Corrupt system can do almost nothing

[The Omen]

Simple system built by myself many years ago. Never used very much but currently used with Spotify and that is all. Tv is my monitor and I use spdif from the motherboard to feed a high end DAC (Naim) into hifi.
The problem now is disastrous. I can boot the system but during startup there is a problem with btweb.exe which fails meaning that startup never completes and very very little works. I can get into task manager but it does not function. I had occasionally used BitTorrent years ago and that is the btweb issue. I think it may have been hacked.
The problems do not stop there. As I only use Spotify I was happy to to reinstall Windows 7 but the bios seems to only want to load from the hard drive. Still more function keys are not working so cannot access safe mode or bios and as startup is not complete I cannot use the system.

My current thoughts were to reformat my ide hard disk but of course my other system has Sata based drives.

I have ordered a new disk but I am fearful that my bios will still stop the system loading.

Any reassurances would be welcome

The Omen

 

[Megahertz07]

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Are the Win 7 installation files on a original MS DVD?

 

[samuria]

Can you get into safe mode or cmd prompt and delete btweb.exe

 

[The Omen]

Sorry for the delay but that is my life these days.

The Windows system is via a Dell Windows installation cd/dvd

I cannot get into safe mode or Bios due to the function Keys not working and that includes the del key. Because startup fails with the btweb problem and thus startup does not complete as a result nothing really works and that obviously includes the Windows Start key. So the computer information is not via your routine but from visual inspection and as a bit sparse,
.

 

[samuria]

The bios keys and del work before windows starts can you boot install dvd and get to cmd prompt to delete the file and run a disk check

 

[SIW2]

the bios seems to only want to load from the hard drive. Still more function keys are not working so cannot access safe mode or bios and as startup is not complete I cannot use the system.

can you get into bios if you unplug the disk?


I would dump that old ide disk, get a cheap sata ssd , attach it to one of the sata ports and clean install onto it.

 

[The Omen]

I must appear to be disinterested. It is not the case in fact it relates to illness within the family which is resulting in very little or no sleep.

However I have been pressing on but without success. I have been assuming this to be a software problem but I wonder if it is also a motherboard problem.

The machine does reliably attempt to boot until a software failure results is a failure to complete startup. Thus I cannot shutdown normally and my shutdown process is to press the system start button for a few seconds. That seems to work with a single anomaly that the display remains lit up. In addition the function keys do not work and that includes the delete key which should activate Bios for this board.

I am aware that it is possible to change the CMOS chip with a replacementwhich sounds interesting. That is well and truly an area that I have never been but it moves away from the Windows problem into the software within the hardware.

I did buy a cheap but checked ide drive. Attempts to reinstall the system caused a brief but noisy graunching noise from this new drive and believe it or not it failed. So I then attempted to boot the system with only the windows 7 installation disk. It is still trying to work that one out and not coming up with any answers.

I started working in computers before the word computer was in common use and in fact the only way the public understood what I was doing was to tell them I worked with electronic brains. Life is no easier today than those days. There cannot be many of us left.

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I do object to being termed a junior member. Almost anything else would be more appropriate.

 

[Megahertz07]

Try to reset the BIOS by removing the power cord from the wall outlet and taking out the coin battery for 1 minute.
Then try to access the BIOS (DEL)

 

[The Omen]

I have already tried removing the internal battery. The reason was more to do with the fact that the system date had returned to 01 01/2007 which indicated the original battery was failing. However the voltage was in fact 3.15 volt. The replacement battery installed some time later was 3.35volts. I am uncertain that there really had been battery failure.

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I cannot help thinking that the installation disk I have for Windows 7 no longer works or is it a Bios problem. When I tried the system with the defective new graunshing ide drive it found the drive but then reported there was no boot record. Am I being simplistic in the hope that no boot record would mean it would try the next drive looking for a boot record, that would be the windows installation disk. When I was playing I did try to run the system with only the windows installation disk. The machine seemed to go sleepy byes and never reported said a word.

So bad Bios or bad installation disk or is everything just junk. Must be getting fed up.

 

[Megahertz07]

If you detach all HDD and SSD does it boot from the installation disk?
If it does, you can use it to re flash the BIOS using a CMD window and FLASHSPI.EXE + P35CDS3R.F12.
motherboard_bios_ga-p35c-ds3r_f12

 

[MisterEd]

I have already tried removing the internal battery. The reason was more to do with the fact that the system date had returned to 01 01/2007 which indicated the original battery was failing. However the voltage was in fact 3.15 volt. The replacement battery installed some time later was 3.35volts. I am uncertain that there really had been battery failure.

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I cannot help thinking that the installation disk I have for Windows 7 no longer works or is it a Bios problem. When I tried the system with the defective new graunshing ide drive it found the drive but then reported there was no boot record. Am I being simplistic in the hope that no boot record would mean it would try the next drive looking for a boot record, that would be the windows installation disk. When I was playing I did try to run the system with only the windows installation disk. The machine seemed to go sleepy byes and never reported said a word.
So bad Bios or bad installation disk or is everything just junk. Must be getting fed up.

Don't try to buy an IDE drive. The problem is new IDE drives haven't been made in over 10 years. Even if the drive is supposed to be unused or refurbished there is no guarantee how long they will last.

I tried that earlier this year. The IDE drive I got showed 0 hours on it but it failed after only running 1 hour. I returned it and got my money back. I gave up on trying to use IDE drives on my 20 year old computers. Now they are both using SATA drives. Even the 300GB SATA drives I bought are refurbished but at least they are a lot newer than the IDE drives I tried to buy.

BTW, one motherboard has 2 SATA ports so was easy to use SATA drives. The other motherboard didn't. I had to use a SATA PCI card for the SATA drives.

You said you replaced the BIOS battery? After that did you set the date/time in the BIOS? With a good battery the computer should keep time even if the computer is unplugged.

 

[The Omen]

In response to a comment in my mail but not yet in this forum. I have disconnected all disk drives from the system leaving only the dvd with the windows installation cd/dvd in place. When I boot the system absolutely nothing happens - there are zero comments. To me this the following three things
The installation disk has become faulty
The Bios system is not allowing access
There is a hardware fault with the dvd drive

I think I can create another system with a different dvd drive to eliminate a couple of the above problems and if successful replace the existing dvd drive in the problem machine. This only leaves the Bios situation. I am not sure if I replace the CMOS chip will have any impact on the Bios. Frankly I am in a territory that is rather alien to me with CMOS and Bios

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I agree with your comments re SATA and IDE drives and as I am in the fortunate position of having little or no information on my corrupt system I am freed from IDE.

Regarding the system date, I have admit that the system had lost th current date a while ago. I reset it but at that stage did not change the battery. To be honest I had not tracked the date and only noticed it had returned to 01/01/2007 when the system corrupted. As I said earlier the old battery was still showing 3.15volt. So whether the date problem was caused by the battery or by the system gradually corrupting itself over time is a question not easily answered. Certainly there was a period during which things were failing before my eyes until everything gave up.

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I am a discouraged and alarmed that a comment made by another forum member (megahertzo07) is not recorded here and neither is my response. The only reason I know of this is through my electronic mail system.