OT: Computer help, please

[ZIM]

Usually, I don't have any problems- but this is new territory for me.

I had gotten a load of virii :mad: that were doing crosslinks, etc. After having gotten rid of them, then running scandisk out of DOS to eliminate the crosslinks, the 'puter still wouldn't boot properly.

So: long story short, I Fdisk'd and Format'd the thing, then loaded Linux [to replace the MBR], etc.

BUT: the MoBo won't read the HD higher than about 3000 megs, and even then won't load anything in. :confused: Worse, I hooked up another, seperate HD and that wasn't detected at all. The 'Rescue' [pfft] disk does little and can't get any OS of any sort loaded.

I'm thinking that the BIOS is either infected or corrupted. I've flashed it and found the name, etc. then downloaded the update.

So here's the question: How does that work? Does it flush or replace the BIOS, solve the problem, let me get on with my life, what??? And, of course, is there anything you think I've missed?

It's either that or I need a low-level Format. Seems kind of drastic!

TIA

[Christopher M]

Did you format your hard disks as FAT file system rather than NTFS maybe?

[WanderingMonk]

Originally posted by ZIM
BUT: the MoBo won't read the HD higher than about 3000 megs, and even then won't load anything in

First, do you know what virus you got? Do you know its name and did you look up its characteristicis?

It helps to know what the heck you are dealing with first. Of course, you might be first victim of these new virus in the wild. If you are, good luck.

Anyway, if not you can get the basic virus database info on these bugger by searching on google or go on one of anti-virus vendoer's site after scanner tells you what the heck you are playing with.

What kind of bios do you have? award? ami? did you use the auto-dect hard drive function? can you manually configure the hd by specifying clinder, sectors, etc? Depending on which bios you have, you have different options.



. :confused: Worse, I hooked up another, seperate HD and that wasn't detected at all.


I'll check if the data/power cable (those that's plug into the disk) was plug in properly first. IN fact, switch the main hd drive with this new hd (might not be the best idea if you don't know what virus you have). but since you already killed your boot sector (assuming it did not infect the bios), it might not be the worst idea in the world. See what happens, see if you pc see this new drive. maybe your old drive is dead. But, make sure all data on the second hd is disposable in case soemthing happens. I don't know if corrupted bios can do anything to a hd, haven't read anything about it yet. But, I haven't been reading the latest virus bulletin warning neither.



The 'Rescue' [pfft] disk does little and can't get any OS of any sort loaded.


are you working with xp or w2k? mac os x?
how about just format the **** disk and load basic dos on? can you do that? can you boot from a dos floopy?



I'm thinking that the BIOS is either infected or corrupted. I've flashed it and found the name, etc. then downloaded the update.

So here's the question: How does that work? Does it flush or replace the BIOS, solve the problem, let me get on with my life, what??? And, of course, is there anything you think I've missed?

It's either that or I need a low-level Format. Seems kind of drastic!

TIA

bios flash basically zap what's in it (bios chip) right now and replace it with the thing (program) you downloaded. be careful, if you got the wrong one, the sucker (your pc) would be dead and not start. well, at least that's what happen to one of my friend's computer. he had to call the vendor to get a new bios chip. but that was couple of years ago, they might have improved the flashing program. My new pc manual says it will survive a bad bios flash, but I have my doubts.

wm

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

did you check your partitions to make sure you didnt assign it 3gig during fdisk? it's easy to misplace a zero.

did you try another os disk?

can you place the first drive in another machine to see if it at least reads as slave?

i don't mean to talk down to you, but did you remember to also check your jumpers when you put the second drive? you sound like you know better, but it's tough giving advice to someoen you don't know over the net.

also if it's not reading another drive that you are absolutely sure works you likely have more problems than the virus. i don't see a virus ****ing your bios at all let alone to the point where flashing it doesnt work. you could luck out and have a bad ide cable but that's also unlikely. it happens, but not very often. this is of course if your absolutely sure both drives and your cd are good. cause if that's the case it sounds like you might have hardware problems elsewhere. motherboard could be flaking out. if you cant use two working drives i'd say its time to start stripping and swapping, but i'd try repartitioning and formatting again first.

[ZIM]

Thanks so far for all answers given.

To respond to the Q's:
It was running Win98. The pre-loaded disks I swapped with were another teeny Win98 and an old Corel Linux disk. I have tried them all on both ide1 and ide2.

I think whats going on is the Win98 Rescue/DOS disk is creating a virtual disk, labeled C, and writing to that [which is the above-mentioned 3K megs and not the 3 gigs it should be]. The reason I gave the Linux install a go [from a CD, not a disk] was to see if the table change would do anything. Nope- it still writes to nowhere.

All wires seem fine, all other peripherals are reading accurate- meaning I have floppy and correctly ID'd CD-RW, etc.

BIOS virii do exist, but are quite rare, I guess, from the panic-reading I'm doing. I'm trying not to jump the gun here, tho. ;) The BIOS is hard-wired into the board, so it's either software or junk it. Naturally, this happened just after the warranty goes.... :rolleyes:

When Scandisk was going, one of the crosslinks was to 'phoenix' files...I'm running AMIBIOS, so it's possible there's a relation... I'm no BIOS expert. It's also possible that the MBR was just placed in some random part of the disk, or split, whatever. That's why I'm looking at a low-level format. :( None too pleased with that, 'cuz that can kill the disk. Also- if that is required, are there any programs that you know of that can do the job and run in DOS?

I tried to Download F-PROT for DOS, but the file from the main site is currupt? Bizarre.

As for the virii: Sorry, I don't recall the names. I know that at least two were file-copiers that just or mostly just crosslinked things to fill it up, at least one was a trojan of some kind, and a couple of nasty .c scripts.... The AV just kept locking things up- both a good and bad thing, I guess. I just figured, 'hose the system', you know?

YES I run a firewall and update my antivirus nearly daily. NO I don't indulge in shady software-sharing or dimwitted email opening, NOR do I have Outlook or it's inbred 'express' cousin installed. This has been policy for me since 1998.

But I'll tell you this: it started on Bearshare when I looked for French-English dictionaries. Horrid! Those kazaa thingies blow serious chunks! and what's up with all the pron, anyway??? :rolleyes:

I'll give the old Format and Fdisk thing another go for now, then force the geometry, then do the flash as a next-to-last resort [thanks for the answer on that!]. Oh, 1 last thing: yes, it sounds like a lot to do for a little disk like that, but there's no way I'm putting a large disk anywhere near this MB till I know it's cool.


don't mean to talk down to you, but did you remember to also check your jumpers when you put the second drive? you sound like you know better, but it's tough giving advice to someoen you don't know over the net. No worries- I understand. I may be missing something quite simple.

[David Jamieson]

yep, kungfu discussion forums are the first place to go for computer consultation.

you aren't roomates with the guy who's ex-gf suckered him on a electric bill are you?

what's with you guys and your so far off topic it's like another dimension type posts anyway??

hmmmn??

hmmmn?

[anton]

*mumbles something about partitions*

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

yep, kungfu discussion forums are the first place to go for computer consultation.

kfo is the first place i go for consultation on anything.

for a large part im not kidding.

[WanderingMonk]

Originally posted by ZIM
Thanks so far for all answers given.

To respond to the Q's:
It was running Win98. The pre-loaded disks I swapped with were another teeny Win98 and an old Corel Linux disk. I have tried them all on both ide1 and ide2.

I think whats going on is the Win98 Rescue/DOS disk is creating a virtual disk, labeled C, and writing to that [which is the above-mentioned 3K megs and not the 3 gigs it should be]. The reason I gave the Linux install a go [from a CD, not a disk] was to see if the table change would do anything. Nope- it still writes to nowhere.


Your description is not clear to me. Please answer the following question. I am not sure I can help but I think if you answer these questions, your situation will be clear to other people.

When you go into the bios, does the bios properly identify the hd (using the autodect hard drive fucntion)? If not, what does it say (i.e., your drive geometry and what is it actually)? Can you select user defined hd, which allow to specify the geometry yourself? IF so, can you pick one that match your hard drive?

Assuming that work, the bios id the hd properly, I would assume the bios is fine right now.

You got a clean dos boot disk right? after you boot into the computer, do a chkdsk on c drive.
what does it tell you about the drive info. This tells what your current c drive situation is.

Assuming you know how to use fdisk, can you write down its description of your hard drive partition breakdown? how many active partition? The size of each active partition? If you have a logical partition? the size of logical partition? Does this add up to the proper size of the drive?

You need to know this to see if you mess up when fdisk your disk.

Your description of the rescue op, make me think you got one of those "brand name" computer. I just got one myself and the vendor partitioned the hard drive into two partition.
both of them are set active. When you fdisk your disk, did you switch the active off on the main partition? Dos fdisk has a limitation of only setting one partition active (something microsoft did to make life easier for its dos). If you accidentally set the main partition to non-active (logical), the only way to make it active again is to use a linux fdisk or fips. fips allow to slice up hard drive into smaller partition like partition magic, except it is a freeware and not the easiest thing in the world to use.




All wires seem fine, all other peripherals are reading accurate- meaning I have floppy and correctly ID'd CD-RW, etc.


I suspect you fdisk your hd wrong by the sound of things.



When Scandisk was going, one of the crosslinks was to 'phoenix' files...I'm running AMIBIOS, so it's possible there's a relation... I'm no BIOS expert. It's also possible that the MBR was just placed in some random part of the disk, or split, whatever. That's why I'm looking at a low-level format. :( None too pleased with that, 'cuz that can kill the disk. Also- if that is required, are there any programs that you know of that can do the job and run in DOS?


not possible, if you fdisk it right, it can create a new generic mbr. low level format destroy all data info and previous set up partition, beyond that it (low level format) is not a serious problem. you just have to fdisk it and set up the partition table again and reformat the hd, and reinstall everything from a cd. of course, last resort, don't jump into the water until you absolutely have to.



I tried to Download F-PROT for DOS, but the file from the main site is currupt? Bizarre.


that is a big red flag. how did you transfer the f-prot into your old computer? I am a f-prot fan and their file has never been corrupted in my experience. did you download it right, try redownloading it. unzip the files and run it on your current working system. if it work there, then something is going on. either you transfer it wrong (ie bad floppy) or the virus is in memory and it disrupt the operation of unzip (when you uncompress the files) or f-prot.



As for the virii: Sorry, I don't recall the names. I know that at least two were file-copiers that just or mostly just crosslinked things to fill it up, at least one was a trojan of some kind, and a couple of nasty .c scripts.... The AV just kept locking things up- both a good and bad thing, I guess. I just figured, 'hose the system', you know?

don't do that, next time boot from a clean disk and run the latest av. if it does keep locking up, i would copy all the vital data onto a floppy and then format the drive. fdisk is the last resort b/c it is hard to use and sometime when you don't use it right, it mess up the partition table. I used fdisk several time, but I don't like its user interface and how cranky it is.

wm

[ZIM]

Note to KL- Hey, I said it was OT. And besides, like GTA says, this IS the place to go- kung fu ppl seem to be much more helpful than the pile of average moes out there... ;)

WM-
Without listing numbers, I can answer some of your questions. First, I have experience with fdisk, etc. The new thing for me is the BIOS and virus area- I'm familiar with what virii do, but not how they do it. I didn't know that virii could go to memory, for example, which I think you hinted at.

Um. The computer is generic, I built it. Auto detect is not useful, does not match the geometry and in fact does not show the HD. I can input the geometry myself. Fdisk doesn't seem to be writing the table at all and Format can't be done currently b/c there's 'no disk'.

F-Prot didn't unpack correctly on another system entirely- so another download site may correct that.

[And now to get the geometry! :) Oh- and Gigabyte wrote back, giving me some other advice. The BIOS I downloaded is correct. Whew!]

[David Jamieson]

just being facetious...you know, trying to fit in and all that.

oh the bitter rejection of being the moderator of the likes of this crew sometimes. hahahaha

i love you guys *eric cartman voice

i hate you guys *ditto on the voice

it's a real yin yang thing, good thing i live close to a polar region hayuk yuk

cheers

[WanderingMonk]

ZIM,

okay, good luck.

Kung Lek,

Somebody has to play the bad cop and since you are the moderator, I guess you're it.

BTW, what happen to your partner, Renegade_monk? Shouldn't he be moderating too? You seem to be more active. Why don't you let him play the bad cop and you play the good cop?

wm

[ZIM]

It was harrying, but it is done.

As it turned out, the BIOS was indeed corrupted, but not infected. The geometry did have to be forced, but now reads at auto. YAY!

Thanks to all. :)