Badly infected PC

[Hooyah]

Ok, I have been trying to get rid of this very malicious virus that has infected a friends PC (win XP). It just won't do anything, won't boot from any CD/DVD even with proper boot priority, won't run any programs from CD or USB drive, and it's no better in safe mode. I also can't use any utilities from within windows, it keeps saying the specified path is invalide.

The HDD is an old standard so I can't just plug it into the SATA on my desktop. I guess I'll find an adapter to make it SATA and wipe it. Any other ideas that don't involve wipping this thing out would be nice.

Thanks

 

[Atomic Rooster]

He has bigger problems than a simple virus if it wont boot to a CD. I would suggest going to the drive manufacturer's site and downloading a diagnostic utility, but it runs off either a floppy or CD.

 

[Warren1]

Have you checked that the virus hasn't deleted the drivers? If you can't access the computer than the only solution is probbably to reformat.

 

[Hooyah]

Can't open device manager so ya...the virus probably deleted some important stuff.

I've tried 2 copies of XP, XP live, and UBCD. The CD drive spins and opens but won't allow a boot for some odd reason.

Thanks for the quick replies.

 

[The_Lucas]

Like AR said, this is serious that it won't boot from CD. Try replacing the drive, booting from floppy disks (if you search a bit, you can find a utility to load XP setup from floppy) or using another HD. How old is this computer? If you can't tell, post the model and specs.

 

[iPwn]

Reset the BIOS by removing the battery. Yea I said it again. And it still may not be a BIOS problem, but if it's not booting to CD you can also check the jumpers on the back of the CD drive and make sure they're set to master. Some silly steps but who knows. If these, or the other suggestions on this thread don't work, I would suggest getting the SATA Adapter and plugging into your computer. Make sure that your antivirus definitions are updated. Which antivirus software are you running?