I have been able to fend off most malware attacks in the past, but one I received a few months ago completely took me by surprise. One evening I booted up my computer only to find a password request that appeared to have come from inside my BIOS. Not being able to suppy a password I was, in effect, locked out of my computer. I pressed the return key again and the same request appeared on the monitor screen. On the next attempt, I was greeted by a "blinking smiley" that stopped everything cold.
I was able to gain entry to the computer by re-setting two micro-switches on the motherboard: "Clear Password" and "Clear CMOS." Next, I thought would be able to zero fill the hard drive with a Seagate utillity and then reload my OS and that would be that. Not so.
On attempts to load Windows XP, I get blocked out early on with a screen msg. " File Setupdd Could Not Be Loaded. The error Code is 4." Sometimes the error code will vary the number, but the msg. is always the same.
On attempts to load a version of Windows 2000 Professional I have, I get a bit further along, Win2K loads setup files . Setup starts Win2K with "To Setup Windows Now Press Enter." The EULA comes on and F8 is
pressed to accept the terms and to proceed, A list of existing drive partitions appears and a request to select the drive item to load Win2K on( C:\ NTFS Disk1_Vol1) is highlighted and selcted. Next Windows shows different file systems to format. I select "The Current File System Left
Intact. " Setup then examines the disk and proclaims it cannot copy the" file 12520457.CPX. An option is presented to skip the file, but you are warned Win2K may not work properly. On an attempt to proceed, Setup proclaims
it cannot copy file 12520850.CPX. The same option to proceed by skipping this file comes on by pressing ESC.
Another window appears announcing Setup cannot copy AAMON.DLL. Subsequent files that appear as cannot be copied are: ACELPDEC.MX,ACLUL.DLL, ACSETUPC.DLL, ACTIVEDS.DLL, ACTMOVIE.EXE, ACTSAVER.SCR, DRIVER.CAB, DRIVEPROP.CHM, and finally, DRMCLIEN.DLL. On next attempt to bypass a file,
a BSOD appears and the system crashes.
My big questions are these:
(1) Are hackers now able to flash a BIOS leaving malicious code on it?
(2) Can these be legitimate files being called up, and are my OS discs totally corrupted?
(3) Are hackers now able to penetrate the BIOS rendering my antivirus totally useless?
(4) Can my OS discs be used on another system without corrupting that system?
(5) Can my BIOS chip be replaced, rendering my machine useable again?
Any help in answering these questions will be greatly appreciated.
Bill Martins
I was able to gain entry to the computer by re-setting two micro-switches on the motherboard: "Clear Password" and "Clear CMOS." Next, I thought would be able to zero fill the hard drive with a Seagate utillity and then reload my OS and that would be that. Not so.
On attempts to load Windows XP, I get blocked out early on with a screen msg. " File Setupdd Could Not Be Loaded. The error Code is 4." Sometimes the error code will vary the number, but the msg. is always the same.
On attempts to load a version of Windows 2000 Professional I have, I get a bit further along, Win2K loads setup files . Setup starts Win2K with "To Setup Windows Now Press Enter." The EULA comes on and F8 is
pressed to accept the terms and to proceed, A list of existing drive partitions appears and a request to select the drive item to load Win2K on( C:\ NTFS Disk1_Vol1) is highlighted and selcted. Next Windows shows different file systems to format. I select "The Current File System Left
Intact. " Setup then examines the disk and proclaims it cannot copy the" file 12520457.CPX. An option is presented to skip the file, but you are warned Win2K may not work properly. On an attempt to proceed, Setup proclaims
it cannot copy file 12520850.CPX. The same option to proceed by skipping this file comes on by pressing ESC.
Another window appears announcing Setup cannot copy AAMON.DLL. Subsequent files that appear as cannot be copied are: ACELPDEC.MX,ACLUL.DLL, ACSETUPC.DLL, ACTIVEDS.DLL, ACTMOVIE.EXE, ACTSAVER.SCR, DRIVER.CAB, DRIVEPROP.CHM, and finally, DRMCLIEN.DLL. On next attempt to bypass a file,
a BSOD appears and the system crashes.
My big questions are these:
(1) Are hackers now able to flash a BIOS leaving malicious code on it?
(2) Can these be legitimate files being called up, and are my OS discs totally corrupted?
(3) Are hackers now able to penetrate the BIOS rendering my antivirus totally useless?
(4) Can my OS discs be used on another system without corrupting that system?
(5) Can my BIOS chip be replaced, rendering my machine useable again?
Any help in answering these questions will be greatly appreciated.
Bill Martins