Harddrive being recognized incorrectly

Charlie8311

New Member
I have a PC running Vista with 2 harddrives - both internal. I have been using it for quite sometime with no problems.

But all of a sudden I noticed that when my PC came awake after sleeping that the autoplay kept coming on. But I didn't know why. Since then I have started having problems with that drive.. it's running really slow and chkdsk is coming on when I bootup but hanging and never completeing.

Now the drive freezes constantly when I try to access files.

It seems that my PC is treating my harddrive like a DVD drive or something. Is there some way to fix this?

I have run a diagnostic program from the drive manufacturer - Western Digital.. checks out fine.
 
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Hi Cromewell. Thank you for the response!

I tried to download that malware software and the malware was preventing me from downloading anything I think. Then my pc just really started screwing up even more and I couldn't even reboot it. I am using another PC right now.


I have an adapter that will allow me to try to save info off my harddrive hopefully. Do you guys know any tips when trying to do this to prevent from infecting this PC as well?
 
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Do you have a usb flashdrive? If so, go ahead and download combofix and run it.


http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

Download the file and put on the flash drive and then transfer it to your computer and run it. If it allows you to run it then please post the log that it displays back here.

If it lets you run it then try malwarebytes and hijackthis afterwards too.
 
Hi johnB35. Thanks for the response. No USB flashdrive here.

I am on another computer now and preparing to attach a USB adapter that will allow me to try to get the data off my harddrives before I do a fresh install.

Do you think I could get away with doing this without a fresh install?

One thing I am worried about is that this harddrive USB adapter I have requires you to turn the PC off before you attach boot up the harddrive.. so I am worried that the virus could harm the uninfected PC before the virus protection is active.. is this an issue or no?
 
Do you have a fully updated virus program already running on the pc that you are attaching your drive to?
 
Yeah.. I just installed AVG.. this PC had a subscription to Norton 360 but I was unsure if Norton would be as effective as AVG which I read was recommended so I removed the Norton and put AVG on and got updates.
 
Then you should be fine. You might not need to do a fresh install if you follow my advice from my first post. It's possible to clean the infections off.
 
Oh ok. cool. Thanks JohnB. I will read through that and follow that guide. Should I leave the AVG on my PC or no?

EDIT: Oh shoot.. I don't have a printer! :( !
 
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JohnB, is there some way that I can do this without using that combofix temporarily?

The thing is that I only have access to this PC I am using now for a short time and I don't have a printer.

I am wondering if there is some way I could transfer this data off my primary drive to the uninfected PC and "quarantine" all my data. Then reformat my primary drive and then put all the quarantined info back on the primary drive and then clean it... this way I can get the PC I am using back to my roommate.

I am wondering if this might be the quickest, least painful. method for me right now.

I am currently scanning my primary drive for any malware with AVG and Malwarebytes.

Wait.. I just realized something.. I feel really stupid.. but is possible that I can scan my drive on the USB adapter without needing a printed copy? I am so confused right now.. I have no idea what i am doing..
 
If you are confused and have no idea what you are doing then it might be easier (but will cost you) to just take it to a repair shop and have them fix it for you.
 
I scanned my primary drive with AVG and Malwarebytes and there were no infections.

Is it possible that the primary drive is not infected and it was just the secondary internal drive that was infected?
 
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