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    HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook drive FROZEN

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by tony352, Nov 13, 2013.

  1. tony352

    tony352 Newbie

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    Hi All:

    A few weeks ago I started to download DVDShrink from what looked like a perfectly legitimate company site. After I clicked to download the program it began to install itself. At the same time all kinds of alarms went off - Comodo, Avast, Malwarebytes - and I quickly shut down.

    After booting up I ran a quick Mbam scan and it found 32 infected files which I deleted. I then ran a full Mbam scan and it found a bunch more. Later I also ran full Mbam and Avast scans but this time around neither came up with anything. I also used ERDNT to replace the Registry with a clean earlier copy.

    For a few days everything ran OK but then Firefox began to freeze up whenever I brought up a page with a Youtube video on it. Then other things started to freeze - Task Manager, etc. - and now it's reached the stage that the computer won't boot up properly at all. Almost everything is frozen. The computer won't even start in safe mode. At best it just brings up my mouse pointer (which is working) and my desktop wallpaper but nothing more.

    Different Windows messages have appeared at times one of which said something to the effect that Windows was stopping to prevent further damage. Since I can't get into the computer to do anything at all I'm wondering if I'm going to need a new hard drive installed to get the computer working again.

    Any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.
     
  2. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    Sounds like you need to re-install Windows, not get new hardware.


    Good luck.
     
  3. tony352

    tony352 Newbie

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    Yes, I know. But how to do that when I cannot get into the computer to do anything? As I said, the computer is frozen.
     
  4. idiot101

    idiot101 Down and Broken

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    Download the appropriate version of the OS. Put it on a USB drive or DVD and boot to it. It should allow you to reformat the computer. Install the fresh OS. Change the boot order in the BIOS if the media is not detected.

    What OS do you use? Windows 7 can be downloaded from here
     
  5. tony352

    tony352 Newbie

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    Thanks a bunch, especially for that valuable link.

    I'll give it a try.
     
  6. djembe

    djembe drum while you work

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    Windows 7 can also boot to a recovery mode where it fixes changes made to the operating system. You can try that before re-installing.
     
  7. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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