Help needed please. The missus (probably with my attempts to sort it out) has bricked both the desktop and laptop.

I'll start with the desktop as this is one I managed to see what happened before the login failed. I suspect the same happened with the laptop. She managed (we think via her work email) to download a virus; it was some sort of fake virus altert that links to a scam site and blocks everything down. On the desktop, I tried booting in safe mode (it wouldn't let me) so I tried to use a boot disk to get to the recovery console. It won't let me do this (does this mean my bios is corrupted?) The fake software was antivirus action. Now, if I could get into safe mode I could try and use removal instructions I've found online, but so much has been fucked up after the initial screen where you can acess the bios, I get nothing. I can't use floppy or CD rom to boot so is there anything I can do?

Am I correct in assuming that you've tried turning them off and back on again?

Took a few days to get that reply; I tried that. Didn't work. Any better help?

Sounds like your very limited on options there Fat Man. I'd have suggested a Linux boot disk, but as the CD ROM isnt even booting up, that option is out of the window.

The desktop, you may be able to change the chipset to reset the BIOS, but it may not be down to that anyway. Your probably best trouble shooting it.

I wouldnt even attempt to get into the laptop as personally I think they just werent built for modifying.

Drop me a PM with your progress or any questions, I'll try help you out. Cant guarantee anything though I'm afraid.

Sorry for the delay. I'd be thinking of removing the hard drives and connecting them to another computer via USB. At least then you could get at stuff and run some diagnostics.

Thanks for replies. Finally managed to sort both (sort of). I think the hard drive on the laptop is goosed. I've managed to reinstall windows (with ubuntu as well) but as updates for both often fuck up (can't write to the drive) I assume that it's going. Could techie types confirm?

The desktop looks more stable post reinstall. Thank god I backed up the really important stuff (but I did lose some stuff).

For both I used a live cd with partion magic (got from IT officer at work) and formatted the drives!