Re: os wont start up

sion wrote on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:01:57 -0500:
> hey guys,
> my girlfriends dad has a acer travelmate 2480 running on windows Xp not
> sure if 32 or 64 should think 32bit, he was useing it the other day, and
> it pops up with saying he has a virus, so he clicked it, it then delted
> avg, then saying he has a virus in something "cmd" and delted it and he
> turned it off, accer screen loadup... but takes ages to go off that
> screen, once it does get off it, it loads up with,
>
> "
> PXE-E61: media test failure, check cable ((WHAT cable?))
> PXE-M0F: exiting PXE ROM
> Operating system not found
> "
>
> and just sits there...
> it didnt come with any back up cd's or anything, there is no way that
> you can preform like a reboot that i know off...
>
> Any ideas?

Check cables means it can't find anything bootable. The BIOS Setup
usually determines what devices will boot in what order. That is the
first place I would go to make sure the BIOS can see the drive. If it
can, that is a good sign that at least it has some signs of life.

Although what it sounds like is the system and boot files were infected
with a virus. Thus when the anti-virus deleted them, there goes your
bootable OS. In the right hands, it is still fixable. Which requires a
boot CD/DVD/Flash to replace the deleted files.

The easier method for almost everybody is just to use the recovery disc
or partition and to start for the factory state once again. This usually
wipes everything on the drive out though.

If there are stuff they want to save, the easiest way is to remove the
drive and place it into a cheap USB enclosure and read it from another
computer. Buy the right type, 2.5 inch vs. 3.5 inch and PATA or SATA. If
you don't have another computer, then a second hard drive will be
needed. And install Windows fresh on the new hard drive and use the USB
enclosure to copy files you need off of the old drive.

In the future, the USB enclosure and spare hard drive will come in handy
for making backups. There are some very good free ones available too.

Acronis True Image Seagate Edition (DiscWizard)
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...ads/discwizard

Acronis True Image WD Edition
http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...ad&wdc_lang=en

Paragon DriveBackup Express 9 (free)
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/db-express/

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)