Inactive XP won't boot from hard drive or CD

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The Drifter

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I've been working with Bookwyrm over in the BSOD forum and he suggested perhaps I have a malware problem and to ask you guys over here. Here's the link to that thread: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic153234.html#post932803

As I mentioned in the other thread, I've run Kaspersky's Rescue Disc once and it did find some trojans, but I thought I saw something flash on the screen about one that it couldn't neutralize so I am currently running it again. I will repost with the names of the trojans it finds once that's done.

As of now, I can't do anything with the desktop unless I d/l and burn an ISO file onto my laptop and boot the desktop with it. I can access the BIOS, but if I try to boot in safe mode (from the 5 option boot menu screen), it just returns back to the "Press F1 for floppy or F2 for setup" screen. Not that computer literate and any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Ok, it looks like there are 4 high priority threats - 3 Trojan.Win32.Generic and 1 Trojan.Win32.Pnc.av.a.fnq

I hope this helps.
 
Let's see, if we can look at your computer booting from an external source.

Please download OTLPE (filesize 120,9 MB)

  • When downloaded double click on OTLPENet.exe and make sure there is a blank CD in your CD drive. This will automatically create a bootable CD.
  • Reboot your system using the boot CD you just created.
    • Note : If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from CD follow the steps here
  • Your system should now display a REATOGO-X-PE desktop.
  • Depending on your type of internet connection, you should be able to get online as well so you can access this topic more easily.
  • Double-click on the OTLPE icon.
  • When asked Do you wish to load the remote registry, select Yes
  • When asked Do you wish to load remote user profile(s) for scanning, select Yes
  • Ensure the box Automatically Load All Remaining Users" is checked and press OK
  • OTL should now start.
  • Press Run Scan to start the scan.
  • When finished, the file will be saved in drive C:\OTL.txt
  • Copy this file to your USB drive if you do not have internet connection on this system
  • Please post the contents of the OTL.txt file in your reply.
 
Thanks for getting back to me.

I downloaded and burned the OTLPE file and got the Reatogo-X-PE desktop. However, when I double-click the OTLPE icon it asks to choose the Windows Directory. I selected Local Disk (C) as that's where my Windows files are, but I get an error message saying it isn't Windows 2000 or newer. I tried the ReatogoPE (X) directory to see what happened and got the same error. I am running Windows XP Home Edition/Media. Any thoughts?

Added note: Just to see what would happen, I tried to access my hard drive from the Reatogo desktop. It said the drive is corrupted and unreadable. I do have internet access, though.
 
I selected Local Disk (C) as that's where my Windows files are
You did fine....

We must have some other issues here.

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287 (or http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28744&hl=hard+drive+diagnostic)
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.
For Toshiba hard drives, see here: http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Pa...rivesUSandCanada/SoftwareUtilities#diagnostic

Note : If you do not know how to set your computer to boot from CD follow the steps here
 
I suspect, your Windows installation got seriously corrupted, since even OTLPE can't read it.

One thing, you could do is to slave the drive in another computer and try to retrieve your data, followed by reinstalling Windows.

I really don't see any other option :(
 
Well, the slave to save isn't an option - I simply don't have the knowhow or hardware. I figured it would come to a reformat and I guess the data is gone. We do have some of it backed up on disk, so it won't be a total loss. Thanks for the help...it's much appreciated.
 
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