Suspect Virus, Now Won't Boot

Question

Suspect Virus, Now Won't Boot

I attached an old hard drive from a PC laptop to salvage files of a book I helped my Pastor write almost 20 years ago. I ignored the virus warning. Since shutting down and now rebooting, I first got a message that my Entourage file had been moved from the Microsoft folder. Then it froze. I've attempted to reboot but it won't boot at all now.

I have a couple of Macbook Pros but I hesitate to connected the PB via FW for fear of spreading a virus.

Suggestions?

Thanks very much.

TD

PowerBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8), G$ 17"

Posted on Jul 1, 2012 3:00 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 1, 2012 3:17 AM in response to Terry Duschinski

Hello,

If it was me I would download ClamXav on all your MacBook Pro. Run a scan while connected or after being connected to the PowerBook via FW. Just incase, If your running Windows on your MacBooks under bootcamp, then I would also suggest you download the Microsoft Essentials Package if it's not already installed. This would help you prevent any infections that comes from your salvaged drive on your PowerBook.

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Answer 2

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Jul 1, 2012 4:02 AM in response to Terry Duschinski

I attached an old hard drive from a PC laptop to salvage files of a book I helped my Pastor write almost 20 years ago. I ignored the virus warning.

What virus warning? Are you running anti-virus software on your PowerBook? If so, what was the specific message you saw?

Note that Windows malware cannot infect a Mac, and there has never been any Mac OS X malware capable of infecting another machine by just connecting a hard drive or copying files. (See my Mac Malware Guide for more information about that sort of thing.) I imagine that what you are experiencing is not related to malware, and that the timing is purely coincidental. But more information would help confirm that diagnosis.

When you say the machine won't boot, what does it do when you try?

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Answer 3

Jul 5, 2012 10:23 AM in response to thomas_r.

Thanks. This is mysterious.

The PowerBook will boot and seem to operate normally -- for a while. But I eventually run into the spinning beachball and it's as if you're stuck in traffic on the highway -- nothing moves. I hold the on/off key for six seconds to turn off, then I turn back on. Booting takes a while.

Interestingly, I am unable to get the PowerBook drive to mount on my MBP in target-disk mode. It will show up in the MBP, however, in Disk Utility. When I run "repair" I get red lettering telling me it needs to be fixed.

But how?

Any more ideas?

Much thanks,

TD

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Answer 4

dalstott

Level 4

2,639 points

Jul 5, 2012 12:02 PM in response to Terry Duschinski

Have you tried using a utility like YASU or Cocktail to clean out Caches etc? Also can you boot with an external firewire drive or an install disk in order to run Disk Utility? If you have DiskWarrior give it a try too.

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Answer 5

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Jul 5, 2012 6:10 PM in response to Terry Duschinski

Sounds like that hard drive is badly damaged, and needs repair. It could even be failing. See the following for some good instructions:

http://pondini.org/OSX/DU6.html

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