First of all, I wanna say that I'm glad that the Lavasoft support forum is up again!

Yesterday my computer crashed. And now I cant start Windows. The computer was acting weird, ran slow and such. And suddenly it just carshed. I haven't been able to start Windows since that.

When I try to start Windows it acts like this:
The Windows load screen appears.. It loads.. And when it is done loading, a blue screen with text appears for a split second, and then the computer restarts itself.

So now I wonder:
May this be an infection?
And if it is, is there any way else than formating the hard drive to fix it?

Because the computer itself can start, I suppose it's not a hardware problem.
I really need some help..

(BTW, I'm not sure if this is the right sub-forum. If it isn't, please just move the topic to the right forum)

Have you recently made any chages to your system, i.e. changes in hardware or software. It sounds like you may have a video card or power supply issue. This will not help you now, but you may look into buying a software calle First Defense ISR (Instant System Recovery). It's by a company called Raxco and allows you to recover your system instantly, assuming that you do not in fact have a hardware issue.

Okay, my computer is running now, I had to unplug my 1st harddrive. Then I installed Windows on my newer harddrive..

But now I have another problem:
All my files on my first harddrive is lost. Is there any way to recover it? I still don't know if it has an infection or if it is damaged.

Without knowing if the problem is hardware related, it is difficult to determine. If the probelm is related to an infection, then recovering the data could simply re-infect your system. My advice would be to make sure that you have a good Anti-virus software that is up-to-date and running on your new system. Then, I would image the new system if you have that capability. From there I would try installiing the hard drive with that data and see if you can get Windows to recognize it. If you cannot, I would make sure that eveything is hooked up properly. If it is, I would try to determine if the suspect hard drive is actually spinning (i.e. determine if the problem is physical or not). Assuming the hard drive is working physically and Windows still will not recognize it, I might try a data recovery program like one found:

HERE

I've used this program successfully multiple times to recover data for other people that find themselves in a similar situation. My advice for the future is to invest a $100 in an external hard drive and use it as a backup. Good luck and please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. Also, I would like to know the result. I've been in your shoes and it is not a very fun place to be, but that is ultimately what it takes to teach the importance of redundancy.

Okay, thanks!

I will try that.. and keep you updated.

EDIT:



You mean to make a .img file of my whole system? Yikes, I can't do that.
Well, I guess I'll have to rely on AVG.

Okay, I just tried to plug in the un-working harddrive, and Windows didn't recognise it at all.. So I guess next thing to do is to

Well, the harddrive seems to be fine...
But I still can't get it to work.

I just tried using a program (actually an OS) called miniPE. If you know what a PE is, then you schould know what the OS is like
Well, first I tried it without the hard drive plugged in, and it worked perfect.

Then I plugged in the hard drive.

But then it didn't work. The OS couldn't start.

So it seems like it is an infection, that prevents OS's from running.
So what could I do?
Would it work to plug in the hard drive into a Linux computer and try to extract the files? Must I seek some proffesional help?

I'm desperate

Professional help is always an option, albeit an expensive one, but usually reliable nonetheless.

I do not know if the Linux option would work, but I imagine the theory is that the "virus" will not be able to run under linux, thus you would have access to the files. This presumes that you do have a virus and that the virus does not manipulate the files in a way that allows for linux to still have access to them. I'm not convinced that you do have a virus. I'm not saying that you do not, but I haven't heard anything that tells me with certainty that a virus is the cause of your troubles.

My recommendation remains the same. I would consider using R-Studio.

Well, I can't because either the OS wont detect it at all, or the OP doesn't start.
R-Studio 2 is included on the miniPE, but it's to no use when I can't run it with my hard drive plugged in

So now I'm stuck. I don't even know anyone that owns a computer with Linux...

When you say OP, I think you mean OS.

I must not be understanding something. I thought that you had installed a new OS on a different hard drive. Are you saying even with that new hard drive set up to run Windows and your suspect hard drive set up either as slave on the same IDE (with your new HD as master) or correctly configured as master or slave on a separate IDE cable you still cannot boot the system?

If so, what exactly happens when you try that? What, if any error messages to you see?

It sounds like the MBR (Master Boot Record) may have a problem on the suspect hard drive. A MBR problem may or may not be caused by a virus. Unfortunately, if you have a MBR problem, then you are entering an area in which I am not qualified to give you advice. Let me suggest going to the Wilders Forum and start a thread there. You could simply copy and paste the relevant parts of this thread to save you time.

Here is the Wilder Forum:
WILDERS SECURITY FORUM

Regarding Linux, its free and you do not have to actually install it in order to use it. You can download it, burn it to CD, and run it from the bootable CD. I've never done it, but I've been contemplating checking it out. after my final exams. See this link for more information about Linux:
LINUX

Yes, it's like that, it wont just starts, it reboots while loading.

But thanks for the tips! I'll definitivly check it out.

(and yeah, I meant OS )

Please post back here if you find out the cause. I would like to learn from your experience.