malwarebytes broke sound - Windows audio service won't starterror 1079

[armyboy1066]

About a week ago I ran Malwarebytes to try to remove mystartsearch which was added to my browser inadvertently.

After the Malware was quarantined successfully, I realised that all sound on my laptop was not working. The speaker icon on the bottom right hand corner shows a red x sign. Double clicking the speaker icon tries to repair the problem but gives the error: one or more audio services are not running - error not fixed*

*note the error messages are being translated from Spanish to English so wording might differ slightly.

Thinking that the Malwarebytes was the problem I tried to restore the files that have been quarantined. However a number of dll files could not be restored. I noted only these files as they didn't seem to be related to mystartsearch

The .dll files quarantined were:
wacapi.dll
ecppprxy.dll
diskcopy.dll
mmcss.dll
sccls.dll

None of these could be restored via Malwarebytes. So I removed the software all together via control panel.

I tried several system restores but the one restore point prior to this event fails to restore. And run sfc /scannow

How can i restore the sound and are any of these files the culprit.

Any help is gratefully received.

 

[GokAy]

It is very possible the malware injected itself in to those dll files. Re-run the scan and keep those quarantined.

Maybe you can copy-paste the dll from a working computer. (Not sure if it would work) Don't download from Internet for apparent reasons.

 

[armyboy1066]

Thanks GokAy. I deleted the MalwareBytes software, in the hope it would free up those files. Do you think I should re-install it and rerun the scan?

I am currently working away from home so don't have my win 7 discs to hand else I would re-install from the start. It's very annoying.

 

[GokAy]

Malwarebytes, yes. And have it on your next install too.

You can try downloading Windows 7 Installation ISO from Microsoft Software Recovery, you will need the product key (should be available since it is a laptop).

 

[armyboy1066]

I was not able to use the Microsoft recovery tool as when i put in my key the site says the software was installed on a purchased laptop which is correct. It advised me to contact Lenovo which I am trying to do although I am not hopeful that route will achieve much. But we shall see.

I re-installed Malwarebytes and ran it again and it found the offending malware (I had made a system recovery back to the last date available). This date however was not prior to the malware being inadvertently installed.

Malwarebytes has reported a different set of .dlls to that previous time (reported above in my first post):

Any ideas?

 

[GokAy]

I have learned today that the site only accepts retail keys, sorry to have misled you.

Well, possible your System Restore is infected as well. Can you see where the dll's are? Are they the real ones or just different ones with same names (different location on OS)?

I wonder if it is better to just clean the infection and do a repair install later. Clean install would be best, but depends on your willingness.

Of course you would need ISO.