Antivirus2009 kicking my butt

[kmillerusaf]

You know...

I haven't... I did run a DLG (for WD) diagnostic test and it came back fine. But I will see if I can find the diagnostic tools for this Compaq when I get home this evening. Thanks for the idea.

[kmillerusaf]

Of course, no luck finding any diagnostic tools on HP or Compaq's website Can anyone help?

If the diagnostic test you ran on the hdd came back fine, I'm really leaning to the os being corrupted. Since there is no XP disk, I don't think you can do a repair install using the Compaq recovery partition.

[kmillerusaf]

I have an XP Home disc now. However, when I did a repair install, setup would not finish because after the reboot, it tries to boot into safe mode and the setup won't run in safe mode.

I ran DLG again on the HDD from the Ultimate Boot CD and it passed again.

One thing that concerns me is the sound the drive makes, sure sounds like it dead or near dead but the fact it tries to boot and the diagnostic test was ok has me shaking my head.

Did you try to do a repair install with it slaved to your computer or with the hdd back in the compaq?

[kmillerusaf]

With the HDD in the compaq...

And slaved, you no longer see the hdd in disk mgt?

[kmillerusaf]

Have not tried it slaved in my own computer.... yet. I have only tried through USB adapter with jumper settings on CS and Master.

Do you really like slaving it might work?

As bad as this hdd is behaving, I'd stick to the usb adapter. You might try shutting down your computer, hooking up the hdd using usb then cold start your's and see if the hdd shows up in disk mgt.

[kmillerusaf]

When I try that... cold boot with USB adapter plugged in, it always freezes before loading windows... sort of like it's trying to boot from the USB. If I disable, boot from USB, think that would solve that problem?

I agree with you about the slaving... which is why I was hesitant to try it in the first place

Frankly, when I have to start messing with settings on my machine to fix others, I draw and line and follow GLC's advice and "nuke and pave". At the start of of your post you said the machine was really infected and though clean now, no tell what damage was done to the os. I guess as a last resort you could disable the usb on boot and see what happens but you've done your fair share of work trying to fix this thing.

[kmillerusaf]

I really have. I just feel bad that I had it recognized at one point and didn't get the files then. I didn't have any storage media at that point. I had my chance and I missed it. I know the guy personally too so it makes it even worse.

I may just end up doing that though and having him start over. It will help educate him I guess

Well, one never knows just how bad a machine can be infected and like I said, even cleaned they sometimes need a fresh os install. If you can wait a bit, maybe GLC or another member will have some different ideas but right now I'm scratching my head. I totally agree on the education process for your friend. Too many good free products to be caught with a machine that badly infected, however, surfing habits are one of the biggest problems.

[kmillerusaf]

I doubt anyone else is going to post here. It's been you and I for a couple of days now :P I guess I'll try one more time with the adapter and if not. Fresh coat of paint time :P

Let me how it turns out. This is one of those case's where I wish I had that machine here to tinker with.

[glc]

I'm not ignoring you - I'm just out of ideas.

What I'd do if I had that hard drive here is hook it up to my bench motherboard and run Spinrite on it.

[kmillerusaf]

Tried to install XP Home last night and did a format on it using the Windows CD but I got some type of error. I was too tired to write it down so I just shut the computer down and this morning I am doing a format with Active Killdisk. Then I'll try to install XP Home again. I'll let you all know if I get the error again

[kmillerusaf]

So I bit the bullet, reformatted and reinstalled XP Home. The HDD is humming now. Not only is it working in its case but it is also working when I plug it into the adapter. Crazy? I guess those viruses really messed something up. Well it's cool now. I couldn't get his data back but I'll educate him in the future on backing up and safe surfing.

Sometimes the malware just make's a recovery impossible, even after a good cleaning. Anyway, nice job getting him up and running and hopefully he will be more careful with his online endeavors.

[kmillerusaf]

Thanks for all the help you've provided me first and foremost usnavy :P Everyone else, thanks as well for your insight. I have gained valuable experience and knowledge through this situation.

No worries, just wished we could have saved his data but with electronics, miracles rarely happen.

[kmillerusaf]

LOL! What a twist of fate... 2 days after I gave the computer back to my client, he said the computer would not boot anymore. I got the computer back today and I have confirmed, the HDD is dead. I don't feel like this whole process was a waste of time because I gained a lot of experience and knowledge through this process. Just sucks for the client. Just to be sure, I tried a known to be workin HDD in the system and it ran with no hitches and then tried to access the bad HDD with the USB adapter again and it failed. I guess that screeching sound from the beginning was the best indicator.

[rjfvillarosa]

Don't give up yet. You still have a few options.
People are sure to scream at me for this but I don't care it works, first off even though you formatted the drive some of the personal files could still be there, there are a few good recovery tools available.
In the past when I have been at the point of no return like you are at with this drive I have tried two things with reasonable success.
1. Before plugging the drive into the computer (hot plugging with USB) give it a sharp rap on the desk, not so hard as to leave dents in the desk or pieces flying off the harddrive casing.
2. Try the over night in the freezer trick. Wrap it up in a sealed bag to keep as much moisture out as possible and the same as before with the rap on the desk, go straight from the freezer to hot plug, don't hang around, shrinking the bearings with the cold of the freezer will obviously be lost as soon as they start to warm up.

Make sure you have the file recovery programs installed before doing either of these procedures, because once started you don't want to stop for anything, your time will be limited with either method.


Shout all you want people...I don't care..I have done it and it works... The drive is a gonner but there is always the chance you can get some of the personal files back.