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JulienDarnell
10-02-2009, 11:15 AM
Hello all,

This is my first post on these forums and I am in desperate need of help.
I am running a Dell Optiplex GX620 for reference.

While trying to install something, I have mistakeningly installed what I learned to know as the "Advanced Virus Protection" virus. From what I have learned and seen on my PC, this virus invades the reg and makes it so you need to use its own software to get rid of it but makes you pay and then doesn't fix or give you money back. I knew better than to do this so I tried the stardard ways of removing malware. Scans, remove programs, all that. But for one, it doesn't allow you to open task manager and or Add Remove Programs or download any other malware remover program. It even tells you it can't reach a site if it has the keywords of "Malware" "virus remover" or anything of the sort. (It didn't let me go to Norton's site or any other remover site)

But here is the new problem, after attemping many different remedies to this problem, I finally got the idea to run it in safe mode. After trying the stadarn F8 proceedure, and failing, I found a way to do it manually ie: going through the Utility and chaning the settings in something called BOOT.iai or something like that, this was so it would manually reboot in safe mode. After I did this it shuts down and doesn't start back up. I can hear the drive running but there is nothing on my monitor. I checked the input and my monitor starts up and says ACER and then says 'No Signal' and then the light turns orange for sleep mode. I have no idea what to do now that it won't start up. This is my mothers PC and I was using it for webdesign and such but it is her link to her work and school. So this needs to be fixed ASAP, please please please help me out guys! If there is any other way around this besides wiping the drive it would be amazing but if not, I am willing to save the PC and wipe it.

Thank you so much in advance and I am sorry for the long post but I wanted to be specific as possible.

Fruss Tray Ted
10-02-2009, 12:39 PM
Do you have the recovery CD or operating system disk that came with that Dell?

Do you get at least a splash screen when first starting showing the BIOS report?

do you get a single beep to signify a successful POST?

Paul Komski
10-02-2009, 12:41 PM
boot.ini is probably the file you altered whether in msconfig or by some other means.

Suggest that for starters you try a WindowsXP Quick Boot (http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1817#wxp). Burn the Iso to make a boot CD or a boot floppy from the self-extracting exe. Change the boot order appropriately in the BIOS setup and reboot and you should be given 8 different options to start up WinXP. The first one is the appropriate one for most systems with one hard drive and one partition. If it doesnt work try the others in succession and report back if you are still stymied.

Some of these malware fake antiviruses can be very hard to remove but we can approach that problem later. An alternative approach, of course, is to backup all important data from the PC (say using a Knoppix - as per my sig - or other Utility CD (http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1813)) and reinstall Windows from scratch.

If that gets you in you can copy the boot.ini file from the CD or Floppy or manually reset/edit the original boot.ini file.

JulienDarnell
10-02-2009, 06:32 PM
Boot.ini is the was I altered from msconfig to manually boot in safe mode and that is when the black out happened.

I am sorry if I wasn't clear. If the computer is completely shut down and I press the power button on the CPU it starts up and flashes ACER when powering my monitor and goes black as if to load the Windows XP spash screen. But then nothing. The screen is black permanently. The CPU sounds like it is powering up and running normally but nothing is displayed. I have no access to any part of the OS.

Because the Cpu was a gift i don't have the Boot cd or a floppy for the OS.

mjc
10-02-2009, 07:36 PM
In Paul's post, there is a link to a bootable CD. This CD is what you would use to boot your machine to be able to repair/undo the changes to boot.ini.

http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1817#wxp

The item you want is the QuickBoot CD.

JulienDarnell
10-03-2009, 07:49 PM
I will try using the boot floppy but I dont have access to a floppy drive for 2 days so I will let you know if it is affective and wha to do after that. Do I just place the file on a floppy and insert it to the CPU and turn it on? And it should fix it and boot normally?

Paul Komski
10-03-2009, 11:12 PM
You can use the boot floppy if that is the way you want to go. Just put the floppy in its drive and reboot (having ensured that the BIOS setup is set to choose the Floppy before the Hard Drive).

You can use the boot CD in an exactly analagous way. Download THIS DIRECT LINK (http://paulski.com/bootcds/bootxp.iso) (it's under 2MB) and then burn the ISO file with something like BurnCDCC (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-free-software.htm).