HELP Unable to Start Computer - even in Safe Mode

[maplegal]

I've been able to uninstall and re-install MB (after the update) but hubby hasn't . His computer is a BRICK now - tried several times to reboot (hardboot), the computer will not even re-start in safe mode.  It just hangs.  Therefore can't do anything.  Any tips??

[Ishy]

If it isnt working in safemode its not mb issue. 

Go into safemode  open mb go into mb settings > protection scroll down and disable "open mb at windows startup" then reboot pc and go to https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb_clean this will reinstall mb and preserve the key. It is the newest update release today which fixed alot of issues

.

[maplegal]

1 minute ago, Ishy said:

If it isnt working in safemode its not mb issue. 

Go into safemode  open mb go into mb settings > protection scroll down and disable "open mb at windows startup" then reboot pc and go to https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/mb_clean this will reinstall mb and preserve the key. It is the newest update release today which fixed alot of issues

.

That's the issue, cant' even get to Safe Mode

 

[thisisu]

11 minutes ago, maplegal said:

That's the issue, cant' even get to Safe Mode

 

Do you know which operating system you're on? e.g. Windows 7, Windows 10?

Edited January 27, 2018 by thisisu

[maplegal]

Windows 10.  Can't even get to the sign in screen

 

[Ishy]

@maplegal I had same issue  my screen was grey when i rebooted. I waited like 15mins and the sign in screen came.

[maplegal]

1 minute ago, Ishy said:

@maplegal I had same issue  my screen was grey when i rebooted. I waited like 15mins and the sign in screen came.

Ishy, he is going to do that now..just let the computer sit there to see if it will eventually get to the sign in screen

 

[Ishy]

@maplegal if it does come make sure u hold shift and restart to open in safemode.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Ishy

[maplegal]

2 minutes ago, Ishy said:

@maplegal if it does come make sure u hold shift and restart to open in safemode.

Do you hold the Shift while powering on and then press one of the F keys?

 

[Ishy]

@maplegal When at sign in screen at bottom right theres the power button which if u click comes with 3 options Sign out, Restart and Shut down

Hold shift while pressing restart without letting go of shift. After 1 minute or so a menu will appear press f5 and it will reboot in safemode.

[thisisu]

13 minutes ago, Ishy said:

@maplegal When at sign in screen at bottom right theres the power button which if u click comes with 3 options Sign out, Restart and Shut down

Hold shift while pressing restart without letting go of shift. After 1 minute or so a menu will appear press f5 and it will reboot in safemode.

They can't get into Normal or Safe Mode so they won't be able to do any of this. Holding shift and pressing F5 accomplishes nothing either. It's F8 to get to the advanced boot menu.

[Ishy]

sorry.

[thisisu]

9 minutes ago, Ishy said:

sorry.

No, I'm sorry. You partially right regarding the shift and F5 usage. I don't use Windows 10 enough apparently. They can't get into any mode to try it though.

[Ishy]

I know but I missed out crucial steps. Just hope one of us can help this guy. 

[maplegal]

8 minutes ago, thisisu said:

They can't get into Normal or Safe Mode so they won't be able to do any of this. Holding shift and pressing F5 accomplishes nothing either. It's F8 to get to the advanced boot menu.

I think he tried F8 earlier today.  His computer was running fine UNTIL Malwarebytes pushed down that update.  I have a similar computer and luckily I was able to uninstall Malwarebytes to download the fix.  He powered down his computer instead and now it won't come back up.  He has 8GB of RAM.  It's been at least 20 minutes and still sitting there without getting to the sign in screen

 

[Ishy]

 I am not sure how to fix this but for me it doesnt make any sense to wait any longer. 

[maplegal]

I guess we'll leave his computer sit while going for dinner and see if it ever gets to the  sign in screen, then try the Reboot in Safemode as you suggested @ishy

 

[kanei]

I just had this problem today, after waiting for a very long time to even open my browser I called my computer Support.  They told me it was fault of an update Malewarebytes did today.  We solved the problem after running diagnostics on the computer, by uninstalling Malewarebytes off of the computer.  After that, ran a virus scan, re-booted and now my computer is running fine.  I need to speak with them about some kind of fix or a refund because I am not putting it back on my computer.  The computer support representative told me they were inundated with calls because of today's malewarebyte update.

Edited January 28, 2018 by kanei
wording

[kanei]

48 minutes ago, Ishy said:

 I am not sure how to fix this but for me it doesnt make any sense to wait any longer. 

See my response above.

[maplegal]

1 hour ago, kanei said:

I just had this problem today, after waiting for a very long time to even open my browser I called my computer Support.  They told me it was fault of an update Malewarebytes did today.  We solved the problem after running diagnostics on the computer, by uninstalling Malewarebytes off of the computer.  After that, ran a virus scan, re-booted and now my computer is running fine.  I need to speak with them about some kind of fix or a refund because I am not putting it back on my computer.  The computer support representative told me they were inundated with calls because of today's malewarebyte update.

If "only" we could get to the diagnostics.  Don't have HP computer support anymore - computer is 3 or 4 yrs old.

[thisisu]

@maplegal Can you try booting from a CD to recovery your files first? I'll guide you through it if you're willing to try. It's fairly simple overall, ask questions if you encounter any problems with these steps.

From a working computer, download, extract, and then burn the following image to a CD:  http://www.hirensbootcd.org/files/Hirens.BootCD.15.2.zip

Place this CD in the malfunctioning computer and boot from it. You may need to change your boot order to boot from CD before hard drive

When done successfully, you'll be presented with the following screen:

Use your down arrow once to highlight "Mini Windows XP" and press ENTER

Mini Windows XP, once loaded, looks like the following:

From here, you can use "My Computer" by double-clicking it and browse your offline hard drive's contents. Insert an external backup device and back up your documents to it. If you don't know where your files are, the default location would be at D:\Users\<your username>\Documents

Here's another pic for clarity:

Let me know how far you get with this or if you even attempted it. Back up your data first and then we can work together to uninstalling Malwarebytes from Mini Windows XP.

Edited January 28, 2018 by thisisu
double pic

[maplegal]

1 hour ago, thisisu said:

@maplegal Can you try booting from a CD to recovery your files first? I'll guide you through it if you're willing to try. It's fairly simple overall, ask questions if you encounter any problems with these steps.

From a working computer, download, extract, and then burn the following image to a CD:  http://www.hirensbootcd.org/files/Hirens.BootCD.15.2.zip

Place this CD in the malfunctioning computer and boot from it. You may need to change your boot order to boot from CD before hard drive

When done successfully, you'll be presented with the following screen:

Use your down arrow once to highlight "Mini Windows XP" and press ENTER

Mini Windows XP, once loaded, looks like the following:

From here, you can use "My Computer" by double-clicking it and browse your offline hard drive's contents. Insert an external backup device and back up your documents to it. If you don't know where your files are, the default location would be at D:\Users\<your username>\Documents

Here's another pic for clarity:

Let me know how far you get with this or if you even attempted it. Back up your data first and then we can work together to uninstalling Malwarebytes from Mini Windows XP.

There is no Boot CD.  I can get to to the "sign in" area.  But then it stalls from there (can't get to settings or even type Uninstall in the bottom left) -- can't figure out to get to SAFE MODE (tried everything).   Plus that looks like Windows XP not Windows 10.   There is not enough memory to even Get to the Task Manager to stop some programs from running once Windows does load.  This is RIDUCLOUS!  My husband uses his computer for work and Malwarebytes destroyed an i7, 8 GB computer in one update.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by maplegal

[thisisu]

I know you're frustrated but let's try to work through this calmly. What you just wrote sounds like you're actually able to boot into Windows, but that it's very unstable/unusable for you. Is that correct? I'd still like for you to try to boot from the CD. Did you have a blank CD to burn it to? The file you downloaded includes a program that you can use to burn the Hiren'sBootCD15.2.iso file as an image to a blank disc. Let me know how far you got with the steps in my previous post.

Edited January 28, 2018 by thisisu

[maplegal]

3 minutes ago, thisisu said:

I know you're frustrated but let's try to work through this calmly. What you just wrote sounds like you're actually able to boot into Windows, but that it's very unstable/unusable for you. Is that correct? I'd still like for you to try to boot from the CD. Did you have a blank CD to burn it to? The file you downloaded includes a program that you can use to burn the Hiren'sBootCD15.2.iso file as an image to a blank disc. Let me know how far you got with the steps in my previous post.

The computer does not have a CD/DVD drive.  We've been working on this ALL day.. reboot, wait, reboot, wait, etc.  Sometimes I get to the sign in screen, sometimes not.  If I get in, it stalls anyway as all 8 GB of RAM is being sucked up and won't let  you even type.

 

[thisisu]

I see, how about a USB drive? Got one of those? Preferably one that is at least 8GB in size. These steps are used commonly in these forums and have worked for others, try them out and let me know where clarification is needed.

If your computer does not have the Windows Recovery Environment installed and available you can use the following method to run the Recovery Environment from a bootable USB disk.

NOTE: This USB disk needs to be created from a clean computer. You cannot use an infected computer for this process

NOTE: An 8GB USB 2.0 stick is required or at least recommended. In some cases a USB 3.0 disk can be used but some computers have issues booting from USB 3.0 disks.

Example drive (no endorsement implied, example only) - This drive example has not been tested by me. It is an older 2015 model with many good reviews though.
Amazon: Kingston 8GB DataTraveler 101 G2 USB 2.0 Flash Drive (DT101G2/8GBZ) 
NewEgg: Kingston 8GB DataTraveler 101 G2 USB 2.0 Flash Drive (DT101G2/8GBZ)

STEP 1
Download a Windows 10 ISO image from Microsoft.

Method A: Using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
Download the Media Creation Tool: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209

Follow the instructions displayed on the tool to download the Windows 10 ISO image.

In my testing I was not prompted for a license key to download the latest Windows 10 ISO image.
At the time of this writing 2017/12/21 there was only one ISO image offered. Windows 10

32-bit x86  or  64-bit x64

Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system.
You can check here if you're not sure if your computer is 32-bit or 64-bit
 

Method B: If Method A: above is not working for you then you can try the following method
Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool (this is not an authorized Microsoft tool, but appears to be legal)
https://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft/67-microsoft-windows-and-office-iso-download-tool
Download: https://www.heidoc.net/php/Windows%20ISO%20Downloader.exe

STEP 2
If you were unable to use the Windows Media Creation Tool in STEP 1 to create a USB disk then you can use this tool to burn the Windows 10 ISO image from STEP 1 above.

Download the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool from Gitbub and save to your computer.
English version: https://github.com/mantas-masidlauskas/wudt/raw/master/Downloads/Windows7-USB-DVD-Download-Tool-Installer-en-US.exe

Then install the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool and run it to burn a bootable USB disk from the ISO image. Browse to the location where you saved the Windows 10 ISO image in STEP 1
Note: This tool should work on XP, Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 10 - it is simply used to make a bootable USB disk. Remember, all of this needs to be done on a clean computer.

 
STEP 3
Please download the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your desktop or other location you know where it's saved to. Then copy it to the USB disk you just created.

Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system.
You can check here if you're not sure if your computer is 32-bit or 64-bit

STEP 4
Shut down the infected computer. Do Not insert the USB disk you created until the infected computer has been shut down.
Once the computer is shut down then insert the newly created Windows 10 USB disk into the infected computer and power it back on and press the appropriate key to bring up the boot menu. The link below will help show you which key for various computers manufacturers is used to bring up the boot menu. Most will be either USB or UEFI depending on hardware and settings. If the computer boots up into the Normal Windows instead of the USB stick it may become infected and need to be completely redone again. Make sure you select the correct boot option.

How to Boot Your Computer from a USB Flash Drive

STEP 5
Once the computer starts to boot up from the USB disk, follow the screens and directions below.

You will need to open NOTEPAD.EXE to help find out which drive is your Windows drive and which drive is your USB disk drive you just created

For the more advanced user you could also use DISKPART to help locate which drive is mapped to your USB disk. In most cases the USB disk will be either D: or E: but depending on hardware the drive could be a much higher level such as H: or higher.

Example only - your hardware will look different 

DISKPART> list volume
	  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     Z                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     C                NTFS   Partition    931 GB  Healthy    System
  Volume 2     Q   SEA-USB-4.0  NTFS   Partition   3725 GB  Healthy
  Volume 3     D                NTFS   Removable   7636 MB  Healthy

Go back to the DOS Command Prompt (if you used DISKPART type in Exit and press the Enter key) and type in the following and press the Enter key.

CD /D  D: (or E: or whichever drive letter the USB stick is on)

Then type in CD\
and press the Enter key to get to the root or top of the USB disk.

Then type in FRST   or   FRST64  (depending on which version your computer uses) and click the Scan button.

A log called FRST.txt will be saved on your USB Flash Drive. Attach it in your next reply.