Computer Won't Boot Properly

[Paul G.]

Hi,

First time poster at this site. A friend asked for some assistance
with his computer ( I should have declined).
First, he had no antivirus. After a lot of hassle, got him signed up
at Previx to scan his computer. MASSIVE infections which Previx seemed
to handle.

Computer now seemed to work better, though not great. Microsoft Update
indicated he had XP SP2 installed, so I thought, might as well add IE7
for better online security. While doing this, the little Microsoft
Update icon indicated an update was available. OK, so I click that and
accept update. Update says it is a verification tool to show if SP2
has installed correctly. Of course, it comes back and says it hasn't,
and to uninstall/reinstall SP2. But I can't stop the IE7 update which
is already in progress.

So, after IE7 installs and attempts to reboot, computer can't boot
properly. After much fiddling, I get into System Restore and set
system back a few hours and system then boots OK.

At this point, I figure I might as well uninstall/reinstall SP2. After
uninstalling and rebooting, I can not get XP to boot in ANY mode. And
this is where I'm stuck.

Of course, my friend has no recovery disks. I was planning on making
them for him but didn't get to that point.

I realize this post is quite long, but if anyone has any suggestions
that I might try I would appreciate it. Failing that, I will tell him
to take his computer to a repair shop.

Thanks!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,

First time poster at this site. A friend asked for some assistance
with his computer ( I should have declined).
First, he had no antivirus. After a lot of hassle, got him signed up
at Previx to scan his computer. MASSIVE infections which Previx seemed
to handle.

Computer now seemed to work better, though not great. Microsoft Update
indicated he had XP SP2 installed, so I thought, might as well add IE7
for better online security. While doing this, the little Microsoft
Update icon indicated an update was available. OK, so I click that and
accept update. Update says it is a verification tool to show if SP2
has installed correctly. Of course, it comes back and says it hasn't,
and to uninstall/reinstall SP2. But I can't stop the IE7 update which
is already in progress.

So, after IE7 installs and attempts to reboot, computer can't boot
properly. After much fiddling, I get into System Restore and set
system back a few hours and system then boots OK.

At this point, I figure I might as well uninstall/reinstall SP2. After
uninstalling and rebooting, I can not get XP to boot in ANY mode. And
this is where I'm stuck.

Of course, my friend has no recovery disks. I was planning on making
them for him but didn't get to that point.

I realize this post is quite long, but if anyone has any suggestions
that I might try I would appreciate it. Failing that, I will tell him
to take his computer to a repair shop.

Thanks!

It is a common misconception that virus scanners can repair
all damage caused by viruses. They can't. Their main purpose
is to prevent infection and to remove malicious code, like a
surgeon might remove diseased tissue. If your friend's PC
suffered from a massive virus infection (your words) then your
best course of action is a complete rebuild. Save his data to
an independent medium (including his EMail files!), then reinstall
Windows. Allow the disk to be formatted when prompted.