Windows 7 Virus Crash, No recovery options are working

pur3ph33r

New Member
A week ago my computer crashed after my dad used it. It ran a System Fix which was a virus and a program I don't remember installing. Now when it boots it has a black screen that says Windows Memory Error and gives two options, Start Windows Recovery or Start Windows Normally. When he realized what he had done he tried the recovery tool first. It had a Windows is Loading files bar that didn't move at all so he left it on all night. It never moved, so he tried option 2 it brought up the 5 Recovery tools none of them did anything helpful. We tried using safe mode, it doesn't work either, brings back to useless Windows Recovery tools. We went out and Bought an OEM since the person we bought this from forgot to give us the Install Discs, We got to Repair Your Computer option below Install, it said our version of windows wasn't the right version for the OEM so it was a waste of $200. Now I am stuck and out of ideas. I've hooked the harddrives up to our old Windows XP and virus scanned, check disced, and backed up them. Any Ideas how to recover and repair without reformatting/wiping the HDD?
 
I switched the boot to the DVD but it just brought me right back to what happened when I tried the OEM. It offered to Install or Repair and when I pressed repair it said the same thing, wrong version.
 
Hi

You need to know what version of Windows you have installed.

Then you can do as Trouble said download the .iso for the correct version and make a disk.
You need to use something like Image Burn to make the bootable disk from the ISO.

If you have already hooked your hard drives up to another PC and copied the data off of it; why don't you just install the new version of Windows and then replace your data from the backup? It should make a folder called Windows Old when you do, that will contain your old Widows files, favorites etc. I don't guarantee that it will. This seems to be one of those some times it does and sometimes it doesn't things.

You will have to re-install your software but your computer will run like new again.
It should only take about a half hour and your computer will be up and running.

Put in the new disk and chose custom installation and it will ask you if you want to replace the existing copy of Windows with a new one. Say yes and away you go.

Installing and reinstalling Windows 7

Mike
 
I know I have Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64 intalled but it acts as if its gone or corrupt or something. I tried straight up installing it but none of my HDD are formatted right and it comes up with a message
Windows cannot be installed to this disc. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks.
It says this for both of my main HDD and the few partitions. I looked around a little but found no answers to this so I tried formatting my unused HDD but it didn't do anything.
 
Found the reason nothing happened when I tried formatting the empty drive, there was nothing on it. But my dad just tried it on the main drive with everything and it deleted all of it and the message is still there.
 
Hi

Formatting it should format it whether it has anything on it or not.

Look at this tutorial on how to Clean Install Windows 7....

Clean Install Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

This should format the disk and get it ready for the install as part of the process.
Make sure you pick NTFS format.

An MBR is what you should see to install Windows 7.

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If I remember correctly GPT disks only support Windows Server.

It sounds like it thinks you are trying to install Windows Server, check you disk package.

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I found this explanation...

Differences Between MBR and GPT Disks:
MBR disks are supported (readable) by all Windows operating systems.

GPT disks are only supported (readable) by Windows server 2003 SP1 +, XP 64-bit, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008.

Anyway try and install using the process in link at the top and if the same thing happens check the disk and make sure it's really a Windows 7 Ultimate disk.

Mike
 
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If you system is UEFI, you would need to boot the DVD in the UEFI mode. That means entering the boot menu, F8 at the splash screen on my system and choosing the UEFI version of the DVD. But even on a UEFI capable system, you can still install Windows normally...

If you have a hard drive larger than 2TB, you would need to run EFI.

Do you believe the memory error message is being given by the virus? Any chance you need to change the memory or remove a stick/s for testing? Also, I suppose since Video cards have memory, that might be involved.

Edit: You show your Windows Experience Index as 5.6. Your system should be fairly fast with only the Hard Drive keeping it at 5.9. Do you remember what was limiting the index to a lower number?
 
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