A lot of trouble with Windows 7

msy199623 · Mar 4, 2011

OK, first off a few days ago I caught a virus (at least I believe I did)...

Used Malwarebytes and found 7 infected files in my Windows Folder.

The first few sythoms of my OS was the resolution of the screen changed to 1024x768 (it should be 1920x1080) and is stuck there. The refresh rate changed from 60Hz to 59Hz, when I tried to change it back, the screen just flashes black but the tab still says 59Hz.

So I reinstalled Windows 7 with the upgrade option from the OS disk, hoping to fix everything. But it didn't...

My bios was also messed up, everything was reset and edges of my screen was cutten off...

The booting animation of Windows 7 is now changed to the Vista's booting animation...

I reflashed the bios and that fixed that, now I've done a clean install of Windows 7, formating C: then installing.

But all problems still persists... even there is no more virus found by 5 anti-virus programs.

I'm still stuck in 1024x768, Windows 7 thinks my hdmi cable is apparently a dvi cable, the refresh rate is still 59Hz, the booting animation is the Vista's one, EVERYTHING IS MESSED UP!

I NEED URGENT HELP!

Thanks in advance

Bare Foot Kid · Mar 4, 2011

Hello msy199623, welcome to Seven Forums!

The only true way to get completely rid of most viruses is to completely wipe the entire HDD and do a clean install, have a look at the information below and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

After you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to save to external media, use Step One of this tutorial at the link below to do a wipe (secure erase) to the entire Hard Disk Drive / Solid State Drive.

Then if you do not want to create the new Windows 7 "System Reserved" partition use the outline in Step Two #2 to create, format and mark Active a single 100GB partition to do the installation to.
If you do want to create the "System Reserved" partition use the outline in Step Two #3 to create, format and mark Active the System Reserved partition and then create and format the 100GB partition to do the installation to.

Either way, running the "clean all" then creating and formatting the partition(s) using diskpart will get you the best possible space to do a clean install of Windows 7 to; you can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional partitions after the installation completes if you choose.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

DISKPART : At PC Startup

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

OldMX · Mar 4, 2011

Wipe the disk and start fresh, so any trace of the infection is gone for good.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

Then get latest driver version for your videocard.

msy199623 · Mar 4, 2011

only problem I have now is that I don't think I can back up all my files in the other hard drives I have, there is simply too much.

Bare Foot Kid · Mar 4, 2011

Have a look at Option Three of this tutorial to do a partition-specific wipe to the Windows 7 partition, it may help or it may not but it's worth a try; of course you will have to back-up the data on the Windows partition first.

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

No matter what you do, if you do a clean install you will have to reinstall all the programs/apps that you use, they integrate themselves into the Windows registry and are not moveable from one Windows installation to another so be sure to save the program activation keys where applicable.

msy199623 · Mar 4, 2011

Only problem is, when I built my desktop, I didn't buy a disk drive.

Is there any ways to burn the iso to a usb or something?

Bare Foot Kid · Mar 4, 2011

Have a look at this one.

USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create

MacGyvr · Mar 4, 2011

Bare Foot Kid said:
Hello msy199623, welcome to Seven Forums!

The only true way to get completely rid of most viruses is to completely wipe the entire HDD and do a clean install,

Without any doubt, the most insane piece of advice I've read since my first visit to this board, and I don't even care if my saying so gets me kicked off. I make my living removing viruses from computers, several per week, and have NEVER had to wipe a machine to get rid of one. This user screwed himself over by "upgrading" his Windows on top of an already existing installation. Yes, he needs to wipe and reload, but not because of the virus.

Tepid · Mar 4, 2011

MacGyvr said:
Bare Foot Kid said:

Hello msy199623, welcome to Seven Forums!

The only true way to get completely rid of most viruses is to completely wipe the entire HDD and do a clean install,

Click to expand...

Without any doubt, the most insane piece of advice I've read since my first visit to this board, and I don't even care if my saying so gets me kicked off. I make my living removing viruses from computers, several per week, and have NEVER had to wipe a machine to get rid of one. This user screwed himself over by "upgrading" his Windows on top of an already existing installation. Yes, he needs to wipe and reload, but not because of the virus.

You are completely 100% wrong.

I do not care who you are, what you do, or how long you have been doing it, nor where you come from...;...

Just because you can not prove that a virus still exists or parts of it after an infection has been cleaned, does not in any way, shape or form of fashion in any reality constitute a clean system. Nor can you guarantee 100% that other problems do not exist or will not exist, or manifest in the future, no matter if you ever hear back from them again. Or they say years later that the system is still running fine. That just means that particular system is not symptomatic of having been infected.

You absolutely 100% can say that after wiping the drive and reloading the OS.

However, if the existing data on an external source is still infected, well, not much anyone can do there.

Tepid · Mar 4, 2011

About one of the links posted by BFK above regarding Secure Erase....

I just want to point out that,,,, DBAN, unless something has changed, would not be approved for use by NIST as it does not utilize the Secure Erase feature.

Which is why I recommend completely and only, secure full hard drive sanitation is HDDErase

According to National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-88 [PDF], the only method of software-based data sanitation must be one that utilizes a hard drive's Secure Erase commands.

Also note,,,,

Block overwrite utilities overwrite all user accessible blocks (at the time of overwriting).
It gives a higher level of deletion confidence than file erase, and these utilities claim to
meet Federal Government requirements in DoD 5220. Today’s hard drive technology has
obsoleted this document, and NIST 800-88 should be used instead.

Bare Foot Kid · Mar 4, 2011

MacGyvr said:
Bare Foot Kid said:

Hello msy199623, welcome to Seven Forums!

The only true way to get completely rid of most viruses is to completely wipe the entire HDD and do a clean install,

Click to expand...

Without any doubt, the most insane piece of advice I've read since my first visit to this board, and I don't even care if my saying so gets me kicked off. I make my living removing viruses from computers, several per week, and have NEVER had to wipe a machine to get rid of one. This user screwed himself over by "upgrading" his Windows on top of an already existing installation. Yes, he needs to wipe and reload, but not because of the virus.

I'm not at all concerned over your opinion, as is said, everyone has one; though one thing is certain no matter what you say, no-one can ever be 100% positive a virus is gone and I don't care what tools you use to supposedly 'remove' it.

Bare Foot Kid · Mar 4, 2011

Tepid said:
About one of the links posted by BFK above regarding Secure Erase....

I just want to point out that,,,, DBAN, unless something has changed, would not be approved for use by NIST as it does not utilize the Secure Erase feature.

Which is why I recommend completely and only, secure full hard drive sanitation is HDDErase

According to National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-88 [PDF], the only method of software-based data sanitation must be one that utilizes a hard drive's Secure Erase commands.

Click to expand...

I just used that link to give members/guests an idea what a secure erase is, the preferred method I post is booting to diskpart and running the clean all command from there.

Tepid · Mar 4, 2011

No Problem BFK, I just want to make sure that those who read it understand what it is they are reading, Cause they leave a lot of info out of there and also state that, the best software on the market for sanitation is DBAN,, which is completely false, akin to an out right lie. Just because millions use it, does not constitute it being the best.

as I stated though earlier, unless something has changed and they are utilizing the Secure Erase Feature of the firmware on the drive itself. But i don't think they (DBAN) do.

So, my posts were not directed at you, or what you posted per se. Just additional info.

Golden · Mar 4, 2011

Bare Foot Kid said:
The only true way to get completely rid of most viruses is to completely wipe the entire HDD and do a clean install

I completely agree. The ONLY guarantee you have of a completely clean system is a complete re-installation. It is also in many cases, the easiest method : you only have to visit a malware removal forum to follow the many, many complicated steps that some users are required to follow to remove a particularly dangerous piece of malware, to appreciate that a clean install (preferable with a full format) is the quickest and surest way.

Regards,
Golden

Bare Foot Kid · Mar 4, 2011

Tepid said:
So, my posts were not directed at you, or what you posted per se. Just additional info.

No probs mate, all's well!

Coke Robot · Mar 4, 2011

Wow, if that's a virus, that's what one might call,"immensely screwed up".

You say that your screen resolution got knocked down from its default and your HDMI cable is being reported as DVI; if you can, try to check your monitor on a different system an/or the video card if the card is a dedicated card and not onboard.

I'm not sure if that can be a virus unless you somehow got infect with a colonel-cluster-flock virus. That is amazing. Just out of curiosity, what anti-viruses did you use to check the hard drive with? I'd recommend against freeware anti-viruses since they might not have as good detection as paid versions. But, I believe Kaspersky has a freeware malware detector software, you might try that if you haven't already.

msy199623 · Mar 5, 2011

Thanks for all the help guys

I used Norton, Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes to look for the virus.

I am able to add the custom resolution in Nvidia Control Panel and it works, now my screen resolution is 1920x1080 60Hz.

But the problem is, in Nvidia Control Panel, it still reports my HDMI cable as DVI. I might give other screens a test later and come back with the result.

Also before this virus attack, my Nvidia Control Panel recognises my monitor, now it just calls it "Digital Display".

Like I said, I formatted C:/ completely and installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 before.

The boot screen is still Vista's but I don't really mind that as long as the system can work properly.

Thanks guys!

Bare Foot Kid · Mar 5, 2011

Be sure to post back here to keep us informed.

msy199623 · Mar 5, 2011

ok I tested the monitor on another computer, the other computer also recognises the monitor as "Digital Display", and thinks the HDMI cable is DVI

maybe monitor's EDID is corrupted?

msy199623 · Mar 5, 2011

One other problem, the resolution keeps on resetting to 1280x720 everytime I restart.

HELP?!

A lot of trouble with Windows 7

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

R.I.P. August 13th 2014

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

R.I.P. August 13th 2014

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

R.I.P. August 13th 2014

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Banned

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

R.I.P. August 13th 2014

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

R.I.P. August 13th 2014

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

000

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

R.I.P. August 13th 2014

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

R.I.P. August 13th 2014

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

New member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Similar threads

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer