[paulcole]

I have read some tutorials and other posts with similar problems but am unsure what my next steps should be as don't want to wipe any data that I have stupidly not backed up!!!

After turning on my Dell pc running windows Vista I get the blue dell logo and have the options of presing F2 or F12 if nothing is pressed I then get a black screen with the following info:-

Controller Bus#00 device #1F function#02 02 ports, 02 devices

Port-00: Hard Disk, SAMSUNG HD160JJ/P
(This drive is contolled by the RAID BIOS)

Port -01: CDROM, SONY DVD+/- RW AW- Q10s

AHCI BIOS installed

The screen then stalls on this window and the only way of doing anything is by holding down CTRL, ALT, DELETE

This reboots but the same thing happens again!

I have tried pressing F2 and F12 and running a hard drive diagnostics which was fine but I am unsure what else to change/try next?

If anyone can get my pc working again I will be very happy to help them out

Thanks a lot Paul

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Please note that all instructions given are customised for this computer only, the tools used may cause damage if used on a computer with different infections.

If you think you have similar problems, please post the appropriate logs in the Malware Removal forum and wait for help.

Hi and welcome back to Geeks to Go.

I'm Dakeyras and I am going to try to assist you with your problem. Please take note of the below:

• I will start working on your Malware issues, this may or may not, solve other issues you have with your machine.
• The fixes are specific to your problem and should only be used for this issue on this machine!
• The process is not instant. Please continue to review my answers until I tell you your machine is clear. Absence of symptoms does not mean that everything is clear.
• If you don't know, stop and ask! Don't keep going on.
• Please reply to this thread. Do not start a new topic.
• Refrain from running self fixes as this will hinder the malware removal process.
• It may prove beneficial if you print of the following instructions or save them to notepad as I post them.
• Your security programs may give warnings for some of the tools I will ask you to use. Be assured, any links I give are safe.

Vista Advice:

All applications I ask to be used will require to be run in Administrator mode. IE: Right click on and select Run as Administrator.

The Operating System in use comes with a inbuilt utility called User Access Control(UAC) when prompted by this with anything I ask you to do carry out please select the option Allow.

Next:

This may be a actual hardware issue rather that malware related, anyway lets try the following...

Vista Startup Repair:

You will need the Windows Vista DVD that came with your computer...

• Bootup your computer from the Vista DVD.
• If not sure how to, a very good tutorial can be read here
• You will have to answer a few basic questions then select the option Repair your computer
• At the the System Recovery Options screen click Windows Vista to highlight then Next>
• You should now see the Searching for Problems...
• Note: If given the option to Perform a System Restore, do not select and cancel the option.
• If problems found let Startup Repair complete and follow the prompts.

Next:

Let myself know when completed the above and if any further issues and or problems encountered, thank you.

[Dakeyras]

Please note that all instructions given are customised for this computer only, the tools used may cause damage if used on a computer with different infections.

If you think you have similar problems, please post the appropriate logs in the Malware Removal forum and wait for help.

Hi and welcome back to Geeks to Go.

I'm Dakeyras and I am going to try to assist you with your problem. Please take note of the below:

• I will start working on your Malware issues, this may or may not, solve other issues you have with your machine.
• The fixes are specific to your problem and should only be used for this issue on this machine!
• The process is not instant. Please continue to review my answers until I tell you your machine is clear. Absence of symptoms does not mean that everything is clear.
• If you don't know, stop and ask! Don't keep going on.
• Please reply to this thread. Do not start a new topic.
• Refrain from running self fixes as this will hinder the malware removal process.
• It may prove beneficial if you print of the following instructions or save them to notepad as I post them.
• Your security programs may give warnings for some of the tools I will ask you to use. Be assured, any links I give are safe.

Vista Advice:

All applications I ask to be used will require to be run in Administrator mode. IE: Right click on and select Run as Administrator.

The Operating System in use comes with a inbuilt utility called User Access Control(UAC) when prompted by this with anything I ask you to do carry out please select the option Allow.

Next:

This may be a actual hardware issue rather that malware related, anyway lets try the following...

Vista Startup Repair:

You will need the Windows Vista DVD that came with your computer...

• Bootup your computer from the Vista DVD.
• If not sure how to, a very good tutorial can be read here
• You will have to answer a few basic questions then select the option Repair your computer
• At the the System Recovery Options screen click Windows Vista to highlight then Next>
• You should now see the Searching for Problems...
• Note: If given the option to Perform a System Restore, do not select and cancel the option.
• If problems found let Startup Repair complete and follow the prompts.

Next:

Let myself know when completed the above and if any further issues and or problems encountered, thank you.

[paulcole]

Hi Dakeyras,

I can not thank you enough for taking the time to help me with my problem, it has been almost a month without my pc so I really appreciate your time and patience. I have followed your instructions below and have booted from my Vista disc and after selecting the repair my computer option I have got the error message saying startup repair could not detect a problem. If I clcik finish it takes me back to the home screen where I can select the following:-

Startup Repair
System Restore
Complete Restore
Diagnostic Tool
Command Prompt

As per your instructions I have not clicked on the system restore

Can you advise if I should click this option or what what I should do next?

Before getting my PC to boot from the disc I had a lot of trouble and had to untick options in the F2 system setup screen? I may have also unticked certain options that may be needed further down the line. This was due to an error message I kept receiving saying flopy diskette failure???

Anyway I will wait to hear from you, and thanks again

Paul

[Dakeyras]

Hi and you're most welcome!

OK try the same procedure again but this time go for the System Restore option...In the event still the same issue we will merely take a different approach.

Do you know if your machine has a Recovery Partition or not? As this I will have to take into account if say the problem is MBR(Master Boot Record) related for example.

[paulcole]

Thanks for the quick reply, it is really appreciated. Ok I have selected the system restore and after succesfully restoring to an earlier date I restarted the pc and got the following error message

Drive 4 not found: serial ATA, SATA-4
Drive 4 not found: serial ATA, SATA-5
Strike F1 key to continue,F2 to run setup

As previously mentioned I changed a number of options without really knowing what I was doing!!!!

Yes call me stupid but I did not get a response from this site for over a month. So sorry if I have made this even harder than it may have been if I had not changed anything?

If I press F2 and change the SATA-4 and SATA-5 from on to off and restart I get the same screen as I had before

Controller Bus#00 device #1F function#02 02 ports, 02 devices

Port-00: Hard Disk, SAMSUNG HD160JJ/P
(This drive is contolled by the RAID BIOS)

Port -01: CDROM, SONY DVD+/- RW AW- Q160s

AHCI BIOS installed

Just an FYI in case you ask my boot sequence is as follows:-

Onboard or USB floppy drive = not present
Onboard SATA hard drive = not present
1. SAMSUNG HD160JJ/P
2. Onboard or USB CD-ROM Drive

Under the drives section I have the following selected:-

Diskette Drive = off
SATA-0 = on
SATA-1 = on
SATA -2 = not available on this chasis
SATA-3 = not available on this chasis
SATA-4 = off
SATA-5 = off
SATA operation = RAID On

I don't know if any of the above helps or needs changing but I wanted to tell you just in case?

Sorry

Paul

[Dakeyras]

Hi.

OK what I am going to do is seek a second opinion from the excellent IT Techs we have here in Geeks to Go as primarily I only provide Anti-Malware support...Then if this ongoing particular issue can be resolved we can continue with a Malware Removal check if the need.

[Dakeyras]

Hi.

What we are going to do first is attempt to boot your machine in a diffrent manner so you can retrive your data...

You will require either a CDR or DVDR for the below:-

Download OTLPEStd.exe

Double click OTLPEStd.exe and this will then open imgburn to burn the file to.

Now use the disk you have just created to boot up your unbootible machine.

Note: If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from CD follow the steps here.

As the CD/DVD needs to detect your hardware and load the operating system it may take some time to load.

Your system should now display a Reatogo desktop, as your machine is now running from the from CD/DVD it is not exactly speedy.

I suggest you use say a type of USB Drive to transfer you important data to, however this will need to be connected to your unbootible machine before booting with the CD/DVD you have just created as otherwise it will not be recognised by the system.

Let myself know how you got on and we will go from there, thank you.

[Dakeyras]

Everything OK, do you require further assistance?

[Dakeyras]

Due to lack of feedback, this topic has been closed.

If you need this topic reopened, please contact a staff member. This applies only to the original topic starter. Everyone else please begin a New Topic.

[Dakeyras]

Topic re-opened at OP's request.

[paulcole]

Hi Dakeyras,

Thank you for responding to my pm and re-opening my topic it is very kind of you.

I followed your instructions and burned OTLPEStd.exe to a dvd-r disc

Loaded it into my unbootable pc and managed to get it to load

Windows XP logo apperared and a strange desktop with lots of icons

I forgot to attach my usb hard drive before loading the disc so need to re-boot and make sure this is attached first.

Can you confirm what my next steps should be?

Thanks so much for all your time and effort

Paul

[Dakeyras]

Hi.

Thank you for responding to my pm and re-opening my topic it is very kind of you.

You're welcome!

I followed your instructions and burned OTLPEStd.exe to a dvd-r disc

Loaded it into my unbootable pc and managed to get it to load

Windows XP logo apperared and a strange desktop with lots of icons

Good and what you mentioned is absolutely fine and for the time being we are merely going to use this DVD to boot your machine and retrieve your documents & files etc.

I forgot to attach my usb hard drive before loading the disc so need to re-boot and make sure this is attached first.

Can you confirm what my next steps should be?

No problem...what you need to do is attach your USB Hard Drive to your unbootible machine whilst it is not booted up etc. Then use the DVD you have created to boot the machine.

Once it has booted you can use the My Computer icon on the Desktop to navigate around and begin to transfer(backup) anything you wish to save/make a copy of to your external drive.

Then once done that post back in this topic what exact make/modal your Dell unbootible machine is and we will go from there.

[paulcole]

OK I have managed to boot the pc and locate the files I needed to back up. Once again thank you for helping me do this, I owe you BIG time

The make of my Dell is a Dimension E520

Hope this helps?

Paul

[Dakeyras]

Hi.

OK I have managed to boot the pc and locate the files I needed to back up.

Good.

Once again thank you for helping me do this, I owe you BIG time

You're welcome!

The make of my Dell is a Dimension E520

Hope this helps?

OK go to this Dell Support article here and scroll down to Step 3 . Follow all the steps through 1 - 10 and afterwards your machine will have been reset to the condition it was in when first purchased.

Let myself know the outcome of the above and or if any problems encountered, thank you.

[paulcole]

More help needed please

The problem I have is the same as before, nothing happens when I press F8 and I am not seeing the windows logo!

All I see is the blue Dell logo and in the top right hand of the screen the option to press F2 or F12

Pressing F2 takes me into the system set up, I do not see anywhere the advanced boot option or the option to repair my computer as per the instructions on the link you kindly sent me.

If I dont press either F2 or F12 I get the same screen as before

Controller Bus#00 device #1F function#02 04 ports, 02 devices

Port-00: Hard Disk, SAMSUNG HD160JJ/P
(This drive is contolled by the RAID BIOS)

Port -01: CDROM, SONY DVD+/- RW AW- Q160s
Port -04: No device detected
Port - 05: No device detected

AHCI BIOS Installed

Drive 0: Disc Drive
Drive 1: DC-ROM Device

Floppy diskette seek FAILURE

Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility

Please can you help further

Paul