Posted 09 October 2010 - 07:15 PM
Okay, this is a complex problem, and this fits under about 3 different topics, but the most urgent is that my computer no longer can find my hard drive. I ran data lifeguard and it says "no drive found". I don't think the problem is with the actual hard drive, but rather with the boot sector, but since my computer won't recognize my drive at all, then I'm at a loss as to what to do.
This all started with a spyware/malware problem with google redirects that kept recurring, even after I got clean AVG/Malwarebyte deep scans. Since the problem kept recurring, I ran HijackThis and fixed the things that needed to be fixed. The problem kept happening, so I ran checkMBR.exe and followed the instructions. It told me to reboot, so I did.
Then I got the black screen of death. I can't remember the exact wording, but it said basically to check cables. I researched the message and it said that it meant it was trying to use the network to boot up, which really meant the hard drive wasn't being found. Luckily I have a laptop that works, so I was able to find a Vista boot disk iso, burned it with imgburner, and I was able to get what I thought was a bit further. The Vista screen comes up, and asks whether I want to install Vista or Repair it. I choose repair it, but it doesn't find any versions on my computer. Also of note, my C: drive appears as having 0 mb and it says it needs to be formatted before I can use it.
Since C: isn't detected properly, I can't run fixboot or any of those commands.
If I don't use the Vista Boot CD, I get an "Error loading operating system" black screen of death.
I have been tinkering with this for hours and I'm about to pull my hair out. Is there anyone who can help me?