strange virus

[darketernal]

my friend's computer is acting really strangely, it boots up aand moments after xp loads, it shuts down automatically. I've already tried just about everything. I was wondering if anyone knew about some kind of virus scan cd that i could boot off of. He doesnt want to reformat but ive tried that also it doesnt work.

 

[40sTheme]

Begin booting the computer. As soon as you see the first boot screen (it should list the BIOS and all that), hit F8 (that's the usual button) to start the comp in safe mode. If it starts up, (if you have XP), it should immediately come up with a dialog box asking if you want to system restore. Say that you do want to. Go back to a date before this xploading began happening. I forgot how to system restore otherwise (yeah i'm embarrased), but I had a virus just like that and the restore worked.

 

[Pulsar]

Sounds like the virus that exploited the RPC call vulnerability. Look up blaster.

Is this computer patched from windows update?

 

[darketernal]

ok, thanks a bunch, like i said i havent really even seen it yet he just told me what happened.

 

[imported_nocturne]

Honestly, most 'strange viruses' turn out to just be config issues, so don't get too excited...

Keep in mind that xp by default automatically restarts in case of a system error, which in some cases induces a state of constantly rebooting. If you can't get to safe-mode, there is a way of disabling the automatic restart via the system console (I don't recall how, but I'm sure somebody around here knows...).

In any case, good luck.