BIOS Updates forum

I'm suspecting a BIOS virus but unsure how to determine that. In one department where I work 3 computers have gone down in a week. None of them will post. I've tried changing memory out and have confirmed that there is nothing wrong with the memory. All three systems are identical. The motherboard is an AOpen with a VIA Chipset VT82C686B. Does any one know of a way or a utility that can resurrect these systems. They will power on, just won't post at all.

A faulty batch of PSUs perhaps?

what aopen mobo?
what type of bios (ami, award, ...)?
did you try clearing the cmos?

jimjones wrote:what aopen mobo?
what type of bios (ami, award, ...)?
did you try clearing the cmos?

I went to another system we have that is identical. It says Aopen on the mother board but when I run Belarc it does not report that. This is what it does report:
System Model - VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8601

Main Circuit Board - Board: 1294 9189Q10101
Serial #: 23601064LM5C
Bus Clock 100 megahertz
BIOS: Pheonix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 06/07/2002

I have cleared the CMOS by removing the battery. I left it out overnight and when I put it back in this morning, still nothing. These systems are definitely dead. I would like to know how and why. Is there any way to tell if a BIOS virus has infected these systems? I've worked in IT about 10 years and have never come across a BIOS virus yet. Until maybe now. Is it worth getting a PCI postcard? It can tell you what on the System board is dead, but is that not a moot point. You may find out whats dead but regardless of what it is you'd still have to replace it anyway.

try this to identify the mobo:
http://download.esupport.com/biosagent/ba.exe

found 1 bios virus (cih) - you can check here if this might have caused it:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/cih.html
note the affected operating systems - the 3 pc's should also all have 'died' on the same day

have you tried switching cpu ?

and the power supply of course

if it's none of these you can still try switching the bios chip but i think you'll just have 3 dead motherboards on your hand - so i dunno - all in the same department - maybe an electrical surge/spike?

Check for bad capacitors. Like this http://cquirke.mvps.org/badcaps.htm

Rainbow wrote:Check for bad capacitors. Like this http://cquirke.mvps.org/badcaps.htm

Thanks for the article. I'm going to check for that when I get back to work on Monday. Not that it will make any difference. Either way it looks like I'll need to be ordering 3 new systems.

One of the systems for sure is due to the capacitors. I can see that they've leaked. As for the other systems they look pretty good but who knows.