Inactive Laptop Complete Hi-Jack

[Rob B]

Hello,
A friend has come to me with an infected computer. The symptoms seem to be:
A blue screen on start up
Inability to boot to USB Flash Drive
Inability to download or install anything
Inability to Move files on/off of the hard drive
Inability to uninstall anything
Inability to create a new user

Due to these problems, all 4 steps of the preliminary checklist have been unable to be fulfilled. I have attempted to use Norton Bootable Rescue Tool though, the only device the computer will boot to is the hard drive OS, even when deleting that option in BIOS. At this stage I don't even think wiping out the hard drive is an option.

Running Windows 8

Any thoughts?

 

[Broni]

Welcome aboard

Please, observe following rules:

• Read all of my instructions very carefully. Your mistakes during cleaning process may have very serious consequences, like unbootable computer.
• If you're stuck, or you're not sure about certain step, always ask before doing anything else.
• Please refrain from running any tools, fixes or applying any changes to your computer other than those I suggest.
• Never run more than one scan at a time.
• Keep updating me regarding your computer behavior, good, or bad.
• The cleaning process, once started, has to be completed. Even if your computer appears to act better, it may still be infected. Once the computer is totally clean, I'll certainly let you know.
• If you leave the topic without explanation in the middle of a cleaning process, you may not be eligible to receive any more help in malware removal forum.
• I close my topics if you have not replied in 5 days. If you need more time, simply let me know. If I closed your topic and you need it to be reopened, simply PM me.

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Pretty tough case.
I'm asking my friends about possible options.
Hold on there.

 

[Broni]

There are really not too many options in this case.
Possibly bad hard drive not an infection, but....
If the machine is set to UEFI and Secure Boot enable most of them don't boot from anything else besides the HDD.
So check that in BIOS.

 

[Rob B]

Disabled Secure Boot in BIOS, tried launching with NBRT again, did not boot to Flash Drive, rather it booted straight to BIOS settings.

 

[Broni]

The only thing I can suggest is to create new topic in Windows forum to solve booting from USB issue.
Once it's done you may return here.
Without it you can't even test HDD.