[Pbennett83]

Hi,
I loaded up my sony vaio vgn-nr21m the other day (operating system vista) and a windows defender message came up saying it had detected malware and then the computer just crashed...wouldnt do anything so i had to pull the battery. Since then when i start the computer it loads up a windows error recovery screen with two options of launch startup repair and start windows normally neither of which will work, occasionally it will load through to a windows boot manager screen advising the use of the recovery disc but with an error message saying that the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible. I seem to have lost my recovery discs (which i am kicking myself about) so. Ordered a hirens boot cd from ebay to try and get it going, it reads the disc fine and starts to load up mini windows xp hut then crashes half way through loading.
I decided to try and perform a full system restore to wipe everything and start fresh, but when i press f10 as the computer loads a message stating 'a disk read error occurred, press ctrl + alt + del to restart'
Im wondering if the malware has caused a hard drive failure and if its worth trying to repair, has anyone had this before or any help that you could give me would be great.

Thanks

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Hello and welcome to Geeks to Go. I am sorry that you are having troubles with your computer and will try my best to help you. I know that being infected is very frustrating, but I will be here to help you through the whole process of cleaning. Removing malware can be difficult and complicated and will most likely take many steps, so please stick with me until I have declared your computer clean. I always recommend printing my instructions before following them in case you cannot keep this webpage open. Please be sure to alway follow all steps exactly as they are written and let me know what happens each time. Stop and ask if something unexpected happens or if you are unsure of how to proceed.

Please respect my volunteered time and stay with me until I declare your computer clean. If you are going to be delayed for a while, please let me know.

Please note that I am currently in training as a GeekU Senior. My posts must be reviewed by an instructor, so there may be a slight delay.

Please respond to this thread so that I know you are still with us. I will post some instructions soon.

[Buddierdl]

Hello and welcome to Geeks to Go. I am sorry that you are having troubles with your computer and will try my best to help you. I know that being infected is very frustrating, but I will be here to help you through the whole process of cleaning. Removing malware can be difficult and complicated and will most likely take many steps, so please stick with me until I have declared your computer clean. I always recommend printing my instructions before following them in case you cannot keep this webpage open. Please be sure to alway follow all steps exactly as they are written and let me know what happens each time. Stop and ask if something unexpected happens or if you are unsure of how to proceed.

Please respect my volunteered time and stay with me until I declare your computer clean. If you are going to be delayed for a while, please let me know.

Please note that I am currently in training as a GeekU Senior. My posts must be reviewed by an instructor, so there may be a slight delay.

Please respond to this thread so that I know you are still with us. I will post some instructions soon.

[Buddierdl]

Hi Pbennett83,

I am assuming your computer is 64-bit. If this is incorrect, please let me know and I will provide you with different links.

Download the following three programmes to your desktop :


1. WiNTBootIc
2. Windows Vista RC
3. Farbar Recovery Scan Tool


Extract wintoboot to your desktop
Insert a USB drive of at least 1GB
Run Wintoboot



Drag and drop the Windows 7 ISO to the programme in the space indicated
Tick the Format box and accept the warnings
Press Do It

You will see it progressing



It will let you know when it is done
Then copy FRST to the same USB




Insert the USB into the sick computer and start the computer. First ensuring that the system is set to boot from USB
Note: If you are not sure how to do that follow the instructions Here


When you reboot you will see this.
Click repair my computer


Select your operating system


Select Command prompt


At the command prompt type the following :

notepad and press Enter.
The notepad opens. Under File menu select Open.
Select "Computer" and find your flash drive letter and close the notepad.
In the command window type e:\frst64.exe and press Enter
Note: Replace letter e with the drive letter of your flash drive.
The tool will start to run.
When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.

Press Scan button.
It will make a log (FRST.txt) on the flash drive. Please copy and paste it to your reply.

[Pbennett83]

Hi buddierdl, thanks for replying to my post.
I have tried following the info above, i have downloaded the programs onto my usb stick and set my computer to read usb first, i had to set the advanced settings in the bios to external drive boot to enabled is that right?
It loads and says windows is loading files, then the microsoft corporation sign is displayed with a loading bar, the screen then goes black with a white mouse pointer at which point it crashes and the usb stick seems to stop being active.....its further than i have managed to get so far, any ideas of anything else i can try
Once again thanks for your help, paul

Edited by Pbennett83, 23 March 2013 - 01:32 PM.

[Buddierdl]

Hi Pbennett83,

Sometimes a CD will work when a USB doesn't. Download imgburn and use it to burn the Vista RC iso to a CD, following this tutorial. Then see if you can boot to the CD and follow the insructions above.

[Pbennett83]

Thats great thanks for the advice, i have ordered an external cd writer so i can burn it onto a cd as i only have access to a netbook so ill give it a try next week when ts delivered, thanks

[Buddierdl]

Ok, let me know.

[Pbennett83]

Hi buddierdl,
I have managed to burn a cd and try loading up the computer, it says windows is loading but eventually goes black screen, after about 5 minutes of waiting a white cursor loads and when moving its with smaller screen limits if that makes sense, at that point the computer crashes and won't do anything, won't even let me ctrl alt + del back to restart

[Buddierdl]

Can you confirm that the computer has Vista, 64-bit?

Do you ever get to this screen:

[Pbennett83]

Hi, I never manage to get to that screen at all, I'm not sure if its 64 bit, i can only find labels that state windows vista home premium OEMAct

[Buddierdl]

Hi Pbennett83,

If it doesn't say 64-bit on the sticker, then it is probably 32-bit. Let's give it a shot.

Burn Vista 32-bit RC to a CD using imgburn, and see if you can boot from it, following the same instructions.

If that is successful, then you will need to place FRST on your flash drive and run it at the command prompt, instead of FRST64.exe that you downloaded before.

[Pbennett83]

Thanks for the advice again buddierdl, I've tried that with the program's for 32 bit vista recovery, again it won't load up anything past the windows is loading page again loading to a black background with a white cursor....I'm losing my patience with it now and ready to throw it out if the window haha, do you think it could be a hardware failure that's possibly causing the issue?

[Buddierdl]

Hi Pbennett83,

It's is beginning to look like a hardware issue. See if you can run the inbuilt hardware tests as described here.

[Pbennett83]

Thanks for the link, however when I press f10 at startup it comes up with the message 'a disc error occurred, press ctrl alt + del to restart' does this definitely mean that the hard disc is gone?

[Buddierdl]

Hi,

I'm sorry it took so long to reply, but this fell off my radar. Do you have recovery disks for this computer? You can run the diagnostics from that as well.