XP crashed

[Zelpo]

Howdy all,

Recently got aggressive trying to clean up my computer, was running Spybot, AdAware, Microsoft Antivirus Beta, and SpySweeper. Also installed ZoneAlarm & AVG (had Norton, disabled it).

Was running SpySweeper and decided to check compressed files. SpySweeper found the following trojans:

• Komforochka SMPT Relay
• PCSentinels Smoking Gun
• Trojan-Backdoor-Keylog-Sters
• CAS
• Trojan-Backdoor-Sapilayr

I set up SS to 'fix' the problems and then left it while I went to work. Upon returning, it appeared that SS was about half-way through the process and now a windows message was up saying that a windows file was corrupt. Acknowledging this message only lead right back to the message, endless loop I could not get out of. Only option was a hard reboot.

Upon reboot I get the following message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\System32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

The computer is an old Dell 4550 (bought in 2001), P4 2.0GHz (northwood), XP home ed.

My biggest concern at this point is not wiping the drive due to about 3 years of digital photos being on it (& not backed up, shame on me).

I'm not familiar with the bios or the recovery console, but I have fished around there a bit trying to figure out how to replace this file. I quit doing that before I did something I would regret.

If I reinstall the OS, will that wipe out the entire contents of the hard drive, or just the files under the windows directories?

Any help with resolving this issue would be appreciated. My main goal is saving my photos from oblivion.

Thanks,

Matt

[Panama Red]

Reinstalling from a recovery disk or from the recovery partition will wipe everything off the hard drive and replace it all with the original configuration. I'd suggest pulling the hard drive and slaving it to another desk top pc so you can transfer the pics and other files you want to keep. Then do the recovery operation. You're going to spend a while doing all the Windows Updates after too.

[DynamicTech]

It all depends on how you reinstall xp. Just to keep your options open, look at this: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm.
Read it carefully before attempting this (if you decide to). I'm with Panama on this one though. If you do not want to risk loosing your pix, slave and recover is the only safe way.

[Zelpo]

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking the same thing today, so I went down to PCClub and bought a cheap 40Gig PATA WD HDD, and an external enclosure.

Plan is to install the new drive, install OS on it. Get ZoneAlarm, update OS (kinda freaks me out to have my computer hooked up to the internet without all the protection I had before, while the OS updates).

Slave in old drive, extract my photo's and important documents.

Wipe old drive, remove from case & install into external enclosure. Use it to back up all those photo's like I should of did years ago.

That sound like the right path to take?

Couple of questions:

1. Do you think I can 're-use' the Dell XP recovery disk to install XP onto the new hdd without Microsoft requiring a different key?

2. I will do some research, but if you have a quick link about the how-to's of wiping a drive, please by all means let me know This is my first time doing this kind of stuff.

Thanks again

btw, I called WebRoot tech support about my issue, and was basically told to pack sand. But I knew PCMech would come through!

[Panama Red]

You may have to call MS to reactivate but chances are it will reinstall with the new drive just fine. Either way, the call is painless. No need for the external enclosure until after the transfer/save is done. Here's what I'd do. Install the new drive making sure to set the jumpers to Cable Select. Reinstall the OS and go to Windows Update for all the updates. I wouldn't worry about Zone Alarm if that's the only place you go. Once the new hdd is all set, slave the old hdd also using the Cable Select jumpering. Transfer the files you wish to keep and when you're done, format the old hard drive using Disk Management. Then transfer/copy the pics/files back to the old hard drive, remove it, and install it in the external enclosure.

[kev7555]

A repair install of XP will not wipe everything on your drive. Put your XP or recovery disk in the CD ROM drive and boot from it.

After the first prompt to repair XP from recovery console, select "continue installing a new copy of XP". After all of the drivers are loaded, you will be prompted again to select "repair this copy of XP". Make that selection at that time and you should be able to repair XP without losing personal files.

-Kev

[Zelpo]

Well, after purchasing a new drive I'm a bit committed to stay the course & do a fresh install.

My next question, even after reading microsofts help pages on installing XP to a new drive, is what type of file system (FAT32, NTFS?), to partition or not, holy cow I'm getting confused. Hopefully the XP disk will auto-config this stuff.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Zelpo My next question, even after reading microsofts help pages on installing XP to a new drive, is what type of file system (FAT32, NTFS?),

Go with NTFS.

Originally Posted by Zelpo to partition or not

That's up to you...how big is the new hard drive? You must create at least 1 partition anyway (will happen during WinXP installation process).

Originally Posted by Zelpo Hopefully the XP disk will auto-config this stuff.

It'll ask you what you want to do during the installation process. Just read the instructions on screen.

Cricket

[Zelpo]

Thanks Cricket for the reply.

I went ahead and just made the entire drive one partition, I really don't see a need to divide it up. It's only 40GB anyway.

Spent every ounce of my free time today installing XP (which is pretty painless to be honest), and reinstalling drivers & updates plus putting AVG, ZoneAlarm, and MS AV beta back on.

Tomorrow I tackle trying to retrieve my photos from the dirty drive.

Dumb question, but it's been on my mind: once I hook up the dirty drive slave style (same IDE cable or not?), is there a chance that the trojans on it could possibly try to 'jump ship' over to the new drive? I'm not entirely sure how all this malware works, but SS noted that one trojan had over 50k 'instances', like the thing was breeding all over my drive.

I would hate to go through all this trouble just to re-infect my fresh drive.

Thanks again

[Retrac1324]

NTFS -

Better security/faster file system. Use if you have more than 30 GB HDD Space

FAT32 -

Required when dual booting [running 2 operating systems on 1 pc] Use if you have less than 30 GB HDD Space.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Zelpo Dumb question, but it's been on my mind: once I hook up the dirty drive slave style (same IDE cable or not?), is there a chance that the trojans on it could possibly try to 'jump ship' over to the new drive? I'm not entirely sure how all this malware works, but SS noted that one trojan had over 50k 'instances', like the thing was breeding all over my drive.

Just connecting the old hard drive to your computer won't cause the other hard drive to get infected. You would have to run the trojan in order for it to infect the new hard drive.

I would connect the old drive to the secondary IDE channel (disconnect a optical if you have to) and then scan it for viruses, spyware, trojans and hijackers before you do anything else. Might want to scan from Safe Mode too.

For security you might want to install MS AntiSpyware, SpywareBlaster and Ewido and update them before you install the old hard drive in your computer.

Cricket