST:

go into the BIOS setup screen and load the DEFAULT values, then EXIT and SAVE, and reboot...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

So, to summarize everything so far:

0. Verify UBCD works on another PC if you haven't already done so.
1. Enter BIOS, choose Reset To Defaults EXCEPT possibly to choose the CD drive as the first boot device. SAVE and EXIT
2. Disconnect hard drive (optional but not a bad idea)
3. Boot to UBCD and test memory.
4. If memory passes, test hard drive.

If system won't boot to CD, you should try another optical drive "borrowed" from somebody.

If you can't get the UBCD to boot with a second optical drive, I would next suspect a bad cable or dying motherboard.