Friends computer won't boot Win7 or safe mode

[kainers]

Hi there,

My buddy just called and can't get his computer to boot, in normal or in safe mode. He actually can't even get the option for safe mode by hitting the F8 key on his emachine.
He said before he restarted his computer was making a lot of "click" noises, like when you navigate the forward and backward buttons on internet explorer. He did a virus scan before restarting and didn't find anything.

His keyboard works fine, as he can get into the bios.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[SlowCobra]

Hard drive failure is generally where clicking comes from followed by failure to get into any of the OS modes.

 

[kainers]

Hard drive failure is generally where clicking comes from followed by failure to get into any of the OS modes.

Truth in that statement, but its not harddrive clicking. It is the clicks that windows sound makes through the headphones when you navigate the internet page buttons back and forth. Would harddrive failure cause windows to generate that sound?

 

[Dangman]

Hook the drive up to another PC and do a viral scan from there. Use a MSE, Nod32, or even Avira. Also do a malware scan with Malwarebytes, Super Anti-Spyware, and Spybot Search and Destroy. Also during this time, be sure to backup any critical files.

Once the drive has been deemed fully cleaned by the above apps, hook it back up to the PC and see if it boots or not. If it doesn't, do a repair install.

If the repair install doesn't work, reformat and reinstall Windows 7.

 

[SlowCobra]

Truth in that statement, but its not harddrive clicking. It is the clicks that windows sound makes through the headphones when you navigate the internet page buttons back and forth. Would harddrive failure cause windows to generate that sound?

To me a failing harddrive clicking can sound similar to the windows "click" sounds. Is he positive it was coming from the speakers/headphones and not the case/harddrive?

If it isn't a failing harddrive see post above this one for ruling out virus/adware/malware/machine rapeage.

 

[Skirrow]

To me a failing harddrive clicking can sound similar to the windows "click" sounds. Is he positive it was coming from the speakers/headphones and not the case/harddrive?

If it isn't a failing harddrive see post above this one for ruling out virus/adware/malware/machine rapeage.

^^^This. Best thing to do is turn the speakers off an make sure the clicking is not coming from the hard drive. If it is, then the drive is dead. If not, then remove the drive and attach it to another pc and run every scan you can. Its a lot quicker ripping out the drive and plugging it into another pc rather than running scans on the infected pc and finding you can't clean because the file is in use (even in safe mode).

I've had friends look in horror when they've come round with virus riddled pc's and i've pulled open the case and pulled out the hard drive. The look on their faces lol.