Cannot Reformat or Load Windows - Grr!

[teeandee]

Hey folks. You are all gems here and I've been reading this technical forum for months without ever signing up, but now I've finally come to a point that I need to defer to your awesome wisdom. Sigh!

I've got two laptops (Dell PP06L, and Gateway) which have unfortunately come under the grip of (what I'm assuming is) the virtumonde virus. Having lost my original XP recovery disk, I ordered another one off ebay and, while waiting for it to come in the mail, the virus killed both laptops. Full BSoD. (I blame the husband, but who knows how it got to both laptops.) I tried curing the computers using this forum when they were both functional, but the bugger was persistent and I couldn't get it off. Now neither will boot at all.

The Dell BSoD doesn't even give a reason other than the STOP error being "0x00000024 (0x00190203, 0x82765a80, 0xc0000102, 0x00000000)". I have tried starting in the three various safe modes (regular, networking, command prompt) and get the BSoD. I tried Last known config, got BSoD. Changed the BIOS settings to read the CD/ROM drive first and inserted the Windows XP install disk, and it visibly reads the drive (i can see the yellow CD rom light working, blinking cursor on the screen), but then doesn't seem to want to load anything because then it goes to the "we're sorry, windows didn't load properly" screen asking me to load Safe mode or start windows normally. Nothing is seeming to work.

Any thoughts? Anything I can try? I'm fine reformatting, but I'm not fine just tossing the computers out the window, you know? There must be SOMETHING I can do. *nail bite* Halp!

[PhilliePhan]

Any thoughts? Anything I can try? I'm fine reformatting, but I'm not fine just tossing the computers out the window, you know? There must be SOMETHING I can do. *nail bite* Halp!

Reformatting might be the fastest / easiest / best course of action.
However, there are some things that we can try.

-- Do you have a lot of data on the machines that you want to save?
-- If so, do you have an external hard drive?

-- Are you able to burn an ISO to CD?
-- If so, download and burn UBUNTU CD IMAGE to a disk.

-- So, just to be certain, you are unable to get into Recovery Console via your Windows disk?

Let me know - Will check back as time permits. Awfully busy these days.

PP:)

[teeandee]

Hey PP! Thanks for the fast response.

I am fine reformatting. I saved everything i needed off my laptop and converted the info to CD long ago. :) The problem is that I don't seem to be able to get to a command prompt to reformat. Is there any way to do this with XP (bypass Windows to get to DOS)?

-- So, just to be certain, you are unable to get into Recovery Console via your Windows disk?

It reads the CD drive but doesn't do anything. The disk works fine in a working computer (I tried on my desktop), so I know it isn't the disk. So no, I can't get to the Recovery Console. :( On the gateway, I can get to the RC, but it says it's improperly installed and needs to be reinstalled and asks for the Gateway RC disk, which I don't have. :( Grr!

Thanks in advance for any future help!

[PhilliePhan]

Thanks in advance for any future help!

Happy to try! :)

Sounds like something's cattywampus here. Can be tough to deduce in a forum setting.

To save time, please burn these three ISOs to CDs for me:

1 - UBUNTU CD IMAGE
2 - Darik's Boot and Nuke
3 - Recovery Console ISO

Once you've got those, let me know and we'll have a stab at this.

Cheers :)
PP

[teeandee]

Alright, I got them burned to ISO! Ready for the next step. :)

[PhilliePhan]

Alright, I got them burned to ISO! Ready for the next step. :)

OK - Since you have your Windows disk for the Dell, let's work on that compy.

Since we are in a forum setting, these types of problems can be a bit tricky. What I want to do is use the Ubuntu CD to poke around and see if there are any issues since you had trouble getting the Windows CD to work.
If need be, I think we can reformat the hard drive via the Ubunto CD as well - never tried that before, though.
Course, if the Windows CD still doesn't work . . . . well, then you've got a problem :)

Anyhoo:

Pop in the Ubuntu Live CD and boot to it and select the option to Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer

Then, click the Places tab and select Computer.
It should list all of the drives connected to your compy. See if you are able to access/navigate your folders and data with no problems.

If that works, then we'll go from there.

I am going to be around off and on for the next week or so - will try to check back in a timely manner.

PP:)

[teeandee]

Hey PP!

Okay, so sadly, it doesn't let me get to the Ubunto page. As it did with the windows restore disk, it very clearly reads the CD (the CD rom light flashes and it makes the noises that shows it's reading it), but all i get is a black screen with a blinking tab for about a minute, then it moves to the "Windows encountered an error" screen. I even tried it with the second ISO, but got the same result. Halp!

[PhilliePhan]

Hey PP!

Okay, so sadly, it doesn't let me get to the Ubunto page. As it did with the windows restore disk, it very clearly reads the CD (the CD rom light flashes and it makes the noises that shows it's reading it), but all i get is a black screen with a blinking tab for about a minute, then it moves to the "Windows encountered an error" screen. I even tried it with the second ISO, but got the same result. Halp!

On reboot, tap F12.
Do you get the option to boot to CD? If so, do that and choose the first option to "try Ubuntu..." and see if it loads and if you can do the rest of my previous post.

PP:)

[teeandee]

When tapping F12, it asks if I want to load the CD/DVD drive first. I choose that, and the same thing happens...black screen, blinking cursor, then it goes to the same "Windows didn't load properly" page. :(

[PhilliePhan]

When tapping F12, it asks if I want to load the CD/DVD drive first. I choose that, and the same thing happens...black screen, blinking cursor, then it goes to the same "Windows didn't load properly" page. :(

It sounds to me as though there is a hardware / memory problem in play here.
Ubuntu should load and run in memory with no regard to Windows. Windows should not be loading at all.

At this point you may be better served by taking the machine to a local shop and having them test it. There is nothing we can do in a forum setting given the issues you are having.

Best Luck :)
PP

[caperjack]

hi guys just an observe reading and noticed this ,[Alright, I got them burned to ISO! Ready for the next step.]the not booting to cd could be caused because you didn't burn them correctly ,maybe you just copied the iso to the disk instead of using a iso burn software to correctly burn the iso to disk .
like this one .
http://www.freeisoburner.com/

[PhilliePhan]

hi guys just an observe reading and noticed this ,[Alright, I got them burned to ISO! Ready for the next step.]the not booting to cd could be caused because you didn't burn them correctly ,maybe you just copied the iso to the disk instead of using a iso burn software to correctly burn the iso to disk .
like this one .
http://www.freeisoburner.com/

That is an interesting point....
But, I discounted it due to the Windows Disk having the same problem.
Could be worth verifying with teeandee should they post back.

Cheers :)
PP