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Can't get past the windows loading screen

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tehJamis - Mar 20, 2010 at 06:11 PM
 bjred - Mar 24, 2010 at 10:27 AM
How do I clean a virus off a hard drive when the virus can spread to the uninfected hard drive and shut it down within a few minutes, before the infected hard drive can be cleaned?

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I think my computer contracted a virus from an infected hard drive. My brother-in-law brought his computer to me because he thought he had a virus. Every time he tried to start windows, he would get to the windows loading screen and then the computer would reset itself.

So I removed his hard drive and plugged it into my computer. (I've used this method before to clean a hard drive so I thought I would be fine.) I turned it on and ran it in safe mode. I was trying to figure out how to get my anti-virus program to run in safe mode (I have NOD32 version 4, I guess it only works through the command prompt in safe mode) when my computer shut down by itself. I tried to restart my computer, but when I got to the loading screen my computer shut down.

I tried using system restore, which seemed to work for a little while. I was able to get pass the loading screen and it worked normally for a few minutes, then it shut down. When I restarted, it didn't make it past the loading screen.

Now I can't get passed the loading screen no matter what I do. I really don't want to reformat the hard drive because I have family pictures I don't have copies of on there. What should I do?
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2 responses

Answer 1 / 2
Ambucias Posts 47312 Registration date Monday February 1, 2010 Status Moderator Last seen March 28, 2026 11,166
Mar 21, 2010 at 06:09 AM
Hello,

You certainly worked hard on this one.

Before we go on further, please tell me if you can boot in safe mode with networking.

Thank you
tehJamis
Mar 21, 2010 at 11:13 PM
I seemed to have fixed the problem. I found my XP install CD and used it to repair my current installation. It seems to have worked, and I don't seem to have lost any data, so that's good. I ran a complete virus scan of my hard drive and nothing showed up, so I think I'm all set. My graphics are a little messed up, but I'm going to install my graphics driver and see if that fixes the problems.
Ambucias Posts 47312 Registration date Monday February 1, 2010 Status Moderator Last seen March 28, 2026 11,166
Mar 22, 2010 at 05:58 AM
That's great!

Thank you for letting me know.

Have a splendid day!
Answer 2 / 2
bjred
Mar 24, 2010 at 10:27 AM
There is a software available for purchase called spotmau that will help you retrieve the files off of a bad hard drive so you can save them on another drive or a flash drive, then you can reformat. Spotmau.com the best version for that is the 2008 it can be downloaded or ordered on a cd.