Possible Virus. Please help.

[Richy1985]

I have been running Windows 95B on a Pentium 120 MHz machine with 32mb of ram for a long while without problems when all of a sudden my computer locks up. When I rebooted I received the message: Warning! Disk Boot sector is to be modified Type "Y" to accept, any key to abort Award Software, Inc." I disabled the anti-virus warning in the BIOS, this got rid of the message but my programs are still unstable and still crash. I tried formatting the partition using FDISK and then attempted to re-install Windows 95 but the screen locked up at the setup screen and I was unable to proceed. I then attempted to install MS-DOS 6.22 with success but I still receive this error when DOS starts. I then tried using SOLO anti-virus software for DOS but this proved to be more trouble than it was worth as I was forced to re-install DOS. I tried using F-PROT DOS anti virus software but I received the message: The Sign.def file is too old to be of use. It will probably only detect a fraction of the viruses that exist today. Please obtain and install an up to date version. I found no new, up to date versions of this file. I tried AVDisk and made a set of boot disks only to receive an 'Out Of Memory' error for my trouble. I tried using the modern version of F-PROT and set the infected drive as a slave and ran the software on the drive and it did nothing.

I've reached the stage where I feel like pulling my hair out, can anyone help?

Thanks!

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you've deleted the existing partition and cannot create a new partition then in all likelihood it's simply a drive failure, which, from your description of what started the issue, sounds likely anyhow. Also, considering the apparent age of the machine, the drive is probably long past the time when it should probably have failed anyhow unless you've replaced it with a new drive recently.

You might try using Gparted to repartition the drive by deleting the existing partitions, creating a new partition and then reinstalling. If the drive is shot, it will of course not work either. It's unlikely to be virus related if this does not work, and doesn't really sound like it anyhow. Older systems often report viral activity from the bios "virus protection" when the boot partition has been compromised due to sector or mechanical failure.

http://gparted.org/

 

[pastit]

I agree with darkbreeze, probably a hard disk fault.
Try running chekdisk or something similar.
Alternatly, pick up a throw-away computer and get the hard drive out of that.
JB

 

[Darkbreeze]

You can also run Seatools for DOS on the drive, regardless of brand, to help determine it's health.

http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-dos-master/

 

[Richy1985]

Thank you all for your responses.

Solo and F Prot found viruses, Solo trashed my computer and F Prot simply did nothing when I clicked 'Disinfect', I'm guessing I need to purchase the software to remove the viruses, but I don't want to do this when I don't know for sure that the software will remove all instances of the virus.

When I installed DOS, I was indeed able to delete and then create a fresh partition, no problems at all.

I will check out that link, thanks.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If all the partitions have been deleted, no possible virus could still be present. On a system as old as that, and even on most modern systems except in a few rare "mythical" situations, there isn't even the possibility of a BIOS or UEFI infection. If you wiped the drive, any viruses that may have been there are gone. If you wiped the drive and it's healthy, you should be able to reinstall without issue. If not, there is another non-virus related issue occurring.