I'm trying to repair a laptop;

A trojan was accidentally downloaded with some software which caused the OS to do nothing other than display the desktop image. I was able to ctrl-alt-del to get task manager up and run McAfee virus scan, which found and deleted a mess of files from the windows\system32 directory... Now, it automatically logs out as soon as it logs in... even in safe mode.

I've tried installing XP from a disc, but it's using an S-ATA HDD which isn't recognised upon bootup; instead, it states that no HDD's are present in the system and must exit. The same goes for the recovery console option.

My only last thoughts are to boot from a network, which isn't going to be easy at the present time, or to dismantle the laptop and see if I can get the HDD into a caddy and reformat it elsewhere...

Does anyone else have any ideas before I get the screwdriver out?



Regards



Andy

Are you using the recovery disk that came with the laptop?

What is the make and model of the laptop?

Does the BIOS see the hard drive?

It's a Philips Freevents [Model H12Y], but there's no recovery disc supplied...

All drives are auto-detect in the BIOS and I can see them getting recognised once I press the TAB button to get rid of the Philips boot screen... which is partly why I don't understand why the XP disc can't see it...

We can try to find a Philips site for details:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...Freevents+H12Y

But as to the basics: you cannot just load a retail version of XP on top of an old OEM installation. If Philips did not provide a CD then there must be a Recovery partition accessed via a hotkey on boot.

If you intend to install a Retail version of XP you would need to first wipe the current drive then do a Clean Install. If this is a SATA drive you would also at this point need the motherboard SATA drivers for XP to see a SATA drive. In order to do this you would not only need the drivers but also a floppy drive.

On top of this you would need a distinct XP Product Key which is not in use on any other computer.

Again if Philips provide no CD they would have had to installed a Recovery partition or else they would have advised when new to create your own disk.

Philips may sell their Recovery CDs as many manufacturers do.

I can find no direct link to Philips computers but am looking for links.