Mobo corrupted?

[dcusick]

I recently got the W32.Funlove.4099 virus on my computer. All of the system files on my computer got corrupted and and I decided to reformat my computer and start over again. I have a copy of Windows ME and tried to install that. The installation crashed on me 5 times, so I went back to good old Windows 98. It installed all the way through after two times of reformatting and installing.
That was running for a week and then I tried to install Office 2k. Halfway through the installation, it crashed and I had to reboot my computer. After that point, my computer wouldn't boot into windows successfully. So once again, I decided to reformat my computer and reinstall Win98. I repeated this process 10 times, and every time the installation crashed at some point. It kept hanging on a different part of the hardware detection process when windows started up. I finally gave up after the 10 times and booted into Safe mode. I disabled my sound card, my mpeg encoder card, and my web cam, the three things that seemed to give me most of the problems. I was then able to boot into windows fine. All of those pieces were working fine before the initial virus. Could that virus have fried my Mobo or corrupted one of my expansion cards??? or was this whole thing just some type of coincidence. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

FIC V-503+ with a k6-2 400 processor.
Voodoo 3 2000 AGP Card
Diamond Sonic Impact s90 sound card.
128 meg pc100 ram, 13 gig maxtor HD
Zoom modem(which I don't use)
3com 3c509b Ethernet card ISA -- This particular card was only recognized during 1 of the 10 installations. The other installations I had to go to add new hardware in Control Panel and search for new devices. Whenever I reinstalled previous to these past two weeks, this ethernet card was always recognized.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer.

 

[edfair]

Haven't had that much problem on 98 (mostly haven't had to reinstall on 98 that much) but what you describe was a serious problem on some 95s. One solution was to remove everything that wasn't needed on basic install , get your basic install, then start adding boards back in. I suspect that you have a problem with the installer due to some combination of I/O addresses or IRQs that are in conflict when they want to install at the same time. Sound cards and network cards come to mind. And it may require you to make multiple installs to find the correct sequence.
I also spent 3 weeks of intermittent time solving this type of problem with flaky memory in the last month. Every version from 95 to 98SE failed differently , some not failing until IE was installed.
Good luck.

Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[dcusick]

Thanks for the response but here's the deal. I have reformatted my computer and reinstalled windows over 30 times in the past few months and I haven't changed any hardware for at least two months. I was able to get clean installs with how my hardware is set up now. I just haven't been able to get a clean install since the virus.

 

[edfair]

At what level reformat? And did you do a fdisk /mbr to clean the boot sector? You might need to go all the way to the bottom (low level reformat). I don't have any alarm bells ringing yet.
And one other thing you might want to try if you haven't. Fdisk and remove all partitions then add the partitions back. Will require one more reformat and reload, but hey, we all need practice. Except me, I got my 40 to 50 this month already.

Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[dcusick]

Thanks again for the response. Okay, I did a low-level format on my PC, then recreated the partition. I then reformatted and installed Windows 98 again. When the computer booted to windows the first time, the installation hung again on the Diamond Sonic Impact s90 sound card. It seems as if the sound card is the problem here, I think. Does this seem right? Could there be some problem with the motherboard that would cause this problem with the soundcard? I don't know if it's just me, but it just seems too coincidental that my PC isn't installing and booting correctly after that virus.

 

[edfair]

I'm out of my play-pen when you get specific with that card. How about removing it long enough to get the OS up and running. Then reinstall it.
I've heard of virus contamination of flash BIOS chips but I've never been struck. Don't know of anything else that will hurt the M/B.
I agree that the sound card is suspect. Did you put it in or was it pre-installed? And while you are rebuilding are you documenting the steps you are taking? It will crash again someday and you'll need the steps again or you'll end up with this set of problems again.

Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[dcusick]

Well I able to boot into windows if I canceled the driver installation for the sound card. Then the moment I tried installing the card, that's when everything froze on me. I took out the card and removed the drivers and everything seems to be fine. Since I initially installed the sound card after the installation, I don't think putting it back in now that windows is running will solve it. I guess the card is just fried. Oh well, at least a new sound card is a lot cheaper than a new mobo and processor. Many thanks to you Ed for your quick and helpful responses. Much appreciated.

Doug

 

[rubmir]

Have a very similar computer (VIA 503+, AMD K6-2 350MHz and Diamond S90 sound card). Everything worked fine under Win95 except the sound card which I had to mess around and uninstall/reinstall, multiple times till I finally got it running okay. Then I upgrade to WinME and now having sound card problems again. Everything else works fine, and even the sound card is fine most of the time except when trying to play a wave file from the Diamond Driver software setup and when playing Sim City 3000. Something about a wave device driver failing. Any suggestions? Anyone? Emailed Diamond and they said "haven't tested s90 with winME, why not purchase a new card from us" Yeah, toss the old one, throw away $30 and spend another $50 for another crummy Diamond product with crappy service.

 

[tomw]

Not to sure about Diamond Sound Cards, But with SB Live installs, I have to reserve (in BIOS setup) IRQ 5 for the card to work without causing lockups (in 98 as well as ME).


Tom Whitehead
twhitehead@commeq.com

 

[lexx]

Here is something to think about. some hardware devices need the software installed first in order to install on a machine properly.

Remove all instance of the device and driver from system. than look in the device manager to see what IRQ's are available

have a look at the device manual if it still exist. if not, than try a software install first, shut down, than put the device in.

also installing from the new device found may not always work the way you think, cancel the new device found and continue booting. than open device manager and update the driver. you may not see the device listed as the device you are installing, it may have a yellow ?. it is safe to have the driver disc in the bay and let the new driver search for the best driver on the disc.

 

[dcusick]

When my computer first bombed on me, I decided to try Windows ME. During the install process, when the setup program was searching for new hardware, it gave me errors when it found my sound card, Diamond Sonic Impact s90. This happened twice. Like I've said before, I don't know for sure if it was the virus that defected the card, but I doubt it. Ever since I first got the card and put it into my machine, my sound was a little jumpy if the exact driver wasn't used. I think there might be some compatibility issue with the FIC VIA 503+ and the S90 card. Since then I've purchased a new Mobo and processor and will be getting a new, non-Diamond sound card sometime around Xmas. I am using all my same hardware, except for the sound card and my computer is running flawlessly.