Strange Screen During Startup

As the title says, for the past two or so weeks I've been getting this screen after turning on or restarting my computer. I'm not sure what it is or whats causing it, and all I have of it is this picture I took with my phone.


Screen in question:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20701948/other/DSC00018.JPG


The text appears in the upper left hand corner of the screen. It doesn't stop me from booting or anything, all I need to do it press a key and startup continues like it normally would. If anyone has any idea, please let me know.

Hello Valmere and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might consider trying a System Restore point prior to when this began.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

I'd also suggest a full scan with your antivirus/antispyware to rule out any malware. In addition to your own installed AV I'd recommend the free Malwarebytes as a supplemental on-demand scanner. You can download it from CNET, update the data base, and run the full scan.If it finds anything you can post the scan log here for assistance.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Thanks for the quick response marsmimar. I've got Malwarebytes running a scan right now, and the furthest back system restore that its showing for me is April 28th. I don't think that's nearly far enough back.


Quick scan finished and prompted me to restart my computer after finding 1 "infected" registry value which didn't even look relevant. I guess this indeed was not the issue because the screen still appeared. Here's the log that malwarebytes generated:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20701948/other/mbam-log-2011-05-04%20%2808-34-30%29.txt


another edit: going to run a full scan and see what that turns up, I'll be checking the thread regularly while it goes.

Hi Valmere and welcome to the Forum. The first log of Malwarebytes you posted showed that it found only one problem - but NO ACTION TAKEN? Did you take the next step it that program to delete this item? Good for you for now doing a Full Scan - make sure you hit the UPDATE TAB before running so you have the latest tables. Let us know how you make out.
Regards
JohnnyA

EDIT: If the full scan finds anything, delete those items and then run another scan until it finds nothing.

I saved the log before deleting the "infected" key. Someone else suggested it could be a modification to my BIOS, but I really have no idea how that would've been changed because I know none of the programs I use mess with my BIOS.

Full scans going to take at least another hour, but I'm doubtful as to whether or not anything will pop out.

As I understand the registry, the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT consists of two parts. The first contains many file extension subkeys (like .bmp and .txt). I haven't done an exact count but on my basic Windows 7 installation it looks like hundreds. As programs and applications are added so are the subkeys. ActiveX controls are also stored in CLSID subkeys. The second part lists the various file types associated with the registered extensions. If an extension is associated with a particular file type the extension is said to be registered with the operating system.

Having said all that mumbo-jumbo, is it possible that you downloaded something (a program, photo, etc) just prior to experiencing that strange text? It doesn't look like something that would be generated by Windows 7 itself, but perhaps some other program? Or to put it a different way, can you remember what you were doing just prior to seeing that strange text for the first time?

I really wish I could I have a terrible sense of time so its impossible for me to pinpoint when it started happening, but I don't think it was occurring any sooner than last month.

I think the first time I remember seeing it was when I turned my computer on after having a power flash while I was sleeping. It gave the usual "windows has recovered" prompt since it was an unexpected shutdown, after of course seeing the strange symbols screen.

The full scan is going to take a while and I haven't been to bed yet, I'll check back into the thread after I wake up. There's also some misc windows updates that I can download so I might as well do that too.

Thanks for the help so far marsmimar and johnnya

SAME ISSUE

hi-

just seached and found this thread. I also have the SAME ientical "image" coming up.

i have a dell notebook, i recenty (3 weeks ago) installed a fresh copy of windows 7 pro 64-bit - oem disc from dell.

it started happening a few days after the install. The notebook is about 3 years old, and prior, i was running vista.

i'd appreciate anything you guys find out!

john

Hi again Valmere. This is probable not related but after some extensive research I found another article showing strange charactors at bootup with a MSI MBN. Check out the link under the post. Not exactly the same but some of the same strange symbols. See below.

MSI boots with strange symbols
I'm not sure what I should do about this.
I have a MSI K9A2 Platinum AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX Motherboard and a MSI N9600GT 512M OC GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card.
I was using Ubuntu when my computer froze. I thought that it was no big deal, so I restarted my computer. Then there were strange symbols that popped up where the bios startup text should be. Once I got to the Ubuntu login screen it had blue printing all over it. I waited for a while until I turned it off again. I booted up Windows Vista on a different hard drive and the same issue is there.
I searched using google to find interesting threads on what I should do.

I came up with two conclusions.
I should flash the bios or there's something wrong with my graphics card.

Text that shows up when booting.
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...21f1b17995.jpg

Valmere, you might try getting into BIOS and choose LOAD FAILSAFE DEFAULTS just to see if this makes a difference. As also mentioned in the post, maybe a BIOS update is in order.

Please let us know.
Regards
JohnnyA

Edit: for some reason that link above will not work. Below is the link to the post and from there, you can get to the image link.

http://www.overclock.net/amd-motherboards/582957-msi-boots-strange-symbols.html

Thanks for the info johnnya. I'll try updating my BIOS and see what happens.



edit: solution's in my post on the next page

Little update: Didn't need to flash my bios or anything. It also wasn't any sort of virus. In fact, it was a simple little mistake and I can't figure out how it happened.

Rebooted my computer, pressed delete when my MSI screen came up, went into my BIOS. Had a look around, and finally got to my boot settings. Somehow, my iPod was first, followed by my DVD drive and THEN my hard drive. I switched the order back to HDD -> DVD -> iPod (figured disabling it wasn't worth it) and then saved and exited. Upon the next restart, the screen in the OP didn't come up.

Thanks for the help and information about similar problems marsmimar and johnnya.


And to jt08201 - I'd suggest looking at your boot settings in your BIOS and see if that is your problem as well.

Glad you found the problem.

If it reverts back again at least you will know to disable the iPod option in Bios.

That is a new one on me.

Mike

To my understanding if something happens on the boot it has to be in the bios. Is this correct??

Layback

I would say usually... but if something takes control of Windows before the Windows logo it could be in Windows.

There is that point is it still in Bios or is Windows initializing?
Did it stop at the end of Bios or start at the beginning of Windows loading?

In other words the first Service initiated would be the bug not the Win logo so it could display black screen or anything in the bug file.

I haven't done it but have seen postings in Customization how to intentionally change the log on screen.
So why not from a virus or malware?

I think they call that a conundrum.
Mike

I think the BIOS is just one of several possible reasons for not being able to boot. Some other reasons that come to mind are malware, leaving USB devices plugged in (not necessarily a boot order problem but a defective device), overheating, loose internal wiring, motherboard, or some faulty program that is set to run immediately at startup.

Some very good points thanks for the information.