Can't boot Vista normally after using Knoppix bootCD

[Sarah James]

Hello everyone:)

I'm new to this forum and probably an odd one out, because I don't really want to use Knoppix (sorry 'bout that ...)
Recently I got an external harddrive with a virus on it from a friend.
In order to clean it I was advised to use a live CD with a different operating system, like Knoppix (I'm a Vista user myself).
So I downloaded an iso file, burned my CD and booted from the CD. That worked ok.

But ...
Now I come to my question.
My PC doesn't want to boot properly anymore.
Whenever I try to start my computer it looks for a CD to boot from (which is normal), but if there is no CD it won't do anything else.
I just get a black screen with a white cursorstripe blinking and I need to press ctrl + alt + delete so it restarts and then be really fast as it boots again and press F10.
That gives me a dos menu with the option to choose the drive where to boot from and then I can get into my Vista.
But it won't stick, so the next time I boot it happens all over again.
And I can't get into my BIOS at all. No matter what button I push ...
So I hoped maybe there is a way from Knoppix to access my BIOS and put this back to rights again.
I would really appreciate any help you can give me.

Also - I'm a complete stranger to Knoppix and had a hard time finding anything in it (couldn't find my drives at all when I gave it the testrun that got me into trouble - just the contents of the CD where I ran it from were visible). So please be patient and lead me by the hand:)

Thank you!
Sarah.

[OErjan]

eh? as Knoppix only runs from CD or DVD and is designed not to change ANYTHING without you taking actions i have no idea what has happened.

did you plug that other drive in? if yoes it might actually have a HARDWARE fault that has made your computer somewhat disabled, for example, ashort circuit in the USB or firewire port can really HURT your computer, like in kill it, I have seen a few computers where the tracks on the PCB that power the USB port where chared black.
I think most (ALL) modern computers have something that limits amount of current it will allow trough (*).

did you take ANY actions when you had Knoppix booted?
something like right-clicking and change things in in the menus that popped up? that is about only way that Knoppix ever will access your harddrive read write (default is read only), and even then if you did not save anything it should be OK.

*something like a Current-Limit Switch, say a MAX890 or similar.

[ckamin]

It is possible that having an external drive connected during booting has caused your system to alter it's primary boot sequence and devices. A virus or some malware can also cause troubles. I can't advise you on how to access your bios, since I have no idea what system you are using since you gave no details about that. Usually the Delete, F10, F1, F2, F12, or similar key or sequence would work when pressed at the right time during the boot process. Your system documentation should have that information.

Access your bios and be sure that your "Windows" drive is selected as a primary boot option. Usually having the Optical drive first would create no issues, as long as the hard drive is next. Be certain that no USB. PXE, Network, or other such item is selected before the hard drive. Usually a floppy or optical drive would not give any issues. If you want to be certain, select your hard drive as the first boot option.

Knoppix has no way of accessing your bios. It is done according to the method the manufacturer has predetermined. Look for another option when you hit that F10 key, like "setup". Writing to an NTFS partition is also not a good idea with Linux. There is a possibility of corrupting the drive. You may get away with it, but it does happen sometimes. A Windows PE disk or Bart PE disk would be a better choice when trying to repair or clean a windows installation.

If unsure about how to do these tasks, then you might consider having a professional take a look and resolve your issues. The malware is also something that will need to be addressed. I'm pretty sure that you may not have cleaned the bug yet.

I am sorry that you have limited yourself to the "Mother May I" Edition of Window$. :)

[MRINTENSITY]

Hi Sarah,

Okay, you said a lot, but there wasn't much information. That's okay. A lot of it has to do with Windows-to-Linux translation, and is not your fault. I will probably be asking what sound like some stupid questions. Just play along, and let's see if we can get to the bottom of this.

First and foremost, I don't know of any way for Knoppix to alter your BIOS. Knoppix doesn't touch your BIOS, and it treats your hard drives as read only devices, unless you specifically go into a menu and tell it "make this drive writable". My best guess is that the virus (that you were trying to clean) got you or booting with the external drive attached has confused your PC.

First stupid question: Is the external drive still attached? Your PC may be trying to boot from it. If this is the case, try detaching it and then powering up.

Second stupid question: You said you could not get to the BIOS, no matter which key you pressed, which suggested to me that you knew which key to press. ckamin's response suggested to me that you did not know which key to press. Do you know which key is supposed to get you to the BIOS?

Next, you said that you could not find your drives at all. They should have been on the main screen as "icons." In the Linux/Knoppix world, drives are named differently than the old Windows "C:\" nomenclature. An IDE primary hard drive is usually referred to as "/dev/hda," while the secondary drive (usually the CD/DVD) is referred to as "/dev/hdb." If your drives are SCSI in nature, then they may be "/dev/sda" and "/dev/sdb."

But wait, it gets better! If your drive is partitioned, the actual drive names may be "/dev/hda1," "/dev/hda2," and so on, up to the number of partitions on your drive. External (USB) drives I believe are treated as SCSI drives, and are given the "/dev/sd" name. At least I know that is true for USB flash drives.

If you get your ship righted, the next thing you are going to need to worry about is what kind of filesystem is on the External disk you are trying to de-virus. If the external drive runs the old FAT filesystem, you should be able to mount/access it okay. However, if it is running NTFS as its filesystem, you are going to have to use something called "captive NTFS," which is a little out of my league to advise you on.

I'm calling on more in-the-know Knoppix people to help me out, here, as this is an area I am not too familiar with: Does the latest version of Knoppix have captive NTFS included, or is it some kind of add-on? I'm running the 5.1 CD "Lite" version, and am unaware what the latest-and-greatest DVD can do.

Good luck, Sarah. I've given you everything I could come up with.

INTENSITY

[OP]

"And I can't get into my BIOS at all. No matter what button I push ... "

Can you see the BIOS message during Power On Self Test process?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test

[OP]

Googling "How To Fix The Windows Vista Bootloader" may bring some useful information.