Virus Ruined Hard Drive HP Media Center m7257c

  • Thread starter Thread starter French Quarter
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French Quarter

My neighbor's HP Media Center m7257c Desktop PC has a VIRUS. After reboot
and XP loads, it shuts down to the Blue Screen of Death.

Try to remove the VIRUS with what?
Use Fix MBR at Recovery Console?

Would you replace the HD?
Format the HD then reinstall XP Media?

Thank you for your time.
 
French said:
My neighbor's HP Media Center m7257c Desktop PC has a VIRUS. After
reboot and XP loads, it shuts down to the Blue Screen of Death.

Try to remove the VIRUS with what?
Use Fix MBR at Recovery Console?

Would you replace the HD?
Format the HD then reinstall XP Media?

Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...

If you want to save the data on the machine, you can attach the hard
drive to another computer and copy over. Use a Thumb drive to move the
data back afterwards.

But first, to save you all that effort, I would try this:

Burn BitDefender, or another program listed at the link below, to a CD
(using a working machine) and test the infected machine with it.
BitDefender also has a Rootkit checker on the Linux Desktop; run it if
you think that's the problem:

http://www.techmixer.com/free-bootable-antivirus-rescue-cds-download-list/

Download the executable rather than the .iso image, if one is available,
(though no .exe is available for BitDefender).

After the scan is run, if you elect to quarantine files, they're
quarantined to RAM and lost after you reboot. You'll need to copy any
quarantined files to the hard drive, a thumb drive or elsewhere before
exiting.

If you then have control of the machine, run these:

Malwarebytes© Corporation
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe

SuperAntispyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html
 
My neighbor's HP Media Center m7257c Desktop PC has a VIRUS. After reboot
and XP loads, it shuts down to the Blue Screen of Death.
Click to expand...


How do you know it's a virus? What virus is it?

Try to remove the VIRUS with what?
Use Fix MBR at Recovery Console?

Would you replace the HD?
Click to expand...


Certainly not.
 
Thank you Rich Barry.

I tried the recovery partition.

Code Purple System Configuration Error

Your System has detected a Configuration Error. Please report this error to
Customer Care using the phone number found in the Warranty Guide, etc.

(Code Purple)
 
Thank you Elmo Joe, Im installing all those programs on a Bootable CD and
DVD.
 
David B, I selected the reformat and reload but to no avail cause HP needs
to make TATTOO $Money
 
Ken Blake, I brought it over to my neighbor who is a hard ware expert.
After the blue screen of death he read the error message and said it was a
virus. But I did not think to write the name down.

I used the HP restore options with destructive recovery but do not know how
the TATTOO was lost from the MOBO.

Hopefully GOOGLE will find a TATOO program
 
Ken Blake, I brought it over to my neighbor who is a hard ware expert.
After the blue screen of death he read the error message and said it was a
virus. But I did not think to write the name down.
Click to expand...


If your neighbor is an expert, get him to solve your problems. You
can't expect to get help here if you don't have information for us.
 
French said:
Ken Blake, I brought it over to my neighbor who is a hard ware expert.
After the blue screen of death he read the error message and said it was a
virus. But I did not think to write the name down.

I used the HP restore options with destructive recovery but do not know how
the TATTOO was lost from the MOBO.

Hopefully GOOGLE will find a TATOO program
Click to expand...

And what if you reboot into Windows' safe mode?

It's not likely that the BSOD screen is going to show anything that points
at a virus. You (or your neighbor) would have to look at the dump file but
then you can't boot into Windows to get at the dump file so just how did
your neighbor look at it?
 
French said:
Thank you Elmo Joe, I'm installing all those programs on a Bootable CD
and DVD.
Click to expand...

Programs usually won't reinstall because of registry entries, and
software protection schemes. You CAN save the documents in "My
Documents", and possibly the address book, email folders etc..
 
"Being a hardware expert is a pretty limited field of expertise and
would be of no use diagnosing Windows blue screens."

<chuckle> You've got /lots/ to learn about blue screen errors, buddy.
 
HP Tech Support said the only way to fix a (Code Purple) was to send the PC
back to HP and let them TATTOO the MOMO

Thank you for your time
 
HP Tech Support said the only way to fix a (Code Purple) was to send the PC
back to HP and let them TATTOO the MOMO

Thank you for your time
 
HP Tech Support said the only way to fix a (Code Purple) was to send the PC
back to HP and let them TATTOO the MOMO

Thank you for your time
 
French said:
HP Tech Support said the only way to fix a (Code Purple) was to send the PC
back to HP and let them TATTOO the MOMO

Thank you for your time
Click to expand...

Ah, the joys of buying pre-built customized hardware and software. Tattoing
the motherboard means burning into the BIOS the hardware specs, such as:

Support ID #
Model #
Product #
Serial #
Software Build #
Hardware BOM #
Software BOM #
Service ID #

It's a snapshot of the hardware that gets stored in a signature burned into
the BIOS. Then the install media designed for that particular setup checks
if that's the host on which it is being installed. The install media is
BIOS locked to a particular model and setup. This crap is why I never buy
pre-builts and never buy branded OEM versions of Windows. Something has
changed in the hardware configuration between when that customized OS was
installed to when you attempted to restore its image.


"A motherboard tattoo is a unique code that can be written in the basic
input/output system (BIOS) of a computer to ensure that System Restore or
diagnostic compact discs (CDs) will work only on the machine or line of
machines with which the CDs are sold. The tattoo process ensures that
recovery or diagnostic CDs cannot be illegally used with computers other
than those for which they are intended to be used.

A tattoo consists of an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)
chip that contains information about the machine, such as the serial
number and operating system data. This chip is unique to each machine. If
the motherboard, or certain components on it, are replaced, the EPROM chip
must be reprogrammed. The same is true if the original recovery or
diagnostic CDs are lost. The technical support department of the computer
vendor, or the technician who performed modifications or repairs, should
be contacted for details about the reprogramming (re-tattooing) process."

That you can boot into Windows (and then it pukes) shows that it is NOT a
tattoing problem (since you aren't installing the OS). The tattoo error
occurs if you tried to install a BIOS-locked version onto the wrong
hardware. I see in another post that you said that attempted to do the
image recovery and then got the tattoo problem. So the tattoo problem is a
wholly separate issue than your original post claiming a virus ruined a hard
disk. Since you attempted the recovery of the factory image, the virus
problem is no longer an issue you want discussed in this thread.

If the BIOS signature got corrupted (unlikely) or the restore image in
invalid (it was copied from the wrong setup), yep, you need to get the OEM
to rebuild the BIOS signature or put the correct recovery image into the
hidden partition. Or you could get a generic (non-branded) OEM or retail
version of Windows along with all the hardware drivers and tell HP to ****
themselves and do your own unlocked install of Windows (and even recover the
disk space for the hidden partition).
 
French said:
HP Tech Support said the only way to fix a (Code Purple) was to send
the PC back to HP and let them TATTOO the MOMO

Thank you for your time
Click to expand...

YW.

They are wrong. Have a look at that thread. There is a workaround.
 
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