Have you ever been in a situation
where your PC suddenly attack by a virus and there is no more solution except to format it?, and by the time you are ready to format the drive, the first boot was not set and an annoying pop-up is blocking your Bios Configuration because you forgot what you set on your password?
If you do, here is a simple instruction on how you can bypass Bios configuration and install your OS, but first, let me give you a little info on what virus, Trojans, and worms are , because most of the time these are the reasons why my customers brought their PC to me.
Virus Virus Virus ..
- Your computer freezes frequently or encounters errors.
- Unusual system messages or fake error messages appear.
- Your computer slows down when programs are started.
- You receive notification from your firewall that some applications have attempted to connect to the Internet, although you did not initiate this.
- Microsoft Internet Explorer freezes or functions erratically.
- Your computer automatically shuts down after displaying a System Shutdown message.
- Registry entries have been added or removed to execute unknown programs at start up.
Here are some symptoms that your PC is infected with either a Virus, a Trojan or a Worm. Most of the time when my customer brought their PC to me for servicing, I always ask them if they have an Antivirus installed, but most of the time they answered none. what the...., so I always make sure that I will give them information and awareness about Viruses then give them advices on how to prevent these viruses from coming back.
What is a Worm, a Trojan and a Virus?
"A Worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well. The term worm was coined by John Brunner, a science fiction writer, in his 1975 novel Shockwave Rider. The hero, a talented programmer, created self-replicating computer programs that tunneled their way through a worldwide network.
A Trojan Horse is simply a malicious computer program that damages your computer system upon installation. The program claims to do one thing, such as pretending to be a game, but instead do something else when you run them. Some nasty Trojans will actually attempt to erase your hard drive. They were originally named after the historic Trojan horse used by the Greeks to conquer Troy because the first Trojan horse programs pretended to be innocent games or applications. Trojan horses have no way to replicate themselves automatically. Below you will find some of the various ways that viral related attacks can be transmitted and spread.
Computer viruses are actually small programs that have the ability to replicate themselves and then spread throughout your system in many ways. This is usually done without a user’s knowledge. Such programs may copy themselves to a shared network resources or mail themselves to E-Mail Contacts that are stored in your address book.After a Virus has infected your system, it will usually trigger itself in some sort of fashion. It can launch annoying pop up windows that repeatedly place messages on your screen. It can deny you access to your data files and even change your system configuration settings. In advanced stages of infection, a virus can cause major damage to your system as it can corrupt your files and render them unreadable. It can even start deleting files as well. A virus doesn’t always have to trigger itself upon infection. It can actually be programmed to launch at a specific time or on a specific date so that there will be no obvious sign of system infection. A virus will usually disguise itself and may even attach itself to another file, so as to trick a user into running it."
Now you know what these Trojans, worms and viruses are, please make it an SOP that if you don't want to lose your important data on your PC like most of my customers do, install an antivirus after you install an Operating System, there are lots of antivirus on the market but if you lack on budget there are few freewares on the net but be careful, some of it act as an antivirus but it's not.
Formatting a Hard Drive
I don't want to broaden this topic, but in the Internet, there are several ways on how you can format your hard drive and here is one example of it:
For Windows XP
1. If you want to save any of the data on the disk, back it up by copying it to a CD or another hard drive. Formatting will destroy ALL of the data on the disk.
2. Use the Windows XP CD-ROM to boot the computer.
3. Select the "Recovery Console" option.
4. At the prompt, type FORMAT C:
Resetting BiosYesterday, a customer sent me her PC to format, but the problem is that the first boot was set to Drive C and I can't configure the BIOS setup to set the first boot because of a security password which she also forgot, so heres what I did, first I read an article on how to bypass this password on BIOS and luckily i did it, I removed the password and the Bios was reset on its original configuration.Here are the steps on how you can reset your BIOS Configuration. ( but be careful, make sure you follow the steps carefully)Standard BIOS backdoor passwords
The first, less invasive, attempt to bypass a BIOS password is to try on of these standard manufacturer's backdoor passwords:
MOST COMMON ADMINISTRATIVE PASSWORD
1234, ADMIN
AWARD BIOS
AWARD SW, AWARD_SW, Award SW, AWARD PW, _award, awkward, J64, j256, j262, j332, j322, 01322222, 589589, 589721, 595595, 598598, HLT, SER, SKY_FOX, aLLy, aLLY, Condo, CONCAT, TTPTHA, aPAf, HLT, KDD, ZBAAACA, ZAAADA, ZJAAADC, djonet, %øåñòü ïpîáåëîâ%, %äåâÿòü ïpîáåëîâ%
AMI BIOS
AMI, A.M.I., AMI SW, AMI_SW, BIOS, PASSWORD, HEWITT RAND, Oder
Other passwords you may try (for AMI/AWARD or other BIOSes)
LKWPETER, lkwpeter, BIOSTAR, biostar, BIOSSTAR, biosstar, ALFAROME, Syxz, Wodj
Flashing BIOS via hardware
If you can't access the computer with the standard backdoor passwords, you'll have to flash the BIOS via hardware.
Using the jumpers
The canonical way to flash the BIOS via hardware is to plug, unplug, or switch a jumper on the motherboard (for "switching a jumper" I mean that you find a jumper that joins the central pin and a side pin of a group of three pins, you should then unplug the jumper and then plug it to the central pin and to the pin on the opposite side, so if the jumper is normally on position 1-2, you have to put it on position 2-3, or viceversa). This jumper is not always located near to the BIOS, but could be anywhere on the motherboard.
To find the correct jumper you should read the motherboard's manual.
Once you've located the correct jumper, switch it (or plug or unplug it, depending from what the manual says) while the computer is turned OFF. Wait a couple of seconds then put the jumper back to its original position. In some motherboards it may happen that the computer will automatically turn itself on, after flashing the BIOS. In this case, turn it off, and put the jumper back to its original position, then turn it on again. Other motherboards require you turn the computer on for a few seconds to flash the BIOS.
If you don't have the motherboard's manual, you'll have to "bruteforce" it... trying out all the jumpers. In this case, try first the isolated ones (not in a group), the ones near to the BIOS, and the ones you can switch (as I explained before). If all them fail, try all the others. However, you must modify the status of only one jumper per attempt, otherwise you could damage the motherboard (since you don't know what the jumper you modified is actually meant for). If the password request screen still appear, try another one.
If after flashing the BIOS, the computer won't boot when you turn it on, turn it off, and wait some seconds before to retry.
Removing the battery
If you can't find the jumper to flash the BIOS or if such jumper doesn't exist, you can remove the battery that keeps the BIOS memory alive. It's a button-size battery somewhere on the motherboard (on elder computers the battery could be a small, typically blue, cylinder soldered to the motherboard, but usually has a jumper on its side to disconnect it, otherwise you'll have to unsolder it and then solder it back). Take it away for 15-30 minutes or more, then put it back and the data contained into the BIOS memory should be volatilized. I'd suggest you to remove it for about one hour to be sure, because if you put it back when the data aren't erased yet you'll have to wait more time, as you've never removed it. If at first it doesn't work, try to remove the battery overnight.
Important note: in laptop and notebooks you don't have to remove the computer's power batteries (which would be useless), but you should open your computer and remove the CMOS battery from the motherboard
Other methods are difficult to do and might ruin your board, so I don't include it here on my blog, but there are more methods and steps on how you can reset you Bios on the net, research is the key !!!
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- I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. - Stephen Hawking
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