My Laptop has/had Malware

I tried everything to get rid of it, but nothing would work. Last night I had the laptop on and I got a popup from my anti-virus program but before I could to see what it was, the laptop restarted, however it didn't load anything beyond a black screen with a white blinking line in the top left corner. Is there a way to fix this? Since this is a Compaq Mini 110, there is no CD drive, so I can't install any sort of CD. Is there any way to fix this problem and get my computer back up and running? Or should I just consider it garbage and buy a new laptop?

I have read on various websites to press the f5 or f8 keys when I restart the computer, but that doesn't do anytihng. I don't get the Windows screen or anything, it just turns on straight to the black screen.

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Thank you in advance!

 

Hello,
If you press F11 at boot, do you get a HP recovery manager? Also, Are there any files you wish to recover from machine?

 

It doesn't do anything when I press f11

A screen comes up very briefly that says:

F9 Change Boot Device Order

F10 BIOS Setup Options

That screen only stays on for a second and then it goes right to the black screen.

 

What operating system does this computer have and do you have a model number. On the HP site numerous models are listed. It would be something like Compaq Mini 110c-1048NR PC.

 

Sorry for the double post, but if you tap on the F6 key at boot, do you get a HP recovery manager?

 

Nothing happens with f6 The only keys that do something are f9 and f10.

It is Compaq Mini 110c 1100CA

 

According to HP, your model came with XP SP3. You will have to connect an external USB CD drive and use the system disc that came with your computer to do a restore. If you want, we can try to put an antivirus program on a USB drive and boot to that. Only other option would be to ship it to HP and have them do the restore.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01613138&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=4051142#N75

 

The computer didn't come with any CDs.

When you say put an antivirus program on a USB drive, by that do you mean one of those little stick things that you can plug in the computer? Sorry if that's a stupid question, but I don't really know much about computers. If that is what you are talking about, how would I put an antivirus onto a USB?

I don't really want to pay a lot to have it fixed as I got the computer free through a promotion that the cable company had, so I would be better off to take whatever it would cost to fix it and put it towards a new computer. It's quite sad though, I have only had this thing for a year, if even.

Thank you for your help!

 

I'm wondering if it might be worth rewriting the MBR to see if that makes a difference. I seem to associate the blinking cursor with a bad MBR.

You could use unetbootin to make a bootable USB with Parted Magic which would include TestDisk. TestDisk could rewrite the MBR. It might make a difference it might not but it wouldn't do any damage.

Unetbootin is fairly easy to use. Download and run on a computer with internet access. Use the dropdown next to Distribution to select to download Parted Magic and hit OK to put on the USB. (The USB thumb drive has to be empty because it will be formatted. and all data on it will be destroyed.)

Basic look at TestDISK here. It would be the first four screens. In screen #2 you would choose your laptop HD probably the larger of the two choices. In screen 4 you would choose write MBR. You will get a warning just say OK and exit when done.

 

I would try sach2's idea first. I was thinking about using Dr Web Live on a USB flash drive. It is based on linux and would use the program Unetbootin that sach2 suggested for Parted Magic. Also, I think you would be fine with a 2GB flash drive which are fairly cheap now.

 

Thank you for your suggestion. However, I am probably the most useless person alive when it comes to computers so I am a bit confused.

So what I should do is download UNetbootin to a USB and then it says restart do I leave the USB in this computer and restart it? Will it do anything to this computer? Or do I take the USB out of here? Once the program is saved on my USB, then do I just put it in the laptop that's not working and restart it?