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I formated from a win98 bootdisk, then went to fdisk and as soon as
its done fixing this flashes up Boot Sector Write!! Virus: continue
Y/N. Man I thought that if you formated then fixed the bootsector that
is it, Where did it come from? I'm thinking that it permanently
wrecked my computer, am I wrong?

lost cause <> wrote in message
news: m...
> I formated from a win98 bootdisk, then went to fdisk and as soon as
> its done fixing this flashes up Boot Sector Write!! Virus: continue
> Y/N. Man I thought that if you formated then fixed the bootsector that
> is it, Where did it come from? I'm thinking that it permanently
> wrecked my computer, am I wrong?

Most likely it`s caused by the following setting in your BIOS:

BIOS FEATURES SETUP (or similar)>Anti-Virus-Protection>Enabled.....set to
Disable

lost cause wrote:
>
> I formated from a win98 bootdisk, then went to fdisk and as soon as
> its done fixing this flashes up Boot Sector Write!! Virus: continue
> Y/N. Man I thought that if you formated then fixed the bootsector that
> is it, Where did it come from? I'm thinking that it permanently
> wrecked my computer, am I wrong?

Disable "anti-virus" in the bios or just say yes, let it write.

Alright first I don't have an Anti-virus option on my bios and let me
try to lay it out better. I will clear the primary partition after I
formated my only drive with a win98 bootdisk. After that I will then
recreate the primary Dos partiton, as soon as the percent of
completion reaches 100% the goddamn plinking Boot Sector Write!!
virus: thing pops up. I am completely lost on what to do, if it is
salvageable any info on it would be appreciated, if its dust please
let me know thanks.

"lost cause" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> Alright first I don't have an Anti-virus option on my bios and let me
> try to lay it out better. I will clear the primary partition after I
> formated my only drive with a win98 bootdisk. After that I will then
> recreate the primary Dos partiton, as soon as the percent of
> completion reaches 100% the goddamn plinking Boot Sector Write!!
> virus: thing pops up. I am completely lost on what to do, if it is
> salvageable any info on it would be appreciated, if its dust please
> let me know thanks.

it IS in your BIOS settings. Check again. Very carefully. If not, then you
need to contact the manufacturer of the board or system to ascertain why
they would leave the option out. But this is obviously what is causing the
problem.

"Thor" <> wrote in message news:<>...
> it IS in your BIOS settings. Check again. Very carefully. If not, then you
> need to contact the manufacturer of the board or system to ascertain why
> they would leave the option out. But this is obviously what is causing the
> problem.

Alright let me try again I DON'T HAVE THAT SETTING IN MY BOIS, mybe
cause its alittle older computer. I know I have a virus on my
computer, so your basicaly telling me that its not possible to fix in
anyway?

"lost cause" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> "Thor" <> wrote in message
> news:<>...
>> it IS in your BIOS settings. Check again. Very carefully. If not, then
>> you
>> need to contact the manufacturer of the board or system to ascertain why
>> they would leave the option out. But this is obviously what is causing
>> the
>> problem.
>
> Alright let me try again I DON'T HAVE THAT SETTING IN MY BOIS, mybe
> cause its alittle older computer. I know I have a virus on my
> computer, so your basicaly telling me that its not possible to fix in
> anyway?


Look, you don't very likely have a virus. For one thing you have no
antivirus software installed at this point to even give you a real virus
warning. The warning you are seeing comes from bootsector overwrite
protection built into the BIOS. They often call it bootsector "virus"
protection, but there is no actual virus detection built in. It merely
sounds off a warning whenever something, ANYTHING attempts to write to the
bootsector, including windows and disk setup tools. Unfortunately this
system is "dumb" and doesn't distinguish between a *legitemate* write to the
bootsector, and a bootsector virus seeking to modify it. You are seeing this
warning because your disk preparation tools are trying to write to the
boosector, which is entirely normal. Please post your make and model of
motherboard, and we will get to the bottom of this mystery. It would seem
incredible to me that the manufacturer has this enabled by default with no
way to disable it, especially if it is preventing you from completing your
setup. Any technician who has been around a few years and set up lots of
computers has run across this issue, and I'm no exception. I've seen it lots
of times. Most motherboard makers disable this feature by default these days
because it is more trouble than it's worth. But occasionally, you see one
with it enabled. Undoubtedly yours is.

"> Look, you don't very likely have a virus. For one thing you have no
> antivirus software installed at this point to even give you a real virus
> warning. The warning you are seeing comes from bootsector overwrite
> protection built into the BIOS. They often call it bootsector "virus"
> protection, but there is no actual virus detection built in. It merely
> sounds off a warning whenever something, ANYTHING attempts to write to the
> bootsector, including windows and disk setup tools. Unfortunately this
> system is "dumb" and doesn't distinguish between a *legitemate* write to the
> bootsector, and a bootsector virus seeking to modify it. You are seeing this
> warning because your disk preparation tools are trying to write to the
> boosector, which is entirely normal. Please post your make and model of
> motherboard, and we will get to the bottom of this mystery. It would seem
> incredible to me that the manufacturer has this enabled by default with no
> way to disable it, especially if it is preventing you from completing your
> setup. Any technician who has been around a few years and set up lots of
> computers has run across this issue, and I'm no exception. I've seen it lots
> of times. Most motherboard makers disable this feature by default these days
> because it is more trouble than it's worth. But occasionally, you see one
> with it enabled. Undoubtedly yours is.

First I would like to say thanks for your effort and info so far, but
I have still not come any closer to getting this problem resolved. I
have looked probably 30 times in my bois and it is not there(the
anti-virus setting) no such setting in mine. I don't know if the fact
that it is an older computer or that its an emachine(I hear there not
good)has something to do with the mystery. Realy its not there, mybe
if I give you some info you could come across a way of checking just
to make sure. Alright this is all I could come across hope this is
enough to mybe gain some ground, its an etower 466i and the
motherboard info is FLORIDA-TG 19990603 Mat No.109554. The wierd thing
is that the info I came across online says that its an 533 not 466
doesn't make sense, but mybe its to old to be listed online, I don't
know the whole things retarted. Hope this in some way will help,
thanks.

> First I would like to say thanks for your effort and info so far, but
> I have still not come any closer to getting this problem resolved. I
> have looked probably 30 times in my bois and it is not there(the
> anti-virus setting) no such setting in mine. I don't know if the fact
> that it is an older computer or that its an emachine(I hear there not
> good)has something to do with the mystery. Realy its not there, mybe
> if I give you some info you could come across a way of checking just
> to make sure. Alright this is all I could come across hope this is
> enough to mybe gain some ground, its an etower 466i and the
> motherboard info is FLORIDA-TG 19990603 Mat No.109554. The wierd thing
> is that the info I came across online says that its an 533 not 466
> doesn't make sense, but mybe its to old to be listed online, I don't
> know the whole things retarted. Hope this in some way will help,
> thanks.

The board can handle up to a 533Mhz CPU. Emachines used that board in a
variety of configurations/speeds.

According to what I've found on the Florida-TG motherboard (Trigem), the
setting you are looking for *should* be under the "security" menu in the
BIOS setup, the feature is labeled "antivirus". Here is a rundown of the
BIOS settings. Warning some of the text is in Korean or Chinese. I can't
tell which. But much is in English.

http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/TriGem/.../FLOC_cmos.htm

here is another link to specs for that board, including a link to a
downloadable manual, drivers, and BIOS upgrade files.

http://www.e4allinc.info/dir1/mother..._downloads.htm

Now before you get angry and tell me that the settings is not there *again*,
I'm not saying you are wrong, because it is possible that Emachines in their
infinite stupidity could have hidden the option from user settings. In that
case, perhaps clearing the CMOS via the J5 dip switch setting on the
motherboard may help by reverting the settings back to default, perhaps
toggling that feature off by some chance. Also removing the battery for
several minutes should be enough to cause the CMOS to revert to default
settings, which may help. As a last resort, you could try downloading the
BIOS update from the above link, and flash the BIOS. Hopefully that will
reveal the option in the BIOS to disable the bootsector write protection.
Good Luck.

If all else fails, try this: Take out the hard drive and install it
in another computer. Format the drive and reload your Windows 98.
Move it back into your eMachine and see it it boots up. You may need
to run the 'find new hardware wizard' a couple of times, to pick up
your hardware. If you have driver disks for odd-ball plug-in cards,
it would help greatly. KK