Help needed, please!

My friend believes his computer is infected by a virus. He downloaded some files and his computer started acting crazy. Now it won't boot. It stops right after the speed bar. I tried F8 to boot into safemode, but that didn't work either. A blank screen with the words window safemode appear on the top and bottom. He doesn't have a backup or recovery disk. Is this a software or hardware problem?

Is there anything he can do? Thanks.

 

Could be either... He could in fact have a virus, or he could be experiencing a coincidental hardware failure (an impending HDD failure could give you the same symptoms).

 

Thanks. Would booting in safemode bypass any virus problem? Following this logic, if it can't boot in safemode, then a hardware failure could be the problem. What can be done to get it back up and running? I am sure this is not a big problem for the brilliant minds here.

 

it is not necessarily a hardware failure (can be, but it's not sure). in case that some important file has been infected and then removed by some antivirus software... you may need to repair the windows now. you will need a windows installation cd/dvd for that.

i overlooked this... so editing to add: this looks like the system DOES start working, only the environment won't show up... try if you can launch the task manager (left ctrl+shift+esc) and try to run explorer.exe manually. in case that this idea is not a complete nonsense, the taskbar & icons & everything should appear then.

 

Thanks. How do I run explorer.exe manually?

 

i don't have english windows here, so the buttons can be labelled slightly differently, anyway...

1) run task manager - left ctrl+shift+esc

2) go to menu File - New Task (Run...)

3) in the newly open little window with a text input, type "explorer.exe" (without quotes) and confirm

can you see any desktop icons / taskbar / whatever now?

 

I tried but nothing came up. After hitting F8, there is a list of start up options. I have tried starting nomarlly, safemode and safemode with command prompt. Nothing worked. There is something called Debugging mode that I haven't tried. What does that do? Does it start step by step and tell you if something is wrong?

1. I want to remove the hard drive and connect it to my laptop as an external drive and use an anti-virus program to detect and kill any virus. Is there a cable I can buy that lets me connect the hard drive this way? Would an anti-virus program help?

2. But before doing that, is there any other key I can hit beside F8?

Thanks.

 

You tried CTRL-ALT-DEL and nothing came up?

Also, did you try "Last Known Good Configuration"?

 

You basically have 3 options.

1. Get into save mode (do you get an error or something when you try to get into save mode?)

2. Find a copy of windows are do a repair so you can enter windows in case some system files are damaged. That will allow you to do a backup of the files you need.

3. Theres an adapter that allows you to connect a laptop hdd on a usb port, that way you will be able to scan the drive for viruses (not sure how much it costs since i cant remember the name)

Not sure if you got any other options.

FYI, its rare for a virus to damage the computer that much that it wont even allow you to enter save mode. So it might be better to look if its a hardware problem first.

 

During normal boot up, it just stops right after the speed bars.

I have tried safemode, safemode with command prompt and last known good configuration. Nothing worked.

This computer is running Windows XP Professional. Does the Windows XP disc has the repair feature?

Thanks for help, guys.

 

What exactly does it do when you try to enter save mode ?

 

Yes the XP CD will have the repair install on it. You'll need to know the admin password for the computer. If one was never setup just leave it blank.