Computer Help

8/4/2012 | raybbr

[raybbr]

Sigh!

I have an older Toshiba laptop running W7. The other day my wife called me at work to tell me the Windows Repair program came up. It was too late to tell her to shut it down.

Now, every boot comes up with the repair screen. I cannot even boot into Safe modes or command prompt.

I downloaded and ran the AVG bootable CD with the anti-virus program on it. It came back negative.

I now have the hard drive plugged into my desktop via a USB adapter and have tried several times to scan it with Malwarebytes. I suspect a rootkit because a couple of User folders come up as empty while others are okay. I have noticed this before with a rootkit.

What I would like to do is run TDSSKiller from my PC on the hard drive plugged into the USB port.

It tried running chkdsk on it. It came back with errors and would not continue. (I did not log the errors).

I could be the hard drive is bad but I have not received any errors from Windows while using it over the last few weeks. There is very little info on it that I need except for some files as my wife and sons use it.

Thanks in advance for the help.

I will be in and out today so I may not reply quickly to suggestions.

[Celtic Cross]

I have no computer savvy at all, but this exact thing happened to me. Allow me to relate my sad tale of woe.

Brand new Dell XPS15, i7 processor, all the fancy trimmings. 4 months old, the same thing that happened to you happened to me. I called dell and got a series of increasing obnoxious foreigners. Eventually they sent a repair guy (the computer was under warranty), and he replaced the hard drive and motherboard, with refurb parts because thats all the 200$ warranty would allow for. He also said dell should be giving me a new damn computer.

Fast forward 3 months, exact same thing happened with exact same result.

Fast forward 1.5 days, exact same thing happened. I called dell multiple times, yelling at the arrogant turd at the other end, demanding a new computer. They reluctantly agreed to set me sent the thing in to dell for repair, although they claimed it was outside my warranty.

It comes back a week later, tagged "hard drive replaced." See, I send it in and they do less than the repair guy. Nice.

So far, its worked ok for the past 3 months, but I don't trust it at all and am just waiting for the day it craps out, and this time I'll sell it on ebay or something for its weight in scrap. I'll NEVER do business with dell again. Ever.

[oh8eleven]

I have no computer savvy at all, but this exact thing happened to me. I'll NEVER do business with dell again.
How is it Dell's fault your HD got hosed by some kind of virus or malware?
And why did they replace the motherboard?
I've owned three Dells over the last 10 years w/ zero problems.

[miliantnutcase]

I would make sure you don’t have a dirty power condition at your house. Make sure you’re plugged into a battery backup UPS when using the AC power. If they really replaced the motherboard and hard drive the first time that’s practically a new computer itself...

[wrench]

Download Knoppix and see if the laptop will operate without the HD. If so, your HD is toast.

Even the HD manufacturers will tell you once a HD starts failing, move your data off of it and get a new one.

Laptop drives are more prone to damage than desk top drives mainly because desktops are very rarely subjected to rough handling or dropped.

Do not trust a “repaired” hard drive.

[norwaypinesavage]

I’ve had exactly the opposite experience with Dell. I’ve now bought 5 Dell “refurbished” computers, each for less than $100. They all work great. They came with Windows XP Certificates which alone would cost $100. On two of them I’ve put in new hard drives, just to get more capacity, and then I also loaded Windows 7.

[bytesmith]

I too have had good service from Dell. Currently own 5 running Dells. Four laptops and one desktop. Did have a hard drive failure on an Inspiron 6000. Replaced the drive and completely installed the OS and applications. Runs like new.

[VeniVidiVici]

Cheap trick: Unplug the HD, give it a shake and put it in the freezer for 2 hours.

Done this many times myself. Though I usually start with a slap on the desktop instead of just a shake.

Once out of the freezer you have to work fast. You won't have time to search the drive looking for files you need. Try to remember first where they are at as that drive will thaw fast.

The good thing is this may work two or three times before the drive goes completely tango uniform.

If you've already run CHKDSK with /f then you may be out of luck anyhow. If it found orphans of the files you're looking for and "fixed" them, those lost chains were converted to files at the root of the drive. If you haven't deleted them then you may want to copy those files as part of your recovery and peruse them for any data you can get out of them.

[VeniVidiVici]

Cheap trick: Unplug the HD, give it a shake and put it in the freezer for 2 hours.

Done this many times myself. Though I usually start with a slap on the desktop instead of just a shake.

Once out of the freezer you have to work fast. You won't have time to search the drive looking for files you need. Try to remember first where they are at as that drive will thaw fast.

The good thing is this may work two or three times before the drive goes completely tango uniform.

If you've already run CHKDSK with /f then you may be out of luck anyhow. If it found orphans of the files you're looking for and "fixed" them, those lost chains were converted to files at the root of the drive. If you haven't deleted them then you may want to copy those files as part of your recovery and peruse them for any data you can get out of them.

[Spunky]

Here's what you do.

teg a wen retupmoc. Ta tsael taht si tahw I dluow od.

You probably understood that as well as I understood what you are talking about. I know nothing about computers. :-(

[raybbr]

teg a wen retupmoc. Ta tsael taht si tahw I dluow od.

I don't need a new computer, dang it....!

[ShadowAce]

[Bikkuri]

At least guide him to a user friendly (Win user, user friendly) version of Linux.. and that would be Linux Mint (probably MATE now)..

ray.. so many ideas running through my head (been in the same situation as you so many times) but, been up about 22 hours and can’t collect my thoughts well, atm :p

I am sure there is someone who has already read my mind, or has given better advice, but will come back here as soon as I wake up to see if you still have a problem.

(BTW, Toshiba’s were the worst laptops I ever had.. and the tech support was awful, of course it was here in Japan with Japanese only support :/ ... and I equate that with Sony tech support here too :p)

anyway, I hope you get it fixed before I wake up ;^)

[Svartalfiar]

Hmmm.. that does seem odd, especially if you usually have stuff in there. Have you directly browsed to those folders? (open “my computer”, go to the hard drive they’re installed on [D:/ likely, if you’re using the usb adapter], then go to Users/Wife ? ) What program is scanning those as empty? Be sure your folder options are set to show hidden folders!

If they show as empty when you directly access them as I mentioned, do they also show as empty when you try the same when booted into Ubuntu? The following link will guide you in creating a bootable drive, when you open it on the bad computer, be sure to select BOOT from the menu when you start your computer, NOT INSTALL.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

If they’re still showing as empty under the Linux access, sounds like you do have a problem. :p If you really need some of those files, you may need a deleted file recovery program to re-access them. If they aren’t that important, I’d suggest reformatting it. (Something you should do every year or so anyway.) In which case, don’t worry about diagnosing as the drive’ll be wiped anyway.

Diagnosing the disk:
There are several programs you can use to try to find something wrong, here’s a list of a couple. Most of these can be run off of your usb drive via ubuntu once you boot into there, or can be run on your other computer while the bad drive is mounted via usb as an external drive.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware: decent, free program, you should have/use this every week or so anyway. Easy Google search.
CCleaner: general comp cleaning, not anti-virus or anything
Defraggler: Piriform product as above, not anti-anything, but a decent defragmentation product anyway. Use ~once/week.
Spybot S&D: decent, free for basic spyware removal.
CleanUp!: good for basic file cleaning
PC-Doctor: Used to be decent problem-finding program, but looking through their site right now looks more like pay-for-service than I remember.
TDSSKiller: can run to remove certain rootkit viruses.
ComboFix: powerful program, you can run it but don’t do more with it without help from bleepingcomputer.com. I’m not an expert or even amateur with it.

ComboFix:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix
TDSS rootkit killer:
http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208283363

[Svartalfiar]

Cheap trick: Unplug the HD, give it a shake and put it in the freezer for 2 hours. That could get you a good boot from which you can perform a backup to external device, add a Restore point and clone the drive for re-installation on a new drive.
< br />This'll work if your issue has to do with bad ball bearings on your hard drive, or related overheating issues. In which case, after the freezer for a bit, put it in a zip-loc bag then submerge half of that in ice-water, be sure cables coming out of the bag aren't getting wet. You'll have plenty of time to access your stuff.

[Yosemitest]

Not that it will help now, but when you get it fixed, invest in Norton Ghost, and keep your computer backed up at home.
You might consider a paid version of a security system.
Currently, I'm using Comodo Internet Security Complete 2012, but I think I like Online Armor and Emsisoft Internet Security Pack better.
Also, as soon as you can, buy an I-Mac.

[Celtic Cross]

I don't think its malware, because I have norton360 installed and run scans regularly.

I have a dell desktop, 11 years old and running strong, so thats why I went with dell for this laptop. But like I said, its crap (I guess they cut corners now), and the customer service I got wasn't so hot either.

Maybe I got a lemon, but either way I'm not getting another dell. Everyone else in my family uses HP, and they've never had any problems (at least that they've admitted to.)