I have been working on a friends computer which received a virus. (He removed his antivirus temporarily due to an install issue and forgot to reinstall it) Got the virus removed but things are still mucked up. I can use it, run programs, and browse the Internet. (Although I have not done any of these for any length of time.) I can't however update Windows, do a system restore or even do a repair install using the XP disk as it does not even see the drive!? Also doing a scan with Malwarebytes causes a BSOD.

So at this point I'm looking at a backup, format, and reinstall. Wondering if just upgrading to Windows 7 would make sense and if the Windows 7 install would fix the underlying issues and avoid the full rebuild?

Opinions?

 

While I find upgrading fixes a host of problems, the problem you have now is that you can't upgrade to 7 from XP. You'd need to upgrade to Vista first.
eta, if XP can't see the drive, then another OS may not see it either.

 

Well I beg to differ Shadeladie you can upgrade to Windows 7 but you need to wipe the drive first providing of course that the computer meets all of the requirements for Windows 7 such as memory. I agree with you though installing another operating system probably will not solve any problems and since Windows can't see the drive in Windows XP I doubt Windows 7 will either. Not sure about Linux though and I am no expert about that as I have never tried the program but know that Linux works differently. I also understand you can have dual operating systems but I have never done that before either. With the problems you are having though Tolyn I think your idea of just wiping the system is really best. I think the virus really did a number on the computer and to really get it back to where it was before it needs to have the hard drive wiped. I think your friend would like that better too. As for copying some of the files on the computer I strongly suggest you check those files with another anti virus before allowing them back on that computer. Good luck!

 

Did you check bios to see if the cd/dvd drive is set as the first boot device?

 

Download and run Combofix. Don't click the green download button. Click the link under "Download Locations/Bleepingcomputer Mirror"

Tutorial is here.

 

Well yes, I know that. I was responding to Tolyn's question: "Wondering if just upgrading to Windows 7 would make sense" which sounded like he was asking if he should wipe out and reinstall or just upgrade.

 

Thanks for the input!

I do know you can't do a seamless upgrade from Xp to Win 7 but MS has some tools to save your settings to do the transition.

I did make sure that the DVD/CD drive is set to first boot. To be clear, XP boots up and runs. I go through the steps and it asks me what drive to instal it to but it shows no drives!?!? I might still try a fixmbr.

Combofix is one that I saw but did not try. I will give it a whirl.

 

Is a box displayed where you can type in a drive/folder location?

 

Try burning a copy of G-Parted, boot to it, and see if it sees your drives and partitions. I don't know if it has been asked and answered but does the drive show up in Bios?

 

No. It displays the available drives, of which it shows none. When I had a USB stick attached, it did show that.

Update: I did try the Combofix Rick posted and that has seamed to fix the windows restore and update issue. This is the best progress I have made lately so things are looking up.

 

Yes. The computer can boot XP normally but I couldn't do a repair install as the XP boot cd would not see the drive. I can also boot to the CD.

Also, see above post.

 

You can have more than dual, not sure on the max (if there is one), but I triple boot both my laptop and desktop. However, this would not solve the issue at hand.

Kudos for this, we use it at work with a good success rate.

If it did not show up in BIOS then it would not be recognizing the drive at all and would therefore not even boot windows.

All of this being said, with that bad of an infection, I would cut the losses, backup, and do a format and reinstall. Be the best option to fix all of the issues. Also why did he ever uninstall his AV? He could have simply disabled it for the time being for an install issue.

Hope this helps.
~Spike

 

He's a bit of a noob and didn't know you could do that. He does now.