It all started with (a) virus(es). Ave.exe, vista internet security, and a few others. I used an AVG tool recommended to me by a friend that is on a USB stick that I could boot to and run my scan to locate the infections that Symantec couldnt while the OS was up and running. AVG found three files: users/appdata/local/ave.exe, users/appdata/local/opera/opera/profile/cache4/opro5nqz, and windows/system32/drivers/iastor.sys.
Dummy me, I deleted all three not knowing that iastor would cause a world of trouble. I was unable to boot following the purge. No startup repair helped. Finally I was advised to change my SATA settings in BIOS to see if I could then boot. I changed the controller mode from AHCI to ATA after disabling the flash cache module. I was able to boot after I made those changes. But when I got vista booted, it seemed that vista forgot how to treat executables. I was asked what program to use to open rundll32.exe, what program to use to open the exe for a driver downloaded from dell to replace the iastor i deleted, even what to use to open firefox.exe. Just as a hunch I tried running a few things "as admin" from the context menu, which actually worked. I was able to extract the driver and replace the iastor file in system32. After doing that I went back into BIOS and changed back to AHCI. Boots like a champ now, but still doesnt know how to treat exes. Also noticed that when i try to acess task manager from right clicking the taskbar i get a "cannot be found" message, whereas if I ctrl-alt-del to open task manager it works fine. Also during this Vista installed 13 updates. And I just noticed sp1 was never successfully installed.
Anyone know how to help a fool?
Edited by ignignokt83, 29 April 2010 - 01:13 PM.
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