Ach I'm an idiot
April 16, 2011 11:54 AM Subscribe
After 10 years of being blasé about downloading dodgy stuff from wherever I pleased, I've just messed up my computer in a single mouse click. It won't start up now, even in safe mode. How can I fix this?
Hands up, this is my fault. Stupidly, I downloaded a keygen for a program I do not legally own. Normally I'd scan such a file, but in a mad moment I just went ahead and ran the .exe.
This is on a Dell PC, with Vista.
I downloaded the file from crackzone.net if that's any help. It is clear to me now that whichever program you search for there, the website give you the same .exe file, downloaded in a .zip. I've downloaded a few just now on the laptop I'm typing on, and they're all exactly the same size. Scanning shows up unidentified malware/viruses.
Anyway, when I clicked on the .exe file earlier my PC instantly rebooted, then crashed, rebooted etc. Safe mode is no help. Whatever I try, I get to the desktop, but within a minute a blue-screen crash. I took a photo of the blue screen, and here are some details:
"DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
(Some stuff about having recently installed hardware, which doesn't apply here)
Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x000000D1 (0x045D0004, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x828687C4)
*** iastor.sys - Address 828687C4 base at 8285F000, DateStamp 451d6d2d
(some crash dump info)"
Now, the very few previous occasions I've run into trouble, I've run a system restore and this has solved the problem. But I can't get my PC started at all here. How do I go about getting this fixed?
Some notes:
1. I do not have a Windows restore/installation DVD - my copy of Vista is 100% genuine, but I've lost the DVD. I still have the DVD for this laptop, but my PC quite understandably isn't having it as it's a different maker. But are there any utilities I could copy from it that might help?
2. I have this laptop I'm on right now. I can download anything I'd need on it.
3. I have a USB external hard drive, if it would be possible to download something and boot off that to make repairs/backups...
Thanks for any help you can give! I've been an idiot I know.
Hands up, this is my fault. Stupidly, I downloaded a keygen for a program I do not legally own. Normally I'd scan such a file, but in a mad moment I just went ahead and ran the .exe.
This is on a Dell PC, with Vista.
I downloaded the file from crackzone.net if that's any help. It is clear to me now that whichever program you search for there, the website give you the same .exe file, downloaded in a .zip. I've downloaded a few just now on the laptop I'm typing on, and they're all exactly the same size. Scanning shows up unidentified malware/viruses.
Anyway, when I clicked on the .exe file earlier my PC instantly rebooted, then crashed, rebooted etc. Safe mode is no help. Whatever I try, I get to the desktop, but within a minute a blue-screen crash. I took a photo of the blue screen, and here are some details:
"DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
(Some stuff about having recently installed hardware, which doesn't apply here)
Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x000000D1 (0x045D0004, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x828687C4)
*** iastor.sys - Address 828687C4 base at 8285F000, DateStamp 451d6d2d
(some crash dump info)"
Now, the very few previous occasions I've run into trouble, I've run a system restore and this has solved the problem. But I can't get my PC started at all here. How do I go about getting this fixed?
Some notes:
1. I do not have a Windows restore/installation DVD - my copy of Vista is 100% genuine, but I've lost the DVD. I still have the DVD for this laptop, but my PC quite understandably isn't having it as it's a different maker. But are there any utilities I could copy from it that might help?
2. I have this laptop I'm on right now. I can download anything I'd need on it.
3. I have a USB external hard drive, if it would be possible to download something and boot off that to make repairs/backups...
Thanks for any help you can give! I've been an idiot I know.
I would attempt to create a new admin user on the computer in the short time you have till the bsod. Work from that if possible and backup everything. Reboot computer while holding down cntrl+f11. This will take you into restore mode(one good thing about dell). Erase and start fresh. If you can;t create new user, see if you can remove your hard drive and connect it to your external hd for backing up
posted by bravowhiskey at 12:18 PM on April 16, 2011
posted by bravowhiskey at 12:18 PM on April 16, 2011
Frankly, the best answer is going to cost you money. You need a bootable DVD, and if you can't find one, you're going to have to buy one. Unfortunately, it can't be an "upgrade", either; you have to buy the full version.
Once you have that, you boot off the DVD and tell it to repair your system.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:22 PM on April 16, 2011
Once you have that, you boot off the DVD and tell it to repair your system.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:22 PM on April 16, 2011
When my PC crashed, I booted from an Ubuntu live CD to backup my files and then reinstalled Windows.
posted by hoppytoad at 12:47 PM on April 16, 2011
posted by hoppytoad at 12:47 PM on April 16, 2011
Response by poster: I've no idea why, but on about the 15th attempt my PC booted and stayed booted. There are no System Restore points available- which is weird, but OK. I've downloaded Malware Bytes and that's half an hour into a full scan. After that, I'll backup whatever I can. I will do further scans after that. Any advice on what else I can do to keep safe is welcome.
posted by cincinnatus c at 1:03 PM on April 16, 2011
posted by cincinnatus c at 1:03 PM on April 16, 2011
Response by poster: Oh well, forget that - another crash midway through scan, and I'm back to an unbootable system.
posted by cincinnatus c at 2:36 PM on April 16, 2011
posted by cincinnatus c at 2:36 PM on April 16, 2011
Can you get an external drive enclosure? I'd take the drive out of the computer, stick it in an enclosure, hook it up to the laptop and scan it with Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebyte's Antimalware, SuperAntiSpyware, Scandisk, and anything else I thought might help clean it up.
posted by rsclark at 2:56 PM on April 16, 2011
posted by rsclark at 2:56 PM on April 16, 2011
Salvaging a Windows installation this far gone usually isn't worth the effort. Back the stuff up, wipe, and do a fresh install.
I recommend you try the Ubuntu Linux LiveCD route for the backup - it's quick and painless, very easy to use, there's practically nothing new to learn. The preburnt CD or download is free, and you'll find out pretty quickly if it works for you or not.
Regarding reinstallation:
A) If you get your hands on a legal copy of the full Vista installation CD of the same flavor you had on your machine, a non-hardware-specific one, then you will probably be able to use the Vista serial number that came with the machine to install from that.
B) Dell are really really good at replacing missing installation media! I suggest you have a visit to their local brick-and-mortar whatever; I'd wager that you'll walk out of there with a minty fresh installation DVD free of charge.
posted by krilli at 3:32 PM on April 16, 2011
I recommend you try the Ubuntu Linux LiveCD route for the backup - it's quick and painless, very easy to use, there's practically nothing new to learn. The preburnt CD or download is free, and you'll find out pretty quickly if it works for you or not.
Regarding reinstallation:
A) If you get your hands on a legal copy of the full Vista installation CD of the same flavor you had on your machine, a non-hardware-specific one, then you will probably be able to use the Vista serial number that came with the machine to install from that.
B) Dell are really really good at replacing missing installation media! I suggest you have a visit to their local brick-and-mortar whatever; I'd wager that you'll walk out of there with a minty fresh installation DVD free of charge.
posted by krilli at 3:32 PM on April 16, 2011
Use your laptop to download a bootable ISO of Linux. I think Knoppix will work. Once you boot, copy any and all files that you want to save to a USB thumbdrive.
Buy a copy of Windows 7 and do a clean install, reformatting the drive. You will be happier with 7 than Vista.
posted by DWRoelands at 4:02 PM on April 16, 2011
Buy a copy of Windows 7 and do a clean install, reformatting the drive. You will be happier with 7 than Vista.
posted by DWRoelands at 4:02 PM on April 16, 2011
...or at least the assessment you should make for the inconvenience of running all your warez in a VM.
"iastor.sys" apparently relates to some kind of onboard RAID - this would be loaded even in Safe Mode, since the OS needs it to read from the hard drive at all.
If you are not using RAID, it's probably a file installed by the trojan that would run even in Safe Mode, with enough low-level permissions to cause a BSOD - nasty stuff.
If you are, same thing, except the trojan didn't realize you needed it and overwrote it, causing the BSODs. (Also, if you use a Linux system rescue CD, you'll need to use dmraid to access your hard drive. From an Ubuntu liveCD, "sudo apt-get dmraid" at the command line will install it, if it's not already available.)
Try deleting the file (after backing it up, of course) or replacing it with a clean version from the manufacturer's webside, whichever applies. Ideally, this should be done from your live CD.
Alternatively - back in XP there was a setting in boot.ini that let you choose which drivers to load at boot time. If Vista allows you to do the same thing you could change your boot options to the appropriate settings by running bcdedit from safe mode or your DVD's rescue console. I'm not sure what the equivalent bcdedit argument would be, though.
posted by marakesh at 12:01 AM on April 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
"iastor.sys" apparently relates to some kind of onboard RAID - this would be loaded even in Safe Mode, since the OS needs it to read from the hard drive at all.
If you are not using RAID, it's probably a file installed by the trojan that would run even in Safe Mode, with enough low-level permissions to cause a BSOD - nasty stuff.
If you are, same thing, except the trojan didn't realize you needed it and overwrote it, causing the BSODs. (Also, if you use a Linux system rescue CD, you'll need to use dmraid to access your hard drive. From an Ubuntu liveCD, "sudo apt-get dmraid" at the command line will install it, if it's not already available.)
Try deleting the file (after backing it up, of course) or replacing it with a clean version from the manufacturer's webside, whichever applies. Ideally, this should be done from your live CD.
Alternatively - back in XP there was a setting in boot.ini that let you choose which drivers to load at boot time. If Vista allows you to do the same thing you could change your boot options to the appropriate settings by running bcdedit from safe mode or your DVD's rescue console. I'm not sure what the equivalent bcdedit argument would be, though.
posted by marakesh at 12:01 AM on April 17, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Windows Vista Recovery DVD distributed by Neosmart will allow you to boot and run a few automatic repair tools. It probably has an original copy of iastor.sys that you could copy over.
That said it is almost certainly easier to boot a Linux live cd, save what files you can and re-install by the means suggested above.
posted by ChrisHartley at 8:32 AM on April 17, 2011
That said it is almost certainly easier to boot a Linux live cd, save what files you can and re-install by the means suggested above.
posted by ChrisHartley at 8:32 AM on April 17, 2011
One thing that should be added here - You really really want to make provisions for automated backups once you get the thing running again :)
I can warmly recommend the free of charge CrashPlan program. It's cross-platform, and automatically backs things up to various types of destinations - including online backups, backups to external drives, and backups between different computers (so your desktop machine would back up your laptop and vice versa). It backups incrementally, it's easy to use, and you get a mechanism for rewinding your work - you can access old versions of documents with it. Here it is: CrashPlan.com. $0 in most configurations and uses.
posted by krilli at 2:52 PM on April 17, 2011
I can warmly recommend the free of charge CrashPlan program. It's cross-platform, and automatically backs things up to various types of destinations - including online backups, backups to external drives, and backups between different computers (so your desktop machine would back up your laptop and vice versa). It backups incrementally, it's easy to use, and you get a mechanism for rewinding your work - you can access old versions of documents with it. Here it is: CrashPlan.com. $0 in most configurations and uses.
posted by krilli at 2:52 PM on April 17, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Download the windows OS onto your external hard drive. Burn the ISO to a DVD or install from the external hard drive and let it wipe your hard drive on your PC.
You sound more adept than I am. Is this a possibility.
posted by JayRwv at 12:03 PM on April 16, 2011