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lqd
United States108 Posts
On July 01 2011 10:03 billyX333 wrote: Well what do you recommend I do from here? I dont have any spare parts around to test anything. Whats the cheapest solution? Borrow a graphics card from a friend to test. Or buy the cheapest one you can find. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130592 | ||
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nalgene
Canada2153 Posts
On July 01 2011 09:37 billyX333 wrote: Well when using my computer, I continuously got linked to a big "Your computer may be infected!" popup and then it would redirect me to a site to get it cleared. It also did this when I tried to enable my firewall. Thats just one specific detail I remember. I read that BIOS viruses are rare and one particular BIOS virus does indeed do exactly what I just described. I guess thats my best example Do you know what site it is? You could stop your computer from going to that site if you go to C drive/Windows/System32/Drivers/ETC/Hosts ( edit "Hosts" via notepad with administrator and then add "127.0.0.1 WebpageHere" ) but that's all it'd do might be useful in the future | ||
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LibertyNA
13 Posts
Malware doesn't do this. The red/blue/color stuff could be from a virus, it could only be a virus if it does it immediately before shutting down or rebooting. Viruses don't affect start up in terms of display. That stuff your seeing is either your graphics card or Monitor, or the plug/cord in between the two. | ||
Empyrean
17050 Posts
On July 01 2011 15:04 nalgene wrote: Do you know what site it is? You could stop your computer from going to that site if you go to C drive/Windows/System32/Drivers/ETC/Hosts ( edit "Hosts" via notepad with administrator and then add "127.0.0.1 WebpageHere" ) but that's all it'd do might be useful in the future This actually sounds like one of those malware programs that associates internet file extensions with its own executable such that it runs every time you open up firefox or IE or whatever. They usually have some sort of random-looking name as its running process. They're easily thwarted by simply removing the registry keys associated with it, but of course, I don't know if this is actually the malware problem. As for your graphical issues, I don't have anything knowledgeable to say, but if the vast majority of the forum is telling you that it's your GPU, you should probably take their advice :< | ||
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Rannasha
Netherlands2398 Posts
The thing with malware these days is that the vast majority of what is actually in circulation is made by someone who actually wants to gain some form of profit from it. Which is why it tends to stay hidden instead of doing things that would be immediately obvious, like distorting the screen. So any problem that occurs which is very hard to miss is already unlikely to be a malware infection. The "your computer is infected" warning popup on the other hand, is definitely some form of malware that you picked up at some point, but it doesn't need to settle in the BIOS. It's just a regular piece of malware on your harddisk using the Windows registry to ensure it's executed at the right time. | ||
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Sprog
New Zealand83 Posts
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billyX333
United States1360 Posts
It actually crashed about 4 times over the course of the week with the same glitchy graphics except it was always temporary. It did cross my mind that it was the GPU but my frustration at the virus on my computer at the time overrode that suspicion apparently. Now I'm just worried that something is functioning incorrectly to have allowed my GPU to gradually break down perhaps? I don't know enough about computers to really do anything about it though. | ||
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sulliwan
85 Posts
Try reflashing your bios first, you can probably find instructions and the firmware on your motherboard manufacturer's site. If that doesn't work, replace your graphics card and see if the problem persists, if it does, you are likely looking at having to get your motherboard replaced. Just to be sure, also check the monitor and the cabling, however, looking at the screenshots, that seems very very unlikely. | ||
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cari-kira
Germany655 Posts
http://www.overclock.net/graphics-cards-general/529271-bake-your-graphics-card-oven-fix.html wont help on broken RAM though, but worth a try. | ||
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Karnul
United States39 Posts
Go ahead and try the troubleshooting you are thinking. There's absolutely no harm in removing the bios battery for a few minutes and putting it back. It will just reset the bios settings. Go ahead and flash the latest bios. Think of it this way: Your computer is already unusable. What are you going to do? Break it? Use this as a chance to play around and learn how these things work. However, I believe it's a hardware failure between the motherboard and/or video card. | ||
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Krivvan
Canada18 Posts
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adelise
85 Posts
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Antisocialmunky
United States5912 Posts
I wouldn't boot into windows even if you could because any HD writes might be corrupt. I would just take out 1 stick (you prolly have 2) and use 1 stick at a time to figure out which one is bad. If you have a GPU, your VRAM may be bad. Either way, its a memory issue either with your main board memory (cheap to fix) or you need to RMA/buy a GPU if you have a GPU. | ||
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Tossim111
United States246 Posts
On July 01 2011 17:37 billyX333 wrote: yes thanks for all the advice. I've definitely accepted the GPU or video card to be the culprit now I just need to find my warranty. It actually crashed about 4 times over the course of the week with the same glitchy graphics except it was always temporary. It did cross my mind that it was the GPU but my frustration at the virus on my computer at the time overrode that suspicion apparently. Now I'm just worried that something is functioning incorrectly to have allowed my GPU to gradually break down perhaps? I don't know enough about computers to really do anything about it though. the virus you were experiencing through the OS was definitely malware, just speaking out of experience, I don't know the exact science to it as to what it does to your computer, but it can be taken out easily by running one of the various freeware programs out there, such as "Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware." unluckily i didn't document when i experienced it and how exactly i found a solution, i'm not sure if the malware continuously pops up to the point where you can't even browse through your programs regularly. i don't think you're at fault though when diagnosing it as a bios virus, just a little too hasty. every time you experience display errors always look for video card-related symptoms, from whether or not the video card itself is bad to the connection between the monitor and card itself. best way as the majority said is to just find a working video card and switch it with your old one to find out for sure. | ||
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MrCynical
United States99 Posts
On July 01 2011 21:28 adelise wrote: A BIOS virus rofl Ever hear of an SMM rootkit? | ||
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JingleHell
United States11308 Posts
It is possible, but it's still not what we call likely. | ||
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Syben
United States512 Posts
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MrCynical
United States99 Posts
On July 02 2011 00:39 JingleHell wrote: It is possible, but it's still not what we call likely. Yes, it's possible but the way he said "A BIOS virus, rofl" makes me think he believes they don't exist. But based on the pictures and posts, I'm 99% certain it's a graphics card problem and that he has a rogue AV on his system, both easily fixed. | ||
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JingleHell
United States11308 Posts
On July 02 2011 00:49 MrCynical wrote: Yes, it's possible but the way he said "A BIOS virus, rofl" makes me think he believes they don't exist. But based on the pictures and posts, I'm 99% certain it's a graphics card problem and that he has a rogue AV on his system, both easily fixed. Yeah, pretty much. Although I pretty much reacted the same way in my first response, I just put it into useful words. The tl;dr version of my first post would be something like "A BIOS virus, rofl". | ||
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Bigpet
Germany533 Posts
On July 01 2011 10:04 Sir.Kimmel wrote: pull the cmos battery to verify that I'm right... then buy a new graphics card... This! You may want to think that there are people using significant amounts of their time writing viruses for the very BIOS you have just to fuck with people like you but you'd be better off just buying a new graphics card and accepting the fact that hardware errors produce some pretty weird effects. If you are using an onboard chip, just buy a new mobo. | ||
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