Problem how can i fix black screen virus on vista

Discussion in 'Computer Security' started by leeroy2612, Jan 7, 2011.

  1. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    how do

    ive picked up a virus on my vista 32bit desktop. this caused a black screen. ive done some research and it seems to be quite an old issue that does have some "easy fixes. ill bullet point the reason why these easy fixes arent working for me.

    . F8 doesnt respond
    . ctrl alt del just forces a reboot and nothing else
    . ive tried the vista recovery disc (that i downloaded) and set my boot order to disc drive first and ... nothing.

    i dont mind if i have to just reformat the whole HDD to rid the virus, but if none of the above will work, how can i. i wouldnt class my self as a noob, but this one has stumped me.

    please help
     
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  2. gosh1976

    gosh1976 Kilobyte Poster

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    have you tested that vista boot disk on another machine to make sure it works and actually boots? This may be obvious but that's not a wireless keyboard is it? (edit: I guess if you can get into the bios set up this isn't an issue) There are some free AV boot disks out there have you tried any of those?

    The risky way to go may be to install the hdd in another machine as a second drive in order to get to the bottom of this. I've done this a couple times but of course the risks should be obvious.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2011
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  3. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    What happens when you boot into safe mode?
     
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  4. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    hmm wireless keyboard, no, why?

    i havnt yet tried the HDD in another pc but a friend has told me i can have his old one when hes cleared his files off it. that was a month ago though. im working off my xp laptop at the mo. if i was to try the vista disc in her will it be safe to take it just far enough to see if it is even recognised....
     
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  5. toshiba145

    toshiba145 Nibble Poster

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    if f8 does work, select "enable vga mode" and try booting.
     
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  6. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    i cant access safe mode as F8 doesnt respond. ctrl alt del just forces a reboot..
     
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  7. j1mgg

    j1mgg Kilobyte Poster

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    you should be able to boot from the disc and try and do a recovery as this is usually a hardware failure and known as the black screen of death or ksod.

    It did happen to a few of our machines at work and either a startup repair worked or it would just be reimaged. If you have nothing on their worth bothering about then a wipe would be the quickest but it is also a great opprtunity to try your basic troubleshotting windows startup problems.

    definately try the disc in another machine to make sure it does boot.

    Google you machine to see if you have to do something differnet to boot from cds.

    How far in the login process are you getting?
     
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  8. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    staight to black screen after post beep. only thing i can do is press del to go into set up to change boot config. im goin to try the boot disc in my laptop just to see if it will attempt to boot. is this safe, so long as i dont let it get too far
     
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  9. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Before thinking you have a virus have you ran a scan? have you ran a check on the hard drive? have you checked all cables? is the psu and motherboard ok? check the voltages and temps in the bios or if yours is locked download hardware monitor
     
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  10. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    im pretty sure its a virus. mostly due to past experience. i downloaded a file and started to get random av programs performing "much needed av searches" and wouldnt let me close these.
     
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  11. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I don't think this particular problem is caused by a virus. A virus won't affect the computer prior to the OS loading.

    That said, whatever file you downloaded *is* likely a virus.
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2011
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  12. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    confused!!

    well it certainly acted very much like viruses ive had before, before forcing a reboot and bring out this horrible black screen. the strange thing is that, the file/program i downloaded, was working fine for around 10 mins beofre the forced reboot. do you know if it would be safe for me to try the vista recovery disc on my XP laptop, just to see if it recognised as a bootable disc.
     
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  13. gosh1976

    gosh1976 Kilobyte Poster

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    I'm leaning towards a coincidence of having a hardware issue at the same time as a virus. I suppose there could be a boot sector virus that screwed up the MBR. I'm not sure that would keep you from being able to hit f8 even though it could keep you from booting all the way into safe mode. Then again if the MBR is screwed up you should still be able to boot to a disk. I can't think of any reason not to test the bootable disk on the XP machine just long enough to test to see if it boots. - or you could download and burn the Kaspersky or F-secure or some other rescue disk and try that.
     
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  14. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    yeah i suppose stranger things have happened at sea. so could he hardware and or virus issue.
    im glad you mentioned the kaspersky option because im currently downloading that now. its only a 200mb file, but its only downloading at 35Kbps so taking ages.
     
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  15. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    As BM said, if the operating system has not loaded yet, the virus (if there is one) has not loaded into memory. Unless it is a rootkit, which i doubt. What has most likely happened is that the Virus has messed up the files necessary for Windows to boot.

    This will not prevent you from hitting F8 and accessing safe mode etc. What can cause that problem is having USB keyboard and mice, as the USB support provided by the OS, has not been loaded at that point (unless the MOBO supports USB and many don't).
     
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  16. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    nope. no usb mouse or keyboard.
     
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  17. Bluerinse
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    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    ctrl alt del at this point will force a reboot. It only has other uses once windows loads fully.

    You set your boot order to disk drive first?

    You need to set your boot order to.. Optical or CD or DVD first (whatever the BIOS option is for that motherboard).
     
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  18. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    Sorry bad choice of wording. I meant cd drive. Thank you for clearing up the ctrl alt del issue though.
     
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  19. leeroy2612

    leeroy2612 Byte Poster

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    as stated in my last reply, i dont have a usb mouse/keyboard, but most importantly F8 just will not respond. the only keys that respond are del (to enter set up) and Shift+F10 (realtek gigabit boot agent)
     
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  20. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Most modern upto date virus apps should have stopped this from happening. this is why i think there is a hardware fault please post the info i asked for earlier. just because a system comes on does not mean the psu or motherboard is ok. also download memtest86 and test your ram for several passes, you must run the tests with one dimm at a time for accuracy
     
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