XP killed my comp

[Lokoumi]

Hello folks,

Its been 12 hours. I have just bought a new HDD (30 G) and had it formatted (no partitions). The reason for this was my computer refusing to boot up. However, I rely need to reinstall a new os (prolly 98 2nd ed) and I cant gain access to the bios. That is to say the computer starts and then stops about 3 seconds later. I can tell because i hear the fans starting up and then stoping (no its not a fan or heat issue). No new hardware has been added, however I believe that virus called K0wbot (rampant all over Kazaa right now) infected my system, could this be the cause?.

There are 2 HDD's in my comp and one still contains the original software and files when the virus was on my pc. Ideally I would like to retain what is on this drive, being over 2 years worth of study notes, games, the usual stuff..
Is there any way of getting back my BIOS just so I may attempt a reinstall of win 98 or is it too late?

Ta for your input,

Lok

System stats:

XP prof
512 DDR RAM
HDD 1 20 G (old contains bulk of software but no os)
HDD 2 30 G (new, only just formatted)
AMD Athlon 1700 + processor

 

[Beer4meok]

Try taking out your battery on the motherboard for a few min then put it back in, this may get your bios back.it will set your bios back to default settings.
If this works, go into boot section and set bootorder to start from cd and then reinstall WinXP pro on your new drive.
To avoid any confusion only connect your new drive and make sure the jumper is set to master.
You can deal with transferring files from your old drive after you are up and running



Please let us know if the advice we give is of some help.
Feedback will benefit all
Dave

 

[bcastner]

Some machines store a portion of their bios on a fat12 sector at the beginning of the first hard disk. Compaq is well know for having done this.

 

[3wsparky]

there should be a red jumper on your motherboard with the power turned OFF and the battery IN place connect it from the current middle pin and other pin currently connected to the middle pin and the one remaining pin on the other side of the red jumper ,replace to the orginal position and there you go if that dont work bin it .

p.s. let me know the out come