Can't change boot order to do a repair/install!

[James156]

I have a PC running XP Pro, the mobo is an ASUS A7N8X. I had lent it to my in-laws, but they gave it back to me, as they said it was messed up so bad they couldn't do anything with it. I found that it has a VX2 variant and another trojan downloader, and they have got everything screwed up. THere is also a remote control malware. I Can't install Panda, or Avast!. I know Panda can get rid of teh VX2 and possibly Avast! would also. I got Spybot installed, but after letting it find all the spyware and malware (dozens!) I clicked "fix" and Spybot exited! Some porno webpage that dials a 900 number has hijacked the desktop. (they were on a dial-up connection to AOL). No wonder they had a very high phone bill! I rolled XP back to a checkpoint 2 months ago, big mistake. Then you could not use explorer at all. No folder could be opened, Explorer would crash ommediately....so I undid the roll-back.
So I thought I would just do a repair-install with the XP disk. However, I can only view the BIOS; even though there is no security password set, the BIOS just ignores the + and - keys. So I cannot change the boot order to CDROM first so I can do the repair/ install. A virus cannot infect the BIOS can it, as this is all code on an EEPROM, right?

[glc]

Sure it can. Clear the bios with the jumper and try again. if that doesn't work, see if it can boot off a floppy, if it can, reflash the bios.

If the system is that messed up, I'd be looking at a hard drive zero fill and reinstall from scratch, not just an over the top.