VIRUS DESTROYED MY HD! THE HD DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE! 4

[Mudassar]

Please Help!

I had a Virus on my computer called Junkie.mp I didn't know about it untill my hard drive started making wierd clicking sounds. I was able to remove the virus it via DOS but by then the virus destroyed most of my HD! It just keeps making those cluck or clicking noises. I can't even format the hard drive. It gives me an error when its up to 4% of formatting.

I used fdisk and a HD repair program like spinrite 5. it just doesn't work.

I know a virus did this because it was also on my other computer which I bought last month. However, I took action quicker this time and killed it. BUT at the middle of the HD, it makes the clicking sound for a few seconds and then it returns to normal. In other words the virus did a bit of damage of my newer computers HD but not as much as it did on my other one.

Anyway I could fix this? Sorry for making this long. I hope you understand what I said. (VERY STRESSED!)

Thanks
MK

 

[osuman]

I don't see how it's possible for a virus to cause physical hardware damage. Have you tried using a zero-fill (low level format) utility? Justin
Feel free to email me at:
beckham@mailbox.orst.edu

 

[Mudassar]

No I havn't. What is it? OR where can I get it?

 

[osuman]

It should be available from the manufacturer of your HD. You don't say who makes your computer or any specs about it so I can't really tell you much more. If you bought it from a mainstream company call tech support or go to thier website and they might be able to set you up. Otherwise, open the case up and get a look at the HD make and model number. The HD manufacturer should have it downloadable on thier site, possibly incorporated with other utilities for partitioning and high level formatting. Be careful for static discharge when opening the case. Good luck. Justin
Feel free to email me at:
beckham@mailbox.orst.edu

 

[Howi]

Have you Fdisked the drive to remove the partition (s) then repartition before format?
Low level formats are generally discurraged by manufacturers.

 

[Mudassar]

Thanks for the tip Osuman. Unfortunately my hard drive has gone to a critical state and the bios can no longer detect it anymore. I guess I'll just throw it away. I am even more afraid that it could do the same for my other computer, which is not heavily infected at the moment. So I’ll use Zero-fill or Low level formatting on it before it gets worse. (I thought I got rid of the virus but since its memory resistant, I may be wrong)

Howi I already tried that. No luck. I also read about Low level format after Osuman telling me about it. Many Warnings, but it's better worth trying rather then buying a new HD first.

Thanks again! Wish me luck!
-----------------
MK

You have just waisted 3-6 seconds of your life by reading this comment.

 

[osuman]

I hadn't heard that low level formats (zero-fills) are not recommended. Could anyone point me in the direction of a good article about it? Justin
Feel free to email me at:
beckham@mailbox.orst.edu

 

[osuman]

I guess I should clarify a little bit here. Yes, an actual low level format can cause problems if it's interrupted during the process. A zero-fill utility is different from a low format, and I don't think it can cause any permanent problems. These terms are often used interchangably by people even though they are different things (I did it even though i know better). However, most manufacturer's don't make a true low format utility very available since it's done at the factory and there really is never a reason to do it again.

Back to your problem. What did you use to detect the virus? What do you mean by it being "memory resistant"?

I don't know a lot about viruses but I think something else is going on if your bios quit recognizing the drive. Can anyone explain how this would be possible? Justin
Feel free to email me at:
beckham@mailbox.orst.edu

 

[edfair]

There is a FAQ area in this forum that will take you where you can learn all about the critters.
From what I saw on Symantec, junkie infects exe and com files. Infection and hardware damage are 2 different things.
If formatting starts giving errors at 4% it is more likely that the hard drive is failing to read correctly (or failing to write) at that point. But it could be trying to recover a sector that was marked bad at some time in the past.
The virus is "memory resident" if it loads in memory and infects from there as files are accessed. The cure for a memory resident virus is a power off (30 second) reboot to an uninfected floppy, and cleaning from there.
Fdisk and removing all partitions, rebooting and fdisk /mbr, rebooting and hilevel format should remove any virus code. The reboots to be cold, power off between boots.
Some IDE controllers (ISA) have low level capability and Maxtor and Fujitsu had utilities that would work with embedded controllers. 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.

 

[Mudassar]

I have 2 Computers. The one that is completly damaged will be called..... Computer1 and the other.... Computer2... NOW:

OK.. I realized that the virus had infected my computer1 when my hard drive began to create BAD Sectors and the OS stopped working.
I achually first thought it was my Hard Drive physically damaged. But when I used an emergency anti virus disk from Macaffe, it dected the Junkie.mp virus. The Anti-Virus said that it removed it but just to be sure I used FDISK /MBR.
I then realized that I had an important file that I had to get from that HD. So I connected 2 computers up, The Computer1 and Computer2 and was successfully able to get that file.
Thats when I realized that this viurs can easily travel through networks in DOS (Read in an Artical). So I Scanned and found the virus on the computer2. However it was too late. It damaged 3MB of data in the middle of the drive before I could delete it. And That area I think can never be used again. (Unless If I use Low Level Format and hope it recovers)Ohh well.

Anyway, back to Computer1:
I tried to format the drive. But there were so many bad sectors on the drive that the formatting process stopped.
ScanDisk kept on finding more and more BAD Sectors everytime I scan that HD... Thats when I became so stressed that I Asked for help from Norton AntiVirus People and Macaffee. Norton people said "A Virus can not damage your hard drive.... Please contact your hard drive manufacturer for assistance..." ... Macaffe never responded... So then I posted here and got some good results by people like you!. I downloaded a Utility for Low Level Format and turned on my computer1. The HArddrive turned on but it just started making the clicking sounds right away. And the Bois give me an error that the HD is not responding!!! I was SO Close!!! I could of saved it!!! Too bad. After calming down I realized (again) that maybe my computer2 could do the same. so I have backed up all the files and I am now ready to give it a low level format. I just hope it works.


Wish me luck! -----------------
MK

You have just waisted 3-6 seconds of your life by reading this comment.

 

[Mudassar]

Edfair, I understand what you mean. But what I don't understand is that why did this SAME thing happen to both of my computers, one 3 years old, and one I got just a few months ago.

Both computers make the same funny clicking sounds. Both are saying they are bad sectors from ScanDisk. Both cannot be formatted becuase the bad sectors are unrecoverable or something.
I am confused. I know it can't be physical damage! I thought first but when I realized the same thing hapened to my other NEWER computer, it's just impossible to be a coincidence.

The one thats only a few months old still has a warrenty. So Maybe I should just get a new one. But How could a virus do this?

Ohh by the way, there are many types of junkie viruses. The one I got was this:
Virus: JUNKIE.MP
Location: Boot Sector

I may write a book about this virus. Once I fully understand how it worked and how to fix it if possible.


My main Question for now is:
SHOULD I LOW LEVEL FORMAT THE HARD DRIVE?
-----------------
MK

You have just waisted 3-6 seconds of your life by reading this comment.

 

[Alt255]

This clicking noise... does it sound like a drive head making contact with a platter?

Perhaps that's why the Norton people said "A Virus can not damage your hard drive.... Please contact your hard drive manufacturer for assistance..."

No offense but I think you are missing the obvious and needlessly beating your head against an unmoveable wall.

Alt255@Vorpalcom.Intranets.com​

 

[edfair]

Norton was correct in saying that a virus can't physically harm a drive. But the same code that allows low level formatting of a whole drive would allow track rewrite putting invalid addressing information on the track. And if you have invalid addressing then the OS which is looking for specific tracks and sectors is going to be recalibrating and reseeking which may sound like clicks.
The solution is to do a low level format which rewrites the address information. Then a fdisk, then a high level format.
The fact that the drive continues to show bad sectors on scandisk is a possible indicationthat there is continuing virus activity. But it also possible that the drive has gone south.
The only sure way to know what happened is for a programmer like Alt255 to get the virus and examine the code. I'm not the one to do it. My code writing is 20 years out of date and I never liked the Intel instruction set anyhow or their multiplexed busses, but the market has spoken.
As far as computer 2, get the stuff backed up before you lose more. But be sure to check anything coming off it. 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.

 

[dimlek]

I beliveve a virus can't affect to your computer physically whatsoever. BUT, what it CAN do is change your BIOS settings for power supply and in that way your computer will damage itself. I recommend you check your BIOS settings and see if any alterations have been made.
dimlek

 

[NiteRuleR]

From what little I know of viruses I believe that a virus can damage hardware, or rather the firmware that controls it

A rare version of the Win95.CIH virus that had infected some of the computers at my old college, had overwritten or caused a checksum error in the firmware on the graphics card's firmware control chip, thus rendering the card completely useless

It is possible that some of the newer hard disks made by companies such as IBM, may use flashable firmware that can be modified by a virus

The only other alternative is as alt255 said, the head is coming in contact with the platter, this is unlikely to be a fault in the hardware itself as it is happening in 2 systems at the same time, so it is possible that the disc is not getting enough power

Are the systems with this problem runing on the same power socket, or with another applience, if this is the case I would suggest moving the the system to somwhere else and see if the clicking stops

If you are suffering from power shortages and the system is not movable then a UPS system may be required, take a look at

http://www.apcc.com

where you can learn about the loss of data though having a below optimum power supply

Whatever you do, ensure you back up any valuble data before you make any changes

There is one lesson to be learned by this, as I have found out personaly, allways run a virus scanner in the background, and update the definitions on a regular basis

Good luck with geting the disks working whatever the problem

 

[Mudassar]

Thanks allot for your suggestions! I have backed up everything I could and going to Low Level Format now. Once finished I'll fdisk it and do a high level format. And reinstall windows.

I'll give you the results shortly!


Ohh yeah here are the answers to some of the questions you all gave me:

Alt255: I already tried beating the drive.. Also tried freezing it. No luck.

Edfair: Thanks! That’s what I will do right now.

dimlek: My Computer1 doesn't have any settings for power supply. Weird… But I reset both to default. No success. Thanks anyway.

NiteRuler: Both using different power supply.
I just hope this virus doesn't permanently destroy my hard drive.

I RECOMMEND EVERYBODY TO USE ANTI VIRUS! YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT COULD HIT YOU! I still havn't figured out where mine came from. Email, Internet, whatever. I hear that the Junkie.mp virus comes from a patch.
-----------------
MK

Everybody should use AntiVirus! Are you protected now?

 

[Mudassar]

I just realized the BOTH of my Hard Drives are IBM made.

Ones a 6GB which is 3 years old
And the other is 45GB 3-4 months old. IBM DLTA 307045

Could it be that just IBM drives have this problem? Who knows. ohh well... on with the Low Level Formatting... -----------------
MK

Everybody should use AntiVirus! Are you protected now?

 

[RGC]

I don't know what you poeple think, But there are virus's out there that DO physical damage. I know, The local competition gave me, ONE heck of a virus. It destroyed my boot sector on a 13gig HDD. I could run it as slave (fine) but, no low level or anyother format would restore the drive. I work with data recovery every day, and this drive can be used for nothing more than storage. I've been in touch with HDD manf. and they are stumped too! By the way the local comp. is doing TIME for this!!!! He left a Big E trail.

rafales@alltel.net

 

[Mudassar]

GUESS WHAT EVERYBODY!?

IT WORKED! NO MORE CLICKING SOUNDS, NO MORE BAD SECTORS!!! Thanks you all! Computer2 now works fine!

But I am convinced that my computer1 HD is gone. This is because the bad sectors are now in the way beginning of the drive. So even the Bois can no longer detect the drive. Which means I can't even Low Level Format.

But I have come up with another Idea.
Here’s my next question:

Can I MANUALLY set all those bits to 0's? Would getting a really strong magnet do the trick? Anybody done it before? How about you RGC?

Once again thanks to all for helping out! Especially Osuman and Edfair!
-----------------
MK

Everybody should use AntiVirus! Are you protected now?

 

[NiteRuleR]

I wouldnt risk using a magnet even I thought it would work (which I dont). A hard disk is a magnetic platter that can probably be randomized with a strong magnet (not zeroed) and then there is the chance of damaging the chips that control the disk

You have 3 options for this drive
1. You have probably tried this, put the faulty disk in the PC that now works, and try doing the LLF on it as a slave
2. See if you can mess arround with your BIOS and get it to recognise the disk and then do an LLF
3. Send the disk back to IBM, and see if they can find out what the problem is, at least if they can figure it out they might be able to prevent it from happening again

There might be hope for you yet