boot sector virus? - computer shuts down every time I go to a certain website

[dellzeqq]

is this possible? The website is incredibly dodgy, and clearly insecure, but no warning comes up from BitDefender when I go to it. The screen goes blue and I get a message about kernels which, according to Microsoft means boot sector virus (it could mean other things to do with hardware, but the only hardware apart from the mouse is the printer that's been there for years).

Both shutdowns have been when BitDefender has been running in the background, but I run it all the time - and it's running now without a problem, hence my supposition about the dodgy website.

Your thoughts please, computerpeeps.....

 

[dellzeqq]

ah - I wrote too soon. BitDefender stopped mid-scan, having encountered an error. Nothing works, so I've switched it off. Could this be related? Checkdisk has given it a clean bill of health, though.

 

[theclaud]

When you say "dodgy"........?

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Could be a boot sector virus, if your receiving Kernel dump outputs it seems likely although your AV of choice is also rubbish imho

To check this boot the PC from your windows installation media (CD or DVD, or recovery partition) to the recovery console and scan the drive, and fix the MBR (Master Boot Record) if required

 

[Crackle]

Probably websites with campag on and rockers with drumkits.

 

[ColinJ]

I had similar problems with my laptop which I catalogued in this thread. The main problem that I had was the computer slowing to a crawl, but several times I got a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death!) with complaints about atapi.sys among other system files.

It turned out in the end to be a bad block on the hard drive which caused the hard drive to throttle back to a really slow mode of operation which crippled the computer, and left it vulnerable to sudden death. The bad block happened to contain my Java cacerts file so the problem would occur only if I visited a site which had Java content on it which caused that file to be accessed.

It's a bit unlikely that you'd have exactly the same problem, but you never know!

 

[Kies]

Try booting from a DOS bootdisk or bootable USB stick.

 

[dellzeqq]

When you say "dodgy"........?

Susie is away for the week. I've got a bit desperate............it's all too embarrassing.....

Probably websites with campag on and rockers with drumkits.

far, far worse.......

I've now run BitDefender's 'Deep System Scan' and it's all clear. So.......for the moment all is well. Note to self - must back up on to memory stick tomorrow!

 

[theclaud]

Susie is away for the week. I've got a bit desperate............it's all too embarrassing.....

Are you looking at those filthy German sites again?

 

[dellzeqq]

aaagghh - my eyes!

I can see a confession is in order. It's............................... Lambeth Planning

 

[slowmotion]

Pictures of mudguards?

 

[ian turner]

1 Try running internet explorer with no add ons (look under accessories->system tools from the start button) and accessing the site
2 Right click computer/my computer and select manage then look in event viewer in windows logs specifically system for faults flagged at the point that it crashed.
What browser are you using btw ?

 

[MrJamie]

Can you take note of the exact message on the blue screen? The advice blurb isn't important, but particularly anything written in capitals and any hexdecimal stop codes. If the screen only flashes up for a second then restarts, go to control panel>system>advanced>startup & recovery>untick 'automatically restart' and itll stay there until you press reset or power button.

As Ian said, event log/viewer may have an entry at the time a crash happens with more information as to the error, a driver filename or system filename that might indicate where the problem comes from.

It could be anything as weird and wonderful as Colin's problem which is very difficult to diagnose, or simply a piece of hardware failing etc. It could even be your Anti-Virus playing up although ive never used BD, i'd probably switch over to windows essentials if only to rule that out for now and get a 2nd opinion from AV. I recall some years ago Norton playing up during a boot sector scan (not unlike a virus) and pretty much killing an installation as a result

 

[Crankarm]

I should imagine this is what happens when you look at too much bike porn.