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So last week I made a post about having a bad day and received a lot of support from users - Thanks Guys!
This morning when I woke up, I had my coffee, got my kids ready for school and then went to sit down at the PC.. which was off...
My main PC is my gaming PC and doubles as the families media server. It's NEVER off.
I pressed the power on button, and it flickered then shut down.
Hmmm...
I pressed it again and then a blue window came up.
Main Bios corrupted, attempting to restore from back up.
Now those that read my post last week will remember that my new board died after the main BIOS failed, then the Secondary BIOS failed - after having owned the motherboard for less then 6 months.
I recalled many years ago a virus, I think it was called CH? that used to insert itself into code then corrupt the BIOS.
My virus scanner is running fine, (I use Bitdefender), and I admit it could just be some bad luck on my part, however I'm wondering if anyone has heard of anything similar recently - maybe a new generation of insert virii?

10 years ago

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13 Comments

Axelflox

Completely unrelated.
I got kinda curious about "virii" so I googled it, I never knew that the plural for virus had multiple forms in english (in spanish is just virus, either singular or plural). Learned something new today ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

10 years ago

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d3m4n

is this a current motherboard? i think the reason you may not be getting responses is "BIOS" is technically outdated and on older hardware. nowadays we are on EFI/UEFI chips, which if in a secure-mode should prevent any kind of damage similar to what you're talking about on the virus. so if you are on a EFI chip motherboard (rather then the older bios based) then it's pretty unlikely that its a virus unless its secure-boot was disabled. i have no idea what the dual bios stuff is all about, barely even remember hearing about those tbh.

10 years ago

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Druss

Most Motherboards now support a combination of BIOS/UEFI - Both my new board (that is away getting repaired) and the old one use this system.
I tend to use BIOS for the original configuration then switch it to UEFI once I have it running the way I like it.
The problem here was that it was all corrupted.
I've just completed a complete reinstall and am working from there now. Apparently there is a new strain of CIH out that is being analysed by some companies now. It works the same way inserting code into empty segments and with each reboot, a little more is inserted into both the BIOS AND UEFI. (At least that's what the email from Bitdefender stated). Once it reaches a certain point the next reboot activates the bios and depending on the code, renders your PC unbootable or locked - sort of like the ransomware virus that's been going around for a few months now.

10 years ago

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Adrole

I am not an expert but this does sound very rare......could you have electrical issues? as in unstable wiring and a low tolerance or no surge protector?

10 years ago

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Druss

I have a good surge protector, and my supply is less than a year old and has never been a problem before.

10 years ago

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laurencesch

When you power your PC on. Does it display any sort of options for example. "Press F11 to go into boot options". Typically the text for these options is displayed in the colour white either on the very bottom or the very top of your monitor as soon as you power on the PC. Or does your system give you an error as soon as you power it on.

10 years ago

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Druss

No. Just a blank screen with the old one.
This new (older) one is working ok now. I flashed the bios and it seems stable.

10 years ago

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laurencesch

Alright. If you have further problems just message me.

10 years ago

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