Windows XP - Reinstallation Help

To try and make a long story short, it has been determined that my son has the Virut virus in his PC. I ran the MG Tools as suggested in another MG forum and it was confirmed. When I purchased this pc about 5+ years ago it did not come with a disk.

So my question is, what do I do next? I know the partitans need to be formatted and a fresh installation of XP needs to be installed. Do I have to buy a disk, or can it be done within the PC itself using system recovery? How d I format the partitians? If I have to purchase a disk, can you tell me where I can purchase one inexpensively? I need to know what to buy, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

It may have a recovery partition which you could use to reinstall the OS and ususally offfers the option to create recovery discs. Since the procedure to do either differs from PC to PC, I can't give you any specifics. What is the manufacturer and model number of your PC?

 

Compaq Presario FS7600

I had read something about doing a recovery using the i386 file, but when I attempted it, I got an error saying partitians could not be found or something along those lines..I am sorry I forgot exactly what it said, it has been a week or so since I have tried it.

Also, is it going to be ok to even try to recover within the pc (if it is possible) since it is infected with virut? All I know is when I first got the pc 5+ years ago I had to put it back to factory settings because windows kept crashing, so it has to be in there somewhere no?

 

To offer a solution for restoring your system, we would need the make and model of the computer. The "Compaq Presario FS7600" would seem to be the monitor not the computer.

 

Backup everything you want to save from the Hard Drive.

You could try tapping F10 during system startup to try to access the recovery partition. To clear a virus you will want to do a destructive recovery which means -- ALL OF THE DATE ON THE HARD DRIVE WILL BE LOST -- Be very sure this is what you want to do. A non-destructive recovery will not clear a virus.

 

Call a local PC repair shop and ask them if they can provide you with a burnt copy of Windows XP Home SP3 or Windows XP Pro SP3, whichever is on your machine, for free or a small fee. Make sure to tell them that you need an OEM copy, not a Retail copy, the keys are not backward-compatible and you'll be doing a clean install using the Product Key on the side of your machine (OEM).

The problem with using the Recovery Partition, even if your 5+ year old machine has one that doesn't require additional recovery disks be inserted in the process (unlikely), is that Virut infects a large number of .exe and .scr files on all visible partitions and you may just be "recovering" with equally infected files from the restoration files on D.

You are not required to purchase a CD for XP since the product key on your tower will still be valid, but you do need to get your hands on some installation media.

 

If you restore from the recovery partition, you will return your computer to it's original state when it was purchased. It probably won't require you to enter a COA or activate the software.

If you do manage to find a shop that will provide you with an installation CD, which I doubt, There is only a slim chance that the COA on your computer will work to install OS from the disk. Microsoft altered the algorithm for the COA with every alteration they made to the software. With XP, this involved more then 25 different installation versions for which the COA's do not interchange.

 

The recovery partition is not visible to Windows so it's not likely that a virus would be able to write to it. The destructive recovery will format and return the system to it's original state, without the virus. Nothing that was on the C drive, including the virus, will survive.

 

Ok, first of all, hopefully this is the information I need as far as model#

Compaq Presario SR1720NX
Product # EL435AA
Serial # MXF60407Z7

Restoring my PC to its original (purchased) state is exactly what I would like to do, but will that also reinstall the virut? If I cannot restore from recovery partitian, what would be my other options?

 

You should be safe from the virus with the system restore. If, by some slim chance, it is still there, Then acquire an installation CD and install from there including removing the infected recovery partition.

As far as the recovery CD goes, you could borrow one from someone you know, install the software with their COA and when it comes time to activate the software, enter your COA and it should accept it. You could also get the installation CD from Compaq for something like $5 to $10.

 

Ok, I am a little confused, so please let me ask a few more questions.

Either way, am I going to need an installation CD?

When I hit F10, I come to the Recovery Console, but I am not sure what to do from here..

"Which Windows installation would you like to log onto" ?

 

Try this from the HP/Compaq website. It should help you decide what to do.

You don't need a CD to use the recovery partition.(F10) I would recommend the "Recovery During Startup" option to eliminate the virus.

 

I will go with your recommendation, I mean what do I have to loose right . I will follow the link you suggested except for one thing, when I hit the F10, It starts the recovery console, then I get the following prompt
"Which Windows installation would you like to log onto" ?

What do I type here...the instructions from the link talks about choosing advanced to perform a distructive recovery, but there is no next, or advanced or anything..just a prompt that asks "Which Windows installation would you like to log onto" ?

 

I don't know what to tell you. My guess is that the partitions should be listed there and you need to decide which is the recovery partition. The link says that some computers require F11 instead of F10 but that should be on a Vista machine.

I'm not certain but I think that if someone had used the software to make the recovery disks at some point, it may no longer allow recovery from the partition.

 

So are you saying that you think since I had to recover when I first got the machine, that would have used it and it would not allow me to recover a second time? Isn't it odd that you are not able to recover as often as you want?

So at this point, you don't think there are any prompts for me to type to recover? In this case should I look into purchasing the disk? I am sorry for all of the questions, but I need to know the exact name of the disk so I know I purchase the right one.

 

You can recover as many times as you want.

What I'm saying is that IF someone used the installed software in Windows XP that was put there by Compaq to created a set of recovery disks on CD, then maybe the recovery partition won't work anymore.

As far as what disk to get from HP/Compaq, they will only send you the one for your computer. You will need to provide the model and serial number to get it from them and it will only install on that computer or one identical to it.

 

Ok, I found information here
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...you+like+to+log+into&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

That says unless you have a multi boot system, you enter the number 1 and then hit enter. It worked, except now it is asking me for an administrators password. I hit enter, and now I am at the C:\WINDOWS> prompt....do you have a clue as to what I do from here?

 

Your at your computers command prompt, not the Compaq restore prompt. That would have been F8 not F10.

The easiest thing for you to do will be to contact Compaq and get the restore CD from them.