XP crash/bios fail/virus issue ??

[Chris in U.K.]

Hi people, I've been having a bit of a nightmare.......

Some Trojans got through my security, and all sorts of malware cropping up, to the extent of making my computer (XP pro SP2, P4 on Gigabyte 533 mobo) virtually unusable.
So, I downloaded AVG on a machine at work and installed it on the sick home computer. The check showed up lots of viri, but halfway through the scan, the computer locked up solid (display frozen, no disc activity, no KB or mouse response) and nothing would wake it up. (Prior to this episode, it was a totally reliable system)
So, I went for a cold reboot but the machine wouldn't even POST.
So, I took the battery out, shorted the pins, fresh battery, removed non-essential hardware, etc etc, and still no POST. (PSU OK, fans running, drive lights coming on briefly)
So I borrowed a redundant machine from work (a slower P4, Win 2000) and installed my HDD as a slave, and ran the virus scan that way, killed all the little boogers, and praise be all my work is still there and readable.
So I put the now clean HDD back in my machine, still no POST (didn't really expect it)
It seems so unlikely that a catastrophic mobo failure would occur at the exact moment that I was virus-hunting that I think the BIOS has been terminally damaged - does that seem likely?
I should add that I have swapped out the P4 chip and the memory, and they work fine in another computer.
I can't see how I can flash the BIOS when the machine won't start at all, so I figure I am looking at a getting new mobo - anyone got a better or cheaper idea?

Any thoughts gratefully recieved,

Thanks,

Chris

[law99]

Will it run in Safe Mode? Run your AV & antispywares in SM

[Chris in U.K.]

Thanks for posting, Law, but the problem is that the thing won't start at all......

Chris

[ThePoor]

Try to remove everything, and put back one by one. you will see what causes that.

[law99]

See if it will boot to a XP CD.
Can HJT make a log of your registry when it is installed as a slave?

[Chris in U.K.]

Thanks people,

I'll take it apart and rebuild once more.......

How does that HJT thing work?.....although I really don't think the problem is on the HDD.....

Thanks,

Chris

[law99]

HJT=HijackThis is a program that creates a log of your registry that with the help of a adviser will find & remove any virus or malware that may be in you PC.

A post by pcpitstop.com adviser Juliet

Download Trend Micro Hijack This™ and save to desktop.
It is important that you uninstall any previous versions by using Add/Remove programs in your control panel before installing a newer version.
Doubleclick the HJTInstall.exe to start it.
By default it will install HijackThis in the Program Files\Trendmicro folder and create a desktop shortcut.

Accept the license agreement by clicking the "I Accept" button.
Click on the "Do a system scan and save a log file button. It will scan and then ask you to save the log.
Click "Save log" to save the log file and then the log will open in Notepad.
Click on Edit-> Select All then click on "Edit -> Copy" to copy the entire contents of the log.

Do NOT have HijackThis fix anything yet! Most of what it finds will be harmless or even required.

[juppy]

If it's not even posting, it's not your hard drive, because you don't have to have ANY drives installed for a machine to post. Best bet would be to do the barebones out-of-case check that's detailed in this ever-popular thread.
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409
If you don't even get a beep after doing that, then you've likely had a meltdown of one of the main components (mobo, cpu, power supply).

[aramis7350]

I don't know if this is even part of the problem, but I read on another website that certain types of virus are able to reflash/change your bios settings. I didn't pay much attention at the time, but maybe one of the experts in here may know more about it and if it's even possible.

[juppy]

Originally Posted by aramis7350 I don't know if this is even part of the problem, but I read on another website that certain types of virus are able to reflash/change your bios settings. I didn't pay much attention at the time, but maybe one of the experts in here may know more about it and if it's even possible.

Yes, it IS possible for a virus to get in the bios.