[troubled.user]

Hello, I am a new user and found this website to ask for help. Here is my problem.

My brother's Toshiba Satellite A105 caught a virus. He uses Windows XP SP3. The system starts up fine but when I get to the desktop, it loads horribly slow due to the virus. CPU usage remains at 100%. So I turn it off and back on while pressing F12. I have the option of booting from cd, hdd, fdd, and I forgot the other one. I do have a recovery disk I put in. So I highlight the cd option so it boots from the CD. It begins saying "Loading RAMDISK image" then loads another thing then just starts back up as normal into the desktop once again. Second try, I go into BIOS and change it so it boots only from the CD when it starts up. And again I get "Loading Ramdisk image" and the other thing that loads. I forgot what it said. when it's both done loading, it starts back up all over with "loading ramdisk image". It just endlessly loops. Getting no where.

I also tried going into safe mode for a system restore to a certain point. Mind you, the system restore window took about 1 hour to pop up. The laptop is that slow. I left it for about 4 hours to do its system restore to a previous date and it didn't fix anything at all.

Another try, I waited for the whole system to load. I put in the CD and waited for the Toshiba System Recovery to pop. (Took about another hour for it to pop up) With patience, it popped up and I pressed "Preform a system recovery" It leads me to another window asking me to confirm if it is alright that everything will be deleted. I press CONFIRM. It shuts down and goes back to "Loading ramdisk image" and loops all over again.

I am stuck, I don't know what to do anymore. I have used this CD in the past to do a system recovery and it worked flawlessly. But now, it just doesn't want to work anymore. I have tried pressing every F button. I tried pressing "0" on power up and tapping once toshiba logo appeared. I tried pressing "C" none of them did anything for me.

if this helps, the CD says TOSHIBA Recovery and Applications/Drivers DVD Satellite A100/A105 Series.

 

[DBCooper]

Hi troubled.user,

Try going to safe mode again and see if you are able to get internet access while in safe mode. Assuming you do, try downloading two programs called "HitmanPRO" and "Malwarebytes". Install them both and then first run HitmanPRO then Malwarebytes. Let both programs run and detect any viruses/spywares on your computer and delete them. Hopefully this helps you out.

 

[troubled.user]

Thanks for the tip DBCooper, but unfortunately the wireless adapter was deleted by my brother due to his carelessness.

 

[spunk.funk]

If you do not want to save any data on the drive, then you can download the Bootable ISO image of Killdisk and burn the image to a CD using IMGBurn. Boot off the newly created CD and run Killdisk and low level format the HDD. Now boot off of the Restore CD and it should install Windows on the newly blank HDD. If you want to save data first then use an Ubuntu Live CD to copy the data off to a flash drive.

 

[brobarapas]

Restart or start your computer while holding down the number zero key.

2
Choose "Recovery of factory default software" from the list on your screen, and then press "Next." If you do not see this or a similar option, your model of Satellite does not have a factory settings system restore point in a partition on your hard drive and you will need to restore from a CD.

3
Click the option to "Recover to out of box state" or "Restore original factory image" and press "Next." Follow the onscreen prompts, and then allow your computer to complete the recovery process before you attempt any other processes.

4
Choose any key from your keyboard and press it to restart your computer when prompted.