can't remove Rootkit.Agent

Ughh.....This is bad....
When it restarts itself it just goes to the same blank screen instead of continuing on with the install...
I hate malware. and I hate the sickos who make it. What now? Is the only option left to me to reformat my harddrive?

Hello? Airscape?

Depending on the model of Dell PC, access the BIOS by restarting the pc and pressing the F5, Delete or F8 key.
Select the Advanced BIOS Features and see if the pc is listed to boot from Hard drive (should be listed as number 1).
If it is, please change it to CDROM (CDROM should now be listed as 1).
Make sure the Hard drive is set to 2 or 3 etc.
Now save and exit, insert the repair cd, restart the pc and see how it goes.
The computer will try and boot from the cd, please be patient, if the screen goes black leave the pc for a few minutes.

If after the above, the pc is still having problems, I would say the fastest safest choice would be to reformat then reinstall Windows.

I'm in setup, but in Advanced Bios Features, there's only:
CPU Feature [Press Enter]
Boot Up NumLock Status [On]

However, there is a separate menu item called Boot Device Configuration, and it says:
Hard Disk Boot Priority [Press Enter]
First Boot Device [CDROM]
Second Boot Device [Hard Disk]
Third Boot Device [CDROM]
Other Boot Device [Enabled]

Is this what you're talking about?

Regarding the windows installation CD, when I go to do a repair now, it says
"Setup has already attempted to upgrade the following windows installation.
C:\Windows 'Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition'
Setup will try to complete the upgrade again
To retry upgrading to Windows XP, press Enter
To continue installing a fresh copy Windows XP without repairing, press ESC
To quit setup, press F3"

So far, I've only done the first option. The blank screen still occurs. Should I try installing a fresh copy?

Also, one of the times it booted from CD, it said it was confused about the type of computer or something. It asked me if it was a Standard PC with C-Step i486 (I think that was it), or "other". I chose Standard PC.

If I have to reformat my harddrive, I do have a backup copy, an "image" of my old harddrive. But this "image" must also still have the malware on it. Is it possible to get out all my old files without importing the malware as well?

Thanks

Hi flyingmojo,

I think the best option would be to reformat then reinstall Windows and then use the disk image to restore the pc to how it was earlier.
Do you need help doing this?
Once the disk has been re-imaged, we can reassess the situation.

Do you need help doing this?

Yes, please. I've never done this before. Could you please give me a step-by-step? Thank you so much for your help

You stated you have created a disk image of your hard drive. What software did you use?
The software you used to create this "image" is the same software you would use to restore the image.

Check your software for a restore option... it should just be a matter of selecting the latest disk image file and telling the software to restore it.
Start your disk imaging software, make sure the disk image is available, if on an external drive, make sure it's connected before running the disk image restore software.

Let me know what happened.

Hello Airscape

I still haven't reformatted the harddrive. I'm a little nervous about doing it, and I'm not sure how. Do I do it from the windows xp installation disk? What option do I choose?

Thanks

Hello Airscape

Ok, I reformatted the hardrive, and installed a fresh copy of windows, and I'm trying to install the drivers, but I' don't know if I'm doing it correctly.

However, I cannot connect to the internet, and I think it's because I don't have the drivers for that either, but I don't know how to fix that. I am having trouble installing some of the drivers. For instance, under
Controller Drivers
the "Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility Rev: A00" is I think downloaded and installed, but when I go to the Applications tab, under "controller applications" and try to install the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager Rev: A00" it tells me that "This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing this software"
Why?

thanks

Hi flyingmojo,

OK, good. That's probably the best decision you could have made.
You can look at this link for reinstalling Windows. It may provide the needed information you need for your driver installations.
Windows XP Clean Install (Interactive Setup)

If you still have problems, I suggest you try a PC troubleshooting forum for help with installing the drivers. Links for some are provided below.
These sites have a variety of experts, that are better equipped to investigate and resolve these kinds of issues.
Registration is free, it only takes a few minutes.
The Elder Geek on Windows
BleepingComputer.com
WhattheTech...formerly TomCoyote

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance.
If you have any malware related questions, please let me know.
Otherwise please reply that you have seen this post, then I will request this topic be closed.

Thank you for your help. You have been of great assistance. However, I'm not out of the woods yet. Can we please keep this thread open, and I will get back to you when I can unpack my old harddrive (which still carries the malware)? Or should I open a new thread when I get to that point?

Thanks

Once the computer is loaded again... if still problems, come back, open a new thread and wait for a new helper.

I will ask for this topic to be closed now.

As your problems appear to have been resolved, this topic is now closed.

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