Help with log-in virus /no detected hard disk

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Strmtrpr22 - Feb 8, 2009 at 03:26 PM
 Strmtrpr22 - Feb 9, 2009 at 02:05 AM
Hello,

can someone tell me step by step how I can do this on my laptop. I have and HP Pavilion dv8000 with windows XP. I am in dire need of my laptop for school. Any help would be great.

"Go to the BIOS setup, & change the disk controller setting from AHCI to IDE. might worth the try."

I ask this because my computer has a trojan/back door virus stopping it from logging in, and when I try to boot from a cd my hard disk is not detected, so I can neither reinstall nor recover. :(
Related:

2 responses

xpcman Posts 19528 Registration date Wednesday October 8, 2008 Status Contributor Last seen June 15, 2019 1,824
Feb 8, 2009 at 05:52 PM
Each BIOS is different as is the keys used to initiate the BIOS. Tap F10 until the BIOS screen appears. This HP computer should have limited options to change. Look for a "Boot" tab and use the arrow keys to select it. The mouse does not work in the BIOS. The 2nd screen should show a list of boot devices. You want to move the CD drive to the top. Again position the cursor on the CD drive and use the + key or the PageUp key to move the CD to the top. Check the instructions on the screen for the exact method used to move the drives. You must then save the changes before restarting the computer. F10 normally will give you the option to save and exit. You might also need to confirm the changes with a "Y".

This is HP's info on system recovery of the PV8000 computer - if you have recovery CD's and not a Microsoft Windows CD then you should use this method.

The Windows operating system (OS) can be reinstalled, using the recovery disks, without destroying any existing programs or user data. This action is normally only performed if the PC does not start properly or does not boot into the Windows operating system.
To preserve the user data, copy or backup the user data to an external storage device before performing this task.
Do the following actions to reinstall the operating system from the set of recovery disks.

1. Connect PC to the AC power adapter.
2. Open the disk drive, insert the first disk in the set of recovery disks, and close the disk drive.
3. Turn off the PC.
4. Press the Power button to start the PC and immediately press the F11 key.
The PC begins operation from the disk and performs tests on the hard drive. After a short delay, a black screen, with a message, is displayed. If the C:\ drive and the special recovery partition are intact, three options are available:
*
Press 'R' for standard System Recovery options .
*
Press 'F' to format the hard drive and reinstall the original factory settings. All data will be lost!
*
Press 'Q' to Quit this menu.
WARNING: If the disk tests indicate that the operating system is not installed or the drive is corrupted, the only option presented is 'R' perform a full system recovery . This option will reformat the drive and destroy all the user data. See Before reformatting the hard drive for more information.
5. Select the standard System Recovery option by pressing R .
6. The recovery process will check for the presence of the recovery partition on the hard drive.
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If the partition and the recovery files exist, the rest of the recovery process is performed from the hard drive, and none of the recovery disks is requested.
*
If the partition or the recovery files do not exist, prompts are displayed to insert or exchange disks as needed from the set of recovery disks.

When the OS is reinstalled and the PC re-starts, the programs and data files exist on the hard drive; however, clicking on the menu icons will not start the program. It is necessary to reinstall the programs using the original product disks.
2
Thank you, I finally got it, and now I just need to re-install all my drivers. Thanks again!
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xpcman Posts 19528 Registration date Wednesday October 8, 2008 Status Contributor Last seen June 15, 2019 1,824
Feb 8, 2009 at 03:52 PM
If you change the boot device to the CD drive in the BIOS the virus programs will never be activated. Is this a Vista laptop that you want to convert to XP? In that case you have problems with XP not detecting the SATA drive. You gave one work-around method the other is to "slipstream" the SATA drivers onto a copy of the XP install disk. Search this forum for "Vista to XP" posts. You will find more help there.
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This is an xp computer.

what I am wondering is how you do this.

"change the boot device to the CD drive in the BIOS:"
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