Memory Wipe

[TJay]

I've kept my comp relatively clean thanks to the info from this forum but last night my firewall, Zone Alarm asked for a update, which happens now and then. When I upgraded it changed my settings so that when I rebooted zone alarm wasn't on. It's always on at start up. I did not notice (my fault) and when I started surfing I got hammered with some serious viruses. It even pushed off my Panda scan when I tried to fix it. I tried cleaning it my self and now I can't even boot up the comp (my fault also). When I try I get this message.

Alert! OS Install Mode enabled. Amount of avaliable memory limited to 256MB.

Strike F1 to continue, F2 to run setup utility.

F1 doesn't do anything. I checked the event log and the last thing it said was memory erased???

I'm going out of town for 2 weeks training but I have my laptop if anyone has any suggestions.

I can't even reload windows again. It won't boot from disc??? Thanks TJ

[Boris]

This is a BIOS setting - your BIOS appears to be limiting your memory to 256MB for installing your operating system. You will probably have to hit F2 on booting to access the BIOS and look through the settings and disable whatever OS Install Mode may have been set.

The message may result from the BIOS battery being dead and the default configuration being used ? This may also have caused the boot-up order reverting to the default rather than allowing you to boot from CD to re-install/repair Windows.

Is the time/date displayed when you access your BIOS showing as correct or much earlier ?

Replacing the battery is fairly simple - see :-

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/81

[TJay]

Thanks I'll have to give it a try when I get back. When I try and reboot from the disk it still tells me not enough memory. And when I tried to change it I believe 256mb was the highest setting but I will check again when I get home. TJ

[TJay]

Just got back from my trip today and its still not booting. I changed the install mode. That worked but it keeps bringing me to a blue screen that says

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controlers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Ron CHKDSK / F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information:

*** stop: 0x00000007b (0xf8b0f528, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

I can't try any of those things this screen and can't even get command prompt.

Any ideas??? Thanks TJ