Virus/Worm in motherboard?

[hillius31]

Ok, I have a computer that is one year old. I have upgraded the harddrive and ram. Recently my computer started giving my problems. I have adobe illustrator 10 installed on my computer which I use to design vinyl graphics and signs. Everytime I double click to open it it loads up and opens but then it closes within one second, it also does this with my norton antivirus scanner and my spyware remover. I thought it was in the hard drive so I had my brother come over last night and he reformatted my computer for me. I then installed adobe and norton again and its doing the same thing. I called my brother this morning and he said it was a virus or worm that is in my motherboard/prossecor. Is there any way I can fix this problem, cause I REALLY REALLY need my computer or I am going to have customers very upset with me.
thanks for your time,
Justin

 

[dazzer9535]

First thing I would do would be to be off the net then turn off/disable Norton and then see if Adobe will open and if so Norton maybe terminating Adobe.

If no go enable Norton and update it and run a full safe mode scan.

What Spyware remover have you got?

 

[Tmagic650]

No such thing as motherboard viruses. Memory viruses can be removed by removing the main partition before formatting, Norton is such a resourse hog, remove it completely

 

[dmill89]

No such thing as motherboard viruses.

Actually you can get a virus in the BIOS but this is extremly rare and can be easily fixed by flashing the BIOS.

 

[Tmagic650]

Yes,
I have heard of Bios viruses but I have never seen one... 15 years of fixing computers and even repairing motherboards to the component-level. I have not encountered one... only in print

 

[dazzer9535]

@ Tmagic650

Er what are you on about as In your first post you said their is no such thing as a MoBo Virus (actually their is). Then you say in 15 years of fixing PCs youve never seen one, just because you havent seen one doesnt mean they arent there, as you say later on in your second post.

And also saying get rid of Norton is silly, If its the latest version it isnt half bad actually and uses less resources and also offer a replacement such as Zonealarm suite or Nod32 or Kapersky and also mention to remove Norton offline then install the new software.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

There are viruses that can infect the bios. However, in nearly every case these will either corrupt the bios or completely wipe it rendering the mobo unusable. I don`t think this is your problem. Like Tmagic650, I`ve never actually come across one, except in various articles.

The fact that your system is actually running, would suggest you don`t have a bios virus..

Symantec/Norton is a major resource hog and causes more problems than it solves. Get rid of it. There are plenty of free alternatives out there, that will do a much better job of protecting your system. AVG free/Avast antivirus programmes and the Free Zonealarm/Kerio firewall programmes are very good. Just Google for these.

You might want to take a look at this thread HERE. It contains links that shows exactly how much of a resource hog Symantec/Norton crapware is.

Your problem may well be caused by a software conflict. However, just to be sure, go and read this thread HERE. Post a HJT log as an attachment into this thread and I`ll take a look at it for you.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[Tmagic650]

Thanks Howard,
I have come across many Dead Bios motherboards, but I could never ID a virus infection related to them. I totally agree with your opinion of Symantec/Norton. I was a Symantec user for many years, until I really began building and repairing computers. Everytime I come across a crashed machine with a Symantec product installed, it is much more of a chore getting things to run right, not to mention the slowness and sluggishness of a system compared to one without the Symantec product