Booting HP laptops from USB

[Anaximander]

This one is a little advanced, but I can't find anything in the usual places I go for tech help so when I remembered that this section existed I thought I'd see if anyone here had any ideas.

My parents have an HP G61 laptop running Windows 7, and it's picked up a virus, despite the presence of something calling itself antivirus software (another fine Norton product, no surprises there). They've asked me to get rid of it, but now it's had time to install itself the damn thing is proving to be rather resilient.

I've tried all the usual - scans with all the usual programs, scans run in Safe Mode, everything. They found a bunch of things, but most were traces left by the virus, and not the virus itself. As far as I can tell, I'm dealing with a rootkit here. The next step I was planning was to boot into a recovery environment (I have Kaspersky Rescue Disk) and scan from there so that the virus can't hide or defend itself, but that's where I ran into an unrelated problem: HP systems do not like booting from USB.

If I turn it on with the USB drive inserted, then it hangs before I can get to the boot menu. If I turn it on without the USB drive inserted, then I can get to the boot menu but the USB drive isn't listed because it wasn't there when it ran the connected devices check and BIOS doesn't do plug and play. The best I've got is a techie friend of mine saying he remembers HP machines needing some special procedure sometimes, but he doesn't remember what that procedure was. Any ideas?

[areteus]

I take it you can't boot from a CD? That is usually the easiest way.

To be honest, in a situation like this, I'd try to copy all the files across somewhere safe and then nuke the hard drive with a format before reinstalling. Its the only way to be sure with some persistant viruses....

To copy files across, you could try taking out the hard drive and either connecting it as a slave to another computer or putting it into a USB case to have it appear as an external drive. Just make sure you only copy files in the my documents folder... so as not to copy the virus across :)

[backslashbaby]

I've done this before. I'll have to to look through my stuff to find the little app that made it work. I can do that tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I suggest trying Greatis software's RegRun Reanimator with UnHackMe (or their upgraded suite that includes RegRun) to get rid of the rootkit. It's the best for those that I've found, and you really might not have to boot from elsewhere (although they have a great tool for that if it ends up you definitely do need to).

eta: don't let the poor English with Greatis scare you off. They are amazing programmers, just not Western :D

http://www.greatis.com/

[Matera the Mad]

You probably have to get into the BIOS. Press F2 early in the boot process (or maybe F1). Then find the boot sequence and get USB into it.

Or boot from a CD running Windows -- BartPE or UBCD4Win -- and run what you need from the stick. UBCD4Win rocks. Everybody should have one :)

Copying files can be done using a Linux live CD. I did that when I had a fuxt MBR and my drive couldn't boot. Slaving an infected drive is risky. Um...that's how my MBR got fuxt. :o

[areteus]

Depends how you do it... and what you copy. Its a risk but sometimes it is the only way to do it.

[cbenoi1]

> The best I've got is a techie friend of mine saying he
> remembers HP machines needing some special procedure
> sometimes, but he doesn't remember what that procedure was.

My HP will boot on a USB hard drive, but not from a USB key.

-cb

[Matera the Mad]

Drat picky computers :( A small USB hd can be pretty cheap....