Unable to access safe mode,restore or any programs

[caskin]

WinXP Home daughters HP Compaq laptop;;;;Out of the blue she found she was unable to open any progams except home page to google?

 

Attempting to place PC in Safe mode fails.

Attempting to activate system restore fails.

Attempting to access last kown good configuration appears to work but no progress is made.

 

On powering up instant error message "rundll32.exe not found."

 

Inserting and booting up from PC recovery disc is accompanied by message "NO disc found in hard drive"

 

Would appreciate some assistance.

If required do have both recovery ,program renewal with application drivers discs.. Many thanks

[Tony D]

Inserting and booting up from PC recovery disc is accompanied by message "NO disc found in hard drive"

 

That's going to be a problem. If you can't boot to a disk, you'll probably have to remove the hard drive to work on it. Please try booting to another startup disk in hopes that the one you originally tried is bad.

[caskin]

That's going to be a problem. If you can't boot to a disk, you'll probably have to remove the hard drive to work on it. Please try booting to another startup disk in hopes that the one you originally tried is bad.

 

Hii Are we saying that hard drive is down?

Disc tried was manuafacturers own,and although it begins the recovery programme(proving disc is good???) PC flashes up error message "No disc found in hard drive"

 

PC will not accept any disc...but i can access Google, but nothing else including as stated Safe mode,or restore?

 

So is it down to a hard drive change????:confused:

[Tony D]

I misunderstood - when you said "No disk found in hard drive" I read right over the "hard drive'' part.

 

What doesn't make sense to me is that you're presented with the options of Safe Mode, Last know good config, etc. Well that info comes from the hard drive. So something is working. But when you boot from the recovery disk, it says no hard drive is found.

 

In XP you should be able to boot to the setup disk and get into Recovery Manager. From there, I'd run a chkdsk /r. If booting from the setup disk says there is no disk to repair, then I'd removed the hard drive and slave it to another computer to run the chkdsk /r. We can give you instructions.

[caskin]

I misunderstood - when you said "No disk found in hard drive" I read right over the "hard drive'' part.

 

What doesn't make sense to me is that you're presented with the options of Safe Mode, Last know good config, etc. Well that info comes from the hard drive. So something is working. But when you boot from the recovery disk, it says no hard drive is found.

 

In XP you should be able to boot to the setup disk and get into Recovery Manager. From there, I'd run a chkdsk /r. If booting from the setup disk says there is no disk to repair, then I'd removed the hard drive and slave it to another computer to run the chkdsk /r. We can give you instructions.

As you say it doesnt make sense...since talking with you last I have discovered it will accept and play DVDs....I can access programmes by right clicking on them and clicking on open.

But Pc will not run normally.

Documents etc and my Pc are all accessible.

Recovery disc is not being accepted.

Restore still not avaliable

Safe mode now presents itself but when activated goes through all the motions but puts me back to safe mode,open normally ,best configuation page.Continued attempts to open in safe mode result in same.

Attempting chkdsk/r results in nothing occurring??

 

if it is the hard drive I would rather purchase a new one and reinstall from programme disc??

[Tony D]

It might be malware. I believe there's a forum here for malware issues.

[Plastic Nev]

I doubt that there is anything wrong with the hard drive, like Kelly I think there is a malware problem. Do everything as instructed below, then post an explanation of what your problem is and the HJT Log in the malware infection removal forum, here-

 

Malware Infection Removal - Computer Support Forums - FreePCHelp.co.uk

 

 

Please do the following for us:

 

Please download the latest version of HijackThis from Trend Micro and save it to your desktop.

 

• Download HJTInstall.exe to your desktop.
  
• Doubleclick HJTInstall.exe to install HijackThis.
  
• By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis .
  
• Click on Install.
  
• It will create a HijackThis icon on the desktop.
  
• Once installed, it will launch Hijackthis.
  
• Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in Notepad. Include this log in your next reply.
  

 

Notes:

Do not use the AnalyseThis button, its findings are dangerous if misinterpreted.

Do not have Hijackthis fix anything yet. Most of what it finds will be harmless, or required for your computer to run like it should.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our malware removal expert will be with you as soon as he can.

Nev.

[caskin]

I doubt that there is anything wrong with the hard drive, like Kelly I think there is a malware problem. Do everything as instructed below, then post an explanation of what your problem is and the HJT Log in the malware infection removal forum, here-

 

Malware Infection Removal - Computer Support Forums - FreePCHelp.co.uk

 

 

Please do the following for us:

 

Please download the latest version of HijackThis from Trend Micro and save it to your desktop.

 

• Download HJTInstall.exe to your desktop.
  
• Doubleclick HJTInstall.exe to install HijackThis.
  
• By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis .
  
• Click on Install.
  
• It will create a HijackThis icon on the desktop.
  
• Once installed, it will launch Hijackthis.
  
• Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in Notepad. Include this log in your next reply.
  

 

Notes:

Do not use the AnalyseThis button, its findings are dangerous if misinterpreted.

Do not have Hijackthis fix anything yet. Most of what it finds will be harmless, or required for your computer to run like it should.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our malware removal expert will be with you as soon as he can.

Nev.

 

I am at the moment on my daughters laptop..it will not allow me to open Hijackthis,download is OK but Win32 error prevents install

I do have malwarebytes,ATF,Rougefix plus eset scan installed but win32 error messages prevent me from accessing..it will be interesting to see if this message is sent???

[chiaz]

Hello caskin. :)

 

Can I know if any programs (.exe files) currently work? Can you try renaming the HijackThis installer, and MBAM.exe and see if they can run?