Free scanning tools for boot sector and CMOS

phuile · External Since: Jul 03, 2007 Posts: 3

Is there a free virus scan that you can download that will check hadr
drive boot section and CMOS for virus contemination?

Thanks.

Phil Weldon · External Since: Mar 26, 2007 Posts: 16

'phuile' wrote:
| Is there a free virus scan that you can download that will check hadr
| drive boot section and CMOS for virus contemination?
_____

There is no virus that infects the CMOS.

Any of the decent antivirus programs checks the Boot Sector.

You do have an up-to-date antivirus program with up-to-date virus and
malware definitions always running, right?

Phil Weldon

"phuile" <phuile DeleteThis @yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:1183526713.962307.142340@x35g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
| Is there a free virus scan that you can download that will check hadr
| drive boot section and CMOS for virus contemination?
|
| Thanks.
|

phuile · External Since: Jul 03, 2007 Posts: 3

On Jul 4, 2:37 am, "Phil Weldon" <not.disclo....TakeThisOut@example.com> wrote:

> There is no virus that infects the CMOS.

What trigger this question is my friend's computer suddenly failing.
When we tried to get into check the CMOS settings, all the words
appeared garbled. For example, "boot" is spelt "bont" or "Drive"
becomes "Frive" etc. This is the reason I suspect something is
attacking CMOS. I am grateful for any advice on this if you've seen
this before.

Also, he can only start the machine on Safe Mode. If he attempts to
start it up in normal mode, the screen freeze and shows a large blue
and a large red block.

Thanks ...

Phil Weldon · External Since: Mar 26, 2007 Posts: 16

'phuile' wrote:
| What trigger this question is my friend's computer suddenly failing.
| When we tried to get into check the CMOS settings, all the words
| appeared garbled. For example, "boot" is spelt "bont" or "Drive"
| becomes "Frive" etc. This is the reason I suspect something is
| attacking CMOS. I am grateful for any advice on this if you've seen
| this before.
|
| Also, he can only start the machine on Safe Mode. If he attempts to
| start it up in normal mode, the screen freeze and shows a large blue
| and a large red block.
_____

What you see corrupted is data from the BIOS, not from the CMOS. This data
is fixed and cannot be changed. The CMOS memory is very small and only
contains parameters that can be changed in setup. You are not seeing the
results of a virus attack, but rather the symptoms of a failing computer.
This is a hardware problem. You may need to replace the motherboard or
memory. I suggest either trying to find help in a hardware newsgroup or
taking the system in to a reputable computer repair shop.

Phil Weldon

"phuile" <phuile DeleteThis @yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:1183625711.777838.322360@a26g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
| On Jul 4, 2:37 am, "Phil Weldon" <not.disclo... DeleteThis @example.com> wrote:
|
| > There is no virus that infects the CMOS.
|
| What trigger this question is my friend's computer suddenly failing.
| When we tried to get into check the CMOS settings, all the words
| appeared garbled. For example, "boot" is spelt "bont" or "Drive"
| becomes "Frive" etc. This is the reason I suspect something is
| attacking CMOS. I am grateful for any advice on this if you've seen
| this before.
|
| Also, he can only start the machine on Safe Mode. If he attempts to
| start it up in normal mode, the screen freeze and shows a large blue
| and a large red block.
|
| Thanks ...
|

Monty B. · External Since: Jul 05, 2007 Posts: 1

Phil Weldon wrote:
> 'phuile' wrote:
> | Is there a free virus scan that you can download that will check hadr
> | drive boot section and CMOS for virus contemination?
> _____
>
> There is no virus that infects the CMOS.

Incorrect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIH_virus

http://www.cert.org/incident_notes/IN-99-03.html

David W. Hodgins · External Since: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 46

On Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:03:50 -0400, Monty B. <me.RemoveThis@domain.invalid> wrote:

> Phil Weldon wrote:
>> There is no virus that infects the CMOS.
>
>
> Incorrect.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIH_virus

CIH does not infect the cmos, or bios. It will corrupt some
flashable bioses, but that is not the same as infecting them.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change nomail.afraid.org to ody.ca to reply by email.
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

David H. Lipman · External Since: Jul 04, 2003 Posts: 2116

From: "Monty B." <me RemoveThis @domain.invalid>

|
| Incorrect.
|
That's incorrect.

The CMOS was NOT infected by the Chernobyl (aka; CIH) virus.

It erased the EPROM BIOS or corrupted the BIOS (Krez did simmiarily).

The BIOS -- Loads a series of routines that works as a middleware between any given OS and
the motherboard hardware.

The CMOS -- The non-volatile scratch-pad used by the system to store variables related to
BIOS settings. Such as; RAM speed/clock-cycle settings, PATA, SATA, EIDE and other
settings, Date/Time settings, CPU voltages and speed, boot order, etc.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

Tommy McClure · External Since: Jul 10, 2007 Posts: 2

What make and model pc?
What year?
What OS?
What ver cmos? [seen when booting pc]
Did you try to flash your cmos?
Is your CMOS battery good?
Does sound like cmos [or rom] problem. Basic text decoding is in rom.
If this is true there is no av solution. You may have bad hardware.

--
Tommy
REMOVETHIStmccREMOVETHISAThalDASHpcDOTorg change everything capitalized to
email
my personal webpages w/pc help :
http://www.hal-pc.org/~toner27

jimrockford · Joined: May 11, 2008 Posts: 1

SOLO will find boot sector virus. it found some that all the others i ran missed. avg norton and others. its free also.

http://www.soloantivirus.com/downloads/