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Technical Help & Discussion => Windows PCs & Software: Help, News & Discussion => Topic started by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 00:22

Title: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 00:22

Just spent an hour on the phone with a mate, trying to sort out his computer.  It's about 5 years old, but one of my own builds, so it's still got some life in it yet.  ;D

Anyway, the problem is, he went to a guitar website, and F-Secure flagged that it had picked up a virus but could not disinfect it.  His computer then rebooted of it's own accord, and he was faced with the red screen below, which claimed there is a boot virus on the machine (sorry, these are mobile phone images).  We eventually decided that the only way forward was to click C to continue to boot into Windows, and do a full virus scan, which he did.  F-Secure found one item of 'malware', which was actually a program I had installed when I built the machine, and had been behaving fine up to now, this being PowerDVD, albeit, a slightly warm version.  :o:  FS claimed that it couldn't disinfect the malware, and recommended that the file be deleted, which, as it was only an installation file, he did.  He then switched off System Restore, to clear out the files there, in case it had hung on, and rebooted.  The red screen below appeared again.  :(  He continued to boot into Windows, but then, when clicking on an Excel file he is trying to move to a USB stick, he got the BSOD, also pictured below.

I have never seen the red screen before, but Googled, and found that it could be disabled in BIOS, so we tried that, and Windows booted fully, but then went into the BSOD again, when he tried to access the Excel file.

I'm now lost as to what to suggest, and it started turning into the blind leading the blind.  Anyone got any ideas on this?  I'm concerned that the red screen still appears (when enabled), even though the malware F-Secure found has been removed.    

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Sandra on December 15, 2009, 00:37

Ok the best thing to do Simon is to boot into windows, safe mode may be ok if you cant get into full windows, and go to start then run and type SFC /SCANNOW with the XP cd in the drive.
Hopefully that will replace any damaged or missing files that are causing the problem.
Get back to me if you cant do that.

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 00:45

Can it be any Windows XP CD, Sandra, or does it have to be an SP3 version?

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 00:46

By the way, with the red screen disabled in BIOS, it will boot into safe mode or full Windows.

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Sandra on December 15, 2009, 00:49

Needs to be the home if home or pro if pro thats all Simon, with or without service packs but may need an update later if it finds a damaged or missing file and puts an old one in the sysytem that can be updated by a service pack.

Not sure about the red screen part but I usually disable the boot virus check as its database never gets updated so its pretty useless and can cause problems, as you have noticed.

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 00:51

That's what I would have thought, which is why I'm bemused as to why it's come up now.  :dunno:

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Sandra on December 15, 2009, 00:52

Possibly he had reset the bios to failsafe or default.

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 00:53

Anyway, I won't get to see him till the weekend now, but I'll pass on your advice, and hopefully he can manage it himself.

Thanks Sandra.  :thumb:

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 00:54

He didn't know the BIOS existed until tonight!

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Sandra on December 15, 2009, 00:56

Ignorance is bliss  ;D

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: davy51 on December 15, 2009, 01:21

The red screen is an anti virus warning created after a memory and boot scan

it happens with some viruses that can cause a system fail

Looks like the virus took over a much needed system file and changed it or it deleted the file all together

Had the same problem happen about 2 months ago now

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 11:10

For some reason, it won't let him do a system file check either.  :(  The machine is stable in safe mode, but about 45 seconds after normal Windows boots, he gets the BSOD.  How did you fix yours, Dave?

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Sandra on December 15, 2009, 14:18

You may have to do a repair install Simon. See if he can run CHKDSK in safe mode as may possibly find a problem with a part of the hard drive.

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 14:21

It looks like I'm going to be given the machine for repair.  ::)  I've never managed a successful Repair installation yet, so any tips appreciated!  :blush:

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: davy51 on December 15, 2009, 21:14

Simon it sounds very similar to the virus I had
I ran A-Squared in safe mode it found the virus but couldnt delete it
Non of my other anti virus or firewall could see it because it disabled them

I disconnected from the net turned off system restore
Took the location from A-Squared and tracked it down and used unlocker to unlock it so it could be deleted

Then I used my windows disc to do a repair which let me directly into windows
From there i reinstalled a squared and finally deleted all traces of it

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 15, 2009, 21:51

Thanks Dave, I'll give that a try.

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: davy51 on December 15, 2009, 23:28

Quote from: Simon on December 15, 2009, 21:51

Thanks Dave, I'll give that a try.

Your welcome Simon
Good luck getting rid of it the one i had took 3 days almost continuous work to finally get rid of

I was to the point thinking a clean install was the only way to get rid of it

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Rik on December 16, 2009, 09:18

I've never managed a repair installation, Simon, I just use Acronis. :(

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 16, 2009, 10:48

I'm also thinking of a clean reinstallation, as I just haven't got the time to spend on it at the moment.  :(

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Rik on December 16, 2009, 11:06

It would probably be quicker and more certain, though do the patching on his bandwidth not yours. ;)

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 16, 2009, 11:54

I have an XP SP3 CD, so the patching shouldn't be too bad, it's just the time it all takes.

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Rik on December 16, 2009, 12:26

Say £40ph?  :devil:

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 16, 2009, 12:40

Yeah, right!  ::)

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Rik on December 16, 2009, 12:40

 ;D

We can dream - or buy the T shirt.

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 16, 2009, 12:43

The T-shirt won't fit!  :bawl:

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Rik on December 16, 2009, 12:46

I had Sue put a gusset in mine. ;)

Title: Re: Red screen, followed by blue screen!
Post by: Simon on December 16, 2009, 12:49

:haha: