Have I been hacked?!!!

[choccy1]

was on pc saturday night, and all was fine. Went on today, and pc just comes straight in BIOS mode, asking for password, problem is the only keys on the keyboard that will work are ESc and enter. It asks you for password 3 times, which you cannot do, and on the 3rd attempt an exlamation mark appears with a smiley face next to it. Does anyone know anything about this, and is it recoverable?

Appreciate any help please.

Choccy

[Spennyboy]

i wuldnt say u been hacked. as being hacked need a connection, and ur pc was turned off, ur alright.

sounded like a bios password been activiated... but me thinks if there is a smiley face, someone is taking the piss. sounds more like a virus to me.

altho dont quote me on that, just first thoughts.

[danthescan]

sounds like a virus try downloading a prog called maddboot it can clear a bios password if you can get it to boot from floppy or you might need to download a bios and flash it .does it boot to dos from a floppy or is it xp.

[Schott]

Yea i agree with spencer,somebody putting a smiley face when you get the password wrong does sound like somebodies takin the piss, and a virus it most probaly is.

If i was you go a get it looked at.

[Spennyboy]

well thanx m8, nice to know im agreed with sometimes... dont happen often.

u also said that the keyboard has been disabled???

can u boot the computer at all, by inserting any discs??? can u get into dos mode or anything.

what have u tried to solve the problem? or just waiting on our replys.

[ZX7R]

was on pc saturday night, and all was fine. Went on today, and pc just comes straight in BIOS mode, asking for password, problem is the only keys on the keyboard that will work are ESc and enter. It asks you for password 3 times, which you cannot do, and on the 3rd attempt an exlamation mark appears with a smiley face next to it. Does anyone know anything about this, and is it recoverable?

Appreciate any help please.

Choccy

Couldn't you try opening the pc up and reset the bios? Normally remove the M/B battery and bridge a nconnection to wipe/reset it.

[Spennyboy]

unless ur a real PC techy i doubt u wuld no about that method. be nice to hear from the original poster!!! lol

[choccy1]

Thanks for all the replies folks, the PC is actually my sisters, who lives 130 miles away!! so I am just trying to help over telephone!

She was on the net on Saturday night, but swears blind she hasn't D/L or received any emails with attachments, thats why I was going with Hacker rather than virus. it is only a low spec pc, with win ME but is running AVG anti virus, but no firewall.

Alt ctrl Del was not working, she was having to hit reset all the time.

About all the other Dos stuff, she wouldn't have a clue what I was Talking about!! I was just wondering if anyone was familiar with the smiley face thats all.

I will try to talk her through resetting the bios by removing the battery.

Once again a BIG thanks for all the feedback :thumbs

Choccy

[Spennyboy]

Thanks for all the replies folks, the PC is actually my sisters, who lives 130 miles away!! so I am just trying to help over telephone!

She was on the net on Saturday night, but swears blind she hasn't D/L or received any emails with attachments, thats why I was going with Hacker rather than virus. it is only a low spec pc, with win ME but is running AVG anti virus, but no firewall.

Alt ctrl Del was not working, she was having to hit reset all the time.

About all the other Dos stuff, she wouldn't have a clue what I was Talking about!! I was just wondering if anyone was familiar with the smiley face thats all.

I will try to talk her through resetting the bios by removing the battery.

Once again a BIG thanks for all the feedback :thumbs

Choccy

130 miles... lol. well ya wanna get her to tell u exactly what she was doing that night.
u dont actualy need to phyiscaly download something urself to get a virus, the sods lerk everywhere in everything. and as for not having a firewall... thats just asking for shit lol.

when i first got me computer, i went months without firewall or anti virus...
needless to say i was rebooting once a week like clock work. lol
because of the 'material' i was viewing!!

good luck m8, give me a PM if ya need further help. :thumbs

[MARK133]

Just take battery out of mobo for a couple of minutes

[Spennyboy]

already had that one m8, but as he said, try explaining that to a women who (no offence) dont seem over PC friendly... over the phone.

she most prob tell him to shuv the battery :whistle

[choccy1]

thanx agaian and i'll deffo let you know the outcome when I have a look at it.

:thumbs

[mysterym]

thanx agaian and i'll deffo let you know the outcome when I have a look at it.

:thumbs

Chaps, thinking back when password protecting some of my old compaq mobey's if you failed to input the password 3 times it would show a smiling ascii symbol.

I'd think it more likely that your sis has set a bios password rather than a virus. Ask her to wack in her normal password that she uses then press enter to see if she progresses (i'm guessing that if she's set a password she'll have just put in her normal one).

If she can't\won't put in her password. Get her to find the nearest geek to pull out the cmos reset jumper. Worst case scenarion, i guess you can just ask her to open it and carefully remove the "watch" :o) battery and put it back.

[Spennyboy]

ahhhh now that is very interesting. have to get back to us on that choccy.

but if she hasnt seen this screen before, she must of done something to activate it and set a password in the first place???

get her to try any password she has ever used.