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Virus?

By joshg ·
I have a client whose Win 98SE computer starts normally and then shows "It is now safe to turn off your computer" before it gets into windows. I step through the startup and notice that Norton runs and then completes. After that when you select load WIN, then the computer displays the following:


C:\windows\wininit.exe


C:
e h i k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ..... some garbage characters and then .... Press any key to continue...
then after a period of time the screen displays the shut down option.


Sound like a virus? I tried to look it up on Norton and Mcafee but found nothing that directly pertains. One more thing, the hidden files at the root include a BOOTSECT.F16 modified today and there is no BOOTSECT.DOS as there should be. I ran FDISK /MBR and nothing happened.

There are no unusual files in the root of the drive or the windows directory. There are however several hundred FFFF~1.TMP files in the C:\WINDOWS\. I figure they are just temp files that need deleted since they are dated differently.

Please advise.

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Virus?

by jovajo In reply to Virus?

This behavior can occur if the Vmm32.vxd or Wininit.exe file is missing or
damaged.
To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
1. If you can boot to Safe Mode remove your Norton Antivirus in Safe Mode.
If not :
Start the computer with the Win98startup disk and
2. Extract a new copy of the Wininit.exe file from your original Windows 98 CD
Restart the computer and see if problem is gone. If not:
3. Re-create the Vmm32.vxd File
a. Restart your computer and hold down the
CTRL key after your computer completes the Power On Self Test (POST), and then choose Command Prompt Only from the Startup menu.

b. Type the following line to change to the Windows\System folder:
cd \windows\system
c. Type the following line:
ren vmm32.vxd vmm32.old
d. Reinstall Windows 98

Regards

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Virus?

by joshg In reply to Virus?

Do you know, I have a Technet CD subscription! I didn't even bother to look there since the messages I was receiving were cryptic. All I had to do was restore the WININIT.EXE then reboot. Windows loaded fine. I then updated Norton and it found Backdoor.Trojan. After cleaning that the PC is fine. Thanks

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Virus?

by dmiles In reply to Virus?

It is reference to Win4.0,fat16 in the iosystems boot file,the virus has possibly changed the name of your boot file taht it is attached to.you will need to insert a clean floppy and run your virus scan again,if this does not work then it would be wise to wipe the drive and start new.

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Virus?

by joshg In reply to Virus?

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Virus?

by joshg In reply to Virus?

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