Okay, my younger brother's PC got hit with something really bad. He called me up and said he thought he had some spyware. I don't know how he got it (probably unsafe surfing habits), but when shown the PC, Windows (XP SP3) wouldn't do much.
It had some odd background with text (I didn't read it).
Anything you clicked (like in the Start menu) would not do what it was supposed to, and would instead pop up a notification balloon at the corner of the taskbar (didn't read it) and then launch a page saying the system was infected and was trying to sell some anti-spyware.
Ctrl+Alt+Del does nothing at all.
You can't right click.
Anything in the Control Panel does not load (at least the Add/Remove Programs option didn't).
I think you can browse the computer's contents (ala, via "My Computer").
Honestly, I'm not that good with removing spyware this severe. I'd rather just reformat the thing.
So I take it and hook it up to my television, and turn it on. I planned on installing the RC of Windows 7 on it. Only, there's a problem there too. It won't load. The text comes up saying "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD", but pressing a key does nothing. It passes that and then goes to load Windows XP. Yes, the CD-Rom drive works (as it detects the CD in it to begin with, and was working beforehand). Yes, the keyboard works. I tried mine. If you press F8 to get the menu to boot into safe mode, the keyboard fails to work on that screen too, so I know it's the keyboard halting during those times. It works fine beforehand though, as I can get into the BIOS.
So, what the heck is going on? How can this thing be doing anything before Windows even loads? Is the BIOS corrupted?
Also, since I hooked it up in my room, it has slightly different behavior. Upon booting Windows, it does nothing at all. The normal wallpaper comes up instead of the background with text, but otherwise, the system is still useless. In fact, it's completely frozen and unresponsive. The cursor is an arrow when over the wallpaper, but a perpetual (busy) icon when over the taskbar. You can't right click, use Ctrl+Alt+Del, or click on the Start menu. Windows is completely unresponsive to anything and everything. I think it's because I don't have it connected to the internet, so it never "calls home" and doesn't let anything else happen at all.
Anyway, does anyone have any ideas? I'd ideally like to install Windows 7 RC on it, but the keyboard dies when the message comes up to hit a key to boot from the DVD.
The specifications, if they matter.
ASRock P4i65G
Pentium 4 2.8GHz
2GB PC3200 (DDR400) RAM
nVidia GeForce 6800 GS AGP
320GB SATA Hard Disk
DVD+RW burner
It had some odd background with text (I didn't read it).
Anything you clicked (like in the Start menu) would not do what it was supposed to, and would instead pop up a notification balloon at the corner of the taskbar (didn't read it) and then launch a page saying the system was infected and was trying to sell some anti-spyware.
Ctrl+Alt+Del does nothing at all.
You can't right click.
Anything in the Control Panel does not load (at least the Add/Remove Programs option didn't).
I think you can browse the computer's contents (ala, via "My Computer").
Honestly, I'm not that good with removing spyware this severe. I'd rather just reformat the thing.
So I take it and hook it up to my television, and turn it on. I planned on installing the RC of Windows 7 on it. Only, there's a problem there too. It won't load. The text comes up saying "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD", but pressing a key does nothing. It passes that and then goes to load Windows XP. Yes, the CD-Rom drive works (as it detects the CD in it to begin with, and was working beforehand). Yes, the keyboard works. I tried mine. If you press F8 to get the menu to boot into safe mode, the keyboard fails to work on that screen too, so I know it's the keyboard halting during those times. It works fine beforehand though, as I can get into the BIOS.
So, what the heck is going on? How can this thing be doing anything before Windows even loads? Is the BIOS corrupted?
Also, since I hooked it up in my room, it has slightly different behavior. Upon booting Windows, it does nothing at all. The normal wallpaper comes up instead of the background with text, but otherwise, the system is still useless. In fact, it's completely frozen and unresponsive. The cursor is an arrow when over the wallpaper, but a perpetual (busy) icon when over the taskbar. You can't right click, use Ctrl+Alt+Del, or click on the Start menu. Windows is completely unresponsive to anything and everything. I think it's because I don't have it connected to the internet, so it never "calls home" and doesn't let anything else happen at all.
Anyway, does anyone have any ideas? I'd ideally like to install Windows 7 RC on it, but the keyboard dies when the message comes up to hit a key to boot from the DVD.
The specifications, if they matter.
ASRock P4i65G
Pentium 4 2.8GHz
2GB PC3200 (DDR400) RAM
nVidia GeForce 6800 GS AGP
320GB SATA Hard Disk
DVD+RW burner
