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Question

A possible bios virus

Apr 25, 2015 11:31PM PDT

My notebook will not boot from a cd/dvd drive. I set the bios to boot from the drive but no help. I tried removing the hard drive and booting from the windows install dvd but the notebook still tried booting from the hard drive. Is this a boot virus, and how do I identify which one if so?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
More common
Apr 26, 2015 12:28AM PDT

Are old drives and media issues. I've yet to find a BIOS virus. Anyhow such would be easy to eradicate with a fresh BIOS flash but given no one has seen a BIOS virus in my circles my bet is the usual hardware issues.
Bob

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Still looking
Apr 26, 2015 4:28AM PDT

I have two dvd drives. One was able to boot the notebook previously, the other locked the device up at the manufacturer's logo. Is there any software to test for viruses?

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Yes.
Apr 26, 2015 4:35AM PDT

But the symptom given has not found a BIOS virus in decades. I can guess folk want it to be a virus but since I can flash a good copy in about 10 minutes... there would be no need to scan or suspect this.

Given there have been no finds in decades even if I extend this to the circles I run in (shops, mods here and more) that's zero finds.

I continue to see the non boot issue for all the other reasons. Testing for those reasons is the same as always. I pull out my known good USB DVDRW and bootable media then test that on my PC. Then I try it on their PC. Usually that's all it takes.

But as you can guess, a very high percentage of clients want their drives fixed. I'm sure you know why we don't fix optical drives today.
Bob

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Answer
It's not a BIOS VIRUS.
Apr 26, 2015 4:45AM PDT

You can read all you want from https://www.google.com/#q=how+to+scan+for+a+bios+virus but the failed CD boot is not one that you read about from those rare infections. The failed CD boot has been caused by hardware issues for decades.

I guess folk want it to not be the hardware and will lose time chasing a ghost.
Bob

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Answer
Your problem is boot sequence or...
Apr 26, 2015 7:34AM PDT

go and change the the bios to the old way, there's a name for that but I forgot. Maybe you could have bios virus now but in the old day the bios are firmware.