Boot Virus

[dazedandconfused]

I have a boot virus I need to get rid of since my computer will not load my OS. I am running Win98SE and IE6. During my daily check, AdAware turned up 312 items, only 2/3 of which it could fix (usually only turns up 5-10). SpyBot turned up over 100 and couldn't fix them all. Then it asked if I wanted to run SpyBot at startup. I (foolishly) said yes and now I have nearly nothing. My desktop/wallpaper appears but no icons or taskbar. It also asked me on reboot for my Win98 15 digit code which it never does. The details on the error message said I had a boot virus in SpyBot. I hit delete on reboot and looked to monkey around in there but didn't see anything useful or where to repair the problem. Any ideas? Thanks a bunch.

[thefultonhow]

Can you boot into Safe Mode?

[glc]

Get ahold of a clean Win98 startup disk, write protect it (open the second hole by sliding the switch) and boot with it. At the A prompt, type:

fdisk /mbr

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by glc Get ahold of a clean Win98 startup disk, write protect it (open the second hole by sliding the switch) and boot with it. At the A prompt, type: fdisk /mbr

Not sure that would do anything -- he seems to be able to get into Windows, although not all the way in, so it's probably not a boot sector virus.

[glc]

Boot sector viruses don't necessarily stop the computer from booting into Windows and this is an easy and safe thing to try to get rid of one if you do have one. I do agree that there are other problems here too and he may be looking at a nuke and pave anyway.

[dazedandconfused]

I didn't even see a safe mode option, which usually appears somewhere. I'll look for it again and also try to get into the A: prompt. The only preboot (when I hit the del key before bootup) screen that comes up is that BIOS one. Thanks, everyone. I'll keep you posted.

[glc]

The key for the Windows boot menu is F8, not Del.

[dazedandconfused]

I almost got to Safe Mode. The way to say to get there is hit Control ( F8 I guess is for 95) A screen said press F5 but that didn't work. All it offered was boot with or without CD-ROM - neither worked. I did find my was to A:/ but fdisk was too confusing and the few things I tried didn't work. Then further monkeying around lost me My OS. It came back, then I lost it again. I suppose someone who knows what they're doing might kill or isolate that boot virus in Spybot but I'm getting farther away. I dodn't mind as I've decided to just install a new hard drive rather than waste any more money tring to rescue this one. I'll have friend look at it tomorrow and if that doesn't work, we nuke it. Thanks for all the suggestions. Most look like they should work but this pesky boot virus is like a python, strangilng everything with no path to access anything on the computer.

[glc]

It's FDISK /MBR, not just FDISK. You won't see it do anything, it just returns you to the A prompt, but it replaces the master boot record with the backup, which will usually get rid of a boot sector virus. Spybot cannot get rid of viruses.

You need to start tapping F8 just before the Win98 splash screen comes up to get the boot menu. It has about 6 choices, safe mode is #3.