A Virus Infected My Computer and Vista Won't Boot

Xevious · 01-20-2009, 04:27 PM

I downloaded a Final Fantasy VII torrent on thepiratebay.org. Apparently it has a bad trojan virus on it, and my Trend-Micro PC antivirus software rebooted the computer.

Now, whenver I turn my computer on, it goes to the screen asking if you want to start it in safe mode or not. If I select any kind of Safe Mode (i.e. Safe Mode with Command prompt and safe mode with networking, along with regular sfae mode) it goes the boot screen with the small green load bar. This takes much longer than usual, about one minute or a little less. Then, it goes to the windows vista screen where it usually says welcome, but instead it says please wait and it has the little circle loader indicator. This screen lasts about two and half minutes. Then, the computer restarts, goes back to the green load bar screen, and eventually it just goes black.
If I select normal mode, the "Please Wait" screen doesn't even show up. The computer restarts and ends up at the black screen.

The only menus I can access are the boot and setup menus accessible from the initial boot up screen with the blue Dell symbol. The setup menu seems pretty useless for my situation, as I explored it pretty well, and the boot menu doesn't seem to offer any help either, other than the utility partition, on which I ran a diagnostic that was set up for when the OS won't boot up, and it didn't do anything or detect any errors.

The only other thing possibly worth mentioning is that when it reaches the black screen at the end, when I press Alt-F4, the cursor appears. I can move it around the black screen, but that's it.

I don't want to lose all of my stuff, but at this point, I would be willing to do a system restore or just wipe the hard drive. However, it doesn't seem like I can do anything at all.

After my computer crashed, I looked up the torrent I downloaded and saw in the comments section that other people had been having problems with the virus too, but some people weren't having any problems at all.

I'm not very computer savvy, but I've gotten rid of trojans before. I'd like to be able to boot up the OS so I can start trying to get rid of this virus, so any help on that will be greatly appreciated.

Chevy · 01-25-2009, 02:24 PM

Well, that's what you get for pirating ....

Stop by our Security section and follow the steps HERE.

I suggest you remove the torrent you downloaded, ad well as the torrent client.

Xevious · 01-26-2009, 04:04 PM

Thank you for replying.

I did read the instructions for removing malware before I posted my thread, but I can't access the internet to download any of those removal tools, let alone my OS. The closest thing I can access is the utility partition for the computer itself, and after running a diagnostic based on the symptom, "OS won't boot," it said everything was in fine working order.

I'm wondering if there is some way I can either force the OS to boot up in any form so that I can access the control panel and the internet, or, failing that, some way I can restore my computer, even if I lose all of my stuff.

The only menus I have been able to access are the setup and boot menu on the Dell start-up screen. I don't think either of those pertain to the OS.

My OS must be starting up in some way, because when the screen goes black, and I hit Alt-F4, the mouse appears and it is the Windows Aero theme mouse. You can only accomplish so much witha black screen and a mouse, though.

Do you know any other methods of just getting the OS up? If not, do you know how I could do a system restore or even just wipe the RAM without access to the OS, and without hiring a professional to do it? (it seems like it should be easy...)

Thank you very much for your consideration!

Pirating justification
(skip it if you don't care, pirates and regular people just love to justify their actions)

I own the game for Playstation, but it's completely scratched up from playing it so much (and I don't own a Playstation anymore). I'm pretty sure it's legal to download p2p files if you own them already (at least that's the way it works for ROMs). I was going to buy it, but Final Fantasy VII is out of print and very expensive to buy used ($60+) and new copies are ridiculously expensive ($160+). Arrrrrr!
The first thing I will do when/if my OS boots will be to uninstall uTorrent and the virus infected torrent (after a game or two of minesweeper).

01-20-2009, 04:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
Xevious Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 3 OS: vista	A Virus Infected My Computer and Vista Won't Boot I downloaded a Final Fantasy VII torrent on thepiratebay.org. Apparently it has a bad trojan virus on it, and my Trend-Micro PC antivirus software rebooted the computer. Now, whenver I turn my computer on, it goes to the screen asking if you want to start it in safe mode or not. If I select any kind of Safe Mode (i.e. Safe Mode with Command prompt and safe mode with networking, along with regular sfae mode) it goes the boot screen with the small green load bar. This takes much longer than usual, about one minute or a little less. Then, it goes to the windows vista screen where it usually says welcome, but instead it says please wait and it has the little circle loader indicator. This screen lasts about two and half minutes. Then, the computer restarts, goes back to the green load bar screen, and eventually it just goes black. If I select normal mode, the "Please Wait" screen doesn't even show up. The computer restarts and ends up at the black screen. The only menus I can access are the boot and setup menus accessible from the initial boot up screen with the blue Dell symbol. The setup menu seems pretty useless for my situation, as I explored it pretty well, and the boot menu doesn't seem to offer any help either, other than the utility partition, on which I ran a diagnostic that was set up for when the OS won't boot up, and it didn't do anything or detect any errors. The only other thing possibly worth mentioning is that when it reaches the black screen at the end, when I press Alt-F4, the cursor appears. I can move it around the black screen, but that's it. I don't want to lose all of my stuff, but at this point, I would be willing to do a system restore or just wipe the hard drive. However, it doesn't seem like I can do anything at all. After my computer crashed, I looked up the torrent I downloaded and saw in the comments section that other people had been having problems with the virus too, but some people weren't having any problems at all. I'm not very computer savvy, but I've gotten rid of trojans before. I'd like to be able to boot up the OS so I can start trying to get rid of this virus, so any help on that will be greatly appreciated.

01-25-2009, 02:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chevy Retired Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Notlob Posts: 5,452 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	Re: A Virus Infected My Computer and Vista Won't Boot Well, that's what you get for pirating .... Stop by our Security section and follow the steps HERE. I suggest you remove the torrent you downloaded, ad well as the torrent client.

01-26-2009, 04:04 PM	#3 (permalink)
Xevious Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 3 OS: vista	Re: A Virus Infected My Computer and Vista Won't Boot Thank you for replying. I did read the instructions for removing malware before I posted my thread, but I can't access the internet to download any of those removal tools, let alone my OS. The closest thing I can access is the utility partition for the computer itself, and after running a diagnostic based on the symptom, "OS won't boot," it said everything was in fine working order. I'm wondering if there is some way I can either force the OS to boot up in any form so that I can access the control panel and the internet, or, failing that, some way I can restore my computer, even if I lose all of my stuff. The only menus I have been able to access are the setup and boot menu on the Dell start-up screen. I don't think either of those pertain to the OS. My OS must be starting up in some way, because when the screen goes black, and I hit Alt-F4, the mouse appears and it is the Windows Aero theme mouse. You can only accomplish so much witha black screen and a mouse, though. Do you know any other methods of just getting the OS up? If not, do you know how I could do a system restore or even just wipe the RAM without access to the OS, and without hiring a professional to do it? (it seems like it should be easy...) Thank you very much for your consideration! Pirating justification (skip it if you don't care, pirates and regular people just love to justify their actions) I own the game for Playstation, but it's completely scratched up from playing it so much (and I don't own a Playstation anymore). I'm pretty sure it's legal to download p2p files if you own them already (at least that's the way it works for ROMs). I was going to buy it, but Final Fantasy VII is out of print and very expensive to buy used ($60+) and new copies are ridiculously expensive ($160+). Arrrrrr! The first thing I will do when/if my OS boots will be to uninstall uTorrent and the virus infected torrent (after a game or two of minesweeper).