[Konig]

I have a PC hooked to a dlink router wireless router constantly linked to the internet via ethernet cable. The pc only has windows firewall. Last night i closed my firefox and woke up this morning to find that my windows froze. It only has windows firewall. The only thing i can do is to click the start up menu but no application can be run. It seems there is something invisible deactivating all my commands.

I switched off my PC and restarted it (i have no reset button) and everytime before i get to the desktop the PC restarts and i have this menu

safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command prompt

last known good configuration

start windows xp normally

Only safe mode gets me to the desktop, the last good config and start windows xp normal options puts me in a restart loop.

In the safe mode, it only takes a few actions to restart me once again.

May i know if this is a virus or just a boot disk bad sector? And may I know the best thing to do now?

I dont mind reinstalling windows as my impt data are on another drive. If this is a virus is it possible for it to lurk in the other drive and wipe out my new windows again?

 

[xenithon]

I had that issue after a series of power failures. I started using the XP CD, used the repair option, and fixed the MBR. That sorted everything out. It is impossible to tell if it will do the trick in your situation, but it is worth a try.

 

[Konig]

i tried it and that got me to the desktop in normal mode before a blue screen pop out and say

driver irql not less or equal

I dont remember installing any new drivers yesterday......

its deepening my suspicion that some1 hacked into my network and placed a virus

 

[Gautama]

Get a ubuntu linux disk and scan your HDD for viruses while you are running linux from the ubuntu cd.


EDIT: You may have to go into the BIOS and change the boot order so it tries to boot from CD before HDD.

 

[mbriant]

Last week on my office computer I noticed on the mcafee main screen, mention of a virus that causes your computer to keep re-booting. ( they "advertise" a single virus on their main screen on a regular basis.) I'm afraid I don't remember the name of the virus and I don't have access to my office computer today so i can't contribute any more than this.

 

[xenithon]

"driver irql not less or equal" actally rare has something to do with the installation of drivers. It often happens when a driver and/or application is corrupted for some reason. I have come across it umpteen times and never has it been virus related (which is a good thing

). If the FIXMBR does not help, you can also try an actual Windows repair install.

As mentioned above though, try some other tools to identify some corrupted part of the HDD as that often causes these BSODs.

 

[aphex944]

[edit: should read the entire thread before posting, doh! ]

 

[xenithon]

Just to add - this often happens when there is faulty HARDWARE....hence the driver irql popping up. A good example is when I had an internal AGP graphics card which was faulty a couple of months after installing it. Whenever it tried to load its driver, the system restarted or crashed. This can often be seen if you start in safe mode, and you see all the drivers loading, and at a particular driver it crashes every time ---> a good indication that that harware is causing unhappiness in the system.

 

[Seaside]

Konig, it would be helpful if you can let us know what components you have and how old they are. I will never able to tell before I see your system though, it sounds like a hardware failure to me.

 

[Konig]

ok after i used the repair function of winxp cd, i could get to a normal windows desktop, before some clicks and there bring me to the irql thing over and over again.

I gave up and installed a fresh copy of windows.

Does any1 know if setting up hard disks in raid array helps in these situations? i remember raid only helps u restore really fast during hdd failures, what about other hardware failures?

 

[gmoffatt]

Just FYI, and a trick that can fix a lot of driver issues (always do this when installing a new motherboard)...

Instead of the repair option for windows xp, follow the install path and choose the partition where windows already resides. XP Setup will ask you if you want to re-install, to which you say yes. This will install generic drivers for your hardware and will hopefully get you back into Windows.

Cheers,
Greg