Can't boot except in safe mode

[jos91844]

I was on this site today and did a hijackThis scan. I was asked to upload it to a list of similar sites. I chose Techspot. How do i know it was actually uploaded? What do i do now?
My sons computer has big trojan problems. i followel techspot advice by scanning but i still can"t boot except in safe mode. It's difficult for me to work in that mode. Lots of fixes will not download. any answers or advice.

 

[kimsland]

What happens when you go to Normal mode exactly?
You can attach a HJT log to a reply if you like
Try running MSConfig and selecting diagnostic mode
Un-install any newly installed programs
Even try un-installing any live protecting programs

 

[jos91844]

when i boot to normal mode the process goes smooth and i do get the wallpaper on the screen but do not get icons. i can get task manager up and once i was able to get icons by playing with task manager. but even thoug i had icons as soon as i click on anything the system freezes up.
i am going to ask my son if anything on his computer is critical. he is in college at pitt and does research and neurological testing for school. if nothing is critical i will print our what i can and then find out how to wipe the HD and reload xp. what do you think?

 

[kimsland]

If you can get Task Manager to run
You should be able to click on File->Run
And then run nearly anything, including explorer.exe which is your Desktop ironically
If you can get that far, you can then run the removal tools, backup, or even try to repair the fault
You just need to let me know which way you're going, format or repair?

 

[jos91844]

I booted normally, opened task manager, clicked file, tried to run a system clean up. The program froze (not responding). When I tried to close it all the desk top icons appeared. Then a windows box opened and said "windows cannot open this file

ARLaunch.exe~

I would prefer to fix the system if I can rather than wipe it and start fresh but I do not know how to do either.

Thanks for responding to my situation

 

[kimsland]

Hmm you may need to re-open Task Manager, and right click on some of the running processes and then click "end task"

You can also File-Run-> services.msc
And right click and temporarily stop some things in there too

 

[jos91844]

When I opened task manager I see no tasks running. the system is 99% idle except for task manager. However, I was able to open lavasoft ad-aware 2008. I could not update the program but I am able to run it and it is scanning my computer now. it says I have 14 infections so far.

 

[kimsland]

Well you can that in Safe Mode too
And you can download the manual definitions for it

Actually wait, I'll get the update file:
http://download.lavasoft.com/public/defs.zip
Sorry that took me a few secs

 

[jos91844]

Thanks ad ware found 17 issues. They were removed and i am running it again. When it ends i will try and update it with the info you sent. Thanks i will keep you posted.

 

[jos91844]

jos91844 computer not running right

i was able to run ad ware and removed 17 issues. now i tried to open and run the updates you sent me. they do not want to run. i tried opening them with winzip. i keep getting a message. what program do you want to open the file with.
So now i have downloaded a new ad ware and am running it. it has already found 20 issues. i am concerned that i may never be able to be sure the computer is clean and free of infection. Am i wrong in that thaught? If so how can i wipe out the whole drive and be sure there are no viruses hiding in it. I have a set of disks from dell that i should be able to use to set up a new os. Is there any chance the virus can remain in the computer? Is it possible for the virus to infect the dell disks? Whear can i find current information on wiping the drive and then installing the new diske? i hate to lose all my sons school papers but see no other way out,

 

[kimsland]

You can use such tools at the Ultimate BootCD
To backup your son's documents

Once the Boot CD is created just start your Dell computer with it in the CD\DVD Drive
After it starts up, you can backup directly to USB or even CD\DVD write/burn

Once all the data is backed up, it's just a matter of putting your Restore Discs in and booting from them. Then fully restoring your computer to how it was when the restore discs were first created.

 

[jos91844]

Thanks the disks i have are disks that dell sent me a few years ago when i baught the computer. Are they the restore disks or should i have made restore disks when i first got the computer? What is Ultimate Boot cd? i went to the site and could not see any place to download the disk. I did see a list of individual downloads. Do i need to download each of them to my hard drive as a zip file then burn them to the disk somehow? Can i burn them directly to cd? i have nero on my other machine.

 

[jos91844]

I ran xoftspySe it reported that it found viewpoint in many places on my computer. What is viewpoint? Also every time i run ad-ware it finds problems. If i immediately run it again it is clean. If i wait an hour or so it finds more problems.