My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

[MCmcGee]

My specs
GA-MA74GM-S2 rev 4.1 motherboard 740G chipset
AMD Athlon II X4 CPU
Dual BIOS v6.00
4GB (2x2gb)Patriot G Series DDR2 SDRAM 10672006MHz
Cooler Master 460W ATX 12V v2.31 PSU
ATI Radeon 5770 video card
CD/DVD Write Master
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM 3.5 inch sata hard drive

A few days ago, I'm not quite sure but I think I caught a virus so did a system scan with microsoft essentials and restarted the pc.No problems with POST after that, it goes to the loading operating system screen and nothing happens beyond that point.I Keep getting stuck at the loading operating system screen.

What I've tried:
-I reflashed the BIOS with my OnChip sata type to "native IDE" and I get the same thing but with a message saying "AMD Data Change...Update New Data to DMI!"
-I tried RAID but I wasnt sure what I was doing so I stopped midway.
-I set the sata type to AHCI and I got the same original loading screen.
-I tried to setup XRecovery(F9) with the utility CD in the bay but it just gets stuck at the same screen when it prompts me to push any button(nothing happens)
-I turned off the pc,unplugged the power cable, pushed the power button to get rid of any residual power and took out the CMOS for a while.That didnt do anything.
-I've switched cables to different ports but no changes in effect.

I was told I should try resetting my sata ports to RAID but I don't know how to do that with one Hard drive.Is there any way you could help?

[MCmcGee]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

*UPDATE*

I replaced the bad board with and an maxter IDE hard drive that came off my old compaq PC.It loaded and went to the windows XP load screen but went black and went back to POST.Then went to the screen that prompts you to load safe mode,safe mode with networking etc and after a few seconds it starts to loop like that.

[profJim]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

Re: Update
Did you replace the motherboard and hard drive? Just the hard drive?

Unplug your power supply from the wall outlet or the back of the psu.
Remove one memory module, all hard drives, optical drive and all usb flash drives.
See if you can boot into the bios.
Load Optimized Bios defaults, then save settings and exit.
Reconnect your hard drive and see if you can boot to your operating system.
If the o/s boot is successful, shut off your system, unplug the psu again and reconnect your optical drive.
Boot back into the operating system again, still using only one memory module.

You might need to make some bios changes when using 2 x 2GB of memory.
Please provide a link to the Patriot website that has the full specifications for your memory kit model.

Do you have another power supply that you can test with?

[MCmcGee]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

Re: Update
Did you replace the motherboard and hard drive? Just the hard drive?

Unplug your power supply from the wall outlet or the back of the psu.
Remove one memory module, all hard drives, optical drive and all usb flash drives.
See if you can boot into the bios.
Load Optimized Bios defaults, then save settings and exit.
Reconnect your hard drive and see if you can boot to your operating system.
If the o/s boot is successful, shut off your system, unplug the psu again and reconnect your optical drive.
Boot back into the operating system again, still using only one memory module.

You might need to make some bios changes when using 2 x 2GB of memory.
Please provide a link to the Patriot website that has the full specifications for your memory kit model.

Do you have another power supply that you can test with?

Thanks for helping!

I replaced the hard drive with and older one that had XP on it but did not work so I took that one out and put original one back in.

I did as you asked but when I reconnected the Hard drive and booted up,under loading operating system it says "Disk Boot Failure-Insert system disk and press enter".I have a lower wattage PSU (250W max) from an old compaq presario pc.

look in details section for full specs

Patriot Gamer Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Desktop Memory Model PGS24G8500C7K - Newegg.com

[profJim]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

The disk boot failure message is a step in the right direction.
Can you hook up your hard drive to another computer to see if you can copy as many files as possible to another hard drive before you try to repair your hard drive?

I've never used XP, but I think that you can use the original XP installation disk to try to let windows repair your system.
A google search using: repair windows xp will provide links that tell you how to run windows repair.
I assume that you don't have a backup image of your boot partition, other than possibly a recent windows backup system image.

There are several free "ultimate boot CD" collections that might help:

• unetbootin-windows-583
• systemrescuecd-x86-3.4.2
• Hirens.BootCD.15.2
• UBCD4WinV360
• ubcd521

I haven't used any of these bootable CD applications, but they should have virus/malware scanners that can scan your hard drive and hopefully fix problems. You would need to create a bootable CD or DVD and then boot using your optical drive.

[MCmcGee]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

The disk boot failure message is a step in the right direction.
Can you hook up your hard drive to another computer to see if you can copy as many files as possible to another hard drive before you try to repair your hard drive?

I've never used XP, but I think that you can use the original XP installation disk to try to let windows repair your system.
A google search using: repair windows xp will provide links that tell you how to run windows repair.
I assume that you don't have a backup image of your boot partition, other than possibly a recent windows backup system image.

There are several free "ultimate boot CD" collections that might help:

• unetbootin-windows-583
• systemrescuecd-x86-3.4.2
• Hirens.BootCD.15.2
• UBCD4WinV360
• ubcd521

I haven't used any of these bootable CD applications, but they should have virus/malware scanners that can scan your hard drive and hopefully fix problems. You would need to create a bootable CD or DVD and then boot using your optical drive.

I actually can't find my boot disk for XP(old os on maxtor IDE drive) or windows 7(current OS ) so thanks for showing me those.T'll try that and get back with you.I'm considering on getting a new hard drive.I just checked it out and it the sata drive does not show in the Dell BIOS.

[profJim]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

Even though your Dell system doesn't see your hard drive, you still might be able to do a Windows repair.
Try booting with one of the UBCD's that I mentioned and see if your hard drive is readable as a data drive, not as an O/S boot drive, in your system and/or the Dell system.

You can download the win7 installation disk (iso format) and burn it to a blank DVD:
Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO Image Downloads

There are many XP iso files on the net, but it might not be legal to download and install them.
Contact Microsoft and see what they suggest.
You will probably need proof of purchase.

You will need your product key to activate each operating system.
If necessary, there probably is a way to extract the product keys from your "dead" hard drive as long as your boot partitions can be read with your hard drive connected to another computer.

Your current hard drive might be recoverable and possibly still usable.

Let us know if you need additional help and how things work out.

[MCmcGee]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

THANK YOU SSOOOO MUCH PROFESSOR JIM!!!You have been a great help with this issue.You're the best!

I got my hand on Sata wire 3.0 earlier so I could connect the sata drive to this laptop and back up some files just in case.I'll do my best with trying to do what you speak of.Is there anything else I can do with this sata wire 3.0 with EZ Gig cloning?

[profJim]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

You're welcome, glad to help out.
The important thing right now is so save as many irreplaceable or hard to replace files such as photos, documents, email folders, etc. just in case the worst happens. Let your laptop copy as much as it can and leave the laptop alone until you're done copying files. You don't want to press your luck while copying the files. You've had enough bad luck already.

When you're done copying files off of your problem hard drive, then you can download the win7 iso file that will be used to try to repair your hard drive using your system, not the laptop. You can use the laptop to burn the win7 installation file to a DVD disk. You can also use your laptop to download and create bootable CD's or DVD's of the other program's that I listed.

Your "problem child" hard drive might be perfectly OK if we can repair the boot partition. The fact that your laptop can read your drive is a positive sign. Even if you'd rather play it safe and install the O/S on a new drive, it will be much easier and quicker to clone your old drive over to a new hard drive. It's a real PITA to reinstall all of your old programs and set things up starting from scratch.

How old is your 500GB Barracuda hard drive? If it's more than 3 or 4 years old, it might be best to clone it over to a new hard drive and possibly use the Barracuda as a (somewhat) questionable backup drive. There are some rigorous hard drive tests that can be done on the Barracuda drive, but this will require wiping the drive clean once your new drive is installed and running in your system.

As long as your Barracuda drive is readable, there is a good chance that one of several programs can extract the win7 product key to be reused with a new win7 install if needed. You don't need the product key immediately, if you need to perform a replacement win7 install, you can delay activating the installation for up to 30 days. If you have saved the win7 product key, that simplifies things with the new install.

More to follow later....one thing at a time right now.

**edit**
You can use a friend's win7 installation DVD if it is the same as your O/S edition and software version; 32-bit or 64-bit.

[MCmcGee]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

You're welcome, glad to help out.
The important thing right now is so save as many irreplaceable or hard to replace files such as photos, documents, email folders, etc. just in case the worst happens. Let your laptop copy as much as it can and leave the laptop alone until you're done copying files. You don't want to press your luck while copying the files. You've had enough bad luck already.

When you're done copying files off of your problem hard drive, then you can download the win7 iso file that will be used to try to repair your hard drive using your system, not the laptop. You can use the laptop to burn the win7 installation file to a DVD disk. You can also use your laptop to download and create bootable CD's or DVD's of the other program's that I listed.

Your "problem child" hard drive might be perfectly OK if we can repair the boot partition. The fact that your laptop can read your drive is a positive sign. Even if you'd rather play it safe and install the O/S on a new drive, it will be much easier and quicker to clone your old drive over to a new hard drive. It's a real PITA to reinstall all of your old programs and set things up starting from scratch.

How old is your 500GB Barracuda hard drive? If it's more than 3 or 4 years old, it might be best to clone it over to a new hard drive and possibly use the Barracuda as a (somewhat) questionable backup drive. There are some rigorous hard drive tests that can be done on the Barracuda drive, but this will require wiping the drive clean once your new drive is installed and running in your system.

As long as your Barracuda drive is readable, there is a good chance that one of several programs can extract the win7 product key to be reused with a new win7 install if needed. You don't need the product key immediately, if you need to perform a replacement win7 install, you can delay activating the installation for up to 30 days. If you have saved the win7 product key, that simplifies things with the new install.

More to follow later....one thing at a time right now.

**edit**
You can use a friend's win7 installation DVD if it is the same as your O/S edition and software version; 32-bit or 64-bit.

My drive is actually 3 to 4 years old.

I think I spoke too soon now lol, apparently I found the wrong cable for the sata drive(for 2.5 drives not 3.5) but I'm told that it does not matter...but at the same time neither the apricorn software,Dell, or the laptop is recognizing this sata drive.

For that iso file do I need to go into the BIOS of my regular system and change the boot priority to usb-hdd?Nevermind, I can just burn it to a cd/dvd and try it that way.

[profJim]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

The win7 installation iso file needs to burned to a DVD. Then the DVD is used in your desktop system's optical drive and you want to boot from this optical drive to start the win7 repair. The same procedure would be used if you wanted to boot your desktop system using one of the UBCD boot CD's or DVD's. When your desktop starts to post, press the F12 key repeatedly, about twice per second and you should come to a boot order menu where you select your optical drive as your boot device. You can also go into the desktop's bios and manually change the boot device order so that your optical drive is the first boot device.

You can use your laptop to download and burn any of the ISO files if your laptop has an optical drive burner. None of these CD's or DVD's will be used to boot your laptop.

My ssd in my desktop system also fits in an internal laptop ssd drive bay and I use "standard" sata cables and psu power cables to connect to my ssd. I don't know what types of cables your laptop system uses to connect to any type of external sata drives.

[MCmcGee]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

The win7 installation iso file needs to burned to a DVD. Then the DVD is used in your desktop system's optical drive and you want to boot from this optical drive to start the win7 repair. The same procedure would be used if you wanted to boot your desktop system using one of the UBCD boot CD's or DVD's. When your desktop starts to post, press the F12 key repeatedly, about twice per second and you should come to a boot order menu where you select your optical drive as your boot device. You can also go into the desktop's bios and manually change the boot device order so that your optical drive is the first boot device.

You can use your laptop to download and burn any of the ISO files if your laptop has an optical drive burner. None of these CD's or DVD's will be used to boot your laptop.

My ssd in my desktop system also fits in an internal laptop ssd drive bay and I use "standard" sata cables and psu power cables to connect to my ssd. I don't know what types of cables your laptop system uses to connect to any type of external sata drives.

Well Prof. Jim I believe we have made progress.I got my hands on my product key and I a new 500GB WD sata drive today.The bootable disk did the trick until I forgot to get a sata cable for my new drive.There are so many options that pulled up in the configuration menu.

It was kind of like this

should I choose the highlighted option?

[MCmcGee]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

*UPDATE*

Things seem to be working fine now as if nothing happened.I used the start up repair option to find out what the issue was and it was a MBR failure, so I had it repaired and rebooted the system.The system went through post and booted normally to windows 7.

AGAIN...THANKS FOR YOUR HELP PROFESSOR JIM!!!

[profJim]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

You're welcome, glad to hear that the REPAIR option fixed the MBR and that everything is OK for your old hard drive.
While your hard drive might be OK for now, you might want to clone your old hard drive to your new hard drive and then use your older drive as a backup drive.
I prefer to backup or clone drives or partitions from a bootable CD/DVD.

Macrium Reflect freeware is excellent and you can create a bootable Linux or WinPE CD or DVD.
Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

To create a winPE optical disk, you first need to the download the free 1.7GB AIK file and install it.

There are other AIK downloads for several earlier O/S versions.

Macrium is one of only two freeware programs that I know of that will let you create a free winPE disk.
Most similar software requires you to download and install a paid version of their software to create a winPE disk.

[MCmcGee]

Re: My Gigabyte BIOS hangs up at the loading Screen!Virus?

You're welcome, glad to hear that the REPAIR option fixed the MBR and that everything is OK for your old hard drive.
While your hard drive might be OK for now, you might want to clone your old hard drive to your new hard drive and then use your older drive as a backup drive.
I prefer to backup or clone drives or partitions from a bootable CD/DVD.

Macrium Reflect freeware is excellent and you can create a bootable Linux or WinPE CD or DVD.
Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

To create a winPE optical disk, you first need to the download the free 1.7GB AIK file and install it.

There are other AIK downloads for several earlier O/S versions.

Macrium is one of only two freeware programs that I know of that will let you create a free winPE disk.
Most similar software requires you to download and install a paid version of their software to create a winPE disk.

Yea, that's what I'm doing today.I'm still trying to figure out if I should keep the sata type as native IDE or set it back up as a RAID array before making a backup like that.Thanks for the Macrium tip.