Virus causing BSOD

I have a friends Dell Inspiron laptop, and every time you boot up (with the exception of safe mode), about 1 minute after boot, you get a BSOD.

I ran a scan with MSE, and it found 1 low risk virus, and deleted it.

I then ran a full Dr. Webcureit scan, and it found about 10 viruses, some low risk, and a few high risk.

It cleaned about 3 of them, and deleted 4 of them, and the other 3 said something like "this path could not be located". The file name was "content.ie5\FYZZ4J0E"

I took note of the folder path, and it is the folder "content.ie5". There is one under "documents and settings" under a few more folders, and one under "c:users", and again, under a few folders, ending in "temporary internet files\low\content.ie5".

I tried going to the "content.ie5" folder, and I got a BSOD. I eventually was able to delete the folders in the "content.ie5" but saw nothing with the name of "FYZZ4J0E".

Now if I explore the "content.ie5" folder, it shows nothing is there, no folder or files. But I am still getting a BSOD.

I tried scanning the folders again with Dr. Webcureit, and nothing popped up this time.

At this point, I'm not sure what to do next. The only thing I can think of would be to back up all the info, and re-install the OS, which would be a last-ditch effort.

 

Give malwarebytes ago to see if it will find anything. Also check with whocrash if it something else.

 

Now I have gotten a few BSOD's while in safe mode.

I was able to load up safe mode without a BSOD yet, so I am running malwarebytes.

 

download Who Crashed which will give an indeapth dump file on all bsod

 

Trying to do just that. I managed to look at it for a minute before another BSOD...and I am in safe mode.

Said something like "driver_irql_not_less_or_equal" and "bad_pool_caller".

I can't do anything though because I get a BSOD just a minute or two in.

I am also sure there is a virus in the "content.ie5" folder. Nothing shows up though, but on a few occasions (in safe mode), when I try to open that folder, a BSOD will occur.

 

If you enjoy the experience, dig further. You can try to fix damaged OS files, clean folders, scan more, etc.
Otherwise, backup important data, full-format the HDD/SSD and reinstall Windows and save yourself from further agony.
If you want to help your friend even more (and possibly yourself), first make a separate OS+progs partition and when done installing+updating the OS+progs, make an image of that partition.
(I'd go for option 2, quicker than a heart beat).

 

I do not have the OS CD that came with the laptop, and I don't know if he even still has it at all.

The BSOD's are pretty much instant now. I used to be able to stay in safe mode for a bit, but now I just get a BSOD as soon as it boots up.

I tried to select the "repair computer" option, it loads up but I am at the Vista screen, with a "other account" listed, and nothing else. When I click on it, it asks for a Username/Password. As far as I know, the computer doesn't have a password, just a username. I tried multiple things, but nothing seems to work.

 

There are ways around these problems but they aren't exactly worth the hassle. Agree with baserk, your best option is to use boot up using a live linux USB (if you have no experience with linux you can use ubuntu) and rescue all important files to an external drive or whatever, and then nuke it from orbit. Like really nuke it; rebuild the MBR if you can.

 

RAM might be faulty if you are getting alot of blue screens. Download memtest and leave it on overnight. Also if there is more than one ram stick take out one to see if it still blue screens.

 

^^ do that, but a clean re-installation might be the best option at the moment

cheers ...

 

Been at it for over 12 hours, doing research and trying to find out the problem. Also doing everything I could think of, still nothing.

Contacted my friend, and he doesn't have his recovery CD, but doesn't need anything on the computer anyways, so I wiped it clean, and I just upgraded it to Windows 7 from Vista (installing the OS right now).

I'm still not sure what the exact error was, but I think it was a combination of a nasty virus (MSE was not running when I got it, and it was out of date), and some corrupted drivers.