Trying to rescue and abused laptop

[PapaBear]

So, this female friend of mine brought over her sister's laptop. The dolt downloaded EI 8 (I'm assuming there's a beta out there) and something called Frostwire. She also had no anit-virus program. Now it gives a message saying it will shut down in a minute after only running for about 2 minutes. If you run "shutdown -a" it stops it from shutting down, but only for another couple of minutes. The DVD drive won't read any discs, so I can't use any CD's with virus cleaning software. It won't connect to the internet. I've played around with trying something on a flash drive, but I haven't managed to keep it running long enough for it to install the flash drive drivers.

Any ideas?

[made cummsies]

what's the make and model of the laptop? can you get into the bios? does it have a recovery partition?

[styckx]

Step 1. Remove girl from owning laptop

Step 2. Boot from Windows CD and do a complete format and reinstall

Step 3. Keep laptop away from girl

[PapaBear]

HP Pavilion zv5000. No partition for restore. I can get into safe mode and bios.

[PapaBear]

Step 1. Remove girl from owning laptop

Step 2. Boot from Windows CD and do a complete format and reinstall

Step 3. Keep laptop away from girl
It won't read CD's.

[Fez4PrezN2008]

Maybe pull the drive set jumpers to slave, plug into to your own pc and then av it or delete whatever crap is causing the prob?

[PapaBear]

Maybe pull the drive set jumpers to slave, plug into to your own pc and then av it or delete whatever crap is causing the prob?
That sounds pretty risky. Plus, I have no way to connect it to my desktop.

[made cummsies]

DON'T network (via ethernet or usb) to any stable machine

if you can boot it into safe mode you still can't get it to run a CD? what about using windows restore once in safe mode to get it back to the point before the chick fubar'd it?

[Fez4PrezN2008]

That sounds pretty risky. Plus, I have no way to connect it to my desktop.
Don't most ide ribbon connectors have two plugs on the same ribbon? Since its in slave mode the os won't try to boot. I've done this same proceedure with a 3.5" drive before and rescued files, found a bug, and voalah, worked like a charm when I put in back in the other pc, but then again maybe I was just lucky. HP has a service guide for it here (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?lc=en&dlc=&cc=us&product=385148&lang=&) in case it helps. Good luck bro.

[PapaBear]

I think it's totally fucked (short of a new hard drive). It won't install the flash drive. It still won't read cd's. It turns out it does have Norton anti virus, but when I click it, I get the hour glass for a few seconds, then nothing. Same thing for system restore.

[made cummsies]

I think it's totally fucked (short of a new hard drive).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380%201035907889&name=ATA-6

for $55 bucks can get an 80gb drive

[instrument]

If you had an adapter you could just plug it into your desktop.

This is a reason I love macs, target disc mode, attach two macs with a firewire cable, startup holding down F, and the computer acts as a HD, great for TS or rebuilding.

Is there any such option for this win laptop?

[boosterp]

If you had an adapter you could just plug it into your desktop.

This is a reason I love macs, target disc mode, attach two macs with a firewire cable, startup holding down F, and the computer acts as a HD, great for TS or rebuilding.

Is there any such option for this win laptop?

Usually safe mode and clone drives. But if the OS or drive is beyond fucked then the only option is to remove the drive install it as a slave, run AV on it, scan the drive, and extract the pertinent files before trying to restore it. If scanning through disk check fails then the drive needs to be replaced.

Oh, there are adapters to attach a laptop HD to the desktop and they are inexpensive.

[JPMNICK]

how come to CD drive does not work before windows starts? try making a bootable CD and try it out by pressing F12 or something soon as the BIOS loads

[KingGeno]

So, this female friend of mine brought over her sister's laptop. The dolt downloaded EI 8 (I'm assuming there's a beta out there) and something called Frostwire. She also had no anit-virus program. Now it gives a message saying it will shut down in a minute after only running for about 2 minutes. If you run "shutdown -a" it stops it from shutting down, but only for another couple of minutes. The DVD drive won't read any discs, so I can't use any CD's with virus cleaning software. It won't connect to the internet. I've played around with trying something on a flash drive, but I haven't managed to keep it running long enough for it to install the flash drive drivers.

Any ideas?

Windows XP? Are any windows updates installed? Are you receiving a prompt saying that the computer is shutting down in a minute? Does it look like this?

http://www.pchell.com/images/sasser2.gif

Sounds to me that the computer has almost no updates installed, and may be infected with the Sasser Worm. Try running this tool and follow the instructions from Symantec: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2004-050114-1706-99

Also, I would recommend running this tool and getting Windows Updates installed asap. Microsoft replaced their removal tool with the Malicious Software removal Tool on their site, and it comes through on your Windows Updates and is updated a lot.


As far as the hardware issues, lemme see what I can find.

[Puggle_kicker]

May have to change the boot order in BIOS to get it to boot from a disc

[MisterSmith]

how come to CD drive does not work before windows starts? try making a bootable CD and try it out by pressing F12 or something soon as the BIOS loads

May have to change the boot order in BIOS to get it to boot from a disc

If the drive is bad and/or the system isn't recognizing the CD drive, then manually selecting or changing the boot order isn't going to help. If the computer can't recognize or use the drive, then there isn't much that can be done.

Of course I am assuming this is the case based upon PapaBear's comments thus far.

PapaBear - have you tried using Device Manager to uninstall the CD Drive and then let the system reinstall it? If it is an issue of the system seeing the drive but it is not operating properly, that may do the trick. But if the CD Drive (or HD, or OS) is hosed, then you are out of luck.

To really check out the drive - do AV scans, run chkdsk, recover data, etc. - you would need to pull the drive from the computer and use an external USB adapter; I find the "Univeral" SATA, IDE, 3.5, 2.5, 5.25 to be a great utilitarian tool. If you don't want to spend any money (even though you can use the adapter for other drives and in other cases), then it is essentially a SOL situation (if you can't get the CD Drive to work).

[boosterp]

Windows XP? Are any windows updates installed? Are you receiving a prompt saying that the computer is shutting down in a minute? Does it look like this?

http://www.pchell.com/images/sasser2.gif

Sounds to me that the computer has almost no updates installed, and may be infected with the Sasser Worm. Try running this tool and follow the instructions from Symantec: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2004-050114-1706-99

Also, I would recommend running this tool and getting Windows Updates installed asap. Microsoft replaced their removal tool with the Malicious Software removal Tool on their site, and it comes through on your Windows Updates and is updated a lot.


As far as the hardware issues, lemme see what I can find.

Good call budday.

May have to change the boot order in BIOS to get it to boot from a disc

Many laptop Bios' can be a pain to work in, usually though on modern laptops the cd/dvd drive is set as the first boot device. At least true for the majority of name brand laptops I've worked on.

[PapaBear]

Windows XP? Are any windows updates installed? Are you receiving a prompt saying that the computer is shutting down in a minute? Does it look like this?

http://www.pchell.com/images/sasser2.gif

Sounds to me that the computer has almost no updates installed, and may be infected with the Sasser Worm. Try running this tool and follow the instructions from Symantec: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2004-050114-1706-99

Also, I would recommend running this tool and getting Windows Updates installed asap. Microsoft replaced their removal tool with the Malicious Software removal Tool on their site, and it comes through on your Windows Updates and is updated a lot.


As far as the hardware issues, lemme see what I can find.
That's exactly what it is. Thanks for the link. I'm going to try it tonight. I made some progress last night. After about 40 minutes, if finally installed my flash drive in safe mode (with me running shutdown -a every 60 seconds to keep the damn thing on). With the flash drive, I installed Avast and a boot up scan removed 27 worms, viruses, and adware infections.

I tried for a while to uninstall the bad EI 8, but it was a no go. I now have EI 7 on the flash drive (along with a lot of the original drivers that the laptop came with). I'm going to see if installing 7 on it will get rid of 8, then see if it can connect to the web to get more updates. I'd hate to have to try to install them all with the flash drive.

BTW.... I don't know why the DVD drive doesn't work. It spins the CD, but doesn't read it. Even after changing the boot order, it still won't boot from a system disc. I'm hoping after running the symantec thing, and getting rid of EI 8, I have a feeling the drive will work.

[Fez4PrezN2008]

SYSTM just had a pretty cool podcast from 02/02/09 where he made a bootable thumbdrive w/ ubuntu os. Looked like pretty cool little project, could come in handy for problem pc's like this one. Those guys on SYSTM and HAK5 do some pretty amazing things.

[weeniewawa]

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/

this place has great prices on drives

just get a new one and format the old one but don't attach it to a windows machine, use a Mac and it won't get effected.

[PapaBear]

I knew this thread would get at least one Mac post. I'll gladly use a Mac when someone buys me one.

[styckx]

That's exactly what it is. Thanks for the link. I'm going to try it tonight. I made some progress last night. After about 40 minutes, if finally installed my flash drive in safe mode (with me running shutdown -a every 60 seconds to keep the damn thing on). With the flash drive, I installed Avast and a boot up scan removed 27 worms, viruses, and adware infections.

I tried for a while to uninstall the bad EI 8, but it was a no go. I now have EI 7 on the flash drive (along with a lot of the original drivers that the laptop came with). I'm going to see if installing 7 on it will get rid of 8, then see if it can connect to the web to get more updates. I'd hate to have to try to install them all with the flash drive.

BTW.... I don't know why the DVD drive doesn't work. It spins the CD, but doesn't read it. Even after changing the boot order, it still won't boot from a system disc. I'm hoping after running the symantec thing, and getting rid of EI 8, I have a feeling the drive will work.

Holy shit, seriously, don't bother trying to rescue that install. One or two viruses ok, fine, easy clean up, 27 though? That shit is fubar, do whatever it takes to format that drive and do a fresh Windows install.

[PapaBear]

Holy shit, seriously, don't bother trying to rescue that install. One or two viruses ok, fine, easy clean up, 27 though? That shit is fubar, do whatever it takes to format that drive and do a fresh Windows install.
I probably will. I have an XP Home CD, and the license key from the bottom of the laptop. I hope I can reinstall it with that. I recently tried that with another comp, and it wouldn't accept the key for some reason.

[made cummsies]

I probably will. I have an XP Home CD, and the license key from the bottom of the laptop. I hope I can reinstall it with that. I recently tried that with another comp, and it wouldn't accept the key for some reason.
the XP key on the bottom of the computer is tied to the specific release of windows licensed to that computer's manufacture so a generic or retail version will likely not work....you'll need to get your mitts on the HP version that shipped with the computer

if you're prepared to go through the hassle you can probably find it seeded online

[SP1!]

I probably will. I have an XP Home CD, and the license key from the bottom of the laptop. I hope I can reinstall it with that. I recently tried that with another comp, and it wouldn't accept the key for some reason.

Yeah you are going to need the original CDs that came with the laptop, if she doesnt have them then they will need to be ordered, she can most likely kiss all the shit on that laptop goodbye unless you want to move it then scan all the info for her.

[PapaBear]

I just checked, and I can order the cd for 20 bucks with free shipping. BTW... my attempt at installing EI7 from the flash drive failed. I wish the fucking DVD drive worked!!! My female friend (sister of the idiot that messed up the comp) has a USB external DVD drive. I think I'm going to borrow that, and see what I can do from there.

[styckx]

You said IE8 is installed? You should google "uninstall IE8" apparently MS made it so you basically can't without some tweaking and a Phillips screwdriver :)