Virus or borked HDD?

Terry

A couple of months ago my cousin bought a laptop (Acer E5-573). It's one of them newer slim types.
Takes about 15 minutes to properly start up, and at that, it doesn't load properly (Windows 10).

The task bar shows the start, search and notifications buttons, but nothing else. Mousing over the task bar just shows the little circle. Right and left clicking does nothing.
The desktop icons load, but again take a good while to open.

I'm trying to back up his music (it's his own. **** he made himself, so it's not like he can get it again), but Windows Explorer closes after about 10 minutes.
I've left it beside me, and the screen seems to flash every 10 minutes.

When I did get the task manager to open (Ctrl + Alt + Del), I couldn't see anything suspicious running, but the disc was at 100%. CPU and RAM were fairly normal. Nothing running high there.

I ran TRK's virus scanner, but nothing was found (any suggestions for similar stuff would be appreciated).
Tried installing MalwareBytes with Ninite on a USB pen, but only got as far as the Admin permissions thingy. Nothing happened after that. I downloaded it on a PC running 10, so no conflicts on that end (both are 64 bit).

Because it's one of the slim type laptops, I can't just take out a couple of screws, whip out the HDD, back up the stuff, and be done with it.
I'd have to take the whole back panel off (at the very least), and I don't want to void his warranty.

He bought it from Elara, but they're not back until the 6th of January.

Terry

Oh yeah. For some reason I can't get it to run in safe mode.
Tried F8 and Fn+F8.
Also tried the restore point thing, but I don't think that has ever worked for anyone. Ever.

Ant695

Terry wrote: »

Oh yeah. For some reason I can't get it to run in safe mode.
Tried F8 and Fn+F8.
Also tried the restore point thing, but I don't think that has ever worked for anyone. Ever.

Safe mode was going to be my first suggestion but sounds like it might be easier to put Linux on a bootable usb and access the files that way assuming you can get access to boot menu.

Terry

Yeah, I thought about that.
I actually did put Ubuntu on USB, but then forgot. I'll try that now.

the_syco

Terry wrote: »

Because it's one of the slim type laptops, I can't just take out a couple of screws, whip out the HDD, back up the stuff, and be done with it.
I'd have to take the whole back panel off (at the very least), and I don't want to void his warranty.

Ugh. Check if there's a special "security" screw in the middle; you'll need a special screwdriver for that.

Terry wrote: »

He bought it from Elara, but they're not back until the 6th of January.

Well, Elara will probably send it back to the manufacturer for it to be fixed.

And by fix, i mean Windows will be working again after they format the HDD, completely wipe it, and reinstall Windows. All the stuff will be lost, but it'll be working. No manufacture cares about data on a personal laptop. Only special business contracts care about your data.

So if live CD doesn't work, take out the HDD, and hook it up to a SATA reader. Depending on how slim it is, I'd be guessing it'll be one of these HDD's, as the "usual" harddrives would be too thick for the super thin laptops.

riclad

try this ,
http://schmahl.net/avastbootscan.php
if you can install avast free version .
http://www.xyplorer.com/index.php
xyplorer runs from usb,
got to task manager ,
shut down unnecessary programs ,

or try http://windowsreport.com/msconfig-windows-8/
msconfig stop certain programs from starting up

a live cd ,or a live usb should work,
although my laptop does not allow usb boot up devices to work.
only boots from cd,
try f12 select boot device before windows boots up.
Sounds like a virus to me .
You can copy files from dos prompt . CD muscic folder
go to music directory copy *.* to directory on usb .
or copy *.mp3 to usb folder ,
make sure drive is not full ,
Windows needs a few gig free to run properly

Terry

Ant695 wrote: »

Safe mode was going to be my first suggestion but sounds like it might be easier to put Linux on a bootable usb and access the files that way assuming you can get access to boot menu.

Tried it, but got the following:

Error mounting /dev/sdb4 at /media/ubuntu/Acer: Command-line `mount -t "ntfs" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid,uid=999,gid=999,dmask=0077,fmask=0177" "/dev/sdb4" "/media/ubuntu/Acer"' exited with non-zero exit status 14: The disk contains an unclean file system (0, 0).
Metadata kept in Windows cache, refused to mount.
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb4': Operation not permitted
The NTFS partition is in an unsafe state. Please resume and shutdown
Windows fully (no hibernation or fast restarting), or mount the volume
read-only with the 'ro' mount option.

the_syco wrote: »

Ugh. Check if there's a special "security" screw in the middle; you'll need a special screwdriver for that.

I've plenty of different size screwdrivers (thank you, eBay ), but thanks for the heads up.

Well, Elara will probably send it back to the manufacturer for it to be fixed.

And by fix, i mean Windows will be working again after they format the HDD, completely wipe it, and reinstall Windows. All the stuff will be lost, but it'll be working. No manufacture cares about data on a personal laptop. Only special business contracts care about your data.

Thought as much.

So if live CD doesn't work, take out the HDD, and hook it up to a SATA reader. Depending on how slim it is, I'd be guessing it'll be one of these HDD's, as the "usual" harddrives would be too thick for the super thin laptops.

It's a 1TB HDD, so I doubt it'll be that size. It's only slightly above mid range. Just thin enough to fit a normal 2.5" SATA.

Side note: Thumbs up for linking to MemoryC. Local, cheap, and a good return policy. Love those ****ers.

riclad wrote: »

try this ,
http://schmahl.net/avastbootscan.php
if you can install avast free version .
http://www.xyplorer.com/index.php
xyplorer runs from usb,
got to task manager ,
shut down unnecessary programs ,

or try http://windowsreport.com/msconfig-windows-8/
msconfig stop certain programs from starting up

a live cd ,or a live usb should work,
although my laptop does not allow usb boot up devices to work.
only boots from cd,
try f12 select boot device before windows boots up.
Sounds like a virus to me .
You can copy files from dos prompt . CD muscic folder
go to music directory copy *.* to directory on usb .
or copy *.mp3 to usb folder ,
make sure drive is not full ,
Windows needs a few gig free to run properly

Cheers.
I'll try that in the morning. Drunk now.

Terry

It was both.
I ended up opening it up. The HDD was right at the front, so it was easy to remove and replace.

While backing up the files, my AV found some malware.
Some of the files couldn't be read. In all he only lost 11 of the 9,000 important ones. Not too bad.

When trying to reinstall windows, I kept getting the BSOD.

Thanks for your help, folks.