Can a virus ruin hardware?

[linkgoron]

Well, I heard that one of our school's computers broke down. And I walked by. The Techie said the the virus ruined the hardware and they have to replace it. I was wondering if viruses (virii?) can ruin hardware. I didn't think they could, but im not a pro.
So can viruses(virii?) ruin hardware?

 

[wchou]

n.

 

[linkgoron]

Originally posted by: wchou
n.

That's a no?

 

[Azndude2190]

Originally posted by: linkgoron
Well, I heard that one of our school's computers broke down. And I walked by. The Techie said the the virus ruined the hardware and they have to replace it. I was wondering if viruses (virii?) can ruin hardware. I didn't think they could, but im not a pro.
So can viruses(virii?) ruin hardware?

The Techie sucks then.

And no a virus can not physically damage hardware.

 

[wchou]

Originally posted by: linkgoron

Originally posted by: wchou
n.

That's a no?

that's correcct. it also means negative or nope.

 

[KoolDrew]

The "Techie" (like most) is a moron.

 

[ribbon13]

I've written virii that could in effect destroy hardware by accessing reverse engineered protected mode flash routines, but your average script kiddie isn't going to know how to do that. So it is possible, though not bloody likely

 

[Azndude2190]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
I've written virii that could in effect destroy hardware by accessing reverse engineered protected mode flash routines, but your average script kiddie isn't going to know how to do that. So it is possible, though not bloody likely

hmmm...

 

[kyleb]

Like ribbon said, it is possible (and was much more common during the old days of AMD/Cyrix competition while DOS was still a mainstay OS), but very unlikely in today's environment.

 

[linkgoron]

Guess he was an old russian fart than(yes he was old and russian). He said something about how the virus got in and ruined the hardware. I mean, come on, this was a PC in the Biology lab (+ in that lab only teachers use that PC), what'd they download?
so I thought "maybe I should help" but well, he's a techie I'm not, they'll all laugh at me. I also didn't want to look like an idiot. Well, guess I was right thinking that he's an idiot.

 

[ribbon13]

Maybe the computer is ancient, he knows he full of shnit, but wants the lab to have a nicer newer computer? If not than he is indeed, just a moron.

 

[goobernoodles]

Maybe some kid put a floppy bomb (strike anywhere matchheads stuffed into a floppy) in the computer, and it torched it, and they called it a virus.... Better than saying there was a mini bomb in a school... right? haha

 

[fixxxer0]

actually there is a bunch of virus code that can pretty much make a hard drive useless, and its readily available.


but as for any other hardware ive never heard of it

 

[phisrow]

There are a lot of hooks that can be used for, in effect, ruining hardware. BIOS flashing in software, setting HDD locks, etc, etc. If you can flash something's firmware from Windows, it can, in theory, be borked by a virus. In practice, though, this sort of thing is pretty much unheard of.

 

[dguy6789]

Chances are, he was telling you the "diumbed down" explanation for busted pcs that he tells every kid that walks by and asks whats wrong because the typical person won't have a clue. Then again, I figure that if a virus could get into the bios of hardware and flash it or screw with voltage settings, then it could possibly physically ruin hardware. This kind of virus to my knowledge does not exist, but who knows what kind of software is out there. *Cue in X files music*

 

[linkgoron]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Chances are, he was telling you the "diumbed down" explanation for busted pcs that he tells every kid that walks by and asks whats wrong because the typical person won't have a clue. Then again, I figure that if a virus could get into the bios of hardware and flash it or screw with voltage settings, then it could possibly physically ruin hardware. This kind of virus to my knowledge does not exist, but who knows what kind of software is out there. *Cue in X files music*

I didn't even talk to him. I was just passing by, and he was talking to the one of our Comp teachers.

Maybe the computer is ancient, he knows he full of shnit, but wants the lab to have a nicer newer computer? If not than he is indeed, just a moron.

The PC is a new one, I was there when they brought it in, a week or so before.

Maybe some kid put a floppy bomb (strike anywhere matchheads stuffed into a floppy) in the computer, and it torched it, and they called it a virus.... Better than saying there was a mini bomb in a school... right? haha

Not in my school. Also it happened while they were surfing the net or something.

 

[srawal]

its very easy to write a program that on specific mainboards (especially old ones) the fsb can be accessed and sped up to the point of that hardware burning out

 

[linkgoron]

Originally posted by: srawal
its very easy to write a program that on specific mainboards (especially old ones) the fsb can be accessed and sped up to the point of that hardware burning out

The PC is a new one, I was there when they brought it in, a week or so before.

 

[mechBgon]

CIH ring a bell with anyone? http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Asymantec.com+CIH

 

[Hacp]

I dunno. Ever heard of the PSP fake firmware? It ruined Psps.

 

[LazyB]

Most "technies" use that as an explaination when they have no clue of the problem.

The problem is that today most people think they are "technie" because they can build a computer and install windows. I work for many years in a computer store as a , ironically, technie and I've seen all sort of wannabe gurus and it's always a pleasure to hear their explaination of a problem. Guess what, virus is a very very popular excuse.

I agree that it's at least theorically possible to disable a hardware (not ruin it) via a very well written software but that software has to know exactly which hardware you have in your PC in order to attack it.

And again, if such a powerful virus exist, we should have heard of it allover the news and computer web site already