Windows won't install (blue screen - virus)

[Kenny536]

Hello,

My old laptop of about 2 1/2 years has a virus. It is an Acer Aspire 5670 running Windows XP. It started a few weeks ago - basically AVG was down for some reason on my laptop and it was not working. And unfortunately, I was a little slow in reinstalling AVG. As a result, a virus got into my computer. I was trying to get rid of it - I reinstalled AVG and it was working now and I ran the scan, but I was too late. At first, it would change my desktop background saying there is a virus, and everything would run very slow and everything would seem weird. That would have been fine, since I could have still gotten rid of the virus. But shortly after that, windows would not even load, I would get the blue screen error every time:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x0000000A (0x0A70001B, 0x0000002, 0x00000000, 0x807D5FF9)

I tried putting in the Windows XP Recovery CD, but it will not work. At first, it would get far in the process, but then would have some error. But now, it does not even get that far. When it gives me the choice of pressing 'R' or 'ENTER', I press ENTER, and it loads some stuff, but shortly after that, it shows me the blue screen error, the same as before. Same with the 'R' option - it asks me which windows I would like to load from, I type 1 and press ENTER, and the blue screen comes.

At first, it would go to the loading screen for windows and then show the blue screen error, and also at first, when I tried to go into safemode, it would have show a bunch of lines about dusk partitioning and then it would freeze and this one line, I forget which one it was. But now, it does not even get that far. Now it shows me this other error when I am not booting from the CD:

'Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original Setup CD-ROM
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

^ I cannot do that either because of the blue screen, as I mentioned. And now, if I try to go into safe mode, it does the disk partitioning for 6-7 lines and then shows the above error again about needing to repair windows.


I did a google about this blue screen error and what to do if you get this blue screen when trying to install Windows, but all I could find was that it was some hardware issue. This is not a hardware issue because this laptop was working fine before this virus. The virus is what has caused this. How do I fix it? I know formatting will most likely fix it, but I have lots of music and video on my computer that I do not want to lose, and I do not have it backed up. I do not mind reformmating my computer as long as I can find a way to back up my music/videos/files - I'm fine if I lose my programs. I'm fine if I lose my programs if there is no other way. Can this Knoppix thing help me accomplish this?

Please help,

Thanks.

[Kenny536]

I have successfully used Knoppix to access my data - I am looking at my data now through Knoppix. There is many gigabytes of data though - what is the fastest way to transfer it from a laptop to a desktop? Fastest and also the most hassle free. Thanks!

[glc]

Remove the hard drive and use a USB adapter.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=2020&cat=HDD

Note - you may have a failing hard drive and the virus was just coincidence. Test the hard drive with manufacturer's diagnostics. You should also test the memory:

www.memtest.org